Wilson Class of 1961 50th Reunion

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Re61

Wilson High School
Class of 1961
50th Reunion Planning

Highlights of August 2, 2010 Steering Committee Meeting

The committee met on August 2 at the home of Gary and Margaret McLean
     with the following Steering Committee members present:
     Diana Anderson Smith, Doug Baker, Pat Bjorklund, Linda Benesyk Rappath,
     Lance Boelter, Tom Coil, Gary Dowd, Judy Hamman Oelkers, Gary Mclean,
     John Picha, Dorothy St. Marie Franzen and Terri Wallace Ellisen.

Reunion Dinner Events Finalized: After an extremely skilled negotiation
     spearheaded by Dorothy St. Marie Franzen, the dinner portion of the
     50^th Reunion Celebration was wrapped up and will be held at the
     Holiday Inn on I-94 & McKnight (same location as our 42^nd Year Reunion).
     Additional Reunion Weekend events will include a Wilson High School
     tour and a Paddleford Private Riverboat Cruise on the Mississippi.
     Friends, family members, and classmates from other classes will be
     welcome to join the River Cruise.    (Additional cruise tickets may be limited)

Save The Date Card: The final draft was approved and will be printed by
our September meeting. Cards will be sent the first week in October.

Second Mailing: We also began planning the mailing that will include the
     detailed reservation and ticket purchase information. Also included in
     this mailing will be instructions for the Bio Book, which will be a new
     addition to our reunion event.

Fundraisers: A discussion on ways to raise revenue to keep our website
     up and running resulted in the idea of providing the opportunity to
     “sponsor” a business, message, or greeting on the website.
     Gary will develop his idea for further discussion at our next meeting.

Next Meeting: To be held at the home of Doug and Kay Baker at 7:00 p.m. on September 27.s

Highlights from the June 21, 2010, Reunion
Steering Committee Meeting:

The Steering Committee met on June 21 at the home of Doug and
Kay Baker. Attending were: Diana Anderson, Doug Baker,
Pat Bjorklund, Lance Bolter, Tom Coil, Gary McLean, John Picha,
Dorothy St. Marie Franzen, Dick LaShomb, Linda Benysek,Rappath,
Terri Wallace Ellisen, Carole Yaeger Fey,
and new members Judy Hamann Oelkers and Gary Dowd.

Contacts: As of our meeting date, we had current information on all but 32
classmates.

Reunion Dinner Location: The sub-committee has put in many hours
     researching options for the dinner, which is the Main Event for our
     Reunion. The challenge has been to plan a venue that will be reflective
     of the special event a 50 Year Reunion is, that includes more than a
     dinner, and with a cost that will be appealing to our classmates living
     both in-and-out of town.

Bio Book: Diana and Linda reported on their ideas on the Bio Book. The
book will be included in the cost of the Reunion ticket.

Save the Date Card: Sub-committee members Linda, Carole, Pat, and
     Terri met before the regular committee meeting to design the Save the
     Date card to be sent out to all classmates. The goal is to have
     the card sent in September.

Next Meeting: Monday, August 2 at the home of Gary and Margaret McLean.

Highlights from the December 1, 2009

Wilson Class of ‘61 Reunion Steering Committee Meeting

The following committee members met at the home of Doug
and Kay Baker on December 1: Diana Anderson/Smith,
Doug Baker, Linda Benesyk/Rappath, Lance Bolter,
Gary McLean, John Picha, Dorothy St. Marie/Franzen,
Denny Hoelscher, Dick LaShomb.

GOOD NEWS: Gary reported that the Web Site
has gotten 73,000+ “hits” since May! Our e-mails
are presently being sent to 72 classmates. We’re
on a major campaign to collect e-mail addresses.

Committee members will be making many phone
calls over the winter months to verify information.
We will be asking for e-mail addresses, verifying
mailing addresses, making sure you all have the
Website address, and trying to obtain a sense of
how many to plan for. (E-mail addresses provide
a very cost-effective to disseminate information.

GENERAL DISCUSSION included additional
ideas on the reunion weekend events, location
for the “Main Event” (dinner), cost for attendees.
Gary McLean put together a tentative budget
based on our preliminary thoughts. Committee
members will be working over the winter months
and reporting back at our April meeting.

