News | Gallaudet University Class of 1957

On Friday, June 12, 2009, we (Kay Francis and Joe) went to Gallaudet University, Office of Development, to finalize Class of 1957 donation for the Brick and Museum projects with Matt Sickon, Donor Relations Specialist.

The Brick will plainly be engraved “Class of 1957″, and we paid $500 for the brick project.  The 1957 Brick will be installed in front of the new, beautiful Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC) by this fall.

Because of the financial support from Charles and Gloria Chappell of Alabama, we reached an agreement with the Office of Development that the money ($500) be endowed into the existing museum fund in the name of Class of 1957.

The Class of 1957 has donated to Gallaudet Univerisity a total of $1,000, and we, the class, should extremely be proud of our deed toward our alma mater.  We love Gallaudet, and we will continue supporting Gallaudet, our beloved school, for years to come.

Thank you you for your whole-heartedly support.

With love,
Kay Francis and Joe

We have sent a thank-you letter to Charles and Gloria Chappell of Talladega, AL who contributed five hundred dollars ($500.00) earmarked to Class of 1957 fund. Charles and Gloria entered Gallaudet in 1952 from Alabama and Wisconsin respectively, and they have graciously donated a large amount of money to our cause.

The Letter:

June 9, 2009

Dear Charles and Gloria:

On behalf of Class of 1957 and ourselves, we thank you very much for a large amount of money you have bestowed toward the Class of 1957 treasury.

The gift, as agreed, will be used to help with Gallaudet’s museum project, and we are going to settle the matter this Friday when we deal with Gallaudet’s Donor Relations Specialist.

We, the Class of 1957, appreciate your generousness and thoughtfulness very much, and we are fortunate to have you in our class.

Thank you.

With love and hugs,

Kay Francis and Joe

May 14, 2009

Dear Classmates:

We have overwhelmingly voted to donate $500 for our class’ message to be engraved on a brick in front of the news James Lee Sorenson Language and Communication Center.

The brick will be a 4″ x 8″ one, and we have up to 13 characters per line (limit of three lines), per paver, space and punctuation are considered characters.

Kay Francis and I suggest we engrave the brick “Class” for first line, “of” for second line and “1957″ for third line.  The words will be arranged in the center of the brick.

We believe should simply engrave the brick “Class of 1957″ instead of fancy words such as “The Fabulous Class of 1957″ or something like this.

Do we have your support?  Please feel free to suggest new names if you feel so desired.

Please respond by end of this month. 

Thank you.

Joe

We were sadly notified of passing of Marjorie Tomei Parks, ‘58, beloved wife of our classmate, Edwin J. Parks.

Marjorie passed away on April 1, 2009 in Kurtistown, Hawaii. She is survived by her husband, Edwin, and four children.

According to Ed, “Marjie was ‘58 to my ‘57 and we married in ‘58. She died from complications of pneumonia, in the hospital. She died peacefully with family all around. We had had fifty one years together, not counting the years at Gally. I would like another fifty.”

On behalf of Class of 1957 and ourselves, we express deepest sympathy and hoping you will find comfort in knowing others care and are near in thought today.

Edwin can be contacted by his email address, mparks@hawaii.rr.com.

 Kay Francis and Joe

Congratulations to both of you for your outstanding recognitions you have made. We, the Class of 1957, will always recognize you two for the rest of our lives!!!

Ken Holland

On Saturday, April 4, Betty Miller and Ronald Hirano were honored at the 2009 GUAA/LCCF (Gallaudet University Alumni Association and Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund) Charter Day Awards Program which was held at Ole Jim.

Betty got an award (LCCF Alice Cogswell) recognizing her for her service on behalf of deaf people, and Ronald was recognized for his contribution as a volunteer to the community with GUAA Pauline “Polly” Peikoff “Service to Others” Award.

After accepting the awards, Betty and Ronald gave outstanding speeches of thanks, and they were witnessed by a full-house audience which consisted of seven local classmates who came to honor them.

We, the Class of 1957, are extremely proud of Betty and Ronald for their past leadership and voluntary achievements.

Kay Francis and Joe

Although the deadline has not been met, we have overwhelmingly received messages from classmates in favor of the Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC) personalized brick as our $500 donation to Gallaudet cause.

We, the Metropolitan Washington (DC) classmates, will make an arrangement with the college office to have the brick properly inscribed in the near future (before September 2009).

 Here are some of the classmates’ votes and commentaries re: the 5 choices:

The local Metro classmates: Lois Burr, the Hagemeyers, Virginia Luke, Jerry Pelarski, the Roses and Bob Scribner are for the BRICK.

