Class Reunion Planning Spreadsheet

							                          NOTES – CLASS ’61 50th REUNION MTG.
                                     Oct. 7, 2006 Berkeley
                           Submitted by Joy Maguire and Dori Robbins

Present: Linda Govan, Joy Holmes Maguire, Dirk Plummer, Dori Robbins, Jim Singleton (&
wife), Jim Stonehouse (& wife, Marilyn), King Tuck

The following is a summary of ideas discussed. Joy and Dori will compare notes they take and
submit to Janie Wood for inclusion in E-Notes. No decisions were made; but there was much
brainstorming. After the class council has a chance to read these notes, we‟ll have a conference
call – probably in early 2007. While actual planning of the event need not start yet; it will be good
to get discussion started early.

It is really important to make sure that anyone who wants to help with the 50th Reunion is
cordially invited to participate, not just Class Council members. We will use the email addresses
provided by everyone during the 45th dinner as a mailing list in addition to the Class Council. We
will try to build the list by contacting other class members (see below).

Feedback of Oct. 6 Reunion Event

While the turnout was disappointing (around 100 „61ers attended the 5-7 reception and/or the
large all-class dinner), most attending seemed to enjoy esp. the reception as it was a time people
could really circulate, renew old friendships, and make new ones.. And, of course, the game was a
winner!

We want to offer University Relations, ASUC office, and CAA feedback on the events
themselves; we‟ll request Janie to ask for it in the ENotes; some of those attending today will
compile and forward to Vice Chancellor Don McQuaid, Tuck Coop (new ED of CAA), and the
new ASUC Director. Dori will coordinate with Janie.

Later at the Chancellor‟s reception VC Don McQuaid promised to help with that if we gather
feedback within the next month and forward to him before he leaves office the end of the year.

Date/Activities

While Stanford Game weekend is a possibility for the 50th Reunion, the game is scheduled to be
in Palo Alto at the new stadium, which may be too small to accommodate all Cal fans. It seems
Homecoming weekend may be the best bet despite the crowd, esp. because so many attractive
events are held (faculty lectures, tours, etc.). We might be able to have a Class of ‟61 weeklong
celebration. And we could actually have an event at the Stanford game later in the year, for
example a Class Tailgate (potluck, of course).

It was thought that a year-long rostrum of activities in various locations throughout the state
would be fun. The opening of Basketball Season early in the year (particularly the SoCal
basketball weekend), Charter Day, and Cal Day in April would be possible opportunities for this
“Moveable Feast”. Not only would these activities be a great lead-in to the actual Reunion event,
but also they would engender enthusiasm for the Reunion. Planning for these kind of events will
require volunteers now, in order to get the process started.

Peter Van Houten, University staff historian, gave a very entertaining walking tour of campus
highlights, complete with costume, as part of Homecoming. Later at the Chancellor‟s Reception
he agreed to do something specific for our 50th Class Reunion.


Possible Venues
It was suggested that we publish this 1st list of venues and solicit other ideas from the Class
Council. Some of these may have size limitations for seated dinners, but a group of volunteers
could look at the various sites and come back with a recommendation for final vetting by the
Class Council. Venues suggested so far included:

         Conference Center (yet to be built)
         Chancellor Tien Asian Studies Center
         Hearst Mining Bldg.
         Lawrence Hall of Science
         Lawrence Laboratories and Cyclotron
         Claremont Hotel (has free parking)
         Sequoia Country Club
        
Though both the Morrison Room at the Library and the Faculty Club were suggested, it was felt
they are too small to handle the 50th.

For housing, it was agreed it might be worthwhile to block a group of hotel rooms for the
weekend and provide bus transportation from the hotels to major events. Local Bay Area people
might like to stay overnight in addition to those traveling from a greater distance. Later at the
Chancellor‟s Reception, Gail Stanley said that was certainly doable and that University Relations
office could help set it up.

Class Treasury

We have a bank account, but no funds. It was suggested each class council member donate
$25/year for the next five years to build it up for exigencies – to be discussed. As we are in need
of a new class banner (the old one has faded to an ugly purple), we could purchase a new one and
have a “banner-burning event; out with the old-in with the new” at the reunion.

Again, Gail Stanley later said they could help with that; that Univ. Relations could do will help us
do anything for the 50th. We‟ll need to get clarification and specifics from her.

Fundraising

The hope is that all pledges made 2007 – 2011 can be applied to the class gift. This year‟s total
was more than 2.1 Million!! (Including $600K donated outside of the campaign effort).

It was felt there should be a variety of funding opportunities including the endowment of a faculty
chair or funding multiple Class of ‟61 scholarships in addition to the opportunities already on the
list from this year. It was noted that funding for the stadium reconstruction will still be a top
priority in 5 years, most likely, and since our major donors this year pledged their dollars toward
that fund, we probably need to keep it high on the list.

The endowment of a faculty chair will increase to $1 Million this year from the current $500,000.
Last year it was $350K. Since the cost of endowing a scholarship is much less, currently $50,000
and perhaps increasing to $100,000, it was thought that we could suggest to the class council that
we aim to endow a number of Class of 1961 scholarships, each honoring a different person such
as:

       Clark Kerr
       Arleigh Williams (his son, Arleigh, is actually married to a „class member, Genevieve
        Jouett (sp? – will find out) – both attended the reunion)
       Bill Shepherd
       Katherine Towle
       Betty Neeley
       Various other faculty members, coaches, and administration executives of importance to
        our Class, including some of those those honored at the dinner

In addition to the Class Scholarships, other beneficiaries of our Class Gift could include:
     Cal Band (no University support currently received)
     Other Scholarships, incl. that of benefactor Frank
     Stadium
     Cal Fund (required)
     Library (continuing)
     Other fund opportunities to be explored (some of which are separate from the
         University‟s fundraising, e.g. Daily Cal, and aren‟t counted as part of the class efforts)

It was suggested Bruce create a link on the website to Cal‟s website list of campus donation funds
currently available. Gail Stanley said they would be happy to have that happen.

Contacting Class Members

We have the list of all 3200 class members on an excel spreadsheet. It was suggested the class
council take about 25 names each and contact them to engender interest in the 50th and to update
email addresses, etc.

Website

Thanks to Bruce Kane for the Website. A CD of 2001 reunion pictures was handed over to him to
add. Susan Sommarstrom Hutchison took photos this weekend; we need to ask any who did to
send them to Bruce.

Other

And, Janie, you must include this!: Heartfelt recognition and thanks were given Janie for her
excellent work in boosting the class spirit and participation through ENotes and also for her
excellent bios included in our class program at the dinner.

We‟re all looking forward to a great 50th! GO BEARS!!