Reunion 2026
The weather on June 13th , 2026 was warm and sunny. The rain held off until the day’s events were finished! Alumni grads started arriving at 10:00. Board member, Mike Smith ’83 greeted everyone with a smile and gave them their Registration Envelope which had been prepared by Kim Link ’69. We had 85 people register for lunch and 197 for the banquet dinner.
Grads then made their way to the Historical Building to go over memories of their college days.
Tom Ennis ’61 grad goes over the ’61 binder with his wife Donna.
Graham Link ’69 enjoys hearing memories from Bob Smith ’55 while looking over the ’55 binder.
Bev Patterson ’66 was delighted to show her daughter her graduation picture. The graduation year pictures that the alumni have, are all hung on one long wall.
Joyce Burgess is explaining the binder to Franke Hosper 2001 grad and Ross MacDonald ’68 grad. Joyce has completed and is still adding to binders for years 1922 to 2016. The binders contain info about the grads-achievements, marriages, deaths, graduation booklets, pictures from various events, and shared memories.
Ross was very quick to point out to Franke that ’68 has two binders so 2001 better get busy and send Joyce more info for their year binder. There have been many , many hours spent by Joyce to make these binders and they are very appreciated by the graduates that take time to look at them.
More grads looking over the binders.
Warren MacIntosh Year Rep ’86 and Trudy MacIntosh Year Rep ’91 are sharing memories with fellow grads.
After registration and lunch there was time for fellow grad to get together and catch up with their news.
A delicious lunch was served by the Lombardy Fair Board volunteer kitchen staff. If you look carefully you will see that honour years had flowers on their tables and are wearing wristlets and boutonnieres.
Mel Shannon ’64, our main meal ticket taker, was allowed a break to sit with ’61 grads
Cindy Dawson presented Norm Blodgett ’52 with the honour of being the oldest grad present at reunion.
Gordon French ’69 grad welcomed all the honour grads present at the luncheon.
The banquet area, decorated in gold and black, is ready to receive the dinner guests.
The live and silent auction is the main fundraiser for the Scholarship Fund.
The live auction had 28 articles and raised $2907.00.
The silent auction had 47 articles and raised $1296.00. Shown are just a few of the articles.
Everyone enjoyed the roast beef dinner with vegetables, salads, rolls, pickles and home made desserts. Thank you to all from Lombardy Agricultural Fair Board who prepared and served the delicious meal.
Each year, graduating years compete for Alumni Spirit Trophy and treats. Don Good presented the trophy to Deb Ireton Year Rep for year’76
The Kemptville College Alumni presented a Crimson Maple Tree to the Lombardy Agricultural Society for allowing us to build the Historical Building on their property.
Ron Burgess ’68 presented a plaque to John Joynt ’63 grad and Judy Drummond, Lombardy Agricultural Fair Board President, to be placed with the tree. The plaque contains the following message. This tree represents our generous appreciation for the trust and respect extended to Kemptville College Alumni by the Lombardy Agricultural Society in 2016. “The seemingly impossible became possible” With sincere gratitude Kemptville College Alumni 2026
Our 50/50 draw allows us to raise money for expenses. This raised $1495.00.
David Bobier ’87 presented John Templton ’76 with $747.70. John donated the money back to the alumni. Thank you John, for your generous support.
Each year we present a dinner ticket to the person who travels the farthest to attend the reunion. This year Ken Munro ’61 grad travelled from BC and received his dinner ticket from our President Cindy Dawson ’83.
Former staff members enjoy coming back to reunion. Franke Hosper 2001 Year Rep, in the middle, enjoyed reminiscing with former instructors Blair Dow, on the left and John Morgan on the right.
Linda Resbeck spoke briefly about her teaching time at Kemptville College.
Photography credit to Margaret Link Photography
Please mark your calendar for June 12th, 2027. We would like to see as many grads as possible come out.
The Crimson Maple Has Been Planted!
In preparation for our Kemptville College Alumni Reunion on June 13th, 2026, the Crimson Maple tree has been planted at Lombardy Fair Grounds. This is in recognition of our ten-year partnership with the Lombardy Agricultural Society.
