35^th Reunion Dinner Script

***Social Hour with appetizers will be from 6:00-7:15pm.  A final call for seating will be announced by Terry at 7:10pm.  The short program will commence at 7:15pm and dinner will be served at 7:30pm.***

***At approximately 7:10pm the following announcement will be made by Terry…***

”Ladies and gentlemen, we request you all to take your seats.  A short program will begin in a few minutes and then dinner will be served at 7:30.” 

***7:15pm Terry formally starts the program***

Hello classmates and guests, welcome to the 35^th Class reunion of the Hastings High School class of 1980.  I am Terry Sieben, and on behalf of your reunion committee, we are excited to have you all here tonight.  An event like this takes many hours of planning and much communication behind the scenes.  I would like to recognize the exceptional group of ladies that are responsible for making tonight happen…these six classmates have been working very hard for months and months.  I now ask the reunion committee members to please stand, and remain standing, when I call off their names; Lynn Benson Carroll, Nickie Plevell Marshall, Dawn Aune Trombley, Jan McNamara Rygh, Wendy Loesch McKinnis, and Jodi Myers Nielsen.  Their initial meeting for tonight was way back on the 17^th of August a year ago!  They have met countless times and exchanged a hundred or so e-mails and phones calls.  Let us all give these great ladies a round of applause to show our appreciation for all they have done to make tonight happen, thank you ladies!  (Initiate Applause…)

Tonight, we welcome all classmates and special guests here to mark and celebrate our 35 Year Class Reunion.  Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy lives to be with us here tonight.  This event is meant to be a time of reflection, friendship, and for many, getting reacquainted after 35 years!

Our formal agenda tonight is pretty simple; cover some quick administrative items, award some prizes from the Human Bingo Game, and serve dinner.  After dinner we will award some door prizes and after that, the night is yours to socialize for the rest of the evening.

As we did at our 30 year reunion five years ago, at this time we will now take a few moments to recognize our 15 classmates that are no longer with us here on earth.  You may have noticed the memorial display to my right/left.  At this time, I will read the names of all our deceased classmates, and then invite you to observe a moment of silence…

        Carol Schiller Anhalt

Steve Reis

Jean Sieben

Mike Ficker

Kathy Brown

        Patrick Caneff

David Dodd

Jeff Johnson

Paul Korkowski

Mary Lehmann

Jack Prescott

Mary Roden Beskau

Dona Schlosser Brown

Diane Stepan Wood

And finally, Dora Weiland Sieben

May their memory live on in our hearts and souls…

***Moment of Silence Observed…***

Now, on a much, much lighter note, I would like to move to the results of the Human Bingo Contest.  You all should have been provided directions for this when you arrived.  I trust you all participated and now the moment you all have been waiting for.  For the four people with the most squares covered we have door prizes from Hastings area businesses.  How many of you have the entire card covered? How about ____ squares… Can I ask you four to come up and collect your prizes please…

In first place, the winner is_____________________________ please come up and receive your prize…It is from Green Mill, and is a $40 Gift Card. 

In second place, the winner is____________________________ please come up and receive your prize…It is two bottles of wine from the House of Wines. 

In third place, the winner is______________________________ please come up and receive your prize…it is from Emily’s Bakery and is a $20 Gift Certificate. 

Finally, in fourth place, the winner is_____________________ please come up and receive your prize…it is from The Bierstube and is a $20 Gift Certificate.    

Congrats to all our Human Bingo winners. (Initiate Applause…)

Now we want to shift to a bit of reunion business…

First, we wanted to mention the current class of 1980 Webpage, which is, hastingsclassof1980.com

• Last reunion, many of you will recall a great amount of work was put into getting the website up and populated with basic set-up and our general info.The brunt of that initial work was done five plus years ago by Lynn and Nickie.Since then, even more work has been done.Thank you for checking it from time to time and keeping your information current.Also, thanks for spreading the word to fellow classmates.Together, we can keep that data up to date for future reunion planning and also for staying in touch with each other.We still have a list of “missing classmates” and if you know any of them, please, please spread the word that we want them included.The website, and its features, has grown over the last five years.It still appears to be a great tool in this ever changing electronic day and age for us to remain connected.One of the long range visions is for the website to be a place to include photos from past reunions, historical info on classmates, sadly, obits on deceased classmates, and really whatever YOU want it to include.Any and all feedback and ideas will be appreciated.Please e-mail the site with your comments anytime!

   

• One thing to stress here is that the information on our website is only as good as each of us makes it!Please keep your information current in your personal profile. Again, please also pass the word to any classmates you interact with for them to check out the site to first register, and then keep their information current. One of the hardest things in getting ready for tonight was having current contact information for all of us for the invitation.This website can make the planning for future reunions much, much easier.

