Saturday, August 20, 2011

A Little Note from Gary Malin

We got an email from Gary Malin that ought to be shared:

 
I spoke with Steve today and he has arranged his vacation get away.   He may not want to share much, but he is also sharing his time away with others that he knows and all will enjoy  the beach and a tour of the Pensacola Navy museum.  Will be giving them a personal tour of the museum and a morning "Blue Angels"  practice flight on Tuesday. 
 
I did appreciate the sentiments of those who came by to see my wife and I as we said our goodbyes to my mother last week.   I was even more surprised when "mother Nelson" and Paul's sister  stopped by the funeral home to pay there respects.  For those who did not know, Paul Nelson's mother, referred to by many as  "mother Nelson"  took care of the guys who wandered in and out of her home over our high school days, and I never forgot her kindness to me as one of those "guys"  and the many antics that we pulled during school and the happy times as she fed and provided sleeping quarters for after late nite antics.   Tom Waterman and Linda and Milt joined the stream coming in to pay respects, my mother lived 93 years raised 10 children and 37 grandchildren, 47 great grandchildren and was the glue that bound an Evansville family in nearly every walk of life.  She will be missed by all who knew her.
 
I am pleased to see how so many of my classmates came thru on the vacation giveaway and it apparent that those working on the 45th reunion are doing a bang-up job at making it memorable time for all.  Keep up the great work Linda, Milt and the rest of the team.
Gary Malin
I just think this little fundraiser ended up doing far more than just helping to raise funds. I'm just sorry that the Courier Press failed to include "Malin" in Gary's Mom's name. We missed it in the paper ourselves, and we were looking. Had they done so, I think there probably would have been more classmates at the showing.  

So to officially close this Summer fundraiser, the winner, Steve Frohbieter has booked his Orange Beach Condo vacation with tour of the Pensacola Naval Air Museum and Blue Angel practice flight (that's the surprise bonus - surprise to me too)

Thanks again to all who participated so generously to this truly successful fundraiser. And watch for more class activities to come. We heard rumors of a Scott School get-together and who knows what other little informal get togethers are yet to come. Ain't it just great? Don't forget to send us pictures!

One final thing: Does anyone out there have any pictures from the 10th, besides the telephoto long distance giant group thing that we have on the website already?

 

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Photos Found

Patty Qualls found a little stash of photos from a reunion and it turns out that it was the 30th at, that's right, Echo Valley.  for which we only had two group shots. These are candids and are a lot clearer but Patty did mention that Echo Valley can be a dark place. I have a feeling that is by choice, and while I don't want it to look like a hospital operating room or a booth at Tropic Tan, I also don't want it to be any darker than the Cottonwood was. I thought that was about right, and still there were some photos that didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I always like to see what I'm eating, and if it's too dark to see who you're talking to, it's probably too dark to take good photos.

Anyway, the new old photos can be found at http://www.reitz67.com/html/30.html. The first one under the two big group shots is somewhat of a mystery best solved by someone who actually attended. I thought it was Tom Sales and Terry Hurt just based on their current directory photos. Anyone? The rest are probably obvious. It's good to have a few more from that occasion and it did get me to think about the photo situation next year. I've got some plans that will be made more difficult if the place can be better lit.

Even though we're still a year out, we can't not do a little plottin' and schemin' and we will be calling Susan Turpin Gibson's son, owner of Paradise Printing about lead times for silk screened T Shirts so we know when we will have to pull the trigger if we do it for the Reitz home game on Reunion Weekend.

We're also starting to compile information about cruises for next year for the Class Cruise to Somewhere. Based upon the current level of participation expressed, this is starting to look good. And fun. Hopefully we can find something less common in the way of a destination. Usually, when cruise information or AAA books start showing up in the mailbox, it means we're going somewhere or someone (Linda) is thinking about going somewhere (which is practically the same thing). This time, I know it's for the Class Cruise.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

A Study in Contrasts

As some of you may know, I've been working, with Linda's tenacious help, to create a directory for my own Wayne Valley High School class without the help of the reunion committee. Since this personal project of mine has put me at odds with the committee, who are chiefly concerned with a select group to attend and if others do attend, that's okay too; It just further emphasizes the contrast with what we have tried to do for the Reitz '67 events.

We have set policy that class funds will not be used to pay for alcohol. We don't have anything against it in principle; we just don't want non drinkers to subsidize those who do indulge.  We have tried, through various fund raisers completed and planned in the near future, to bolster the class coffers to keep event charges as low as possible in an attempt to allow as many people as possible to attend without having to eat cat food. We're hoping to be looking at $25 a head because of the bigger place and table service versus the DIY approach at the Spring Get Together. In contrast, Wayne reunions are now up to $75 a head to pay for booze and it's not even for a sit down meal. Anyone for a pasta bar?