Left to right-front to back
Front: Carole (Yeager) Fey, Linda (Rappath) Benysek,
Diana (Anderson) Smith, Dorothy (Saint Marie) Franzen
Middle: Denny Hoelscher, Terri (Wallace) Ellisen,
Doug Baker, Dick LaShomb
Back: Gary McLean, John Picha, Lance Boelter
Not present: Tom Coil, John Purvis

YOU’RE INVITED to join in the
planning for this exciting event!
You may do so by leaving
your name and contact information on this
website! Your rewards will be many!

September 22, 2009
Notes from the 50th Class Reunion Steeting Committtee Meeting 9/22/09 Ten classmates fromClass of '61 and two special the guests from the Class of '59, Jerry Callinan and Jim Beuelspacher met to officially get the ball rolling in preparation for our 50th Class Reunion. Steering Committee members attending were: Diana Anderson/Smith, Doug Baker, Lance Bolter, Tom Coil, Gary McLean, John Picha, John Purvis, Dorothy St. Marie/Franzen, Terri Wallace/Ellisen and Carole Yaeger/Fey. THE CLASS OF '59: Jim and Jerry provided an in-depth review of how they organized their very successful class reunion held August 22, 2009 at the Fort Snelling Officers' Clulb.Other members from our committee also reported positive feedback on recent reunions held at the Officers' Club. Because it is a private club, military sponsorship is required, which Jim agreed to provide for our class. In addition to the dinner (delicious food and lots of it) and a short program, they organized a Wilson High School Tour (cost for the custorian - "sponsored" by Tom Picha -"Homeroom Pages" from THE LOG were posted). A Sunday Coffee, Rolls, and Conversation Get-Together was also part of the weekend and was held at Jim's condo party room. Classmates could attend one or all of the reunion events. It seemed to be just the right amount of activities Jim and Jerry shared the following suggestions in case we decided to duplicate their events: 1) Group photo would have been nice at each event. 2) Recruit "sponsors" for each event: Excellent product! 3) Do-It Yourself name tags for all events but the dinner. The dinner should have prepared name tags. 4) Make sure the initial mailing has very clear directions as to what is included in the initial cost. 5) St. Paul Public Schools' Graphic Department printed their booklet. Their preliminary meeting was held June 28, 2008 - 14 months before the actual event. At that time, they developed a Save-The-Date Card which included their website, dates of events, etc. The most critical task was to locate classmates, which became the expertise of Jerry (who no-doubt will begin a career as a missing person detective when his golf game wanes!). The result was that they found all but four classmates. A second mailing included a flyer with more detailed reunion events, tear-off registration form for the events and payment, a request for bio-info, and an outline of how to write a bio. One classmate volunteered to prepare all bios for the booklet, which included synchronizing the fonts so they were unform for the booklet. Our sincere appreciation to both Jim and Jerry for their time and expertise. Thanks to them, we are truly off to a good start!		Committee members in attendance are John Picha, John Purvis, Terri (Wallace) Ellisen, Doug Baker, Dorothy(St Marie) Franzen, Diana (Anderson) Smith, Carol (Yeager) Fey, Tom Coil, Gary McLean, and Lance Boelter OUR NEXT STEPS 1) Locate the 65 classmates for which we have no information. We will begin this process by meeting on Tuesday, October 6 with Jerry at the History Center. Jerry will share his research process with us. 2) Meet with Jim at the Officers' Club to check on availability. First Choice, Saturday, September 10, 2011; Second Choice, Saturday, September 17, 2011; Third Choice, Friday, September 9, 2011, Fourth Choice, September 16, 2011. 3) Next meeting: 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at the home of Doug and Kay Baker - 41 Columbine Court - Vadnais Heights 55117.

