Standing from left to right: Bill Freeman, Jim Arnold, Joe Rossi, Barbara Bishop, Norma (Cirillo) Turcotte, Dan DeBiasio, and John Klenakis.

(Dan is not on the committee but was stopping by for a visit to John Klenakis on his way to Vermont)

Seated from left to right: Karen Schmidt, Rosemary (Alajanian) Sandlin, Valerie Falbo, Susan (Russell) Strycharz, and Art Gingras.

(Not able to attend our first meeting but on the Committee are Christine Jeserski and Larry Charest.)

Agawam High School Class of ‘64
Reunion Planning Committee Meeting
September 8, 2023 at Crestview Country Club

Meeting summary by Barbara Bishop

In attendance: John Klenakis, Dona Mercadante, Christine Jeserski, Rosemary Sandlin, Ann Baurle, Karen Schmidt, Jim Arnold, Bill Freeman, Larry Charest, Norma Cirillo, Art Gingras, Barbara Bishop

The meeting was called to order by John who distributed the information materials and agendas. The following decisions were made:

Reunion date:

Saturday, September 21 morning golf and BBQ at 2 PM
Sunday, September 22 visits to local attractions and dinner at 6

Explore locations:

Suggested locations to consider are St. Ann’s, Oak Ridge, the Agawam Country Club, Crestview, the Federal. Agawam locations only. Rosemary and Larry will do research and make a recommendation to the committee based on cost, handicap accessibility, golf considerations. Rosemary will create a spreadsheet for comparisons.

To Zoom or not:

After much discussion it was decided to offer a “managed zoom” with a limited time frame for each zoomed in classmate to say hello. This would accommodate some classmates from near and far who can’t attend due to health problems, cost or other issues.

Tour of the School:

Rosemary will contact the school officials to request special access for us on the weekend. As a backup plan, we might be allowed in to tape a video tour hosted by some people on the committee prior to the reunion. Joe Rossi, not present at today’s meeting, was suggested to on this committee.

Music:

After much discussion about a live band, DJ, or CD music of the 60’s, it was decided to use the CDs that Teddy Affleck had made for us for the 55th reunion.

Memories:

John has worked diligently on the list of deceased classmates and invited everyone to share a remembrance that we could use to create a slide show to display. John reports that comments are slowly coming in, but not all our deceased classmates have responses, as of now. Everyone on the committee should look at the list and write a few memories about someone they knew, their accomplishments, their values, how they made the world a better place.

Invitations:

Karen Schmidt is working on a design for the invitation and can do a “save the date” invitation that we can email or snail mail. The design/logo could also be used on a class memento such as a hat or coffee mug.

Other activities:

We had previously discussed activities/events including the Big E, Quadrangle museums, a visit to a local vineyard, possible high school football game on Friday night. John said Bob Barnes had suggested a class cruise on a larger scale than a two-hour reunion event. We all liked the idea but not for the 60th reunion. Bill Freeman will look into Brunelle’s Marina which offers cruises on the “Lady B” on the Connecticut River and also offers a good Sunday brunch.

Name Tags:

Elaine Borgatti Mastoianni did a great job for the previous reunion. We will contact her to request that she take on that task again. She used our high school yearbook photos.

Website:

Joe DiDonato will continue to be the admin of our website.

Facebook:

Barbara Bishop will continue to be the admin of our Facebook account.

Decorations:

To be discussed at the next meeting.

Class list updates:

John had sent out a list of our classmates and needs all of us to help update the list with current addresses, emails, etc. We have about 264 graduates, with about 50 deceased classmates. Rosemary and Barbara will work to locate missing classmates.

Other classes:

It was decided to keep this reunion a “Class of ‘64” event and not include people from other classes unless they have a special connection to our class (spouse).

Sponsors:

We discussed asking for cash donations or gift certificates from local businesses to help defray the cost of the reunion or as prizes for golf or other prizes. We did this for our last reunion and received several donations. To be discussed at our next meeting. “It’s a lot of work.”

Class Momento:

Rosemary will contact Gail Freeman, Bill’s wife, for information about hats, mugs, etc. Gail knows local vendors from her work at the Senior Center.

Next meeting:

Wednesday, November 8th
Location to be determined, not necessarily Crestview

Please send additions and corrections to these notes to barbarabishop200@comcast.net

Thank you everyone!

Meeting summary by John Klenakis - 

On June 9th, the first meeting of the planning committee for the Class of 64 '60th' reunion met at Crestview Country Club to begin discussions that will set in place the date, venue, and related activities for this very special get together next year. 

I would like to thank the many classmates who volunteered to help put the reunion together. In a separate email I will send a picture taken at the reunion meeting with the 12 classmates who attended the meeting.

Although nothing is set in stone yet, we are looking to replicate the model of our 50th reunion which many remarked was quite successful: A two-day affair to be held in mid to late September of 2024 (to coincide with Fall Foliage, the Big E, and, hopefully, a home AHS football game). The time of day will be early to late afternoon for both days with golf probably early Saturday, a BBQ (hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, Vegan) in the afternoon and brunch on Sunday.

For the non-golfers among us, besides the Big E we hope to arrange other activities like exploring local Vineyards and visiting the Museums at the Quadrangle in Springfield. We also want to arrange a tour of the High School sometime that weekend (there is talk of replacing the old high school building). 

There seemed to be a consensus that Crestview Country Club did a good job with our 50th reunion (as well as others we have held there) but we will also explore other options. The hope is that Crestview will give us a good enough package deal to stay with them.

There was some discussion at the meeting about providing an opportunity for any classmate to share a special memory of their Class of 64 experience and/or provide a remembrance of a classmate no longer with us. (How this would be done or whether we can even pull it off is still up in the air). However, we will extend an invitation to any faculty member to attend the reunion who was present at AHS during our days there. For those classmates unable to attend but hoping to participate in some way we are exploring our ability to "zoom you in".

Our 'goal' is to make the cost of attending as reasonable as possible while putting together a quality experience for all classmates. It's too early at this time to quote any projected cost as we still need to explore what the options are. However, we will structure the fee so that if you attend only one day you will pay for only one day.  

Our next meeting is scheduled for early September, and I will provide another general update at that time.