Bahamas 2025 Reunion Summary
About three months before the Bahamas reunion, the organizing committee debated what would happen if only half of the expected alumni registered. We hoped that instead of it being disappointing, it would be a more intimate gathering, one where we could each have plenty of time for deeper conversations and connections. That is exactly what happened.
As each of us arrived at Nassau airport, personally met and escorted as VIPs through customs and immigration, we knew that Brendan and Rosie had cooked up something special for this reunion, regardless of – and perhaps because of – it being an intimate group of 21.
These are only the highlights, as there was so much more:
- We boated to an uninhabited island where we fed iguanas, stingrays, sharks and swimming pigs – yes, pigs.
- We crashed a wedding in progress at the St. Francis Xavier’s church where Brendan was once an altar boy. Of course, for those of us who knew him at Les Roches, Brendan was hardly an altar boy.
- We had a private audience with Her Excellency the Governor General of the Bahamas, Dame Mrs. Pratt, who gave us an inspirational history of her life and her wishes for a legacy for the youth of Bahamas. Her Excellency brought Brendan to tears by reminding him how much his family meant to the Bahamas, his father having served as the Governor General himself from 2010 to 2014.
- Our dinner at the Governor General’s mansion included special guests and live music by the local youth orchestra. Among the invited dignitaries was Robyn, the sister of the late alumnus Ross Scott, and Brendan’s sister Lisa.
- Our soiree at the elegant British Colonial Hotel included:
– A performance art dance by local celebrity Ms. Chantell Rolle invoking the mysterious life of “Exuma-Da Obeah Man”, a local folk hero and legend;
– A slide show of us from 50 years ago and from the 20 reunions that have followed since;
– A limbo dance (a miracle that none of us was carted off on a stretcher); and
– A live Junkanoo festival dance that brought down the house. Junkanoo is a mixture of Mardi Gras and Carnival dating back from the days when the indigenous people were allowed to celebrate Christmas on December 26 and again on New Year’s Day. That Brendan and Rosie were able to get the troupe of 12 dancers to perform a month early for us is a testament of how much they are respected and loved by their Nassau community. - We toured all the neighborhoods of Nassau, getting a great history lesson of rich and poor, slaves and freed blacks, pirates and reformers, indentured and independent, and finally, of today’s local pride and joy. Bahamians celebrate joy like no other people we know.
- We watched the cruise ships come and go from the 10th floor rooftop bar of our home base at the Margaritaville Beach Resort, sipping the hotel’s namesake drink at sunset. We witnessed a miracle too – a cell phone was dropped accidently from the 10th floor railing to the ground floor, landing safely in a flowerpot and without so much as a scratch.
- We paid homage to all those alumni and teachers who have passed, paying a special tribute to Irène Neveu and Daniel Schoenewald, both of whom expected to come to this reunion but sadly passed away earlier this year. We resolved that spouses of alumni will henceforth become honorary alumni of École des Roches and Près Fleuris and will be invited to all future reunions. Felicia Schoenewald shared a heartfelt testimonial to Daniel and the legacy he left behind.
- We were treated to a serendipitous view of a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral thanks to the Bengtsons’ research, which was followed by a brief lecture on rockets and satellites from expert Mattias Bengtson whose many titles now include “Captain of FoB Enterprise – the Next Generation”.
- The museums, art galleries, shopping, local food and spirits (our catchphrase was “is there rum in it?”), ATV buggy rides and “promenades obligatoires”, made every minute of this reunion special.
Reunion activities fade over time, but reunion conversations last forever, especially those one-on-one chats where we talk about what is meaningful in our lives today and not from 50 years ago when we were in Switzerland, or even from 35 years ago, when we first reunited in the Bahamas. Could it be that we have finally found wisdom?
Friendships were made, rekindled or cemented at this reunion like none other. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Brendan and Rosie for bringing us to their paradise and showing us how precious we are to each other.
Pradeep Kapadia and the FoB Bahamas 2025 Reunion Committee
Brendan Foulkes, Thomas Barth, Sharon Baumann, Mikael Bengtson, Katy Cantor, Thierry Coche, Pradeep Kapadia, Susan Reaper, Tom Ventser and Marie Philips Wirth.
Feel free to contact the Reunion Team if you have any questions!