Classmates relaxing after the meeting

	The Class of 61 50th Reunion Steering Committee met on the shores of Gitchigumi (Lake Superior) (August 29th, 2009) to begin organizing the BIG event. Why Duluth? Read on.		Get Involved in the planning process. Click>>here to go to Class of 1961 50th Reunion Planning & e-mail your thoughts and ideas.
Class of 1961 50^th Class Reunion Steering Committee Meeting Notes (8/29/09) An “informal” gathering of classmates met following a party for classmate Denny Hoelscher on Saturday August 29, 2009. It became the perfect opportunity to begin the discussion for the Wilson High School 50 Year Class Reunion - coming up in 2011. Classmates in attendance were: Doug Baker, Gary McLean, John Picha, John Purvis, Dorothy St. Marie Franzen, and Terri Wallace Ellisen., plus Kay Baker, Margaret McLean and Jodi Johnson. Dorothy Franzen and Terri Ellisen agreed to Co-Chair the Steering Committee. The discussion included the following: 1) DATE: First choice would be the week-end after Labor Day - Friday, September 10, Saturday, September 11, and Sunday, September 12. 2) PLACE: First choice would be the Officers’ Club at Fort Snelling. Very positive reports from the Class of ‘59 whose reunion was held there. A “sponsor” is needed in order to secure this option. John Picha will contact Jim Beutelspacher with the hope he will do so for us. 2) POSSIBLE ADDITION REUNION EVENTS: 1) Picnic (perhaps on Wilson “grounds”) or lake or park 2) Golf tournament 3) Train Ride 4) Coffee hour (condo party room) 3,) REUNION BOOK: Class of ‘59 had an outstanding book printed by St. Paul Public Schools. (Dave Wall, class of ‘59, managed the Graphics Department of St. Paul Public Schools and no doubt had the “in.”) Please note the following correction to this item!!! It was submitted by Sandra Storm Lehmann, Editor, Class of 59: In reference to the following as mentioned on your website: REUNION BOOK: Class of ‘59 had an outstanding book printed by St. Paul Public Schools. (Dave Wall, class of ‘59, managed the Graphics Department of St. Paul Public Schools and no doubt had the “in.”) I have looked at our lists and there is no mention as Dave Wall being from the class of 1959. There was no "in" for printing the reunion book at the St. Paul Public Schools Graphics Department. I dealt totally with Corrine and she was the one who handled the printing of the 1959 Reunion Memory Book. Just thought I would let you know. Sandra Strom Lehmann, Editor, Class of 1959. 4.) NEED FOR STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Goal is to have 10-20 active members 5) NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - 7:00 p.m. at the home of Terri Ellisen - 2980 Carey Heights Drive - Maplewood, MN 55109 - 651-482-8759. 6) LOCATING CLASS MEMBERS: Gary reported that Jerry Callinan, class of ‘59, because an expert at finding “lost’ classmates. 6) NEXT STEPS: - Gary will post need for Steering Committee Members on the Website. - Gary will contact Jerry Callinan about his “lost but found” method. - Gary will contact the following classmates and invite then to be on committee: Bob Durban, Diana Anderson - John Picha will contact Jim Beutelspacher regarding sponsoring our class for Offices’ Club and invite him to our September 22 meeting. - Doug will contact the following to invite to our September 22 meeting: Gary Doud, Denny Hoelscher, Kay will contact Tom Coil - Dorothy will contact Liz Siprelle Heinz and Dick LaShomb and invite to September meeting - Terri will contact Wanda Veum Wall and Linda Thorn and invite to September meeting; - Terri will contact Dave Wall about printing Reunion Booklet - Terri will prepare and e-mail notes from August Meeting. (I realize some of you have completed your “Next Steps.” If I’ve forgotten anything, please let me know. We’re off to a good start!) Terri
Why Duluth, MN you ask? Well the answer is several committee members from previous events were in attendance at a party at Lafayette Square (on Park Point) Pictured are John Picha, Dorothy (St. Marie) Franzen, John Purvis, Gary McLean, Kay Baker, Denny Hoelscher, Doug Baker (behind) and Terri (Wallace) Ellisen.			*Click on pictures to enlarge*
Click on picture to enlarge	In attendance from left to right are Dorothy (St. Marie) Franzen, Margaret McLean, John Picha, Jodi Johnson and Terri (Wallace) Ellisen.
Here's John Purvis next to Terri			*Click on pictures to enlarge*
*Click on pictures to enlarge*	Other notables from right to left are Bob Durband, Gordy Hoelscher and Kay Baker (wife of Doug)
After the party Doug and Kay graciously hosted a steering committee meeting for the 50th (can you believe it) Class of 61. Attendees included from left to right: John Picha, Gary McLean, Terri Ellisen, Dorothy Franzen, Jodi Johnson and standing behind are Doug and Kay Baker. Not pictured John Purvis.			*Click on pictures to enlarge*
Terri and Dorothy will assume co-chair responsibilities. Much was discussed and a meeting was scheduled at Terri's on September 22nd. The steering committee feels very strongly that it is important to increase the size and makeup of the 50th planning committee. Class-mates interested in attending the September 22nd evening meeting please contact Gary McLean at 651-490-0735 for more information.
Make the call or Click>>here to go to Class of 1961 50th Reunion Planning and e-mail your thoughts and ideas. Get Involved in the planning process.

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