Dartmouth Class of 1965
Combined Class/Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
October 26, 2003: Etna, NH
The Dartmouth
College Class of 1965 held a combined Class Meeting and Executive Committee Meeting at Pierces Inn in Etna, NH on the morning
of October 26, 2003. The occasion of the meeting was the Class of 1965s annual
fall mini-reunion over Homecoming Weekend.
Class
President Hank Amon called the meeting to order at 9:10 AM. In attendance were:
· Hank Amon President
· Steve Fowler Treasurer
· Mike Bettmann Mini-Reunion Chair
· Bob Blake
· Roger Hansen
· Bob McGonnaughy
· Gary Herbst
· Carl Boe
· Brian Walsh
· Marshall Wallach
· Jim Griffiths
The reading of the minutes of the preceding meeting was dispensed with and,
after motion made and seconded, the minutes were accepted by unanimous vote of the members present.
The following agenda items were then addressed, with votes as indicated:
1. Treasury Report
· Steve Fowler distributed copies of the Class financial statements
and highlighted the fact that: (a) Class reserves at June 30, 2003 were about $27,500 with no liabilities; (b) cash flow in
for fiscal 2003 was about $18,000 in dues; and (c) cash outflows for fiscal 2003 were mainly subscriptions for the Dartmouth
Alumni Magazine, the contributions to the Scholarship Fund and an outlay of $2,500 for favors, entertainment and gifts related
to last falls 25th annual fall mini-reunion celebration.
2. Scholarship Fund
· President Amon confirmed that the Class of 1965 Scholarship Fund
now totaled $100,000, representing half of our goal of endowing four scholarships at $200,000.
· The Class is still waiting to learn the name of our second scholar.
· President Amon noted that, while the Class itself had made substantial
contributions to the $100,000 previously raised, this would not be possible or prudent going forward. Accordingly, the Class
would need to make a concerted effort to obtain contributions to the Scholarship Fund from classmates. In this connection,
it was agreed to form a Class of 1965 Scholarship Committee consisting of, initially, Jim Griffiths, Carl Boe, Mike Bettmann
and Hank Amon. This Committee would consider ways to communicate with classmates to seek greater contributions to the Scholarship
Fund. Among other things to be considered would be greater use of the Class website.
3. Class Dues
· Class Treasurer, Steve Fowler, indicated that dues notices for fiscal
year 2004 had been sent by the College.
· Steve noted that, as discussed at the Class/Executive Committee Meeting
held on August 3, 2003, the Class of 1965 had paid for 593 Dartmouth Alumni Magazine subscriptions (585 live members plus
8 widows) in fiscal 2003 (at about $19.00 per subscription). This had resulted in a cost to the Class Treasury of approximately
$5,000.
· As had been agreed at the August 3 meeting, Steve and president Hank
Amon had reviewed the Class of 1965 Dartmouth Alumni Magazine subscription list and had eliminated from this list approximately
fifty classmates who, over the past five years, had not paid Class dues, had not contributed to the Dartmouth College Fund
or other Dartmouth organizations and had not attended any Class reunions or mini-reunions or otherwise participated in any
Class activities. Letters were being sent to these individuals advising them of the situation and inviting them to pay Class
dues and be reinstated to the subscription list.
· A further review of the subscription list would be undertaken next
summer.
4. Mini-Reunions
· After discussion, it was agreed to schedule next falls Hanover mini-reunion
for the weekend of October 15, 16 and 17. This would be a departure from the past since the fall mini-reunion had always been
held over Homecoming Weekend. However, it was agreed that the Class of 1965 would experiment with a mini-reunion weekend earlier
in October to (hopefully) attract a broader attendance base in view of the prospect of warmer weather and better foliage.
Since Dartmouth has a home football game scheduled for Saturday, October 16, the principal impact would be the loss of the
parade and bonfire on Friday evening. However, it was agreed that an alternative function would be scheduled for Friday evening
and that the tailgate would still be held prior to the football game. Depending upon the success (or not) of this experiment,
the Class might return to Homecoming Weekend for its mini-reunion in 2005. In anticipation of this development, the Homecoming
Weekend in 2005 had been booked at Pierces Inn.
· Mike Bettmann, the Class Mini-Reunion Chair, was congratulated on
his successful organization of the weekends activities, which included the hayride in the Friday evening parade, a successful
cocktail evening after the bonfire at Steve and Linda Fowlers (a round of snaps for Steve on this), a pre-game tailgate party on Saturday and the evening dinner at Pierces featuring the Rock-a-pellas. The
Meeting also acknowledged the receipt by Jim Griffiths of the Dartmouth College Alumni Award, presented by Steve Waterhouse
at Saturdays dinner.
· It was agreed that the charge for the tailgate, set-ups at Pierces
and entertainment would be raised to $25.00 per person commencing with next Octobers mini-reunion.
· It was noted that Steve Waterhouse would again be organizing
a Vail Ski out-of-Hanover mini-reunion over the weekend of March 5, 6 and 7, 2004. Steve will be sending details of this weekend
in due course.
· President Amon then lead a lengthy discussion of options for
a further out-of-Hanover mini-reunion to be held in April or May 2004. The meeting reviewed suggestions by Ron Knapp for a
mini-reunion in Bend, Oregon, by Bill Webster and Mike Orr for a gathering in the Asheville area in North Carolina and by
Ken McGruther for a mini-reunion in the Shenandoah Valley area. Mike Bettmann offered a further suggestion of a rafting weekend
or perhaps one in Lake Placid, New York. While no decision was made, President Amon agreed to pursue the discussions with
the various classmates who had introduced nominating packages for this weekend.
5. 40th Reunion
· Roger Hansen, Co-Chairman of the Class of 1965s 40th
Reunion, reported on preliminary thoughts for this event, which will be held on June 13-16, 2005. Roger will be in contact
with Janet Rebman, Davis Orrs successor at the College.
6. Newsletters
· President Amon mentioned that a recent communication from the
College indicated that the College would only, in the future, be paying for the preparation and distribution of three Class
Newsletters. Since the Class of 1965 had regularly distributed four newsletters, one each quarter, this meant that the Class
treasury would be required to fund the fourth (and any additional) newsletters. It was understood that the cost would be approximately
$750 per newsletter.
· As a result of this development, it was agreed that the Class
should pursue greater use of email and possibly distribute a fourth newsletter as an eNewsletter. Bob Blake agreed to re-invigorate
efforts to prepare a Class list serve that might be used for this purpose.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:05 AM.
Submitted,
Hank Amon on behalf of
Ken McGruther
Class Secretary 1965
