Selena (Sally) Clements lived in Bermuda for four years and two months while her father, a civilian electronics engineer, was posted to the US Air Force Base at Kindley Field. She lived off-Base with her family, attended the Base high school and loved every minute of her stay here.

Many years have passed since those carefree teenage years of fun and sun, but the former Sally Ross never forgot the good times she had, nor all the friends she and her family made here, and of course she always dreamed of returning.

Last week that dream came true when Mrs. Clements joined alumni from the Class of ‘65 for a group reunion on the Island, arriving this time by sea on the cruise ship Azamara Journey.

During her four-day stay, a host of memories came flooding back as she travelled around the Island, among them the special local friends her family made, and whose apartments they rented.

“My mother and I fell in love with the Island as soon as we got off the plane, and while daddy drove us to our home on the Sousa Estates. The beauty, the friendly people... we just fell in love with it all,” she said.

The family quickly became friends with a Mr. and Mrs. Sousa, who had four children, Arthur, Mary, Manuel and Adam, and one of Mrs. Clements’ prevailing memories is of attending the wedding of Adam and Marie.

“It was a Portuguese wedding and just wonderful,” she said. “The Sousas were so nice to us, and we loved playing with their children. They were wonderful, wonderful people.”

Unfortunately, time did not permit trying to trace the family on this visit, and she could not recall the first names of and Mrs. Sousa.

Similarly, she did not recall the first names of neighbours Mr. and Mrs. Whitecross when the family moved to ‘Hurricane Hill’ on Kent Avenue, but she remembered being good friends with their children, Jim and Penny.

Certainly not forgotten were the memories of Mrs. Clamens’ non-traditional graduation night, when she travelled to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital after the ceremony in her cap and gown to visit her mother, who had been admitted with a slipped disc.

“The nurses were wonderful,” she said.

Now widowed, with three children, the youngest of whom is a nurse, and eight grandchildren, Mrs. Clements was particularly impressed with the expansion of Bermuda’s medical centres, such as PALS and the Bermuda TB, Cancer and Health Association.

She also managed to fulfil a long-held desire to see Bermuda’s underwater wonders.

“I always loved the ocean and the beaches, and John Smith’s Bay was my favourite, but I was too young to scuba dive when we lived here, so this time I did the helmet diving. It was just wonderful, awesome. Everybody should do it.”

Recalling the good times she had sailing on Sunfish as a teenager, Mrs. Clements said she still enjoyed watching sailboats on Hamilton Harbour.

Like all visitors who return after a long absence, the Arkansas resident was pleased to note that, while some things had changed, others had not.

“Even though Bermuda now has hustle and bustle, it still has serenity,” she said.

“There are more vehicles than before, and some people are still friendly. Although I can’t stay here,

“I still think of Bermuda as home, and it will always be a part of me. I would like to bring my children back.”