The class of 88 is planning a memorial, possibly sponsoring a shelter or a bench, some other euipment, in Ponzer Park: http://www.rollanet.org/~rhs1988/TimPonzerpark.htm. Beth Dare, class president of the class of 88, is a lurker here (she was also at the reunion, Hi Beth!), perhaps she can chime in with more info on logistics of doing something like this?

I checked out the link to the park referenced above and know exactly where that is located. Beth - as far as logistics - is the park city property? Who are you going through to get a memorial installed in the park? Have you already raised the funds and selected a memorial? If there is any interest from the class of 87 maybe our classes could partner to fund a couple pieces of equipment (something from class of 87 and 88) or jointly for a pavillion. If I remember correctly, there are a couple of benches nearby and this section is very close to the footbridge over the "creek". Is that right?

I think you could go in either direction - that is, either a general Memorial Scholarship or a class specific scholarship. If we went with a class specific, it might be more feasible to track down information on those lost classmates, whereas for the general scholarship there would be a lot more names to include and the individuals might not receive as much recognition.

As far as actually setting up a scholarship fund, contributions would be voluntary and we could continue adding to the fund until we reached an endowment level. We could start small and grow from there. My local alumni group is about to endow our scholarship fund at $15,000. But the endowment of my department at work is in the millions, so it just depends. Endowment simply means that your principle is at an investment level that allows your annual interest to cover what you would like to give away. At $15,000 we give out a $600 or $700 scholarship each year. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it really is the thought that counts and I think memorializing those students would be something our class could give back to the next generation. They will never be forgotten.

Sounds great! Maybe the rest of the RHS Alumni could do the same with their missing classmates as well. - Tonya

This is a wonderful idea. How do we set this up? Just throwing out ideas, should we limit it to just the Class of 1987 or maybe open it up to all alumni. What else can we do? Everyone, chime in! - Jamie

Wow...I didn't know about two of these(Mertens, Constable) when did they all die and how. Thanks Julie for posting these names. - Tonya

We lost Dennis around '89 and Troy was '06(?). I'll send you an email. -Jamie

Thanks Jamie..got the email. Wow, that's some powerful information too. - Tonya

For the 'missing', what we need is a good address list, and then compare that with the list of graduates. That'll be a good starting point.

For those who have passed on, we can start with what we know from the 10th reunion list. Now, where did that go?

If anyone wants to step up for maintaining this kind of information, and you're comfortable with online tools, i.e. you don't find posting here difficult, and you've got some spare time, or a forgiving boss (heh, thanks boss), then send me a note and we can set something up.