Volume 4 No. 3 March 9, 2007
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION of the 1929-1973
Northern Conservatory of Music
Alumni Newsletter
ALUMNI MEETING
Saturday August 17, 2002
MillerÕs Restaurant
Bangor, Maine
Alumni in Attendance:
The fourth annual
meeting of the Alumni Association was held at MillerÕs Restaurant in Bangor. Due
to circumstances beyond our control, the August meeting was not able to be held
at the Isaac Farrar Mansion as it had been in previous years.
There were 20 alumni and alumnae in attendance:
Bruce Brown, Stan, Buchanan, Gerry Burns, Gail Burns, Carolyn Edgecomb, Jeanne Everett, Sherry Gilbert, Lou Harper, Cindy Hudson, Steve Hudson, Cindy Matthews, Cheryl McFadden, Dawn Noonan, Henry Noonan, Carole Shepard, Jim Shepard, Everett Simpson, Carolyn Strout, Roger Whitney, Doretta York The class of 1973 had perfect attendance, as usual.
President Louis Harper called the meeting to order at 3:15 PM.
1. Introductions were made around the room
2. President Lou Harper told the History of the Northern Conservatory of Music reunions and alumni meetings.
a. 1977 5 year reunion held at the RoggenbauerÕs Home in Orono, ME
b. 1982 10 year reunion held at the HarperÕs Home in Addison, ME
c. 1987 15 year reunion held at the HarperÕs Home in Addison, ME
d. 1992 20 year reunion held at the HarperÕs Home in Levant, ME
e. 1999 year 27, the forming group, of the alumni association held the first of the annual meetings at the Isaac Farrar Mansion in Bangor, ME. Since that time we have met twice a year.
3. Legal Attention: The IRS says that we need to define our scholarship plan. Lou proposed that the Board of Directors meet to define a plan. The secretary will then distribute that plan to the Alumni members for approval and discussion. We need ten days advance notice of a change in the bylaws. There was a scholarship discussion and then Stan made motion that the Board of Directors draw up a scholarship recommendation. The motion was seconded and the vote was in favor of it.
4. Term lengths of the Directors of the Board: Any change to the term length of the officers is also a change to the bylaws with a ten day advance notice. State of Maine regulations require that we have at least 3 directors. Currently our directors serve a one-year term. It was decided that we would first vote in our directors for this year and then decide their term lengths in order to stagger their terms.
5. At this point there was a reading and discussion of a letter sent to Everett by Page Towne, who voiced her concern that there were no females holding office within the organization with the exception of the secretary. She questioned whether a governing board would accept our submission for scholarship with such a biased governing body. A discussion by the women in the group ensued and it was decided that the women in attendance did not want to be elected to positions where they could not fulfill their time and duties. It was also discussed that it was most often the women in the group that did the motioning and seconding and therefore the women gave their approval to have an all male governing body.
6. Election of Officers:
a. President: Lou Harper
b. Vice President: Bruce Brown
c. Treasurer: Everett Simpson
d. Secretary: Doretta York
7. Election of Directors:
a. Stan Buchanan 3 year term Term expires 2005
b. Art Lagasse 3 year term Term expires 2005
c. Arnold Poland 2 year term Term expires 2004
d. Lou Harper 2 year term Term expires 2004
e. Jerry Burns 1 year term Term expires 2003
8. Internet Presence: There was a very brief discussion of web site and domain name possibilities and a lightening fast motion by Stan Buchanan that Doretta attend to the details of the setting up and maintaining of the official NCM Alumni website and domain registration. Even quicker still was the vote of acceptance by the members present. (Note from Doretta: Remind me to keep my ideas to myself in the future.)
9. TreasurerÕs Report: Treasurer Everett Simpson reported a checking account balance of $1,674.39 and Certificate of Deposit of $2,300 for a total of $3,974.39. The CD matures November 20th and currently has a yield of 2.53% and an annual yield of 2.6%. It was motioned and approved that Everett invests our money at his discretion.
Other Business:
10. Group Activities: There was a question posed to the group whether we wanted to organize group activities for the Alumni spouses to occupy them while we held the business meeting. There was a brief discussion, a motion and the vote was negative.
11. Mailing List Discussion: I am beginning to sound like a broken record on the mailing list issue but it is very important to keep those records up to date. During the meeting I pleaded with the non-technical members to get email to make it easier and cheaper to send updates. As always, please try to drop me a note when there is a change in either your physical or internet mail address since once I lose you, I may not be able to get you back.
12. 2003 Annual August Meeting: Alumni and Alumnae É we have a problem. Our Annual August 2003 meeting was supposed to be scheduled for Saturday August 16th, 2003 at the Isaac Farrar Mansion. When Lou called to make that reservation (1 year in advance) it was discovered that they are booked for that day. He has tentatively booked Saturday August 23h. This however may pose a few problems.
a. It might be too close to school starting which is why we moved it to the 3rd Saturday in August in the 1st place.
b. The Second Annual National Folk Festival is scheduled to be in town the weekend of the 23rd, making it necessary to book Hotel/Motel accommodations well in advance of your arrival. On a positive note, it would be a good excuse to come to the Alumni meeting and get to the Folk Festival as well. Everett said it was an excellent event.
c. Our options are:
i. Have it at another location on Saturday August 16th, 2003.
ii. Have it at the Isaac Farrar Mansion on Sunday August 17th if it is still available.
iii. Have it on the same weekend as the Folk Festival, Saturday August 23rd, for which Lou has tentatively booked the Isaac Farrar Mansion.
d. Please let Lou, Everett or myself know as soon as possible, what your preference is.
e. Lou would like to book the 3rd Saturday in August, for the 2004 meeting at the Isaac Farrar Mansion now, if no one has an objection.
The meeting was adjourned and everyone headed for the salad bar.
Respectfully Submitted by:
Doretta S. York
Email: NCMalumni@adelphia.net
Secretary of ALUMNI ASSOCIATION of the 1929-1973 Northern Conservatory of Music
FROM THE PRESIDENTÕS DESK
Dear NCM alumni/ae and friends,
The best way to announce the news is to include the first sentence in the Burlington Newspaper that was sent to me:
REV. PAGE (MAURICE) TOWNE GRAND FORKS, N.D. Ñ The Rev. Page (Maurice) Towne, 54, died Monday, Sept. 23, 2002, in Altru Hospital in Grand Forks, after a long illness.
Many of us did not know that Mary Maurice had changed her name to Page (her real first name) until long after she was married to Mr. Towne. For a long time, Page battled Cancer among other diseases. You may contact me for a copy of the complete obituary.
This past summer, as we heard a somewhat critical letter from her, we did not know, as she must have, that she was to soon die. Quickly forgive yourselves for any thoughts you may have had at the meeting, or words you may have spoken because we all know that she would have quickly rebutted them if she were able. She would also have added a Òmeep, meepÓ to the end.
Many people will miss our ÒMaryÓ, as the obituary told, and she will be carried in our thoughts for as long as we live.
Blessings,
Lou
Voting Notice:
For members receiving their newsletter via the U.S. Mailing, I have included a ballot for all registered voters (people who are Life Members or have paid their 2002 dues). If you did not receive a ballot with this mailing and you are a paid member, please notify me as soon as possible so that I can get a ballot to you.
For members that are receiving their newsletter via email (God, Bless You), then please vote via email. Just reply to this message or email me at NCMalumni@adelphia.net I will keep tally of who is who on my side. Please remember to include your name. It became a little too messy to try and just email ballots to paid members since some of you share email addresses and would receive the same mail twice.