It really does look like there will be a home football game (albeit Harrison, to whom we will probably deliver the usual annual drubbing) with school tour prior to the game (this has to be planned with Beth Hagan, the Reitz activities director) on Friday, Sept 7, 2012. Larry Broerman is working on the annual Reitz Men's Golf Outing for Saturday morning, Sept. 8. And then of course, the big event on Saturday evening. When we get a little closer, and start asking for attendance commitments and such, Ralph "Ed" Branch will probably be wanting to revisit the local hotel discount situation too although his research to date indicates that we're already at rock bottom in the market anyway.....

Now Delores Overbey Howard mentioned something about matching T-Shirts for the football game. That would be cool but would require some organization. Any volunteers? Let's keep this in mind as an option. We can make a few calls to find out what kind of lead times we are talking about so we know when we have to pull the trigger to make this work. I have to admit, even before the 44th, I did have a vision of 200 or more Reitz 67 folks sitting in a big block in matching attire in the Bowl getting announced at halftime. Way cool! In contrast, the Wayne reunion committee is talking about a 2 mile walk around Packanack lake as an additional activity.

As some of you may have noticed, Linda is at the start of making inquiries about contact information changes in preparation for the big contact blast when we get all the events lined out. In contrast, the Wayne committee has sent invitations to people who are deceased.

Aren't you glad you went to Reitz?

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Congratulations

Congratulations are in order for Steve Frohbieter, winner of the condo drawing. He was surprised, based on his Facebook post:

Can't believe I won the drawing , for use of the condo, at Orange Beach , Alabama.It was quite a suprise , when Linda Yuan , told me I won. I am one of those guys that never win anything .I always just donate , and never give it another thought .WELL YOU CAN BET , THAT MY MIND IS RACING NOW. I want to thank Gary Malin for making this exceptionally great vacation vacation possible for me, He's a good man. Trying to decide when I will go ....... Thanks to Gary , Linda , Milton , and everyone , who helped to put this together ........... Steve .......




We are all delighted that someone who intends to use the condo in the spirit in which it was offered actually 
won. It was a matter of concern, leading to all the provisos after we started.


Planning for the 45 is cranking up and starting to actually look like things will fall into place. School tours, home football game, golf outing, it all seems to be feasible and if it turns out this way, it looks like a full and fun weekend is in store for everyone who attends any or all the events.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

And the Winner Is........

With much fanfare and great attendance for a quiet Sunday afternoon, the Orange Beach AL Condo drawing was held at the Parkway Pizza on Broadway. We announced that we would be pulling out 3 tickets, the winner, the 1st runner up, and the 2nd runner up. If the winner is unable to make arrangements with Gary Malin within 60 days, the 1st runner would be notified., etc., etc. (sorta like Miss America) That way we don't have to redraw.We also held a consolation prize for those present, 2 $25 meal cards which were won by Emma Ray Gilham and Paul Beck (who was in town to celebrate his mother's 90th birthday). So who won the condo for a week? Get on with it.

So when Milton stopped talking about what we were going to do and how, the drawing was held and the winner was.....(insert drum roll here).........Steve Frohbieter. First runner up is Steve Erwin. Second runner up is Phyllis Niehaus Happe.

Photos of the little drawing get-together will be posted on the Reitz67 website soon.

We also talked about plans for the Cruise to Somewhere, a class cruise, date, time and destination to be announced and the Spring Drawing for another fabulous vacation destination, again donated by a classmate.

And of course, we talked about next year's plans for the September 45th Reunion to be held on Saturday, September 8, 2012. We are really hoping that September 7 will be a Reitz home game, and Larry Broerman is trying to put together a golf event for Saturday for all the class duffers.

More later. That's the best part of all of this. There is always more later. We're hoping that this series of special events will help contribute to a greater sense of community in the class as we build up for the 45.

Friday, August 5, 2011

About those Bios.......

What with the excitement of the impending Condo drawing, the attendance for which we have no clue, I have been laying low with the idea of short little biographies for the website. I think Pam Carroll got one in. I'm thinking of  making threats at someone that I'll make something up for them if they don't come up with one soon. That's just the way this reunion committee works, though. Best performance under threat. Before that happens, do give it some thought. Jot it down on a post card and mail it, or email it to either Linda or myself, milton.yuan@gmail.com and I'll see that it gets posted. You can even phone it in for that matter.

There are some updates on the site, in particular for David Palmer, on the Memorial page. It's a short obit. For me, it's an opportunity to get to know someone who I will never meet.

Yes, I'm still cranking through the process of duplicating the year book and republishing it on CD, much like the Class Directory, and we are still updating the directory as we discover things, or as they are reported to us. We got an email with new information from James Riger, out in Nevada. That is also posted on the website on the classmates R page. I'm about 2/3rds through with the yearbook and have to say that I'm glad I didn't have to do my Wayne Valley yearbook. It is a couple hundred pages.

Combined with the search for Wayne Valley classmates and Linda's honey-do's, I have to go back to work to get some rest. At least the grass hasn't grown much.

Keep an eye on the site. We will be announcing the Condo Drawing winner there and here. And for all of you who participated in the drawing, or who took the opportunity to support the class with a cash donation, you have the gratitude of the Reunion Committee and the Class. And to the winner of the drawing, we expect to see a lot of postable pictures!