On Saturday, August 9th, the class held a planning meeting at noon in back room of Sparks Drive Inn. Kyle Chumbley, Jacob Davis, Leigh DeVore, Barry Dexter, Scott Gifford, Crystal Henley, Doug Matney, Marc Montgomery, Ben Pharr, Amanda Poole, Jon Stacy, Brent Taylor, and Erin Watson were in attendance. If you didn’t hear about the meeting in advance, I apologize. We called and emailed everyone we could find information for. I attempted to put it in the Belmont paper, but it didn’t make it for some reason. I apologize for taking so long to get this account of the meeting posted. If I missed anything, please post it in the comments.
Meeting attendees. Front row (left to right): Amanda Poole,Crystal Henley McClelland, Leigh DeVore, Marc Montgomery, Brent Taylor, and Scott Gifford. Back row (left to right): Erin Watson, Kyle Chumbley, Doug Matney, Jon Stacy, Ben Pharr, and Jacob Davis.
At the beginning of the meeting everyone re-introduced themselves, giving a very brief overview of what they’d been doing since graduation. We also went down the list and updated each other on some of the classmates that weren’t able to make it.
The most important decision to be made was location. The possibilities were the Arts and Entertainment Center in Red Bay, the lodge at J. P. Coleman State Park north of Iuka, and Pickwick, Tennessee. After an excellent sales job by Marc, the majority decided on Pickwick. Marc and I will be working together to pick an actual location and caterer.
We discussed the possibility of having an event other than the main reunion where we could bring our kids if we wanted. It was decided we would have a picnic or something of the sort the Saturday of the reunion. Details to be decided at a later date.
The consensus seemed to be that early June would be best for everyone, though a couple of people mentioned the first weekend wouldn’t be good for them. An exact date will be decided after we pick a location.
We decided that $25 per person wasn’t too much, but anything much more than that probably was. We certainly don’t want someone to not come because they can’t afford it. We’ll have a much better idea on a final price once we choose a location and caterer.
It was decided that we would invite class sponsors, but no other teachers, administrators, or coaches. The class typically pays for teachers’ food, so inviting too many could get expensive quickly.
Scott Gifford volunteered to be in charge of the contact list. More on this later.
Brent Taylor will continue his role as treasurer, as elected our senior year. Therefore he will be in charge of money and registration. He and Marc will look into setting up a bank account in the class’s name.
Everyone seemed to like the idea of having a “class directory” that would contain a list of class members, their contact info, a short bio, and maybe a picture. It would be handed out at the reunion. Erin Watson volunteered to take this on. She is looking for volunteers to help her.
We also discussed having some sort of tribute to Jodie Harrison. Kyle promised to put some thought into it, and Marc volunteered Emily.
No future planning meetings are planned. We hope to do everything via phone and email from this point on. Check this site often for more information.
