By: Sandra Little-Mendoza
The year was 1984. Contrary to popular belief, dinosaurs did not roam the earth, but that was the year of the great Sensational Seal migration that converged upon the Anaheim Convention Center, better known as Grand Assembly. The Sensational Seals were 77 strong, adorned in radiant yellow dresses and enormous hairpieces. The theme of Grand Assembly that year was Winning the West with Rainbow, and the convention center was packed with girls and adults from the West and beyond, arriving with great expectations of exemplary ritual work, talent and speech competitions, stories of all the travels that had occurred during the year, the revelation of new Grand Officers, and the grand finale, the exciting presentation of the Grand Service Project, an astounding $79,000 donated in great love to John Carpenter’s Heaven on Earth Ranch for Handicapped Children.
40 years later, a smaller, but no less grand, pod of Sensational Seals will return to Grand Assembly, most not able to wear their radiant yellow dress and definitely not wearing a hairpiece, but prepared to celebrate a walk down memory lane. We will laugh as we reminisce about the 67 Official Visits we attended, the two summer camps we had fun at, the two assemblies we instituted, the Grand Assemblies in Nevada and Arizona we officially converged upon, all of the Grand Receptions we were honored with and a million other memories that were made that year. We will remember our beloved Lois Cook, the Supreme Deputy who appointed us and gave us such an incredible opportunity. We are not a boastful group, but we will secretly whisper among ourselves how proud we are that two of our own have significant leadership roles in California Rainbow: Mrs. Regier, Supreme Inspector, and Mrs. Warren, Director of Grand Officers-yes they were Sensational Seals and we proudly claim them as our own.
To the Resiliently Ruby Red Pandas we thank you for carrying on the magical tradition of Grand Assembly and serving our organization with grace and dignity. May you remember this past year and all of the memories made with as much fondness and laughter as we do of our year. The Sensational Seals of 1983/84 salute you and thank you for your service, and we welcome you to the exclusive and sentimental rank of Past Grand Officer.
