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2027 REUNION UPDATESREVIEW COMMENTS ON 2026 REUNION ... Posted October 23, 2026Hello NCHS64, Thanks to those of you who attended the August 16th-17th, 2026 NCHS64 reunion in Casper. Around 80 people attended one or more of the three events in Casper, and spontaneously offered feedback from classmates was very positive. The August 16th Tate Pumphouse event was well-attended with lots of interaction between attendees, and the August 16th evening get-together at Greg Lamont’s home was well attended with lots of active conversations and BS. Thank you, Greg, for opening your home to NCHS64. The August 17th breakfast at the home of Linda and Harry Brubaker received a lot of positive comments ..., not only because they offered their home so generously, but also because it was such a wonderful setting to get together with classmates. We can’t thank Linda and Harry enough for their generosity, their substantial time commitment to prepare the breakfast, and for their support of NCHS64. Thank you, Linda and Harry!!! Approximately 1/4th of the attendees traveled to Casper from outside of Wyoming ... including classmates living in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, and South Carolina. Classmates who attended and/or tried until the last minute to attend are listed on the NCHS64 class website. A lot of things happen in this life that are out of our control, and some classmates had to change plans at the last minute. Some even had to change plans after they arrived in Casper. For example, Bob and Jana Adamson drove 430+ miles from Salina, KS to Casper and attended the Tate Pumphouse event ... and then received a call while at the Tate Pumphouse and learned that they had to return to Salina urgently that evening ... probably related to the birth of a grandchild and arrival of people at their home. Clay Neely drove from Aiken, South Carolina to attend the function, but when we didn’t see him at the Tate Pumphouse, Diana Ekis Johnson gave him a call, and he indicated that he had to return urgently and was on the road back from Casper to South Carolina when she reached him. Tom Branson and his partner Cindy drove from Albuquerque, NM mostly to arrange for sale / liquidation of multiple family properties in the Casper area, but he didn’t make it to any of the get-togethers but did have breakfast and lunch with Rich Jackson and some of his old buds. There are other stories, but they all point out that unexpected things come up for all of us. I think it’s fair to say that those who stayed and attended had a good time. For those who participate in Facebook, the NCHS Class of 1964 has a Group page ... NCHS64 Group Page ... where many photos taken by Becky Steensland have been posted. Thank you Becky for all of your efforts. FWIW, my FB account was again unexpectedly suspended by Facebook, and I no longer have access to my personal account or the NCHS64 Group account. PLANS FOR 2027The NCHS64 reunion management group has been busy, and plans for the 2027 event are set for the weekend of September 17th - 19th, 2027. We made a change in venue after our visit to Isaac Walton League Clubhouse (IWLC) near Fort Caspar. Whereas we all had positive feedback for The Tate Pumphouse venue, a four-hour-long session that we desired would be significantly more expensive than the IWLC, and the IWLC allowed more flexible hours and alcohol use (beer and wine) without special permits or restrictions. Three separate events are scheduled so classmates can attend one to three separate events of their choosing.
PHILOSOPHICAL PLANS FOR FUTURE REUNIONSAs many of you already know, the 2025 reunion was funded ENTIRELY from our 2024 bank reserves without any cost to attendees. Prior to 2026, classmates attending recent picnics and reunions paid less than per person costs such that cash reserves in the NCHS64 class bank account gradually dwindled, leaving us after the 2025 reunion with insufficient funds to cover 2026 reunion event venue costs. While most classmates are unaware, NCHS64 reunions were kept alive over the past 8 years by donations in amounts ranging from $50 to $500 per reunion / picnic year by a small number of NCHS64 individual classmates … mostly anonymously ... and with the intent of making the reunions affordable for classmates with limited resources. Classmates attending pre-2026 picnics and reunions paid less than per person costs while cash reserves in the NCHS64 class bank account gradually dwindled. Were it not for those prior contributions by generous classmates to NCHS64, our class bank account would now be empty. Since our new management group took over in 2026, the intent has been to maintain sufficient funds in our bank account to cover annual costs for venues for the following year, and thanks to to generous donations from multiple classmates this past year, we increased our NCHS64 2026 bank account reserves substantially, and the current reserves in our NCHS64 bank account are sufficient to meet currently scheduled 2027 venue costs. Moving forward into the future, the 'no event cost to all attendees' option for funding NCHS64 class events no longer exists. However, we will continue to offer below per-person cost reunions with no cost to those who cannot afford any cost. This plan is premised on annual reassessments based upon the level of generous donations that support our cause and maintain our bank account reserves. Suffice it to say, we continue to put a big emphasis on affordability and lower cost, disability-friendly venues in the Casper area available to all NCHS64 classmates. The 2026 Brubaker home breakfast was paid entirely with donations, and our 2027 breakfast will increase costs compared to 2026 due to catering costs, but our current goal is to keep the per person cost in the range of $25 to $30. We are still in the process of making decisions, and we will likely segregate event costs to permit classmates to pay for the Saturday and Sunday breakfast separately, under the assumption they can’t make both paid events. NEW FEATURE FOR FUTURE REUNIONSAnother feature we would like to introduce in 2027 is that every NCHS64 attendee will be allowed to invite one or more person ... in addition to a spouse / partner ... to the free Friday and / or the paid Saturday or Sunday events. 10% to 15% of current regular attendees in our annual NCHS64 reunions are not members of NCHS64 and have been long-term adopted classmates or spouses of NCHS64 classmates, so we don’t think this issue will substantially change the dynamics of our group. We know from experience that many of these friends are likely to be family or NCHS graduates whose NCHS classes no longer hold reunion events, but the decision for whom to invite will be the choice of individual classmates who choose to invite someone. Many NCHS64 graduates have very close friends in the Wyoming community, and our goal here is to expand our NCHS64 camaraderie to our Wyoming community of friends, family, and associates. Similar per person costs for NCHS64 classmates will apply to guests. The NCHS64 class will not pick up this cost for guests, and each individual classmate will assume costs for his/her guest(s). This effort is an experiment, and we hope to evaluate the level of support within the NCHS64 classmates. Notification of our organizing group and moneys for guests will be required at the time of registration for the reunion so that we can make appropriate venue / catering adjustments. SUMMARYPlease mark your calendar for September 17-19, 2027, if you have any interest in our class reunion. Please monitor the NCHS64 class website for up-to-date information. Please feel free to call, text, or email any of the volunteer reunion organizers listed below if you have questions. We will attempt to provide up-to-date information on the website, especially since personal communications to each and every classmate are so time intensive. Thank you for your interest.
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