The work crew dug the hole and anchored the tree.
From L to R: Gordon French, Gerry Covell, David Stickland and Ron Burgess.
Gordon and Ron are with Kemptville College Alumni and Gerry and David are with Lombardy Agricultural Society. You will notice the Kubota did most of the work to dig the hole but the men planted and then filled the hole.
Admiring the tree , which will be presented on the 13th, are Chris Craig , President of Lombardy Agricultural Society and Allan Cooley, Vice President of Lombardy Agricultural Society.
KCAT Alumni mark 50th Anniversary
by Janet Stark, KCAT Home Economics Grad of ‘75
August 16 was the day we celebrated our 50th year from graduating from Kemptville College of Agricultural Technology. It was called KCAT back then. We held our reunion at the Lombardy Fairgrounds with the Alumni Association. Thanks to Terry Shannon and Ruth-Ann Hawley who “rounded up” 23 Agriculture Grads—the “fellas”—and 5 Home Economics Grads—the “gals.”
We had all lived together on campus for two years back in the early seventies. As each of us joined the group, we scratched our heads to see if we could remember names… and faces! After all, it has been 50 years, and many of us had not seen each other since that warm day in May when we paraded around campus with the gown and mortarboard. Looking through our old ’74 and ’75 yearbooks helped put a name to a face. The room was full of laughter as we brought back so many fun and often silly memories. For example, “Do you remember when we stole apples at the college apple orchard?”, and many other memories perhaps I best not put in print!
It was a hot day, over 30 degrees, and we found a bit of shade, visiting with each other until dinner time. The Alumni Executive hosted a tasty banquet, along with an auction to raise funds for bursaries for new students to study elsewhere. We got a class photo.
It was a long day, and we headed home with a smile on our faces and sentimental memories of “those were the days.”
2025 Reunion
A wonderful day for laughter, memories, excellent food and warm weather. Honour year grads, grads, family and guests enjoyed visiting while enjoying a lunch prepared by the Lombardy Fair Board. Gordon French, our President welcomed everyone to lunch and addressed year ’55 who were celebrating their 70th graduation anniversary. Joining their table were grads from ’51 and ’52. John Wright ’51 grad was honoured for being the oldest grad present.
Once again, the table décor for lunch and dinner was designed by Board Member Cindy Dawson. Our ticket takers for the meal were Mel and Joyce Shannon. Over 150 enjoyed the dinner of Roast ham, scalloped potatoes, home baked beans, buns, salads and home-made desserts. The Alumni appreciate the cooking talents of the Lombardy Fair Board women and men. Thank you very much.
Special recognition was given to Susan Dunphy ’70 and Alfred Dunphy ’71 who travelled from PEI to attend the reunion.
People attending dinner responded very positively to the 50/50 draw. Money raised helps support the reunion activities. The draw raised $1240.00 and the winner of the $620.00 had fun spending the money on auction items. Thank you to all who bought tickets.
The silent and live auction raises money for our scholarships, which have been raised to $1500.00 presented to two college students in their second year in a Food or Agriculture college program. The application will be on the web in September www.kcalumni.ca
The silent auction raised $753.00.
Our auctioneer, John Joynt ’63 grad, made sure people spent their money on the live auction items and $1255.00 was raised.
The Spirit Award was won by year ’85. Pictured below is Earl Stanley( left) accepting the award from Board Member David Bobier. The year members shared healthy fruit snacks donated by a board member!
Our president Gordon was MC for the event and Audrey Baker said the blessing. Thank you, Cindy, for your part in the organizing the reunion and keeping the board members, grads and all helpers busy on Friday and Saturday!
Please mark your calendar for next year. The date is set for June 13th, 2026. We are trying this date since it does not conflict with fair dates when grads are showing cattle.
Margaret Link Photography has provided the class pictures below. Thank you.
2024 Reunion
The rain held off and the people came.
Pictures below show many grads visiting the Historical Building and catching up with fellow grads.
The annual meeting was well attended. Ron Burgess and Kim Link were presented with the Big Cookie Award by Ken Witt. This was for all their outstanding work on the historical building and registration.
