Note: This page recaps only the plans
made for our 40th Reunion in 2000.
The 45th Reunion is already totally planned.
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Report
on our meeting |
September 12, 2000 This was a rather brief meeting inasmuch as much of the planning for the Reunion is now completed. We were pleased, by the way, that Beth Weinman Atkins came in all the way from Illinois in order to attend the meeting! We are also grateful to Ford Nelson who hosted this meeting in his home. Barb Nash reported that plans are firmed up for the Saturday night dinner at the Hyatt---and Susie Standke Tozier said the same for the Friday night reception. Susie did say that, if we have extra money in the budget, we need to use it to enhance the appetizer service at the reception. She is also working with Jim Chalfant to find suitable musical entertainment for the event. Randy reported that the Reunion Book should have well over 165 classmate biographies in it...plus hundreds of photos. It is to go to press on Monday, October 2nd and should be ready to hand out at our last committee meeting the week before the Reunion. There was a discussion about some of us attending the SM North '60 Reunion which will take place the week before ours. Some of us will be attending their Friday night reception. Gretchen Miller Buchanan showed a sample of the wonderful ceramic bowls that have been created for us by a S-ME art student (Ariane is her name and she has done a fabulous job!). She explained that extra bowls are being made and will be available for sale. We will have two more committee meetings before the big event. The last one will be one week before the Reunion and will be devoted to preparing name badges and getting all of the final details worked out. The meeting then broke up for the usual social hour or drinks and conversation. |
Report
on our meeting |
August
30, 2000 Randy mentioned that about 120 classmates have now submitted their bio's and photos for the Reunion book. Our goal is to have as many listings in the 2000 book as we did in 1985 (199). A special reminder post card is being sent over the Labor Day weekend to all classmates---in essence, our FINAL mailing. If you are reading this and you have yet to send in your bio and photo, you have until September 20th to get it in. Send to: SME Class of '60, P.O. Box 6552, Leawood, KS 66206. Are we making good progress? In 1985, 149 classmates attended our 25th
Reunion. It now looks like we can exceed that number in 2000! Much of this is due to the
fine work of Russ May who has located 428 of our classmates! BUT---and this is most
important---we cannot "assume" anything. All of us are committed to
continuing our personal contacts with classmates to help ensure that attendance will be as
high as possible! Randy reported that the Reunion Yearbook is progressing nicely and will go to press during the last week of September. It may be printed in time to be passed out at our last committee meeting before the Reunion. Susan Standke Tozier reported that food, beverage and entertainment
arrangements are all set for our Friday night reception at the Union Station. We very much appreciate Bob Boley's fine hospitality (drinks and eats, too!) at his home for this meeting. |
Report
on our meeting |
August
9, 2000 Committee members reported on their work to contact by phone or e-mail all found classmates to determine whether or not they are planning to attend the Reunion. By the end of the meeting that number was up to 118. Randy Neil said that a viable goal would be for us to reach at least 150. [Note: as this report is being written, the number has climbed to 128...so we're getting closer and closer.] Barb Nash reported that she was about to book Freddie and the Doo-Wops as the band and entertainment for our Saturday night dinner. This group will take our memories solidly into the late 50s and early 60s with some fine old music! Randy explained that e-mail bulletins would continue to be sent to all classmates who have e-mail addresses and that another "reminder" mailing should go out in early September. He also said that, with the current number of registrations, our Reunion budget is now in black ink. Ford Nelson is arranging things for our Friday night reception at the Union Station and live piano music will be provided to add to the atmosphere. A number of committee members remarked that, during their calls to classmates, many of them had remarked about how useful our website is becoming. Nearly 80 bio's and photos have been received from classmates...our goal is to obtain at least 150 for the yearbook. [If you haven't sent in your bio and photo, please do so now. Send to: SM East Class of '60, P.O. Box 6552, Leawood KS 66206. Of e-mail them to neilmedia@earthlink.net Wendy Armacost said that she will arrange for a very nice brunch service for our Sunday morning affair at the Armacost Classic Auto Museum. The needs for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians will be taken into account. Gretchen Miller Buchanan remarked that preparations are nicely underway for the creation of the very nice pottery centerpieces for the tables at our Saturday night dinner. |
Report
on our meeting Next Meeting:
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July
26, 2000 Reunion reservations and payments are now coming in at a brisk pace and our list of those who are coming is growing daily. |
Report
on our meeting Next Meeting: |
