Hi Every One!
Hope this finds you packing up the car for the big trip to Nekoosa. Or maybe you’re looking through the Year Book to see just who you are going to remember. Remember to age those pictures 30 years although, no one has changed a bit. All of the guys are good looking and all of the gals are strong…….. Oops, that might be backwards…..Maybe just one too many at the meeting tonight
Everything is set and the last minute plans are in effect. The city of Nekoosa is bracing up for the return. Check out the sign at the Domtar Mill on Market Street as you come to town. They know we’re coming too!
If you are having any trouble on the way in, we can be reached at The Liquid Lounge at 886-5430 for help. Mind you the later you might call, the lesser the help. Something out of a math text book can be used now to try and figure a sliding scale of the soberness of those who would be helping…. And you said you’d never use that math once you graduated.
A special note to those who can not attend:
We will tip a hat and tip one back for you. We realize that there is a huge reason you couldn’t make it to the party. Please be aware that we will indeed miss you and hope all of the best for you. I will try my very best to get an email out as soon as I get home on Friday night and Saturday night to fill you in on how things went. The pictures will come soon afterward. Remember that these after-party emails may have a word or two slurred but I’ll do my best.
See you all at the party… some in the flesh and some in spirit.
July 27
Hi again…
Can’t hardly believe we are getting so close to the big weekend! Tonight we put some more of the finishing touches on the plans for Friday and Saturday night. Jim Schmidt stopped in to get the golf outing set up. We have 18 people signed up and will put together foursomes on Friday night and Sat. morning at 10:00. Not too many have played golf before so it should be a good photo op.
We put the booklets together tonight. Those who will only be able to attend Friday may pick theirs up that night. The rest will have them on Saturday. We will have a few copies of the booklet out on Friday to take a sneak peak. They turned out very well.
A big THANK-YOU to all of those who spent the time to copy the returned questionnaires!!!!
On a sad note, I received a message that one of our classmates Jeanne Szulczewski’s husband has taken very ill and won’t be able to make the reunion because of this. Please include Jeanne and her husband Roger in your thoughts and prayers.
Things are coming together and it should be a great one! Lots of energy has been expended along with a beer or two to make this happen. I personally would like to thank all of you who have sent in ideas. This has helped the committee with some more insight on what would be fun to include in the weekend plans.
Next meeting will be on Tuesday, August 3 for the final preparations. If you are in the area of would just like to stop in, you’re invited!!!!!. Same time 6:00 PM at the Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa.
July 22, 2004
Hi Everyone,
We have made it through another mad-cap reunion meeting. Just a short one this time as things are getting finalized. We are setting the agenda for the short meeting following the meal on Saturday. Just a few important questions on how we should work out the next reunion. There are several ideas that we will decide on. This is somewhat what we did last time and it really helped in the planning of this reunion ( it gave us more time to reminisce ).
Just to let you in on something special. We will have some new faces at the reunion that haven’t been there since the 5 year party. A few have never been to a reunion before. What a treat!!!!! A great party with great people!!
Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27. At that time we will be putting together our booklet. If you would like to come down and have a great time and do a little work on the side, we will start at 6:00. Hope you can stop down and say hi.
Our web page will be updated again soon (in a couple of days).
Talk to you soon,
Dade
July 13
Hi Everyone,
Hope this latest installment finds you well and ready to make the trip to Nekoosa. The deadline for returning your invitation is coming up quickly. There is a real good response so far and more are coming in each day. This reunion could be one of our best….. Only if you make it!!!!.
Tonight’s meeting involved rounding up all of the little things to get ready for August 6 and 7th. The questions are pretty much set but if you have any ideas, there’s still time to get them in. The booklets are just about ready to go to press and I think you’ll enjoy reading about our fellow classmates. We received 3 fantastic scrap books from Mary Zurfluh, ( Duane Arendt’s Sister-in-law) involving 1971-1973. Many of the sport write-ups are there along with some pictures. They will be on display on Saturday night for everyone to browse through.
The reunion committee will be meeting next Tuesday night at 6:00 at the Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa. Remember, if you have some time, stop in. None of us bite…. Well the ones who do have had their shots. This means if you know already that you can’t make the party, try to stop by at one of the meetings for some chit chat time. We still do our work but I don’t know what we are going to do when the reunion is done and these regular reminisce times are no longer scheduled. Your company would be very welcome anytime you can. If you are planning on attending the party, you can still come to the meetings too. You can get a head start of all of the great old memories that we share. To those who can’t make the trip, please feel free to send me an email about some of your favorite memories. I will read them to the rest unless you ask that it not be read. I have had several great memories jotted down by some of you and might make a collection of them on our web site.
