MINUTES OF CLASS MEETING -- October 21, 2023
PRINCETON CLASS OF 1969
CALL TO ORDER
A class meeting was held in Room 104 of Murray Dodge Hall on Saturday, October 21, 2023 in advance of the Harvard game. President Chris Milton called the meeting to order at 10:30 AM. Classmates in attendance were Bob Axelrod, Dick Bott, Andy Brown, John Fox, Chuck Freyer, Dan Harman, Chip Jerry, Rick Kitto, Jeff Marston, Clay McEldowney, Chris Meyer and Chris Milton.
CO-SECRETARIES’ REPORT
Co-Secretary Bob Axelrod presented the minutes of the previous class meeting on May 27, 2023. Their approval was moved, seconded and passed unanimously. He then read the names of those classmates who had passed away since the previous meeting: John Wilson (Jackson) Howe on May 13, 2023, Richard A. (Dick) Oertli on May 27, 2023, Robert Frank Dalton, Jr. on June 9 2023, and Shearwood (Wood) McClelland on August 13, 2023. We paused for a moment of silence in their memory.
Chris advised the group that a video tribute to Shearwood compiled by his widow was available for viewing on the class website.
Bob concluded the Co-Secretaries’ report by thanking the group for their enthusiasm in sending in news and photos for the class notes and encouraged them to continue so doing.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Treasurer Chuck Freyer advised that the class has a balance in its major reunions account of $46,600 which is available to provide working capital for our 55th and ultimately defray a portion of the cost if necessary. The class also has a balance of $142,000 in its operating account; this is before making the previously approved $75,000 contribution to endow the Class of 1969 Service Internship Fund for PICS and in advance of the bulk of the dues payments anticipated for our 2023 – 2024 fiscal year.
PICS REPORT
Bob Axelrod explained the purpose of the Class of 1969 Service Internship Fund: to endow one internship in honor of Seva Kramer, Jeri Schaefer and Emily Sharples -- who have served as Executive Directors of PICS since its founding -- and a second internship in honor of Jim Gregoire, the late Philo Elmer, Rick Kitto and Chuck Freyer -- the four classmates who have chaired the PICS Board. He thanked the class for its generosity and advised that, inclusive of the contribution of $75,000 in class funds, we have now raised most of the $300,000 needed to endow the two internships. Chris Milton pointed out that under University policy, the honoring of Emily Sharples cannot become effective until she retires from employment by the University.
Chuck Freyer reported that PICS continues to thrive following its transition to University control; the new Executive Director, Emily Sharples, is dedicated to PICS’ mission and works closely with the Alumni Friends of PICS group. The alumni continue to play a significant role in sourcing internships, interviewing prospective interns and mentoring interns during the summer. PICS is on target to grow from 220 to 300 interns in the next two or three years, facilitated by generous funding from the University.
REUNIONS REPORT
Reunions Chair Clay McEldowney and his team gave a detailed report on the plans for our 55th Reunion. He will open registration on the class website once the cost budget is finalized, anticipated for late this year. Our theme, a reprise of prior years, is “Four Days of Peace and Music”. The Reunions Committee’s overall goal is to make the reunion as affordable as possible. This goal was a consistent theme in the reports of the individual subcommittee chairs. A preliminary schedule of events was circulated, showing events from noon on Thursday, May 23rd to Sunday brunch starting at 8:30 AM.
Jeff Marston, Housing Chair, advised that he has secured a total of approximately 220 rooms in the Holiday Inn Princeton, Crown Plaza Princeton, Princeton Theological Seminary, Erdman Center and Scully Hall, our headquarters. Sign-up times for the different locations vary.
Chip Jerry, Headquarters and Crew Chair, reported that our headquarters has moved to the Scully Hall quadrangle to accommodate the larger attendance that ’69 historically achieves, compared to other classes. We are hoping to have 300 to 350 adults at the reunion, of whom 200 to 225 would be classmates. This compares to 900 and 400 respectively at our 50th. Scully is located roughly where the “New New” quad once stood and is convenient to the end of the P-rade route and the fireworks.
Andy Brown, Food Chair, advised that all meals would be provided by University Food Services and served at our headquarters, with the exception of a possible Sunday brunch. This is advantageous in terms of both food cost and set-up cost.
Bob Axelrod, Publicity Chair, will follow the same plan used at our 50th, with an outreach chair for each eating club and other dining facility. He clarified that we would not have Eating Club Lunches as this was reserved for the 50th reunion class. Our reunions logo will appear at the bottom of the class notes until after the reunion.
Chris Meyer, Clothing and Merchandise Chair, plans to minimize cost in this category as many of us have an abundance of class merch already. The only free item will be a quality water bottle for each classmate in attendance. Tie-dye t-shirts, baseball caps and possibly polo shirts will be available for purchase. Some of the left-over merch from prior reunions will be give-away items to incentivize early registration, and any left-overs will be given away at headquarters. Chris also promised that many love beads would be available for the P-Rade.
John Fox, Beer and Beverages Chair, discussed the beer and hard cider options which will be on tap, along with hard liquor, some cider and soda.
Rick Kitto, Wine Chair, followed with a discussion of the wine options to be served at headquarters.
Dick Bott, Wine Tasting Chair, has scheduled our quinquennial wine tasting for Friday afternoon. Classmates who wish to donate a case, or more, of a single wine that is special to them can arrange this with Corkscrew Liquors in town. They should also provide a write-up as to why the wine is special to them. Any left-overs after the tasting will be served at dinner on Friday and Saturday.
Entertainment is chaired by Andy Brown, Bonnie Post and Chip Jerry. They plan to have a DJ on Thursday night and live bands Friday and Saturday night. The hope is that lively dance music will encourage more partying than we observed at last year’s 55th. Additionally, we will have bagpipers and a drummer marching with us in the P-rade. Quieter live music is planned for our cocktail hours.
Lastly, it was announced that the Class Memorial Service is being organized by Chris Thomforde and Jeff Von Arx and will be held in the Chapel at 11 AM on Friday.
ANNUAL GIVING
Dick Bott announced that the Class Special Gifts Committee has already raised more than $570,000 toward $ goal of $2,069,000. Chris Milton thanked Bob Raymar for agreeing to serve as Special Gifts Chair, along with 15 other Classmates, and further indicated that the Class had a participation goal of 69%, with a group of Classmates also agreeing to assist in that effort as Participation Chairs.
ADJOURNMENT
Chris Milton adjourned the meeting at 12:05 PM, following the singing of “Old Nassau”.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Axelrod, Co-Secretary
Princeton Class of 1969