July 12, 2000 About 20 members of our committee met at Bob Haskin's home and were treated to some very fine hospitality by Bob and his wife Cindy. Dick Heimovocs and Joby Jobson from the Class of '59 attended and gave us a presentation on the War Memorial that both of our classes have maintained at SME over the years. Dick and Joby explained that they have initiated a fund-raising effort to obtain money to both upgrade and maintain the memorial, which honors the various members of our classes who died in the service of our country. We will be appointing a subcommittee who will work with the Class of '59's committee to work out details. Bob Haskin passed around a very nice sympathy card for all of us to sign...and then send to Don and Wendy Armacost. Don's dad passed away just a few days before the meeting. All of us join in extending our sorrow to them for their loss. Don and Wendy have been very active in our planning and all of us missed them at this meeting. Randy Neil passed out a preliminary budget for our Reunion events which shows us staying in black ink if we draw a minimum of 125 classmates to the festivities. Our "breakeven point" was pegged at 100 classmates in attendance. In order to make sure we stage a financially-successful event, we will hold our next meeting just two weeks after this one in order to make plans for us to call all "found" classmates on the phone. This phone call campaign, similar to the one we did in 1985, should give us a fairly accurate idea of how many classmates (and spouses) to expect. It should be noted that, from now on, our committee will be meeting much more often in order to make sure that no lapses occur in our planning. We invite all classmates to join us at these meetings. If you've missed them lately, do plan to return...'cause now's when we really need you! We discussed the need to hire a professional photographer whose job it would be to take photographs during the reunion events. By doing this we will make sure to have lots of photos to place on our website following the event. Candy Wick mentioned that she would contact a photographer she knows and get some idea of the cost for this. Steve Dudley suggested that we obtain sponsors for various events and tangibles for the Reunion. For instance, a sponsor could pay for the centerpieces at the Saturday night dinner, as well as other items and activities, like the sound system for the Friday and Saturday events. This idea was met with a good amount of enthusiasm. Steve will explore it further. Randy noted that incoming responses to our first invitational mailing were coming in slowly. It was decided that we should make a "reminder" mailing to all classmates (perhaps a large post card) some time in early August. Barb Nash and others discussed the plans for the Friday night reception and, because the Harvey House Room at the Union Station is essentially an "empty, cavernous hall," we should spruce it up with decorations, music, tablecloths, etc. Jim Chalfant, who is chairman of our Friday night committee, said that these kinds of things would definitely be done. A key item on the agenda for our next meeting will be the actual plans for the Saturday night dinner. As we have long since agreed, there will be NO lengthy program like we had at the last reunion in 1985. The key objective of this, and all events at the reunion, will be to encourage people to mingle and have fun in a casual atmosphere. |
Report
on our meeting Next Meeting: |
June 15, 2000 About 20 members of our committee turned out for this meeting on the beautiful patio behind Steve Dudley's home in Overland Park (Click to see some color photos taken at this meeting). It was Steve's birthday and his lovely wife, Marles, prepared a special cake for the occasion. We were also pleased to welcome Candy Wick and Lorelei Richardson to this meeting. First item on the agenda was the committee's selection of the design (for both the front cover and interior pages) of our REUNION YEARBOOK. Randy Neil had been assigned the task of designing this publication at one of our earliest meetings last fall. The committee voted unanimously to approve Randy's designs (click here to get a look at the front cover). He also explained that the book should end up having 120 pages which will include biographical sketches and photographs of all classmates who have submitted these to us. The book will be "perfect-bound" (just like a quality paperback book). Also included will be many illustrated "featurettes" about people and national and local events from our high school era. The committee was urged to come up with some ideas for these. The Reunion Yearbook will be a colorful and important souvenir of our 40th anniversary Reunion. The committee decided to invite any of S-ME's teachers (from our era) who would like to attend our Reunion events. A majority of the committee voted to allow these fine people to attend these events without charge. Todd Cannon is securing a list of all of the our teachers who are still living so that we can create a section on our website about them...as well as issue invitations to them. In order to acquire "seed money" for our continued planning for the Reunion, each member of the committee will bring her/his registration fees to the next meeting. Gae Lindsay reported that the main invitational mailing to all classmates will be made in the coming week. A group of committee members will meet next week to stuff