Enough for now. Please send in your invitation as soon as you can. Can’t wait to see you all!
Talk to you soon,
June 29, 2004
Hi Everyone,
Hope this finds you un-sunburned and right in the peak of summer activities. The meeting was mostly to tie up any odds and ends for the final stretch. We have had a good number of returns for both the meal and the questionnaire. Remember that if you attend, you will be able to pick your booklet up free on Saturday night. The cost is only for postage and envelopes to send the booklets out to those who can’t make the party. Speaking of the questionnaire, we have a very short time to finish the booklet so please, take the time to send your questionnaire back. We have 44 returned so far and I know we can do better than that. It’s a fun read and brings everyone together a bit more.
It looks as though the golf outing will be a bunch of fun and the invitations are coming in every day. This might be one of our best reunions so please send in yours soon.
More questions were developed for Saturday night. I hope you have your thinking cap on!!!. Some of the questions are remarkable that anyone remembers that far back with such clarity (2 manhattans and a beer) helped.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday, July 13. If you happen to have the time, stop in and join us getting the party of the year ready. It’s at Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa at 6:00.
May 25, 2004
Hope this again finds you well. We still have a few classmates who haven’t sent in their questionnaire. If you would like, you can send them over the net too. We have almost ½ of the class whom have sent theirs back so far. Please help by sending yours in today.
We have had 2 meetings since I last wrote to you. The meetings are going well with lots of ideas for the trivia contest. We could still use your input to make these questions better than ever. Please email them to me and I’ll get them to the committee. As always, you can make your ideas know in person too at our next meeting.
At last nights meeting, we folded, stuffed into envelopes and licked each invitation personally by your own classmates. NO big Techno machines for us! If someone needs our DNA, we know where to find it. This did add somewhat to the trips to the bar, but everyone made it ok.
The mailing of our invitations will go out on Thursday from Nekoosa. They have a horse leaving town then, so it will get to you soon. It is our only horse and he will be missed but the mail must go through.
Thank you for the kind words about the web site. It is fun to do and the ideas coming from everyone really help. I hope to add on several more pages in the near future. I’ll have the official invitation on the site is a couple of days along with some unique song dedications that were done just before we graduated. Just think…..30 years ago, right now, you would have never thought of the internet, your future was all ahead of you….. Plans were being laid for the graduation parties…..You were told to never trust anyone over 30…… The world was at our feet and we were ready to kick up those feet and go!!!! If they can bottle any of that energy, I could use a sip.
Talk to you soon,
Dade
April 27, 2004
Hi Everyone,
We got together again last night with Julie Steege, Deb Henry, Dan Hustedt, Wade Pfeiffer and I. We worked on some questions for the trivia contest along with the reading of the emails that have come in. We have had several suggestions not only for the booklet but for the party and web site too. Even if we don’t get a chance to use your idea, it may trigger another way of thinking and it all helps. After trying out some of the trivia questions on our fantastic committee, it was noticed that “What did you have for lunch today?” was a hard enough question to answer. We’re not getting older, we’re getting better…. We don’t remember too much but we are getting better at what we remember!.
I can’t tell you how much fun it is to get together at these meetings. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. The stories and remembrances are great enjoyment for all.
Things are coming along great on all aspects of the party. The booklet is being published one classmate at a time. We will have a nice booklet to offer to those who can make the reunion. As mentioned before, you can also order one after the party. The price will be just enough to cover the postage.
The web site continues to grow with the inspiration of those who have offered ideas. Some of which I have been able to make happen as I am not a wiz at the web design. It’s fun hearing from you and makes the days go by with a real smile on the old face.
Our next meeting is at the Liquid Lounge on Market Street in Nekoosa on May 18 at 6:00. Hope to see you there… It’s a great time!
I’m off to Europe for the next 2 weeks with my wife to visit our daughter so I might fall a bit behind on getting back to messages. Thanks to Linda N. for the great ideas on where to go and what to do!!!!
Expect to be back in the groove on May 15.
Talk to you soon,
Dade
March 30.....
We did really get a bunch of things done tonight. We saw a few more pictures returned for the booklet and it was great to see them start to come in a little faster now. We are working on the booklet as soon as each questionnaire comes in. Please send yours in as soon as you can so we can have a great booklet!
We also are building our email list so that will help us stay in contact will all.
The place is set for the Friday Night Extravaganza!!!!
We will start off at 7:30 at the Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa. This is a newly remodeled Segovia’s ( Where we had our last reunion… The warm one….. Remember that it was remodeled and has air now!!!! There will be some great BBQ’S put together by Patty McCarthy to munch on and a cash bar.