The lunch was well attended. Hugh Sharpe ’49 grad, attended with his daughter and son-in-law. He was awarded a dinner ticket prize for being the oldest grad at lunch.
The evening dinner had beautiful table décor to mark their year. These were designed by board member, Cindy Dawson. They had the Kemptville crest on back and front and Class of on the front.
Mel and Joce Shannon were the ticket takers and 67 deposited tickets for lunch and 144 dropped in their dinner tickets. The delicious meals were served by the Lombardy Agricultural Fair Board volunteers.
Our dinner had some two new events.
1. We honoured the grad who had travelled the farthest to attend the reunion. It was Ken Witt ’64 grad and his wife Mandy who travelled from Chilliwack BC. They were also celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations!
2. Our Reunion had a 50/50 draw this year to help raise money for the event. Cindy, David and Rachael are shown hard at work in the picture below. The draw raised $910 and $455 was won by Joe Allison , who graciously donated the money back to the alumni. Thank you.
A silent and live auction also took place after dinner. If you check out Kemptville College Alumni Facebook, you will see the pictures of the generous donations. The money from the silent auction of $848 and from the live auction of $1561.50 will benefit our Scholarship Fund. The Spirit Award was won by ’69 – they usually win every 5 years! Our President, Gordon French was MC and Greg Foster said the blessing.
Thank you to those who attended this year. We hope to see grads next year. Stay tuned for news at a later date.
The date for our 2025 reunion will be August 16th, 2025.
Class and Couples Photos by Margaret Link
Annual Meeting
Alumni attended the Annual Meeting, visited the Historical Building, and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside.
The Alumni appreciated the excellent lunch and dinner prepared by the “Lombardy Fair Board Ladies.”
Hugh Sharpe ’49, from Napanee, enjoyed spending time in the Kemptville College Alumni Historical Building. He was greeted by President Gordon French and then had the opportunity to read all the material collected for his year. He will be attending his 75th reunion next year on August 17th, 2024.
Another Successful Kemptville College Alumni Reunion – 2023
By Joe and Grace Allison – year ’68
Graduates of Kemptville College descended upon their new Alumni home at Lombardy Fairgrounds for the annual meeting on Saturday, August 19th. Graduating years were represented from 1949 to 1998/99. Years ending in 03 or 08 were honour years, which are celebrated every five years. The 2022 reunion saw years ending in 00, 01, 02, 05, 06, and 07 featured in order to catch up for COVID cancellations.
Seventy-two grads and partners enjoyed lunch, followed by 154 attending a delicious chicken dinner prepared and presented by the Lombardy Fair board ladies. The evening program included tributes to Ron and Joyce Burgess for their significant contribution toward the historical building planning, construction, and curating, as well as recognition of Isabel and Don Kinnear for their outstanding fundraising activity.
Allan Earle, on behalf of year ’73, presented a cheque in the amount of $4000.00 toward the Kemptville College Alumni scholarship fund, which had been raised at their 50th reunion event held on April 27th. This generous donation, in combination with the evening’s auction results, saw $6036.00 raised in total for the Alumni scholarship fund.
Year ’68 turned out in force with 56 for dinner, including 35 grads. Once again, they claimed the ‘spirit award’ until 2024’s gathering decides the next year’s trophy holder. All Kemptville Alumni are welcome and encouraged to attend each annual celebration, not just their honour 5-year increment. It is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends, make new friends, and keep abreast of Alumni developments.
Mark August 17th, 2024 on your calendar now. Years ending in ’04 and ’09 will be honoured but remember everyone is welcome to attend. 2024 Scholarship forms will be on the web shortly. Check out www.kcalumni.ca
Photography by Margaret Link
The 2022 Reunion was a great success.
Over 100 attended lunch, and 250 were at the dinner. Over $3500 was raised for the Scholarship Fund. The class picture below has been provided to the web by Photography by Margaret Link.
Our building was officially opened on August 24th, 2019. We are presently raising money for the interior cabinetry to display the many important artifacts from our college years.