envelopes and get the mailing ready to be sent. Gae did a wonderful job with the design of this mailing and all of us offer her our compliments and warmest thanks! Gretchen Miller Buchanan, in her capacity as chair of our Decorations Committee, reported that she has arranged for the assistance of the S-ME Arts Department to construct some very lovely flower vases which will be filled and used as centerpieces at each table at our Saturday night dinner. This is a wonderful gesture...and we plan to feature the artist and her work in our Reunion Yearbook. Russ May reported his update on his progress in locating classmates. He explained that 410 have now been found...plus the names of 30 members of our class who are deceased. This leaves only 66 classmates who have not been found. Randy mentioned that "E-Mail Bulletins" are starting to be sent to all classmates for whom we have e-mail addresses (about 175) and that these bulletins will continue to be sent on a periodic basis to update classmates on our plans. It should be mentioned that there will be a special tour of Shawnee-Mission East on the Saturday of our Reunion. Classmates will receive information on this tour as our Reunion draws nearer. Todd Cannon mentioned that it would be good to have, as a part of this tour, someone from the S-M district who can explain what is going on with our schools these days. For those of you who live outside KC, it might surprise you to know that the State Legislature has implemented new school financing statutes that could threaten the quality of our great school system. It was reported that some of our classmates who live outside Kansas City have volunteered to help with various aspects of the Reunion...like serving at the registration table, helping Gretchen Miller Buchanan with the decorations, etc. If you would like to volunteer to help out (we'd love to have your help!), just E-Mail Us. |
Report
on our meeting Next Meeting:
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May
18, 2000 Don and Wendy Armacost hosted our barbecue and provided some fine hotdogs and burgers which Don cooked himself. The event was held on the lower level of the Armacost Automobile Museum. We were pleased to welcome some new faces to our committee...including Donna Lowe Mastalio and Burt Rhea. And it was great to see Marty Gage Elton back again. We should emphasize that EVERY classmate is welcome at all of our meetings...so if you're reading this and still live in or near KC (or when you're in town for a visit), do put us on your calendar! |
Report
on our meeting Next Meeting:
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April 9, 2000 Our meeting was again held at Don Armacost's classic automobile museum in Grandview. The chief agenda item at this meeting was discussion of the price that will be charged to classmates for the Reunion Weekend events. Though a final decision has yet to be made, there was general agreement that the overall price would be around $125---which would include: 1) Friday night reception at the Union Station; 2) Saturday night dinner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel; 3) Sunday morning brunch at the Armacost Museum; 4) Full color reunion group photograph; 5) the Reunion Yearbook; and 6) the shared cost of reunion expenses (mailings, decorations, music, etc.). It was, however, agreed that, when a classmate registers and pays the above fee, spouses of classmates should only be charged the actual cost of their choice of the reception, dinner and/or brunch. Initial designs for the front cover (color) of the Reunion Yearbook were shown to the committee. Decision on the eventual chosen design will be made later. The committee also decided to use our website to begin trying to find the many teachers from S-ME who may be available to attend the Reunion. Russ May reported that 394 of our classmates have now been found and our database includes the mailing addresses of all of these. Sadly, Russ also reported that 29 of our classmates are known to have passed away. Approximately 84 classmates have yet to be found. The Saturday Night Committee was asked to work on the creation and implementation of our main invitational mailing which is to be sent to all found classmates some time in late May. This committee will meet before the next meeting to work on this. We were excited to welcome Bruce Pfuetze (our 2000 co-chairman and chairman of our 1985 Reunion) to his first meeting since last fall. Bruce has had a number of commitments that have kept him from attending. Jim Littlejohn drove all the way Todd Cannon brought up the need for music during our reception events. Randy Neil noted that Jeff Ward and Larry Denny had volunteered to put together some CD's of the music from our era that can be used for any or all of our events. The Saturday Night Committee reported that they are organizing the program for the dinner into several five-minute segments, each of which will be staged by a male and female classmate. Each of these pairs of classmates will devise their own five-minute "program" using subject matter of their choice. Discussion was also held concerning how we can make sure that the Saturday night dinner is devoted to getting people to mingle and enjoy themselves. Randy Neil reported that special E-Mail Bulletins will begin to be sent to classmates (those who have given us their e-mail addresses) in the next month. These bulletins will feature updates and reminders about the Reunion Weekend. Randy also reported that our website is constantly growing and numerous classmates have visited it and are using it to contact other classmates. Subsequent to the meeting Barb Miles reported that she had located the same photographer we used in 1985 to take the giant color group photo of all classmates attending the Reunion. This is great news considering the kind of service and quality this photographer provided us then. |
