Greetings classmates, one and all! Here we are…another five years have gone by since our last reunion and this year we’re looking at our 45th!! Can you believe it???!!!
Last Thursday, February 16th, a group of ‘61ers met at the home of Charlie and Barbara Burton for our first (of many, I’m sure) meetings to start planning our reunion get together and, of course, to decide what we’ll be doing for a float. Barbara Burton and Dick Hurd have already put a deposit at the Hartness House; a great place for our reunion gathering and dinner, which will be a buffet. Our float will once again be constructed at Dick and Mary Lou Hurds’ on Bellows Road…..we’re still taking ideas on what to do, so any of you with ideas that would fit into the theme of “Wet and Wonderful” please let us know asap! Barbara Burton reported that we have $1697 in our treasury. We normally spend about $500 on float materials (which we hope to get back by winning first prize….again!!!!!). The reunion committee will be happy to accept any financial donations that classmates can make to help with the many costs of putting this wonderful weekend together; please send all donations to Mr. & Mrs. Charles Burton 60 Barlow Road Springfield, Vt 05156. The parade will be on June 24th and our reunion get together and dinner will follow that evening; more information regarding both the float and dinner will follow as decisions are made by the group.
Our next scheduled meeting will be on February 28th; again to be held at the Burtons starting at 7 p.m. All classmates and spouses are encouraged to attend….we need all the ideas we can get!! As plans are solidified, we will try and get all information on the SHS Alumni Association web site and, with the help of Pat Daniels, it will also be put out by email. If anyone has changed their email address during the past five years, please send the corrected address to either/or Pat Daniels at DakeHill@aol.com or to Barbara Higgins at Barohi@Vermontel.net; we are trying to keep a master list as updated as possible. If there are any questions/concerns, please contact either Charlie/Barbara Burton at 885-8193; Richard/Mary Lou Hurd at 885-5863; Ron/Barbara Higgins at 885-9254 or Tony/Pat Daniels at 802-674-5871. That’s it for now….hope everyone is making plans to attend what promises be another wonderful and exciting class of 1961 reunion!!!!

Barbara (Kearney) Higgins

Second meeting
Hello again classmates! The class had its second reunion/float meeting on February 28th; once again held at Charlie and Barbara Burton’s house; a big thanks to them for hosting these first two meetings and putting up with a still kinda raucous group of 61ers!!!!! We may be getting older, but we sure haven’t lost all our “steam” yet!! Fifteen classmates and three spouses attended the meeting.
It was decided that our reunion banquet would be plated dinners. It will begin with light Hors D’ oeuvres and there will be three menu choices: Prime Rib, Baked Haddock and Chicken with broccoli on pasta with cream sauce; this dinner can be served without the chicken for anyone who wishes to have a vegetarian meal. The dinner will also include salad and rolls; roasted red bliss potatoes, garden vegetable medley, strawberry shortcake and coffee. The price will be $35.00 per person. You will all be receiving further information on this along with instructions on making reservations. This information will come either by email (to help save the class money) or regular “snail” mail, so please be certain we have your most up-to-date email address.
Betsey Child is in the process of designing a brochure and will have it ready for our next meeting which will be held on Tuesday, March 14th at the home of Ron and Barbara Higgins. If you need directions, or other information, call them at 885-9265.
We have registered our float with the Alumni Association and will provide further information as our plans progress. The float will be put together and taken down at the home of Dick and Mary Lou Hurd…don’t forget the usual Friday night get together at the Hurd’s for the purpose of putting the finishing touches on the float and having a general get together to greet all the home coming classmates.
We are still up-dating our master class list. The information we’re looking for is the following: classmates name and spouses’ name if applicable; address of residence, city, state and zip code; telephone number and email address if applicable. If you have had any changes in those categories in the past five years, and haven’t notified either Barbara (Harvey) Burton, Barbara (Kearney) Higgins or Pat (Mrs. Tony) Daniels, please do so ASAP so we can correct our list…thank you in advance for helping us in this very important project.
That’s it for now…..we’ll post another update after our next meeting on March 14th so keep checking this web site. Any ideas or suggestions will be most welcome so please don’t hesitate to call or write with your thoughts.  Until the next time….

