Paul Schwehm, class President, called to order the tele-conference meeting of the Board at 11:01 EST.  All members were present except for Bob Gadd, Mid-American representative who was attending his brothers funeral.

     The meeting proceeded to follow the outline set forth by 2nd VP, John Hocker as follows:

                                           GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

      The President had no general announcements.  Max Kovel was requested to present a status report on the proposed 2014 mini-reunion to be held as a River Cruise in May of 2014.  Max announced that 18 couples have shown interest, a number which is in-line with the attendance at our previous cruise on the Danube River in Europe.  Max will place the information and status of the proposed cruise on the class web site. Final costs will be established in May 2013  when Sam Morthland will be able to negotiate a final price.

                                              REPORT ON OUR FINANCES

     Walt Rabe, class Treasurer was asked for a finance report. He gave the following balances in our accounts.  
                                        Administrative Fund      $24,961.
                                        Class Checking Acct.     $1,262.
                                        Class Gift Fund.          $152,595

     Of the total in the gift fund, only $129,766 is available for use or gifting by the class. The remaining funds are not yet available because of the conditions made accompanying the gift. These totals do not include funds endowed for maintenance of our class gifts. We have two endowments, one for $50,000 with an additional $10,000 set aside for maintenance of the Honor kiosk.

     Paul then started a lively discussion within the Board seeking to answer the question: Should this Board initiate any new solicitations and additional funding from the class to add to our current balance in the Gift Fund?

      Several points were made by Board members as follows:

                 1.Traditionally, the last major gift given by a class is at its 50th reunion. 
                       We have made such a gift in the Honor Plaza in 2002 and gifts to the
                       Library in 2007.

                 2.   No solicitation of funds should be made of the class members unless
                       the Board could identify a specific project they wished to fund.

                 3.  No expenditures or allocation of the remaining balances in the fund
                      could be made without a vote of the class.

                 4.   The Academy currently has a comprehensive gift funding campaign
                       conducted by the Superintendent which is proceeding successfully
                       with over 50 major projects identified as needing funding.

       The discussion narrowed our options to the following choices for the use of the gift fund.  
 
                  1. We could specifically choose a project from the Superintendents  list,
                       narrow our choices and fund that chosen project.

                  2. We could turn the balance over to the Academy to use as they see fit.
  
                  3.  We could let the balance and the issue of the gift fund ride until our
                       class reunion in 2017, discuss the matter with the class then and turn
                       the decision over to the new Board elected at that reunion.

      The Board came to the consensus that no solicitation of additional funds from the class should be made to add to our gift fund. Paul Schwehm will send a letter to all class members stating this decision. He will indicate in that letter that any class member who wishes to contribute funds individually to West Point may do so  and all are encouraged to contribute as they see fit.

                                               HONOR PLAZA REPAIR
     
     Bill Ray, 1st Class VP., presented the status of the need for repair of the Honor Plaza and the steps being taken to develop a repair plan for the plaza. He presented the results of a report from Elena I. Meskill, an AOG employee at West Point.

     Her report on the inspection of the Thayer Walk-Honor Plaza indicated that the area is in need of regrading: the floor of the monument seems to be settling thus producing large gaps between the steps under the monument and a gap in the wall joint to the right of the monument. Pavers throughout the floor of the monument are in need of re-pointing and considerable re-caulking is needed throughout the monument.

     The Board generated a discussion as to who is responsible for the repair of the monument. Since our project was a part of the greater project of Thayer Walk and since the Secretary of the Army has accepted the Honor Plaza for the Army,  the Board tends to feel that West Point should be responsible for the needed repairs. However, given the financial situation faced by the Academy in light of current economic conditions, our class may have to assume the repair function to some degree. Bill Ray will be present in June at a meeting after graduation with Academy officials and the original architect and contractor to determine exactly what must be done and develop a plan to solve the problems.  Any future Board decisions will wait until this report is in, hopefully by our next meeting in July.