• Betty Battle: I agree to anything the classmates make.
• Tom Bluekens: Why not start a scholarship fund? Deposit the money in a separate interest bearing account that is open to gifts and bequests and let it stew for something like ten years and then use it for needy and deserving students under terms set by the class of ‘57.
• Toni Eidson: 100% in favor of using the $ for a brick. All is well at my end.
• Jack Hathway (Ann Marie): I think Jack would choose Ole Jim. Love.
• John Hermann: Hi Joe, whatever the class suggestion for the best, and it is fine with me.
• Ken Holland: I will go for Number 3 (brick)!!! Thanks
• Stephen Kugel: Your choice is my choice.
• Betty Miller: Hey guys, you have my vote–Thumbs up!! I am doing good . . . still living in Philly . . . so if you guys ever stop by . . . please come and visit. Hugs.
• Norma Nelson: Hi, I think it sounds great and you know what is the best. I agree with you what you want do with 500 dollars. Hugs.
• Alice Obray: Thanks for your hard work and loyal to our beloved Class ‘57. Yes, I will go for the brick with the name of class of ‘57. Great idea!!!! Tight hugs.
• Ed Parks: May I suggest, instead of a single choice, we rank the choices. Say we give a number to each choice from 4 to 1. I omit the fifth (keeping the money), since that really isn’t a choice. Then I would rank them like this: Sorenson Center, 4 points; Peikoff, 3 points; Library, 2 points and Museum, 1 point. If I get just one choice, it would be the Sorenson Center. Of course, I assume the cost of the brick is minimal, and most of the money would be put to work. (Silly to think it would cost $500 just to design a brick). Best regards.
• Helen Pendergraft: Hello Kay and classmates, Nice hearing from you. I do like the idea of purchasing a brick or something imprinted with Class of 1957 some way. It will be visual to people who come and go and I bet some of the undergraduates will say, “Wow, 1957, my parents were not yet born!!” smile.
• Al Pimental: Joe, I vote for the brick.
• Laurence Plate: I do recall that we did discuss this possibility at our Golden Reunion a couple of years ago and I recommend that all of us go for it (3) SLCC Brick.
• Julian Singleton: Hi Kay Rose. I think the engraved brick will last forever while the funds elsewhere can vanish very fast nowadays and forget us. Ungrin! Looking forward to seeing you all soon in Las Vegas. xo
• Keith Thompson: Hi Joe and Kay. You certainly have my sincere favor for $500 donation. Also you can move toward to have a brick with a script of our great class. I like that idea very much!
• George Wilding: Ruth Ann and I personally like Sorenson for starting the video phone first time in history therefore we like to have a brick in the SLCC building from class of 1957 (bless us). Yours.

We will keep you all informed as we undergo on the plans for our class contribution. Thank you very much for your help.

Kay Francis and Joe

We were recently notified by Delores Jean (Stepp) Pyles and Linda (Selstead) Stack about the death of our dear classmate, Hazel M. (Nester) Lagreco. She died during the first week of March 2009 of breast cancer. On behalf of the Class of 1957 and ourselves, we sent our condolences to the family of Hazel. She shall be missed, but not forgotten by her college classmates and friends.

Hello Beloved Classmates (1957):

We hope this message will find you well.

The Metropolitan Washington (DC) classmates were at the Maryland Deaf Senior Citizens’ monthly social gathering on February 19, 2009.

We, all of us except Bob Scribner, took an opportunity during the gathering to discuss the class fund which has been inactive ever since our class reunion in the fall of 2007. As reported by our class treasurer, Theodore Hagemeyer, the class treasury is about $700 plus.

We made a suggestion to donate $500 to a worthy Gallaudet cause, and retain the rest of our fund for future use. It was unanimously agreed that we do so.

We are asking you, as a member of the Class of 1957, to support our suggestion of donating $500 from our treasury to Gallaudet.

It was mentioned at the gathering that we have five choices of funds to donate $500:

1. Gallaudet Library
2. Peikoff Alumni House (Ole Jim’s)
3. James Lee Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC) for SLCC Personalized Brick
4. Gallaudet Museum (under planning stage)
5. Leave the money in the treasury untouched

We, the local 57ers, recommend that the money ($500) be used to buy a personalized brick (Class of 1957 or something like this) to be placed outside of the new beautiful SLCC building. That way, we will leave a legacy at Gallaudet for many years to come.

Okay, what is your choice? We need your help. Your suggestion will be counted, and the majority vote from the classmates will determine the wish of the classmates as a whole.

Deadline: Please respond to (kajorose57@aol.com) by Sunday, March 22, 2009.

Thank you very much.

Yours forever,
Kay Francis and Joe

P.S. Do you have any news about yourself, your family and your travels, and we will be very happy to include the news on our class web site at (www.1957.gallaudetalumni.com). Please help to keep our web site ALIVE. Smile.

Alexander F. Balogi Jr.  
Balogi, Alexander F., Jr. age 75, of Champlin, passed away peacefully at home Nov. 12, 2008 surrounded by his family. Alex retired from the Star Tribune Newspaper after 30+ years. He was preceded in death by parents, Alex and Eva; sisters, Flo Bloom and Eva Antone; brother, Bill Thompson; and grandson, Michael. Survived by loving wife of 47 years, Ramona; children, Mona (Mark) Sundeen, M.Sgt. Alexander III (Beth), Alvin (Connie), Andy (Sally), Maria (John) Frischmon, Marilyn Balogi, Tony, Melissa Thomsen (Joel Harrington), Michelle Balogi (Don Burton) and Adam (Heather Hiivala); 22 grandchildren; sisters, Elsie Mills and Sarah Sheilds; many other relatives and friends. Mass of Christian Burial Saturday 10:30 AM with reviewal one hour prior at St. Gerard Catholic Church, 9600 Regent Ave. North, Brooklyn Park. Visitation Friday 5-8 PM at Thurston-Lindberg Funeral Home, W. Main St. & Branch Ave., Anoka. 763-421-0220.

Star Tribute Newspaper (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN)