GPA Convention

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Many times during my career with Phillips I was allowed to attend the GPA convention as part of my training. Pam went with me each time. This was one the better ones in San Francisco.

 

 

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GPA Convention

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In 1983, the Gas Processing Association (GPA) held their annual convention in San Francisco and I was selected by Phillips to attend and bring my wife Pam. During the day at the convention, I had to attend the technical sessions of the latest technologies for gas processing, so Pam talked to her boss, Olga, from the flower shop in Oklahoma City into paying her way and coming with us.

 

 

We met Olga at the airport in San Francisco, and I rented a car and we headed for the Hotel in downtown San Francisco. That night we rode the trolley out to Fisherman’s Wharf and had supper which was excellent. The first day, I attended sessions while Pam and Olga shopped on one of the GPA guided tours. That night one of the vendors took Pam and I out to dinner at a place where entrees cost $120 a head. It turned out the chef had been John F. Kennedy’s personnel chef while he was in the White House.

 

The Trolley ride was fun and the food at the Wharf was excellent that evening..

 

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The next day when I attended the sessions, Pam and Olga went on a Napa Valley wine tasting tour with a bunch of the other wife’s. When I went to pick them up, they came in on a bus. All the ladies got off the bus yelling and screaming and just haveing a good old time. I asked them how much wine they had tasted and they said “Oh, about a bottle and a half each.” I said “oh OK” and we went to the convention party that evening where they fed us and the ladies had some more wine. Steve Allen, the comedian, was the feature at the after party and all the ladies in the audience laughed their heads off. The next morning we went to a prayer breakfast where Dale Evans (Roy Rogers wife) delivered a moving speech and the convention was over.

 

The ladies had a wonderful time on the Napa Valley wine tasting tour.

 

 

 Does anyone remember Steve Allen?

 

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We had decided to stay over a couple of extra days so the next day Pam and Olga wanted to have their outfit colors done by one of the local experts. So we found the place and Olga and I waited in the car when Pam went in first. About an hour later, she came out carrying about 10 little scraps of material. I said “Damn, you paid $150 for those scraps of colored material?” I could tell by the look she gave me I had better shut up, so I did. Pam and I told Olga we were going to grab breakfast while she had her colors done. We found a small Restaurant, and we went inside and ordered breakfast. I got to looking around and there was nothing but guys as couples in the place and I told Pam I thought we had come into a gay cafe.  About then, a guy came in the door and hollered a name. The cook came running out and gave the guy a big smooch on the lips and then I new for sure. They brought our food which was very good, I left a tip, and we left feeling like we may have been intruding on their world.

Hey girls, I would have done your best colors for much less than $150 each. Give me a shot next time. 

 

 

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We picked up Olga with her few little scraps of colored cloth, and headed out on a trip to Carmel where we saw Clint Eastwood ‘s home and then headed for the airport the next day. Pam said then and she still says this was the best of the many convention trips we made. Perhaps it was the wine with her best friend, Olga?

 

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Thanks for reading GPA Convention,
Bill