Paul Schwehm, President, called  the conference call meeting to order at 13:05 hours EST. All members were present at the meeting.

     The Board proceeded to follow the meeting outline set by 2nd VP, Johnny Hocker.

     Paul Schwehm restated the board policy for approval of past minutes. After writing  the minutes, Ray Karsian, Secretary, will distribute them to the board members for corrections, additions and approval.  He will then resolve and incorporate suggested changes and then re-submit the minutes to the Board for final approval. If after a week to ten days have elapsed and  no more changes are requested or received, the minutes will stand as approved and The Secretary will submit them to Don Sadler for posting on the class web site.

     PAST BUSINESS

     Paul Schwehm reviewed the progress on the class medals that were presented at our 55th reunion to Kovel, Kehoe and Stokes, the mounting of class crests in the Library and our maintenance contracts.  There was no further information  on these issues  presented.

     60TH REUNION CLASS SURVEY

     The primary purpose of this meeting was to analyze and discuss the results of the recent survey sent out to all classmates either electronically or by standard mail. There were 184 responses received with 139 classmates stating at this time they hoped to attend with the other 45 indicating they would not attend. 

     Paul Schwehm solicited comments in alphabetic order from the entire board. The following are the summarized opinions from this discussion.

The Early Spring weekend option received the greatest amount of weighted support and therefore appears to be the option which best meets classmate desires.

Use of the Hotel Thayer was discussed.  Concerns were voiced as to the cost of staying at the
Thayer and the ability and willingness of its management to negotiate a favorable contract so early in our decision making cycle.  We have received positive comments from other classes about using the Thayer. The class of 1953 will be having their 60th Reunion at the Thayer during  Retiree Weekend this April. From reporting by John Ramsden, they seemed pleased with their arrangements to date.

Planning our reunion around the Academy's established Retiree Weekend seems attractive in that it involves attendance at a Parade and lunch in Washington Hall.  More information must be gathered about the timing and other issues concerning this Spring option.

 It was the general consensus of the Board that the survey results indicated a fairly strong interest in having our 60th Reunion in the Spring, thus giving us the opportunity to use the Hotel Thayer. The added attraction of being able to see a parade if the reunion were held on Retiree weekend had good support from the Board. Max Kovel summarized his analysis of the survey as follows: we should come in the Spring, avoid congestion as much as possible, stay as close to the Academy as reasonable but not necessarily at the Hotel Thayer and strive for reasonable costs. Seeing a parade does have good support. There was no discussion.

 At this early date, our expected attendance numbers are in-line with an analysis that Paul Schwehm conducted using historical numbers of graduates attending their 60th reunion developed by the AOG.  That range of expected attendance by classmates would be between 120 to 130 attending.

     Paul Schwehm ended this discussion with the opinion that he wants to leave all options on the table at this point. We need to gather more information about the use of the Hotel Thayer and other classes experiences at their 60th.  Paul or some other board member may visit with the Thayer management during this summer's leadership conference. It was suggested we meet not only with marketing personnel but top management as well.  Paul will send out a summary letter to the entire class, giving classmates a feeling for the results of the survey.

      MINI REUNION IN 2014 – RIVER TRIP

      Max Kovel solicited more input from the Board as to the timing, length, cost and overall interest for a mini-reunion to be held on a U.S. river boat in 2014. He will be re-distributing to the Board electronic information about the trip and he encouraged all the members to give their input on such a trip.  With this input, he will work with Sam Morthland to structure a trip if it seems reasonable and of interest to the class.

     The conference call meeting was adjourned by Paul Schwehm at 13:55 pm EST.  The next meeting will be targeted for late March after Founders Day celebrations.

Respectively Submitted

Raymond T. Karsian
Class Secretary 1957