There will be a special invitation to the party ( Both Days ) to some of our teachers. They have always been invited but will try to make this a little more special invite.
The announcement will be sent out around June first with all of the details finalized for the 2 day party. You will have until July 15th to send back your reservation. There will be another group picture taken on Saturday Night. This picture will be made available to everyone in the class for the price of reproducing it. We still have the one from or 25th ( it’s on the first page of the web site. If you would like a hard copy of that pix, drop me a line and I’ll try to get you one.
We are asking anyone for ideas on questions for the trivia contest. Please email me the questions and answers and I will forward them on to the committee. Remember that if you have any thoughts as to what we are planning, get me the info and I will make sure that each one will be read and acted on.
The group has contacted most of the class as of now with a few left to hunt down. We will not give up looking for them and could use your help too. They are listed a little bit above this on this page.
Julie Steege promised some pictures of long ago… We will have to make sure that they follow the “G” rating that the web site has. If you have any picture that you would like to see in a collage or on the web site, email them to me or send with the regular mail and I will return them at the party.
If you have any questions or just want to jot down a note, it’s always good to hear from you. You are always welcome at the meetings and the next one will be April 27 starting at 6:00 at the Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa.
I am working on a full listing of all of the motels and hotels in Wisconsin Rapids for those of you who need them. I will put a link at the bottom of the page.
March 9 meeting:
Things are still going well and we keep on having classmates stop on by to help. Terry Fait joined us and was a great help. We found a few more addresses of classmates who have moved since 5 years ago. Jim Schmidt will run the golf outing and will need to know who will be participating about 2 weeks prior. Discussion was held of golf prizes for the best ball scramble and it looks like bragging rights should be enough.
We need your help on the trivia questions for the party on Saturday. After we eat a fine meal of chicken and ham, red potatoes, green bean casserole, beer, Brandy/Sweet or Whiskey/Sour and sodas, we will be asking the trivia questions of our classmates. The winners of each question will receive $5.00. We did this last time and it was great time. Most of the winners even donated the prize money back and made our efforts to start this year’s project easier with some seed money.
Please email me your questions with !!!answers!!! and I will make sure they get brought up at the next meeting. Be thoughtful and correct but cleaver.
We are making way on the class booklet. Thank you for those how have sent back their questionnaires and pictures. The info is great and most have included a great picture of themselves. I am printing them off as soon as I get them in so there won't be a huge pile to photocopy at the last minute.
The next meeting will be held at the Liquid Lounge at 6:00 on March 30. The work on the questions will continue and the suggestion of inviting several of our teachers to come to the events. If you have the time, please stop in and pull up a chair, order a drink and have a great time!
If you have any pictures of the class or anything you would like to be put on this web page, email me or send it through the regular mail and I will do my best. Any ideas are very welcome
February 17,2004
The meetings are going well and are a bunch of fun. There is work being done but there is still plenty of time to reminisce about the fun things that happened so many years ago….
We will send out a mailing to sniff out the active addresses and also to send out the Questionnaire that we need to have returned by April 15th. The questionnaire is going into our class booklet along with everyone’s senior picture. We are hoping to include a recent picture along with the one from the yearbook in this booklet. Please try to send a picture to me as soon as you can so we can get started on this book. We also decided on the menu for our sit down meal on Saturday August 7th at the Homestead Country club. We will have chicken and ham with all of the “fixins” and have soda, beer and Brandy/sweet - Whiskey/sour in punch bowls for refreshments. There will be a sound system there and we’ll put on some of our own cd’s for the musical background.
A FUN golf scramble will be run on Saturday morning. It is open to all of the golfers in the class along with all of those who don’t play but would like to have a time to remember. A scramble is set up with one good golfer in each group along with the rest of us duffers. Everyone gets to whack at the ball and the best ball is then played. The winners will have bragging rights until the next reunion and we will try not to take too many pictures on the course for the web page.
Our next meeting is March 9th at 6:00 at the Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa. If you have time, please stop by. There is still plenty to do and the remembering sessions are very therapeutic. We will try to start on the trivia questions at the next meeting along with collection of any old pictures to add to the web page.
We had a few new faces there last night and it was great as usual. Remember to grab any addresses that you have that we might not have and pass them along. Every meeting we are able to include someone else that we might have missed otherwise. Thanks for all of your help. We all miss you!