Report on our meeting of March 12th... Next Meeting: |
March
12, 2000 In addition to Wendy and Don Armacost, who hosted the meeting, we welcomed Judy Daneke Abernathy, Bob Haskins, Bob Boley, and Larry Denny who have joined our committee. More than 25 of our classmates have now participated in our meetings to date. Four committees were appointed: 1) Friday Night...with Susie Standke Tozier and Ford Nelson, 2) Saturday Night...with Barb Miles, Judy Abernathy, Steve Dudley, Randy Neil, and Jim Chalfant; 3) Sunday Brunch...Don and Wendy Armacost; and 4) The Hospitality/Reception Committee which will be comprised of all members of the main Reunion Committee. These committees are charged with creating and setting up the activities for the Reunion. Russ May gave a fine report telling us that 368 classmates have now been found---thus exceeding the "found's" we located for our 1985 25th Reunion. Our first announcement mailing have been sent to classmates (out on March 8th). Only 111 classmates have yet to be found. Russ also reported that 28 of our classmates are known to have passed away. The next mailing---and the most important one of all---will go out some time in May and the Saturday Night Committee was charged with putting this mailing package together. This mailing will be the "official invitation" for the Reunion and will encourage classmates to sign up for events and pay for them. Randy Neil mentioned that we should follow up with yet another mailing some time in late summer. In addition, Randy announced that, coinciding with the #2 mailing, special "E-Mail Bulletins" will begin being sent to all classmates who have given us their e-mail addresses. Barb Miles is homing in on the actual costs for our Saturday night dinner---which should be a buffet-style meal service. The costs for our Friday Night Reception at the Union Station and the Sunday Brunch were pegged at approximately $12 and $11, respectively. Randy remarked that, in addition to these meal charges and the amount we will charge for our Reunion Yearbook, we will have to add a certain figure to cover our miscellaneous costs (i.e., mailings, phone calls, etc.). The format for the Reunion Book was also discussed and Randy is getting printing estimates so that we can make some decisions on what the book will look like. We also discussed inviting the teachers from during the period we were at S-ME. It is intended that a "Teacher Finder" section be installed on our website to help with this.
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Report on our meeting of February 13th... Next Meeting: |
February 13, 2000 Fifteen of our classmates attended this meeting. It was agreed that our first announcement mailing (via regular mail, not e-mail) will be made to all "found" classmates by early March. The design for this mailing was shown and approved by the committee. It will include a special card that people can use to help us find more "lost" classmates. Biggest news at the meeting was our decision to hold our Friday Night Reception (October 20, 2000) at the Harvey House Room at Kansas City's wonderfully-restored UNION STATION! A very appropriate location considering how many of us have memories of our great train station during its golden years. By the time our Reunion takes place, the station will be connected to Crown Center and our Hyatt Regency Hotel via a glass-enclosed, air-conditioned walkway. Another piece of important news is that our Saturday night banquet (the biggest event of the Reunion) will NOT (Repeat: NOT) have a lengthy program---and will be geared to allow us to mingle and table hop. After all, isn't that what this reunion is all about?? A full-scale invitational mailing to all classmates will be made in early May---which will include a registration blank for people to confirm their attendance at the Reunion. One of the most important (and most amazing) things that is happening is the growth of our list of "found" classmates. Russ May reported that his fine work has put the list at 313 names...up by nearly 100 names since our last meeting!! All events for the Reunion are now in place. A hospitality suite will be open at the Hyatt all during the weekend...as a general meeting and gathering place. Main events will kick off Friday night with the Union Station reception. On Saturday there will be a tour of S-ME in the morning with the remainder of the day left for classmates to simply enjoy themselves. Saturday night is the Banquet at the Hyatt...and then a wonderful brunch on Sunday morning at Don Armacost's fabulous classic car museum. The one key thing to be emphasized throughout this great weekend is its casual nature. We are committed to making it an event where you will have plenty of time to find old friends and enjoy some good times with them. Interested in joining our committee for some of the best fun you'll ever have! Every one of you is invited to attend our next committee meeting. See you there? |
| Report
on our meeting of January 9th...
