Telephone Conference Called for 1400 hours EDT, Tuesday, 19 March 2019.

Attending: Bill Ray, Jack Farris, Fred Koehler, Max Kovel, Pat Buck, Don Sadler, Fred Smith, John Ramsden

Absent: Bob Gadd, Bill Golden, Jack Block, Dick Mollicone, Dave Schorr
Meeting called to order via phone conference by President Bill Ray at 1400 hours EDT.

President’s Report (Bill Ray): Summarized as follows;

• Honor Plaza - No actions required on Honor Plaza as of this date.
• Class Medals – Six Class Medals have been awarded to date: 
• 2012 Max Kovell
• 2012 Tom Kehoe 
• 2012 John Stokes 
• 2017 Paul Schwehm 
• 2017 Nick Monaco 
• 2018 Ted Voorhees

Treasurer’s Report (Fred Koehler): Reported in full as follows;

•  Reference is made to the current AOG Class Financial Statements posted on the AOG website an    my   Finance Report dated July 27, 2017 and Addendum dated October 1, 2017 posted on the Class website. Leigh Ogden completed an audit of the Class Reunion Fund and the Admin Fund for the period September 2016 to September 2017 also posted on the Class Website. The Class Reunion Fund was transferred to the Admin Fund in June 2017 as previously reported. In the future a Class Finance Report will be prepared on a calendar year basis.
• The Class Gift Fund was $149K at yearend 2018 compared to $146K in July 2017. It is currently reported as $157K. I need to explore this with AOG, although we have little control of this fund.
• The Class Admin Fund was $13,685 at yearend 2018 compared to $12,697 in July 2017.
• The only expenses in 2018 were $187 for IT expenses (website and domain name). This is paid directly with (my) personal credit card as required by the provider. I submit these expenses annually for reimbursement. I expect that most expenses can be most easily handled this way.
• Separately, the Class raised the funds and made a founding donation to the National Army Museum and will be recognized by an exterior bench there.
• The Board and Class should consider spending and/or allocating the funds in both accounts while we are still capable of doing so.

Scribe’s Report (Max Kovel): Discussed the lack of information from Classmates; said I would put out a note to the Class about the Class Notes. A draft of the note follows; please comment back to me.

• I have been receiving very limited information from classmates for inclusion in Class notes. During the holiday period I received only three letters and will reproduce some of the information.
• I resend some information that is posted on the Forum when I think it is of interest to the Class in general, even though it results some duplication.
• I do not send political commentary.
• I forward personal information, including photos, when classmates request it.
• I respond directly to requests for information.
• Primarily, announcements deal with deaths (including planned services and burials) and illnesses when the sender indicates it is for general distribution.
• I also forward information from other sources that may be of general interest, such as the local DC newsletter recently published by Gerry Galloway and Army/WP announcements.
• Please send me what you would like others to know, and I would appreciate your putting it in a format that I can just copy and forward.

Secretary Report (Dick Mollicone): No report.

65th Reunion Planning (Bill Ray)

• Retiree Weekend in 2022 will be April 28 through May 1. Grad week in 2022 will be May 15 through 18May.
  
• John Ramsden provided background information about his interaction with the Class of 1954 who are having their 65th Reunion this year.
  
• They decided to have their 65th Reunion during Retiree Weekend rather than the traditional "Grad Week", which is the week before the Cadet's Graduation Week.
• The Class of 1954 decided they would rather use Retiree Weekend for a couple of reasons. One was that, like us, they had their 60th Reunion on Retiree Weekend and had a very positive experience. The second was that they had prior experience with Grad Week and thought it got very hectic toward the end as parents, and other relatives of graduating cadets started coming in early. This made events at West Point and the Hotel Thayer quite busy.
• Bill Ray had contacted the AOG as to whether enough rooms at the Hotel Thayer for Grad Week would have been an issue. The AOG said it would not have been, and the President of the Class of 1954 confirmed this during a telephone conversation with John Ramsden.
• At John Ramsden's request, Bill Ray had sent an email to the AOG back in January to ask about theClass of 1954 request and what the policy was for using the Hotel Thayer for the 65th Reunion.
• They replied that the AOG was planning for our Class to have our 65th Reunion during Grad Week in 2022.
• We would be there with the Classes of 47, 52, 67, and 72.
• They stated that, although the Hotel Thayer is a private organization, the AOG works with them for reunions and the 75th, 70th, and 65th Reunion Classes are normally given priority for their Reunions, and rooms at the Hotel Thayer.
• After much discussion, the Board members voted to try to obtain permission to have our 65th Reunion on Retiree Weekend, similar to what the Class of 1954 is doing. This assumed we could get sufficient rooms at the Hotel Thayer, as we did for our 60th Reunion.
• The AOG thought we would have about 52 Classmates to attend our 65th Reunion but we would expect many more children and grandchildren to attend, bringing our number up around 130 or so.
• (Note: The Class of 1954 is expecting 60 graduates and 190 total people to attend their 65th Reunion this year.)
• However, in the correspondence with the AOG, Vince McDermott, West Point staff guru for reunions, indicated that the Class of 1962 had already put in a bid to have their 60th Reunion during Retiree Weekend in 2022.
• John Ramsden had asked Bill Ray to contact the President of the Class of 1962 to confirm this. Their President indicated to Bill that their plans were not yet firm.
• John Ramsden, at our meeting, asked Bill Ray to call Vince McDermott to find out, for sure, if the Class of 1962 had already reserved Retiree Weekend in 2022. (Note: In subsequent emails and telephone conversations with Bill and Dave Schorr, we agreed Dave Schorr would make this contact as he knows Vince better. Dave has agreed to do so.)
• If Retiree Weekend is available for our 65th Reunion, the Board wanted to pass that on to the authorities at West Point. As noted above, this assumes we can work with the Hotel Thayer to obtain sufficient rooms at the Hotel Thayer to accommodate all our Class attendees.
•  If Retiree Weekend is not available, then the backup plan is to have our 65th Reunion during Grad Week of 2022.
•  Bill Ray announced that he had appointed five people to start planning for our 65th Reunion. They are Bill Ray, John Ramsden, Bob Stevens, Dave Schorr, and Fred Smith. All have agreed.
  

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned by President Bill Ray at 1530 hours EDT. Respectfully Submitted:

Dick Mollicone

Richard A. Mollicone, Secretary