The Best D@%n Iris Party Ever!

Saturday 9th June 2007 dawned cool and gray and rain threatened all morning. A team of friends and neighbors descended on Captain Rommel's house to clean, polish, cook and prep. In the preceding week others had worked all over the garden so the apple trees were trimmed, the topiary looked perfect and the iris were best displayed - despite the battering the previous week's rain had given them. Tents were raised and a temporary floor laid for the band. Whatever the day brought - everyone was determined that this would be the "Best Damn Iris Party Ever!"

 

 

 

Dan Ferreira and his Meadowlarks set up in a tent on the lawn and played to the arriving honored guest - Captain Herb Rommel USN (Ret), his guests, the family and the neighborhood where he has lived these past 40 years. Friends and guests arrived through the afternoon to share memories of Herb's late wife Mary and to enjoy the house, gardens and family they had made together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was kind and though it was cool - it never rained. Tubby the cat was reunited with Herb. Guests danced, shared good cheer and food. The afternoon finished with Herb and guests singing "God Bless America" to match Herb's take on his life: "I have been lucky and I have been blessed".

 

 

Later that night Herb passed in his sleep.

 

 

 

 

Herb Rommel - www.herbrommel.com
Herb Rommel - as he and his shipmates remember Pearl Harbor
Herb Rommel - as he told it to me - BBC People's War
At the time the BBC piece was written I got a couple of dates wrong - but the story is as Herb told it.