Third meeting
Hello Everyone!
The class held its third meeting on March 14th at the home of  Ron and Barbara Higgins. We had eleven in attendance and lots of ideas were gathered regarding our float and reports were made from the reunion committee.
    Barbara Burton continues to stay in contact with the Hartness House as our reunion plans progress and suggests that those of you that want to stay there for the weekend to be sure and contact Hartness House as soon as possible with your reservation to assure you'll be able to get a room.....this is a big weekend in Springfield and their accommodations will fill quickly.
    Our class list is being updated on a continual basis as information is coming in. Please, if you have new email or street addresses, phone number, etc., send them along so we are sure to have your information correct on this master list. We are still looking for information of the following classmates: Karen Clarke Dishaw, Ronald Croteau, Joanne Emerson, Martha Jones, Martha Todd Walker, Patricia White Smith, Robert Wood and Rita Wood. If anyone knows the whereabouts of any of these folks, please let either Barbara (Kearney) Higgins..Barohi@Vermontel.net; Barbara (Harvey) Burton...cburton@vermontel.net; or, Pat Daniels....dakehill@aol.com know so that we can update our list....thank you!
    Betsey Child has completed the proof of our brochure. It will soon be emailed to all of you that we have email addresses for. We will "snail" mail it to those that don't have email and/or those that contact us and request one be sent via regular mail.
    Our float has been registered so the "dye is cast" but we are still re-thinking just what it will look like as a finished product....you know the Class of '61.....we won't know for certain what it's really going to be until we navigate it out of Dick Hurds' drive way on the day of the parade!!!!! Lots of ideas are being expressed so we'll have another great one for sure! If you have any questions/ideas/updates, please contact the Higgins at Barohi@Vermontel.net or the Burtons at cburton@vermontel.net. The Daniels are on vacation...(some where warm we hope!)..and won't be home this week. Hopefully, our "locals" will be able to stop in at the next meeting and share some ideas and laughs!!!!! Until the next time remember.....we're not getting older, we're getting better!!!!! :-))

March 29, 2006

Hello again classmates!
Another meeting was held last night at the Higgins’ and what a wonderful turn out we had….to include, all the way form California, Doug and Reyanne Freeman! What fun to have them join us!
By this time, many of you have received, via email, your informational brochures regarding the dates, times and places of the reunion weekend activities. PLEASE, remember to return your dinner reservation forms to Charlie and Barbara Burton on or before May 15th; their address is on the form. If you are unable to print the form, let one of us know and a hardcopy will be mailed to you, or, you can simply write the information on a plain piece of paper (be sure to give meal choices) and send it along to the Burtons. It is very important that we receive the forms by the time given; the Hartness House folks have given us a “drop dead” date in which they can order food. For those folks that do not have email, the hardcopy brochures were put in the mail today. If anyone does not receive this information and wants it, be sure to contact Barbara Burton, Pat Daniels or Barbara Higgins and it will be mailed to you.
The float plans are right on target. We will begin working on Tuesday, April 11th at Dick Hurd’s house which is on Bellows Road here in Springfield. We will then continue a work schedule of every Tuesday and Thursday evening through completion of the float. Our work times will be 6 to 9. Hopefully, we’ll see lots of folks at the work site…we need as many helping hands as possible and it’s always great fun just to be together! If anyone has questions, please feel free to contact Barbara and Charlie Burton at 885-8193, Tony and Pat Daniels at 674-5871 or Ron and Barbara Higgins at 885-9265. As always, if you have information regarding our “missing” classmates or know of any email or address changes of classmates, please let one of the committee know so it can be changed on the master list.
See ya on the 11th and don’t forget…..we’re not getting older…we’re getting better!!!!!!
Barbara (Kearney) Higgins