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Newsletter #9 - June 2002
Serious Fund
Raising
It's time for some serious
fund raising.Our objective is to cover
the entire cost of the 40th reunion.We have a little more than $1,600 which puts us well on our way to paying
all of the bills.
Fortunately, we have a little more than a
year and a few ways and means to do this.For example, we can continue to request contributions with each
newsletter, or even amuse ourselves by attempting to sell honorary class
memberships to billionaire politicians desirous of promoting the image of a
humble, bucolic past.We, of course,
have some other much more practical alternatives:
1) If
everyone in the class purchases a few books each quarter through our Amazon link
on the web site, we will quickly build up our class account.
2) We can attempt to establish a system for assessing and
collecting class dues.
3) We can hire professional fund
raisers to irritate everyone with meal time phone calls begging for
support.
4) We can continue to ask people to please
contribute whatever amount they choose, whenever they chose to do it.(So far, this has resulted in contributions
at the stunning rate of approximately one per year.)
Using
the Amazon link is probably the least painful of the alternatives.If anyone has other suggestions on how to
raise money through advertising on our web site, or creating links, please
write.
Class President
How would you like that on
your resume?The Class of 1963 has never
taken class leadership seriously.Since
no one remembers any longer who our class officers are, or were for that matter,
it is time to establish new leadership.However, instead of an election which can be time consuming and expensive
if handled properly, your class Executive Board has decided to sell the
prestigious office of Class President to the highest bidder.Considering the considerable workload
associated with this office, it would be understandable if bidders wanted to
take the next steps cautiously.
The Executive Board also
decided that it would be a wise step to publish the minimum set of credentials
required of our next Class President.
The suggested
Minimum Qualifications for Class President follow:
1)
The candidate must be alive at the time the first bid is submitted.Bids from estates will only be considered if
they are made in good faith.
2) The candidate must have a residence, or
atleast be able to receive mail.The prospective candidate must also be
capable of opening said mail.
3) Each candidate will be asked
to submit a short essay on why they believe they are the best choice for Class
President.In the interest of saving
time, these essays should not exceed 15 words or 35 syllables.
4) All candidates will be expected to have either attended
Penncrest or visited it at least once.Taking the campus tour on the high school web site will be
acceptable.
If you are contemplating a class presidency gift
for a loved one, these will be available also.For a $45 contribution, you can name anyone as an Honorary President of
the Class of 1963.In addition to the
prestige and honor associated with the office, they will receive a genuine Class
of 1963 T-shirt accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.If you have no need for a T-shirt, we will be
happy to substitute almost any other article of clothing.
For
those of you who were not aware of the existence of an Executive Board, happily
this honor can be purchased also.Seats
on the board go for a little less than the Class President position.Please write if you are interested in being
on the board.Due to limited resources
at the board headquarters, only serious inquiries will receive a polite
response, all of the others will be filed alphabetically in the official Class
of 1963 file cabinet.
The 40th Reunion
Where would you like
it?Before we can make the decision as
to where it should be, we should consider what we want to include in the
reunion. So far, we have never done more that have dinnerand minimal dancing.(Except of course for the mini-reunion in
Arizona that took place entirely in a swimming pool.) Maybe it is time to
consider a Philadelphia hotel setting or some other formal venue.I don't know if it is possible, but are there
dinner cruises on the Delaware, or is it time to return to the high school for a
non-alcoholic picnic and chaperoned dinner?
Any and all
suggestions are welcome.Please try to
communicate your ideas in a timely manner so that we can start to plan and
publicize our decisions.We have to
consider our classmates that live west of the Mississippi River and way down
south.They need a little time to be
convinced to attend and to make travel arrangements.
We have
an offer from Rick for an encore on the farm.This is enticing, but we are willing to bend to the will of the
people.
Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam
The consensus is to erase
the spam.So every now and then you will
see a gap between messages on our message board.This is an indication that a messagewas erased from the message board.Typically, the only messages that will be
erased are those promoting pyramid schemes, sex sites, or any herbal remedy for
either existing ornonexisting
diseases.Unusual messages will be left
alone.Every now and then I do take the
liberty of editing the spam.
Financial Note
The class account balance
is updated on the web site once a month.All of the funds are intended to cover reunion costs.Unless a spectacular new plan comes along,
these funds will be used to subsidize the 40th reunion, and possibly
the 50th reunion.
