Re. reminiscences, since I was not actually up on Half Dome, I can't help much with that part, but here is what I remember of the rest of the trip.
My recollection is that this was about the largest (in terms of number of people) of several trips. I think there must have been close to 20 of us. I think it was early in the summer, May or June. I remember stopping overnight in Delano, where my mother had dinner for us all -- I believe the standard menu was ham, corn on the cob, and potato salad. However, I might be confusing other trips. But I am sure we had "hippies" from wall to wall overnight (confirming my mother's rep as "town red" in Delano!)
We walked down from Glacier Point to Little Yosemite Valley the first day. Julie Chapman & I were last in line. I think she was having trouble with her knee. The two of us talked, encouraged each other, and generally had a great old time. Of course the country was beautiful, and I think the weather was too.
I was still on crutches in those days. I never would have been hiking at all if Sally Delano had not encouraged and badgered me into it when we were going together the year before. (She was off in Israel at the time of this trip, however.) A key innovation of Sally's, making it all possible, was little loops of yarn ties (she used them on her little blonde ponytails, so she always had some) on the back of the rubber thongs I wore, to keep them from falling off; which they tended to do on rough ground.
Several of the stronger hikers got to LYV _way_ ahead of us, and came back to report and encourage, meeting us when we were no more than 1/3 of the way down. I think a couple of them may have bounced back and forth two or three times before we finally dragged in.
The experience was simply great; but man, I was sure beat! Carolee was there with a sierra cup of cognac (Remi Martin, I do believe) to fortify us as we limped in.
This was just one bit of a _lot_ of help I had, although I cannot recall (have repressed, probably) the details. For example, I am pretty sure I started with a pack, but one of the fast ones (likely you, Duane; or maybe Bob Garland?) took it for me after he met us on the trail when we had barely started, and he had already hiked all the way down and back up. Also, by the time we got there, I think dinner was ready, or practically so -- at least, I am sure I did not do a stroke of work, and was just taken care of by my wonderful friends.
The next day must have been the Half Dome day. I listened to the reports of the ropes & ladder to the top, and decided I'd be mad to try it, especially since I really needed a day to recover from the (? ~7 miles, I think) on the trail the previous day. I remember lolling around a bit along the river, visiting the top of Nevada Fall, etc while most of the group went up the dome.
The final day we went down to the Valley. I avoided the Mist Trail, due to the danger of falling on the slippery rocks, and took the longer route. Sally and I had gone part way up that the previous year, so it was familiar, and seemed easy after the first day of the trip.
This was the most ambitious hike I ever attempted. I think I wore out at least two and maybe three pairs of crutch tips. But mostly I am extremely grateful to all those who made it possible for me (and were surely never properly thanked for it at the time).