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January 9, 2000 The dates for the 40th Anniversary "Y2K" Reunion have been set! It will take place on October 20-22, 2000, with the headquarters hotel being the Hyatt Regency at Crown Center. Things are progressing very nicely---with much, much THANKS due to Russ May who has worked tirelessly to build our mailing list of "found" classmates to over 200. Russ gave us a very detailed report on his work. About 15 classmates assembled for this meeting. Barb Nash Miles said that we are ready to sign the contract with the hotel and this was arranged with committee co-chairman Bruce Pfuetze right after the meeting. Susie Standke Tozier is also working on securing the Union Station for our Reunion Events. Co-chairman Randy Neil said that we are about ready to assemble the various committees who will plan the separate activities/events. He also said that we are about ready to make our first promotional mailing to classmates---scheduling this to happen in late February. Jim Chalfant suggested that we also invite members of the classes of '59 and '61 to the event...and this was agreed upon. Nancy Hayes made an excellent suggestion: that we point the theme of our Reunion to what our Class of '60 can do in the world of the future---and not just reflect upon the past. Thanks, Nancy! It was decided that we will soon begin putting the list of "found" members (together with their e-mail addresses) on our website. This should happen well before our next meeting. A list of "not founds" will also be posted. In addition, our website will soon have a Bulletin Board where any site visitor can post messages---and we will also soon begin sending E-Mail Update Bulletins to all classmates for whom we have e-mail addresses. Have YOU been to a Reunion Committee meeting yet? If not, make plans to join us! You won't believe the fun we're having! |
| Report
on our meeting of December 5th... Next
Meeting:
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December 5, 1999 We were pleased to have as our guest Ann Holmes from the Class of '59 who described their recent reunion and gave us some tips. And we are also grateful to Jim Chalfant who, like he did in 1985, has arranged for us to meet in the beautiful conference room of his company's office building. Lesley Hagood Kennedy reported that she and Russ and Dorothy Kelly May have already found the names and addresses for more than 160 of our classmates. This is a huge first step in assembling our mailing list which, in the end, we hope will total well over 400. (Our class graduated over 480) We plan to make our first mailing to announce the Y2K Reunion some time in February. Barbara Nash Miles reported on her investigation of various hotels and we have tentatively agreed to make the Hyatt Regency/Crown Center our official Reunion Hotel. Barb really did her homework on this and we offer her our sincere thanks! We also agreed to make the Reunion weekend last a bit longer than it did in 1985 at our 25th reunion. Events will begin with casual cocktails in a hospitality suite in our hotel on Thursday night. On Friday night: a reception possibly at the Union Station (Susie Standke Tozier is looking into this). A tour of SME during the day on Saturday along with another daytime get-together of some kind. The Saturday night dinner (Todd Cannon wisely suggested that we set up this event so that it will be much easier to mingle than a normal "banquet" style activity) at the Hyatt. On Sunday morning, we are looking into a special brunch at noon at Don Armacost's fabulous classic car museum. Many of these activities, if not all of them, will be firmed up when we meet on January 9th. Steve Dudley reported that he has moved our "seed fund" of over $1,600 (which was originally in a certificate of deposit) to a money market account so that we can have ready access to it. You're invited! All members of our class are invited to participate in our Reunion Planning. As Steve Dudley said at our December meeting, "The Reunion planning turns out to be just as much fun, if not MORE, than the Reunion itself." Will we see you on January 9th! We hope so!
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| Reunion
Committee Taking Shape |
Early November 1999 Your Y2K Reunion began moving forward on the scheduling of an October 2000 Reunion Weekend during our meeting on November 7th at the Doubletree Hotel in Overland Park. Bruce Pfeutze and Randy Neil were named co-chairmen of the committee. Members of the committee, so far on board and who attended the meeting, are Susie Standke Tozier, Russ and Dorothy Kelly May, Barbara Nash Miles, Lesley Hagood Kennedy, Susan Davis Benson, Steve Dudley, Judy Eggenberger Wiglesworth, and Jim Chalfant. we expect the committee to expand to as many as 40 members or more--- You can sign up to join the committee by going to our SPECIAL REUNION SIGN-IN FORM. Just click the hyperlink. Jim Chalfant has arranged for our Committee meetings to take place in one of the buildings in Corporate Woods and the date and time for each meeting will be posted on our website's Home Page at least two weeks in advance. |
| Seed Money!! | We were pleasantly surprised (an understatement!) when Steve Dudley announced at our November 7th meeting that our class has maintained a bank CD ever since our 25th reunion in 1985. With interest, it's now worth over $1,600---which is more than enough to provide us with "seed money" to begin making arrangements for the Y2K Reunion! Buy Mr. Dudley a beer! |
| OUR MOST IMPORTANT TASK! | The single most important duty of your Committee
is to locate the name and address (and hopefully, the e-mail address, too) of every member
of the SME Class of 60. If so, please E-Mail Us Now. You can also use the special SIGNIN FORM. Every classmate whose address we have will be kept up to date on our plans...and sent a special invitation the the Reunion. |
| THE
S-M EAST VETERANS MEMORIAL |
Dick Heimovics, Dan Patz, Dick Moser, and Joby Jobson from the Class of '59 (who recently held their 40th reunion) are teaming up with our co-chairmen to link our two class reunion committees together in providing ongoing care for the Veterans Memorial that was constructed 15 years ago by our two classes on the south lawn of S-ME. We hope that every member of our class will take an interest in this profoundly important project and help contribute to it. Our website will keep you informed about our progress. |
Bookmark our Class of '60 website now...and
check this page often for updated information on the Y2K Reunion coming in October 2000.
Lots of exciting plans are being made!