All of the money we receive goes into the class
account. All of our other expenses are covered through donations.The web site, printing, copying, postage,
distribution, research, taxes, etc.are
all gifts to the class.
Jay News
I promised that no future
newsletter would be complete without "Jay News."Unfortunately, neither one has done anything
suitable for printingin the last few
months.I rely on the major news
services for these stories, and they seem to be slightly remiss in not carrying
the news we need.Maybe we will have
something exciting to report in Newsletter #10.
The closest
we got to an article was when Jay Fenwick visited New York City and got
sick.So much for excitement.I guess he didn't realize he could have
stayed home and been sick much more conveniently.
Jay
MacLaughlin has been very silent since he was questioned about massive
ducks.
Actually, Jay MacLaughlin and I were able to enjoy a
little winter bird watching at Cape Cod.My birding experience isalmost
totally inland, and I appreciated Jay's knowledge of the shore birds.
Since the last newsletter, I had the opportunity to visit Jay
Fenwick in Arizona and watched ASU play Oregon.I also watched a year's worth of NFL football in one day on his big
screen TV.But the most impressive
moment of the entire visit was being shown the secret vault where he keeps his
collection of imported Philly Cheese Steaks.Apparently, he jets to Philadelphia once a year just to stock up.
I don't travel nearly as much as I used to, but I recommend
that everyone check the class list before they travel and maybe renew a
friendship or two.
Biographies
We're still in the market
for new biographies and updated biographies.When you email them to me, you may want to include a small .jpg picture
of the family.
Emily Elizabeth Sorkin
On a personal note, I
became a grandfather on June 20, 2001.Kathy and I are very excited andfeel fortunate that the kids live nearby, affording frequent visits.I assume thatas a grandparent I will be entitled to build
as many doll houses as I want.This
insidious desire to build doll houses goes back many years, but while I have the
ambition I have no idea where to begin.So if anyone has a recommendation, please write.
September
2001
This newsletter was
originally planned forlast September,
but it seemed prudent todelay
distribution for a while.As most of the
country returns to a newly defined level of normality, we continue to
demonstrate our strength as a nation byliving our lives to the fullest extent.And we remain unwilling to be bowed by any fanatics.But the memory is forever.
A few weeks ago, I had lunch at the Tribecca Grill which is just a
few blocks from the WTC site.After
lunch, on my way back to the subway, a tourist with map in hand asked me for
directions.He said he wanted to go
uptown, but wasn't certain which way was north.I immediately looked over my shoulder ready to point to the Twin Towers
as the perfect landmark to be used to orient himself from anywhere in the NYC.
That was when I realized it may be a very long time before I am able to accept
new landmarks, and stop taking deep breaths whenever I happen to lookto the south.
All Contributions are
Welcome
Why not send me a short
story, a poem, or a little news about yourself.Fellow classmates appreciate reading about their oldest friends--meaning
they've known you longer than anyone else.
Help Find the Lost
Check the lost list on the
web site and see if you can locate someone.Paul Gibson can give you advice on searching and let you know what
avenues he has already investigated.
Old Roads Out of
Philadelphia
By John T.Faris, J. B. Lippincott Company,
Philadelphia and London, 1917
One of the old roads is
Baltimore Pike including towns along the highway such as Media and Lima,
Pennsylvania. Here are a couple of excerpts from the text.
From Crum Creek, it is
easy to reach the Providence Road, one of the historic highways of Delaware
County.Several of the best of the inns
for which the county was famous in early days may be found along this road.One of these, Providence Inn, at Media, has
been converted to a hospital.Another,
the Rose Tree Inn, is located a short distance above Media, at the intersection
of Providence Road and the Rose Tree Road.The old signboard of the inn has been appropriated by the Rose Tree Hunt,
whose club house is located directly across the Providence Road.
_________________
At
the intersection of Edgemont road, beyond Media, is the residence of Allen
Cunningham, remodeled in 1915 from the Old Black Horse Inn which dates from
1739.On November 27 of that year
William Noblet asked permission to keep tavern in "a newly built and Commodious
stone house upon the great road leading from Chester to the Valley."he argued that the tavern was a necessity for
the public generally, and that it was especially needed because it was located
"about three-quarters of a mile from the Presbyterian Meeting House which
Commonly is a great resort of people," some of them "having ten or fifteen miles
to travel to the sd.place of
worship."
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