                                   MEMORIAL ARTICLES FOR CLASSMATES

     Fred Smith stated his and our goal as a class for memorial articles is to:
 
                   1.Complete a Memorial article for all deceased classmates.

                   2. For classmates still living, encourage them to file with AOG,  
                      the necessary data to be included in an article and to designate a classmate,
                      who has agreed to complete the project at the appropriate time.

      Fred works with all 24 company CQ’s and where possible, the families of the deceased classmate to achieve these goals.  Many CQ's are having difficulty getting data input and approval letters from the classmates families in order to complete an article.

                Currently there are 112 deceased classmates with no published memorial article, not including 7 ex-cadets, none of whom have had a memorial article published or in draft.  There are 9 completed and approved articles that will be published in the 2013 edition of Taps, leaving a balance of 103 to go, as of this date. We have 9 more articles in the process of being prepared. When and if these are approved for publication, our balance will drop below 100, which is felt to be a significant milestone in the effort to memorialize each deceased classmate.

                In order to minimize our outstanding balance of needed articles,   Fred believes it is essential that we convince, on a continuing basis, our living classmates to file , with the AOG a draft of their own memorial article.  Instructions as to how to do this are on our class web site. Fred suggests we remind our classmates of this need on a regular basis and in every communication we send to the class.

               Our current Box Score of needed articles  by Company is as follows: 
               The numbers in parens are articles that will appear in our 2013 TAPS:

                A-1:5,  B-1: 4 (1), C-1: 4 (2), D-1:5,  E-1: 4, F-1:7 (1), G-1:6, H-1:2, L-1:0
                K-1:3 (1), L-1:5 (2), M-1:4
            
                 A-2:0,  B-2:8,  C-2:4,  D-2:9  E-2:2 (1),  F-2:5,  G-2:4,  H-2: 4 (1) I-2:8
                 K-2:7,  L-2:5   M-2:7

     Memorial Articles can be accessed on the class web site by going either to the deceased tab or the company rosters tab.  Those classmates with memorial articles written are identified.

                        ASSISTANCE TO WIDOWS OF CLASSMATES

     Max Kovel, Class Scribe, presented his suggestions for the addition of two class positions in order to assist widows and their families.

             First he proposed the position of Family Support Coordinator, with duties similar to those of the Class of 1956 coordinator who currently is Sam Kem. This individual would organize  the sources of information and suggested action items that could be helpful to a family of a deceased classmate and communicate them to his family.  In addition, Max suggested we explore the position of Widow Support Coordinator. This individual would be a class widow who could contact all widows, invite them to be active in class affairs and reunions, in order to stay in contact with the class and certainly to get their input as to how we can better serve our widows.

            A possible candidate's name was mentioned and it was suggested that Paul contact that individual to see if she might be interested.  Paul agreed to do so.

             Paul will suggest the candidate  contact Max directly in order to receive suggestions as to how to shape the position.  It was suggested that the Widow Support Coordinator could sit in at significant board meetings via teleconference to assist for example in the planning for the 60th reunion.

          Finally the Board discussed the need or interest in responding to AOG's call for nominations to its Board. It was the opinion of several of our class leaders that the AOG is looking for younger graduates to be on the Board. Our Board agreed with this philosophy, and no nominations will be sent in by the class.

         In conclusion, Ray Karsian, Class Secretary mentioned two items. First, we have sent out 14 condolence letters to widows or family members since our Board assumed its responsibilities 11 months to go. At the rate of  somewhat over 1 per month, we could have upwards of over 40 more classmates passing on before our next and 60th reunion. The Board should take this data into account in its reunion planning.

         Second, the class medal awarded to John Stokes is currently in Bob Gadd's possession. John has been contacted as to when and how Bob and Ray can properly deliver the medal to John with hopefully some or all of the 13 classmates in Colorado in attendance. John has delayed agreeing to a presentation until his wife recovers from hip replacement surgery.

       The conference call meeting was adjourned at 12:30 pm Eastern Standard time. The next meeting is expected to be in July 2013.

Respectfully Submitted

Raymond T. Karsian
Class Secretary 1957