Washington and Lee University The Class of 1966
Celebrating 50 Years
alumni weekend ✦ april 28–may 1, 2016
A Message from President Kenneth P. Ruscio ’76
I
hope the occasion of your 50th reunion is a reminder of one of those logically impossible truths about our alma mater: it was perfect when you were here, even as it gets better with each passing day and each new generation of students. Take some time to look around. Some things have changed, to be sure. You didn’t have a Lenfest Center for the Performing Arts, a Center for Global Learning or an Elrod Commons which brings students, faculty and staff together each day. Your science labs were not quite what they are today. And Wilson Field was a little bit different back then, too. But the important things remain firmly in place: the honor system, our civility and our sense of tradition even as we embrace the future. Your class’s respect for our honored past and traditions is evident in your choice of a reunion gift. Few universities have a history as long and storied as Washington and Lee’s. The Class of 1966 is providing a great service to future generations by supporting the publication of an updated
history of W&L that will reflect the many pivotal events that have occurred since Ollinger Crenshaw’s comprehensive work was published almost 50 years ago. You also are to be commended for creating an endowment that will allow us to preserve documents and artifacts related to the University’s history and employ new technologies to make them widely accessible for future generations. I encourage you to enjoy your time together as friends. The individual accomplishments of your class and the wonderful lives you have led remind all of us that W&L’s strength, in the end, is the character and quality of the people long associated with this place. Alumni Weekend will be especially meaningful for me this year, as I will be celebrating my 40th as you celebrate your 50th. Kim and I look forward to our time together with you. Welcome back.
Ken Ruscio
Celebrating 50 Years A Message from Pete Hendricks ’66, ’69L and
Dave Redmond ’66, ’69L 50th Reunion Co-Chairmen
T
he Class of 1966 will gather in Lexington this spring—April 28– May 1, 2016—to celebrate our 50th Reunion. We want you to be there to share your memories and war stories. We have a goal to get more than 75 classmates—graduates and those who took another path—back to campus to celebrate this milestone. Help us meet this achievable goal and, by doing so, assure a truly wonderful 50th Reunion. It won’t be the same without you! Our 50th presents a unique moment for us to reflect on what has transpired in the last half-century and to ponder what we value most about Washington and Lee. Beyond that, it provides an opportunity to give back to our alma mater in a meaningful way that ensures that all future students are afforded similar shared experiences. The years ahead, with our involvement, will be good ones for W&L; years in which the University will grow stronger while reaffirming its core values and reinvesting in its greatest assets—the outstanding students and faculty. This is our opportunity to participate. Members of our class have served W&L in countless ways and have contributed generously to all areas of the University. We will
continue our strong tradition of giving by supporting the Annual Fund and by helping W&L publish the second volume of our school’s history and establishing The Class of 1966 Endowment to Collect and Preserve the University’s History. Our new endowment will allow the University to acquire, preserve and conserve the invaluable papers and other artifacts in the library’s Special Collections. We can’t think of anything more worthy of our support than preserving our history and making it available to scholars, students and our many campus visitors. You can learn more about our class reunion project by reading the description that follows. Whatever you decide about a gift, please know the most important goal of our 50th Reunion—for W&L and for the Class of 1966—is to have more than 75 classmates return to Lexington this spring. Over the next couple of months you can expect to hear from members of the reunion committee. They will be reaching out to each and every member of the class to encourage participation. Please make their jobs easier by deciding now to attend! On behalf of the entire reunion committee, we look forward to seeing you at our 50th!
Join Us! It’s time to celebrate the Class of 1966’s 50th Reunion—April 28–May 1! Please make plans to come back now to commemorate this important milestone and encourage your friends to do the same. This is our opportunity to enjoy friendships—old and new—and rekindle our relationship with Washington and Lee. Many of us have returned to campus occasionally over the years and some of us have drifted away. What matters now is that we all return for our 50th and make this an extraordinary weekend. Many of our classmates are already hard at work putting together events that will be meaningful and memorable. Registration packets with full schedules and hotel information will be mailed in early February.
