50th Reunion Planning (Old)

Posted November 23, 2018

Thank you for casting your vote to determine the date for our 50th class reunion.
Although the voting was tight, we had a clear winner.

March 8-10 received 3 votes

April 12-14  received 4 votes

May 17-19  received 13 votes

H/C Wknd  received 14 votes

Our 50th Class Reunion will be held on the 2019 Homecoming Weekend.

The exact date won’t be known until Paris High School announces the 2019 football schedule which is normally in March.  The most likely dates are September 6-8 or October 4-6.  We will inform you of the date as soon as we know.

All the planning work completed thus far will be used to finalize things as soon as we have the firm date.  

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Minutes from 50th Reunion Planning Meeting

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2018

1. Present: Cheryl Brown, Eddie Fitzgerald, Joel Guest, Larry Jordan, Betsy Mills, Tim Taylor

2. Potential Dates & Format: Agreement was reached on continuing with 3-day format ofprevious reunions to include a casual Friday night mixer, Saturday night main program, andSunday morning memorial service. Potential dates were discussed, but no consensus wasreached. The committee would like to see all classmates surveyed on the choice of thefollowing suggested dates: March 8-10, April 12-14, May 17-19, and PHS Homecoming2019 (TBA, but likely either Sept. 6-8 or Oct. 4-6).

3. Potential Venues: Information was shared on current event venues:
Main considerations:
The committee will focus on facilities that are handicap accessible.
Ideally, we’d like to find a venue large enough to handle the whole class but with quiet areas for individual conversations, especially for the main Saturday gathering. Some venues may not allows alcohol on premises. Options mentioned:

• The Fairgrounds (site of past Friday night mixers) remains an option and is probably available for free rental.

• Heritage Hall (site of past two Saturday reunions) is currently charging $135/hour.

• Celebrate It is currently $100/hour. Committee members advised that there could be some sound issues at the venue.

• The Gibraltor is a remote option, but management is currently not taking reservations due to bad recent experiences with other parties.

• Paris Golf & CC might be too small and doesn't have any quiet spots plus they'll want to cater and provide a cash bar. We will need a classmate who has a membership to qualify.

• The Holiday Inn was the only local hotel/motel mentioned as an alternative. We’re going to check further into it.

• Area churches were mentioned as an option, but that probably means no alcohol on site.

• It is expected that we will be able to use PJC DeShong Chapel for the Sunday event and Duane Hamil has agreed to lead the memorial as long as it’s early enough not to interfere with his regular service.

• Leads were discussed on hiring security detail for the event, especially if alcohol is available.

4. Food options: Main considerations: This reunion will be on a tight budget and must be financially selfsufficient
due to lack of reserve class funds. We want to keep any charged feesaffordable. Obviously, venue and food costs are the big-ticket items. The idea of havinga community covered dish function was proposed but received little support. Otheroptions mentioned:

• Burgerland has a catering truck that might be an affordable option for the Friday mixer, especially if it’s held at the fairgrounds. There are a few other food trucks in town that might be worth considering.

• There's a new caterer in town titled On Top of It. We're checking on her costs and serving options.

• Paris G&CC was previously mentioned.

5. Other Potential Events/Items Discussed:

A. Saturday Golf: The committee decided any classmates interested in playing golf could make arrangements on their own.
B. Historical Significance of Class of 1969: We were the first fully integrated class to enter and graduate from Paris High, which could be of interest to the community as a whole.
C. Class Photo: Hiring a professional photographer to take a group and casual pictures was discussed. A couple of local photographers were mentioned and further information on pricing will be gathered.
D. Using Technology to Make Connections: Due to lack of residual funds, it is imperative that we rely on electronic means to contact classmates and provide reunion information.
Following topics were discussed:
• Donna Perkins Butcher has been active in updating classmate contact information, but we need to continue the effort and try to solicit help from the entire class, social media, and The Paris News.
• Measures were discussed to improve the class website to generate enthusiasm for the upcoming reunion. Mentioned:
1. Posting now & then pictures of Paris landmarks, activities, and old video.
2. Creating a Class of 1969 Pop Quiz.
3. Allowing classmates to post text, pictures, videos which could advertise support for attendance.
4. Providing computer stations which might allow for live streaming/video
conferencing from the event site to classmates unable to attend.

 

Meeting 1, August 14, 2018

Present:
Eddie Fitzgerald
Larry Jordan
Tim Taylor
Mike Bowden

Bank balance = $460

Tentative Decisions Made:

  1. Do not have a band
  2. Play recorded music from our high school years
  3. Have Friday night event but not a major production like in years past.
  4. Have Saturday night event with hors d’oeuvres, beer, wine, soft drinks & water
  5. Have brief Sunday morning memorial at DeShong Chapel like in years past 
  6. Possible venues include Fair Grounds Building, Celebrate, Paris Golf & Country Club, Heritage Hall
  7. Advertise the events via Facebook, paris1969.com, email via the class website, Paris News, post cards to those form whom we have no email and word-of-mouth.  Also, seek any other possible advertising.
  8. Lauren Murphy English has volunteered to handle all funds
  9. Donna Perkins Butcher has volunteered to continue helping with missing or bad addresses
  10. Future meetings are TBD 

To Do:

Mike:  
1. Create & conduct a brief survey on Facebook and our class website offering 3 possible dates in the spring of 2019 and whether or not each classmate intends to attend
2. Create a list of classmate addresses for those without email addresses on the class website.  This could be used for scrubbing obvious errors and as a list of people to mail a post card about the reunion once specifics have been determined. 
3.Create a list of classmates for whom we have no information and circulate for help and perhaps publish on FB and Paris News. 

Eddie:  
1. Checkout Loft@123 and Celebrate and report back on capacity, restrictions and cost estimate
2. Speak to a photographer friend about what he might suggest in terms of photography for the reunion.

Larry:
1. Check on Fair Grounds building and report back on possible cost

Tim:
1. Liaison with the Paris News regarding announcement(s) and other possible ways to use them to help us find missing classmates.

Needed:

  1. Someone to volunteer to head up Decorations/Theme.  We have decorations left over from our last reunion that can be used.
     
  2. Someone to volunteer to head up Program (if any) for Saturday night
     
  3. Someone to volunteer to head up Food for Saturday night 
     
  4. Someone to volunteer to head up organizing the Sunday morning memorial service
     
  5. Someone to volunteer to head up organizing Friday night get-together.  UPDATE: Dee Dee Mills Alsup and Cheryl Caldwell Brown have volunteered to be in charge of organizing and producing the Friday night event.  They may be reaching out to you for help as details begin to take shape.