Paul  Schwehm, President, called to order the conference call meeting of the board at 11:05 EST. All members were present except Bill Golden, Far West Regional representative and Bob Gadd, Mid-American representative.

     The Board proceeded to follow the outline for the meeting set  by 2^nd VP, John Hocker as follows after he called for an attendance count:

      UPDATES ON THE STATUS OF CLASS CRESTS FOR COFFEE SHOP AND KIOSK

       Paul Schwehm stated that bids are being asked for the installation of the completed Coffee Shop class crest. Bids are being requested by Elena Meskill, class of '99 who is the Director of Class Giving for the AOG.  Bids are being requested for the design of another class crest to “cover over” the Academy crest in our class Kiosk.

       Paul also stated that work is still in progress on the signing of maintenance agreements for our class gifts and for maintenance of the Kiosk.

        FINANCIAL REPORT

        Walt Rabe, class Treasurer, submitted a written financial analysis and audit of the class funds to the board in advance of our meeting.  Don Sadler will post this  report on the class web site and inform the class members that it is available.

         In summary,  we have a balance of $25,293.41 in two funds available. Those funds are the administration fund invested by AOG and the class reunion fund which is non-interest bearing.

         Except for reunion activities, expenditures from the Class funds are minimal, so our fund balances will be more than adequate to handle the transition costs in advance of our 60^th reunion. We currently have a small amount owed for the production of the class medals presented at the 55^th reunion to Stokes, Kovel, and Kehoe.

          John Ramsden inquired about the need for an independent audit of all class finances. Paul Schwehm explained that this years audit by Walt Rabe was for the past boards expenditures done by Walt when he was not on the Board. A audit will have to be completed by an independent classmate sometime in the next year.

           PREPARATION FOR AND PUBLICATION OF MEMORIAL ARTICLES

           Fred Smith covered the status of  Cadet company coordinators for the preparation of Memorial Articles for deceased classmates. We currently have all 24 cadet company coordinators in place. Don Sadler will update the class rosters by company to show who is the coordinator in each company and to indicate if an article has been written on that classmate.  We currently have 29 classmates who have Memorial Article information on file with the AOG.  Fred will be sending out a tool kit of information to each coordinator shortly that will assist them in guiding classmates on gathering information to be filed with the AOG for future articles to be written.

           A discussion then ensued regarding the motivation of widows to complete the process of preparing memorial articles on their classmate spouses.   John Ramsden indicated that different people have had different results on the matter of completing this process.  The family must sign off on the article before  AOG will publish it.  We urge all classmates to more fully embrace the concept of preparing a draft Memorial Article and then submitting it to AOG for future use by whomever prepares the final article.

          HONOR PLAZA – CONDITION AND REPAIR PLAN

          Bill Ray, 2^nd VP is our class contact (POC) for the repair of the Honor Plaza. He inspected the site in October of this year. He reports that the plaza is in worse shape that previously reported and that past temporary repairs by The West Point Director of Public Works (DPW) have turned out to be inadequate.  The foundation is failing leading to gaps between the monument and the step under the monument. There is also a large gap in the wall joint to the right of the monument. Pavers throughout the floor of  the monument are dark and in need of re pointing  Re pointing is needed throughout the monument walls and floor pavers.

         A selection committee consisting of Bill Ray, Elena Meskill of the AOG and John Calabro, Senior VP and COO of the AOG will be formed to select a contractor to make repairs. The contractor will be tasked to identify the problem, design the repairs and then make the repairs. A full RFP process will be conducted by this committee to include a detailed menu of work items and individual costs such that a selection of a contractor can be made on work qualifications and price. Bill Ray suggested that final selection should not be made on price alone. 

          The suggested time frame for a contractor site visit is April-May of 2013 with repairs hopefully made in the June-July 2013 time frame

           The Board conducted a discussion of where the funds for these repairs should come from. Conceptually,  the class is responsible for the maintenance of class gifts. We have a designated class endowment of $50,000 for the maintenance of all our class gifts. This contract is still not agreed to and signed with the Academy and many feel that the interest on this amount which we are allowed to spend, would be greatly inadequate to make these repairs. In addition we have $199,000 still remaining in our class gift fund. Potentially, with class approval, some of these funds could be used.  Since our gift was tied to and a part of the total Thayer Walk project , many feel that we should explore what responsibility that the Academy should have for their part of the Thayer walk construction, what soil tests were initially made and what design considerations that were made that might have led to our memorial failures as noted above.  Ray Karsian suggested that Bill Ray explore how our memorial site design was tied to the overall Thayer walk project. Max Kovel suggested that bringing in John Stokes and Gerry Galloway for their knowledge and opinions should pursued. He also suggested we contact the original architect through classmate Jack Adams as they may have some technical details we can use.

            Bill Ray hopes to get some general idea of costs by sometime after  March 2013 to present to the Board for review.

           THE PRESIDENTS 60TH REUNION CLASS SURVEY

           Paul Schwehm has suggested and formulated a survey for the entire class  with the Boards input and approval to be sent out to measure classmate interest or not in an “off date” meeting for our 60^th reunion. The basic intent of this survey is to see if we could use and get into the Thayer hotel for our 60^th reunion. Now with ever larger and longer living classes, the Thayer is reserved for the 65^th, 70^th and 75^th reunion classes on the prime dates such as memorial weekend etc.

            Don Sadler will package the survey electronically, send it to the Regional representatives who will in turn send it out to their membership. A link will be imbedded in the survey request that will enable respondents to input their response direct into a data base setup by Don Sadler. Those who do not have e-mails will receive a mailed survey. Regional reps will enter their returned mailed responses into the electronic database. Ray Karsian will contact Bill Golden and Bob Gadd, regional reps who were not at this meeting as to their responsibilities.

           Two final items. Max Kovel reported that he ordered  35 class crest pins, 28 are gone, he kept five and he has two left. Anyone who wishes one of the two remaining can get it from Max at $109 per pin which includes handling and mailing costs.  Max also has received information from Sam Morthland on a mini mid-year reunion cruise proposed on the Mississippi in 2014. He will get any information  out to the the board first for review before the program is offered to the class as a whole.

           The conference call meeting was adjourned at 12:06 pm Eastern Standard time. The next meeting is expected in January 2013.

   Respectively Submitted

   Raymond T. Karsian
   Class Secretary 1957