BHS65 Committee Meeting Minutes January 15, 2005
The first official meeting for the 40th year BHS Class of 65 Reunion Committee convened at 1PM on January 15, 2005 at the home of Dianne (Schadegg) Bush. Attendees were Dianne (Schadegg) Bush, Gary Pine, Ginny (Vielehr) Pine, Marsha (Pearson) Hovde, Don Hovde, Ron McGuckin, Larry Orme, Linda (Grotzky) Orme, Alice (Bayne ) Bush and Ronny Bush
The meeting was called to order by Ronny Bush, class president from 40 years ago. Bush began the meeting asking those in attendance if anyone would like to chair the committee and thus be the person to whom the buck can be passed. In the absence of any volunteer, Bush agreed by default to shoulder the responsibility but only with the understanding that mutiny would be encouraged early and often.
Bush introduced the second order of business which was to give credit to the 30-year committee members for an outstanding 30-Year Reunion. The list of committee members was found in the 30-YR Memory Books which were bought to this meeting by Schadegg ,Grotzky and Vielehr. Bayne asked if all the previous reunion committee members were contacted and invited to this initial meeting. Bush gave the historical background for this initial meeting saying that he did not have a list of past members and the meeting was called in haste. Bush said, with the list now in hand, he will personally contact these classmates and invite them to our February meeting. Bush went on to say that he sees this year as a move to engage a global committee network. His vision is to engage classmates from all over the world to become our global members adding that there can be many committee activities done from remote locations. Global members cannot substitute for locals getting together and doing the core work but they can expand the value of our class unity. He will also extend an invitation to anyone else in the Boulder area who has not participated on the committee in the past. Someone pointed out that too large of a committee can be a problem. Bush said that when that occurs we will need to remind each other to behave.
Grotzky provided a treasurer’s report. Some money was left over from the 30-year reunion. A small excess above $500 was donated to Boulder High School. An amount of $500 was placed in a Certificate of Deposit 10 years ago and has a current value of $863. Grotzky, Vielehr and Schadegg are signors on the account. The account is with First Bank and is in the name Boulder High School Class of 65. The account will be unchanged at this time. We may need to transfer the money to a checking account very soon. Grotzky and Bush will work on that issue before the next meeting in February.
Bush asked committee members to provide candid remarks about reunions in general, the 30-year reunion and thoughts about the 40-year one coming up. Here is a summary of the comments:
McGuckin: Keep it less formal, less structured. He liked the reservoir, golf, a woodsy, not a formal dance.
Hovde: agreed, less formal, variety. He said dance music tends to cut off conversation. May have too much emphasis on dance but too few dancers.
Pearson: likes it less formal and would like to see a street dance.
Vielehr: Friday night Downtown Boulder is a great place. It takes no organizing and we don’t have to collect money. Great flexibility. She suggested we consider renting the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art on 13th street for Saturday night main event of a catered buffet and dance. (Note: facility rents for $325 a hour plus $150 cleaning fee. We provide a caterer, bar, sound system. See BMOCA.org )
Pine: Agreed with all that was said previously and adds that he prefers a casual reunion and lots of variety of activities. Note: Pine’s suggestion of offering many options was expanded on during a break. What about offering guided tours by local classmate to new attraction, an historical building tour, an art walk, tour of homes of the rich and famous, special interests tour, specialty foods tour, nature trails walk, a shopping tour, and such things as a painting workshop, photography workshop, trail riding, and oh yes, bird watching.
Grotzky: There was some material on the web site regarding the consideration of a reunion outside of Boulder. Grotzky is strongly in favor of it staying in Boulder.
Orme: prefers a less formal reunion especially the main event. Because of the good feedback from the 30th we should keep a similar format.
Bayne: The Memory Book is expensive to print and of the 450 original classmates only about 120 attend the reunion and not everyone buys a copy. She suggested we consider making the memory book a part of the web site bhs65.com. Not only would everyone have access to it, it could be kept current with a perpetual web site and could be printed upon demand. Hard copies could be requested (in person, by phone or letter) by someone without web access and sent to them via sail mail. Thus, we now enter the age of on-demand publishing.
Bush: Thinks the Las Vegas idea was good because of low cost air, low cost ground transportation, great facilities at really good prices and an overall good value for the money. Secondly, Boulder High School has been contacted both by letter and by phone to provide the front desk with contact information regarding the reunion. The front desk will give Bush's contact information plus the web address bhs65.com. Vielehr and McGuckin will follow up to see that the information is on file. According to the front desk at BHS it is a very active area for inquiries about reunions. Classmates.com is a very expensive way to exchange information. The bhs65.com web site will be the center of information and key to communications both now and in the future.
The main discussion of the meeting then moved to facilities and activities. These are the major elements that surfaced:
1. We need an initial hospitality reception area. We used Boulder Reservoir before. It is a good place and very casual. Weather is splendid at that time of year especially for the 7 pm to 10 pm time slot.
2. Golf was popular and will be organized by McGuckin. It will be either Friday or Saturday.
3. Saturday morning needs an morning gathering area; a place from which to springboard into several optional group activities or just to begin the day. The lobby of a host hotel would be good. The hotel may have restaurant. It might be a place to gather and then in small groups head to the 16th street mall in a more casual manner ordering from a menu at any of the many wonderful eating places in Boulder.
4. Saturday daytime events. We could offer our out of town classmates a variety of tours of Boulder including new developments, old and new attractions, short hikes, bike rides, etc. We could form interest groups with workshops on photography, drawing, painting, bird watching, chess, and eating.
5. Saturday evening would be dinner and a social event (the committee prefers the term Main Event over the use of the term dinner dance). Boulder dinner banquets, buffets and plated dinners start at $50 a plate and go up from there. The committee is concerned about costs and wants to find a way to not only keep the cost low but to also provide flexibility with dining options. The committee has previously agreed that informality is high on the list of priorities. McGuckin suggested a pig roast on a farm. Vielehr and Schadegg will do more research on this before the February meeting.
6. Sunday late morning Good bye picnic. This was held at the 30th on the BHS property south of the high school near the river. It was good then and should be good again this year.
7. We should have a Class Party in 2006 the first weekend in February in Las Vegas and every year on the first weekend in February.
8. Bush will research hotels in the area to see if there are any willing to work a good deal. Hovde said Mark Schipper may have information on discounted rates. Bush will contact him.
We extend our thanks and gratitude to Dianne Schadegg Bush for the use of her home.
The next meeting will be held and the Pines’ on February 12th at 1 PM.
Meeting adjured at 3:30 PM. McGuckin (aka Windy) was the last to leave.
Minutes by Bush