I have taken our first mailing to the post office on February 24. If your address is up to date, keep an eye out for it as it is the questionnaire and info on the party. Please send it back as soon as you can so we can get the booklet started. Also send a current picture of yourself to be included too. There are the addresses that we know that are wrong in our records. If you know how to contact these classmates, please let me know. They are:
Joe Klun
Connie Frisch Powers
Henry Allworden
Trudy Savage
Tim Boelter
Sandy Werner
Sherri Lancour
Gorden Collins
Gary Law
Here are some of the stats not including the classmates that we don’t have correct addresses:
Nekoosa addresses: 39
Wisconsin Rapids addresses: 29
Port Edwards: 2
Other Wisconsin cities: 22
Out of state: 15
February 3, 2004
It’s full of snow here and still very cold for those of you who don’t live in central Wisconsin any more. Hope this finds everyone well.
Things are going well with the plans for the reunion. Deb Henry joined us this time and we are just about set on the place and cost. This will be decided in a day or so as more info was needed. There will be a post card sent out in a couple of weeks as to let everyone know the particulars of our party and to recheck addresses. The date for the reunion is August 6,7 so mark it in your books, plan on having a fantastic time with some fantastic people.
We are still asking for recent photos of yourself so we can include them in the book we are making. I will make sure you get them back either at the reunion or mail them back to you. You can send them by internet or by regular mail. Also a call for any unusual pictures that you might have of our years of schooling in the Nekoosa High school, Alexander high school or even the elementary schools would be fun to view in our web page. I have a couple of pictures up here and will have more shortly. If you have some of these type of pictures, please send them and I will get them back to you right away.
A golf scramble is in the planning for this event too. You don’t have to know how to play golf very well, just know how to have a great time!! More on this later.
The thought of a trap shoot might be falling by the wayside as it was apparent that only one function (Golf or Trap) would have good participation. Ahhh, just like you were in the meeting. Our next meeting will be on Feb. 17 at the Liquid Lounge ( Nekoosa old Segovia’s ) at 6:00. Drop on down if you have a few minutes and put in your suggestions. If you can’t make it down, please drop an email here and I will read the letter to those who could make it so your ideas are viewed. Several of our classmates have done just that and helped us a great deal. Remember that these meetings are far more fun than work so stop in and have a good time.
Our First Meeting will be held on January 15 at the Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa at 6:00. This site will publish the minutes of the meeting for you so you can help out in the planning.
January 15,2004
We had our first meeting and things are going well. Wade Pfeiffer, Dan Hustedt . Pattie McCarthy, Julie Steege and I met at The Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa ( Old Segovia’s). Even had a quick visit from Tim Van Meeter who stopped by for a bit. We had a few things come in from other classmates from the email and it was helpful. Here’s where we are so far:
1. The date is tentatively set for the first week in August. This would be August 6th and 7th. We are just waiting for info as to where it will be held to confirm the date.
2. We decided that it was a waste of cash to hire a band or DJ. We have access to a full P.A. system and will be tossing in our own cd’s. After all, the reason to be there is to chat with classmates. We will need the PA for our Famous Trivia Contest and Toast’s as well.
3. As per our notes from the last reunion, we will be having just a 2 day event. Friday night at a local pub (Open Bar) and then Saturday at a nice sit down event with good food, fun, and Air Conditioning!
4. Sunday picnic was discussed and in our notes it was decided to leave that up to the group to decide on Saturday night’s gathering. If people would want to put on a picnic, we will get it together that night.
5. The number of nice places that would hold our group is quickly dwindling. There are about 7 places that we are currently checking on. The final decision will be made at our next meeting. We are looking for the best bang for the buck and make sure we have an area to have a great time!
6.Create a quick mailing of post cards to get the info out to our classmates to not only inform them of the date and places but to check their addresses. We will send out a regular letter shortly after that for our questionnaire and such.
7. We are planning another booklet like we had last time. We are now asking that each class member send a recent photo of themselves to put next to their old Moccasin picture. These photos will be returned at the reunion. If you can send that picture to the address below as soon as you can. Just a head shot would be great. I can work with the pictures to a certain extent so send what you have and I’ll do the best I can.
8. A golf outing and trap shoot are being thought out as last time. If anyone would like to spear head these endeavors, please contact us. Diane Hasenohrl and Deb Totzke did a great job on this last time and we are going to ask them again but if anyone else would care to help set this up, it would be appreciated.
Our next meeting is February 3rd at The Liquid Lounge in Nekoosa at 6:00. Remember that everyone is welcome and that your input is needed. If you can’t make the meeting but have an idea, please send me an email and I will make sure it gets read at the meeting. One of our classmates did that just a day or so ago and it saved the committee a bunch of time and effort.
The address to send a current picture of your self is:
Dade Grode
9150 Bainbridge Trail
Wisconsin Rapids, WI
54494