Goal Summary 75 attendees $750,000 for The Class of 1966
Endowment to Collect and Preserve the University’s History and the Second Volume of the History of Washington and Lee
$75,000
for the 2015-2016 Annual Fund
$250,000
in pledges for future Annual Fund years
70% participation All reunion pledges may be paid over five years starting now through 2020
The Class of 1966 Class Gift The History of Washington and Lee University, Volume 2 The Class of 1966 Endowment to Collect and Preserve the University’s History
W
ashington and Lee is one of the oldest universities in the country. W&L’s rich history reflects not only the growth and development of the University, but of higher education in America. The 50th Reunion provides a unique opportunity for the class to help to preserve the University’s history and make it more readily available to students, faculty and other scholars. The reunion class project selected and endorsed by the Reunion Committee has two components. The first is to provide the necessary funds to underwrite the publication
of the second volume of the University’s institutional history. This is an important priority of the Board of Trustees and President’s Office; both are grateful to have the Class of 1966’s full support. The new book, written by Blaine Brownell ’65, will begin where Ollinger Crenshaw’s “General Lee’s College” ended. This second volume will cover the pivotal period of history from President Gaines through President Wilson (1930-2000). The Class of 1966 will be recognized permanently and prominently for its role as the key supporter of this important book, which is scheduled to be published by
LSU Press in the fall of 2017. Along with the second volume, the class funding will provide support for reprinting the Crenshaw book— currently out of print—and will allow both volumes to be available as a boxed set. The second major component to the class gift project is the establishment of The Class of 1966 Endowment to Collect and Preserve the University’s History. This new endowment will help Leyburn Library acquire new documents and other items that are historically significant to Washington and Lee and to preserve and conserve items that are already part of Special Collections. Through Special Collections, the University has a stewardship role to ensure these materials will be available for future generations. Income from the endowment also may be used to support students involved in conserving the materials or using the history collections in their course work; faculty-mentored research during the academic year or for summer research projects; or in the writing of an honors thesis. The Class of 1966 commits to raise at least $750,000 as its 50th Reunion class project. Of this amount, $300,000-350,000 in cash gifts and five-year pledges will be earmarked for the Washington and Lee history book project with the remaining $350,000-400,000 designated to The Class of 1966 Endowment to Collect and Preserve the University’s History. The endowment will accept commitments of cash, five-year pledges and planned gifts such as bequests, IRA distributions, gift annuities and other appropriate planned giving vehicles.
Annual Fund The Annual Fund is a critical part of Washington and Lee’s annual
budget. This fund provides operating support and acts as a vehicle for alumni and others to make an important impact on students, faculty and staff. Gifts to the Annual Fund provide unrestricted support that is used to augment every aspect of the educational experience—from library resources to lab equipment to athletic uniforms. The Class of 1966 expects to raise $75,000 for the 2015-2016 Annual Fund. Your support is crucial to reaching this goal. You also can pledge to support the Annual Fund in the future. Any pledge you make now to support the subsequent four annual fund years will count in the reunion giving total. Thank you for making this a priority and considering a five-year pledge to help us reach our future pledge goal of $250,000.
Planned Gifts In addition to any outright gifts or five-year pledges you may decide to contribute, planned giving can be a creative and advantageous way to support Washington and Lee, oftentimes while simultaneously providing benefits to you and your estate. Bequests, retirement income plans and other deferred gifts offer tax advantages that allow donors to make sizeable and important contributions. There are a number of planned giving options. If you would like to include W&L in your will or estate financial plans, W&L’s planned giving staff would be happy to work with you. Please contact: Hank Humphreys at (540) 458-8421 or ahumphreys@wlu.edu Margie Lippard at (540) 458-8902 or mlippard@wlu.edu
50th Reunion Committee Jack Baber Frank Bailey Jim Crothers Harry Dennery Maurice Fliess Joe Framptom Sam Frazier Chuck Griffin Pete Hendricks* J.D. Humphries Charlie Jones John Kelly Bruce Kramer Val McWhorter Phillip Mollere John Moore Tabor Novak Joe Priddy Jim Redenbaugh Dave Redmond* Andy Smith Jerry Taylor Ed Wood Buck Woodford Neely Young *Co-Chairman
Staff Contacts Ronni Gardner 50th Reunion Director (540) 462-7377 rgardner@wlu.edu Nicole Hartless Development Coordinator (540) 458-8931 nhartless@wlu.edu Mary Webster Director of Alumni Weekend (540) 458-8886 mwebster@wlu.edu