Gallaudet University Class of 1957

The 10th biennial conference of DSA came out a success with tentatively reported 2000 plus attendees. A contingent of 17 Class of 1957 classmates attended the conference, and we had an opportunity to get together while dining at Paris Hotel & Casino’s Le Cafe restaurant one evening.

We had 22 patrons (classmates and some spouses) at the restaurant, and they are as follow: The Roses, Keith Thompson, Julian Singleton, Toni (Kaess) Eidson, Bob Scribner, Allie Joiner, The Wildings, Ken and Rita Holland, Herb Pickell, Laurence Plate, Alice Hagemeyer, Alice and Larry Obray, Ron and Kay Hirano, Henning Irgens and her friend, Mary and Connie and Don McCune. It was great for us to be together in large number once again, and we enjoyed our evening.

A short meeting was called for during the dinner. It was reported that the class fund, after the payment of $500 for the Gallaudet Museum project, was estimated to be a little over $200. We deliberated and agreed to donate $200 for the same museum project. Thus, $700 will be the amount of money donated by Class of 1957 for the worthy project.

We are looking forward seeing you all at Chicago/DSA 2011 conference if not anytime before then.

Hugs,
Kay Francis and Joe

Here are some messages from classmates re: The Brick and Endowed Museum Fund

Allie Joiner: Hands wave, wave, wave, wave. Thank you very much for representing us so well. Hugs.

Ruth Ann Wilding: Way to go!!!! Yayy!!! for Class of 57!!!

Norma Seaton Nelson: Thanks. Wow, it is so nice.

Eugene Landyshev: Many thanks for this informative notice, and the time it took you to share it with all of Class of 1957 . . . see all of you there (LV/DSA 2009 Conference).

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

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