   

• At our last reunion, classmate Chuck Redlin made a sizeable financial donation when we were looking for some “seed-money” for the 30^th reunion and also some funds to support the website.His donation was largely used to reserve our website’s domain name and fund the annual fees and such.Thank you again Chuck!

   

• This time around, 18 classmates have recently donated to the “Reunion Fund” and/or the “Website Fund”, and we would like to recognize them now, they are…

   

  • Brenda Anderson

  • Don Breivik

  • Larry Evans

  • Julie Goranson

  • Diane Hageman

  • Bill & Jeaneanne Huberty

  • CB Jensen

  • Denise LaCroix (Strop)

  • Tony Langenfeld

  • Wendy Loesch (McKinnis)

  • Tim Meier

  • Jo Price (Johnson)

  • Theresa Raway (King)

  • Gerry Rupp

  • Dan Schauer

  • Brad Stewart

  • Jerry Stoffel

  • and finally, Brad Utpadel

I trust I got everybody’s name that donated, if not I apologize.  Thank you for your generosity… (Initiate Applause…)

• Lastly, we are looking for help with managing the website. If any classmate has an interest in becoming the webmaster or assisting in other ways please let us know that too.

Shifting gears a bit, after contacting some Hastings area businesses, we had some other donated door prizes.  For example, Perkins Family Restaurant donated some muffins & cookies for later tonight for us to munch on.  After dinner we will award the other prizes.

Another “thank you” we need to do tonight is to the Class of 1981 ladies that checked us all in tonight.  Can I ask Renee Harwood and Kathy Woxland to stand and be recognized…Thanks ladies for helping us out tonight!  (Initiate Applause)

Now, for our final item before dinner.  It is time for the invocation and I ask classmate Julie Goranson to step forward and offer a pre-meal blessing. For those of you that do not know it, Julie is a pastor at Grace United Church of Christ in Wausau, Wisconsin.  Julie…

Thank you Julie for that special blessing.  This concludes the prepared program before dinner.  After the meal service is completed, as I mentioned, we have a few additional door prizes to award.  In the mean time have a great meal… dinner is served!

***Dinner is served by the wait staff***

***At approximately 8:00pm Terry will come back to the microphone for final awarding of door prizes and sign off***

Alright everyone, what a great meal.  Thank you to the banquet staff, we appreciate your service tonight and working with us over the many months of preparation. 

We have some final people to recognize tonight, hand out some final door prizes, and conclude the formal program…

• First off, special thanks to classmate Mark Halfen for his assistance to the committee.He used his connections at the Hastings Cub Foods store and obtaining a deal on the balloons that decorate the area.Thanks Mark!

   

• Other door prizes from Hastings area businesses or classmate owned businesses are as follows:

  • We have some Handmade Cooler Cups and Flasks also from Mark Halfen.The winners are_____________________, ______________________, _______________________, _______________________,

    _______________________, _______________________,.

  • From classmate Wendy Loesch McKinnis’ business, Down Home Message… a Certificate for a 60 minute message…

     The winner is___________________________.   

  • And the final door prize, from Rivertown Eye Center… a pair of Maui Jim Sun-Glasses…

    The winner is___________________________.

This concludes our program, can I ask you for one final round of applause for the reunion committee members, Lynn Benson Carroll, Nickie Plevell Marshall, Dawn Aune Trombley, Jan McNamara Rygh, Wendy Loesch McKinnis, and Jodi Myers Nielsen.  (Initiate Applause)

Good night everybody, please stick around and continue to have a great time.  We look forward to seeing you and many more classmates at our next reunion! 

Be safe and may God continue to bless the class of 1980!!!

INVOCATION BY JULIE GORANSON:

Let us pray:

Holy One, we invite your presence here among us this evening.

On a stormy June evening thirty five years ago, we shared a common rite of passage. Since that night, our paths have taken us in diverse, sometimes unexpected directions. Invoke in us a sense of curiosity, to discover how time and experience has shaped each of our lives. We ask your spirit of love and acceptance to be with us tonight as we re-kindle old friendships and discover new ones.

May your tender comfort be upon those who have lost loved ones and classmates. May your healing and peace be upon those in need. May your graciousness fill our hearts and open us to fully experience the joyfulness of this night.

We ask your blessing upon this food, for those who have produced it and prepared it and for us as we eat it to nourish our bodies.

Energized from this food and fellowship, may we safely  depart this reunion night to share understanding, joy, hope and love in a world that so desperately needs these gifts. We ask this in the name of Divine love that unites us all. Amen.