This is the place to find all your up-to-date reunion information.
(Updated February 2009)
Dear fellow KHS alumni of the Class of ’86,
With each year since our 20th reunion, new and exciting changes just keep coming. Who would have thought Van Halen would have reunited with David Lee Roth? The Colts were crowned Super Bowl champions! The first African-American President was elected! And now, many of us have children in high school or that have already graduated! We could go on and on…
Your class reunion committee wanted to update you on some of the new and exciting events currently taking shape for our class and to ask for your continued support and assistance with locating classmates and continuing to update us whenever your contact information changes. It’s a long list, but here goes!
1. Revamped & Updated KHS Class of ’86 Website (www.kokomo1986.com):
Currently, we are in the process of revamping our class website in anticipation for our 25th class reunion. We hope you will like the changes. Feel free to contact us with your suggestions and comments through the Contact Us web page. Let us know what you think. Some of the changes you will notice are:
- A classmate questionnaire poll page to gather feedback for planning our 25th reunion.
- Expanded and updated our “In Memory” page to include the teachers, principals and other school related individuals that left a lasting impression on all of us who have since passed on.
- Added a donation page to help offset future reunion costs.
- You can now update your own information whenever needed on the Classmate Profiles page when you setup a user name and password. Your classmates want to know what you've been up to! Please “Add Your Info”.
2. 25th Year Class Reunion (Date: Summer of 2011 – Location: Kokomo, IN):
During the 20th class reunion, the reunion committee solicited feedback from those in attendance on whether to have a 25th reunion or wait for the 30th. The resounding answer was for a 25th year reunion that would be more informal and laid back and have bigger reunions at the 10 year marks. Nobody wanted to wait another 10 years to all get together again. In fact, most felt waiting another 5 years to get together seemed like an eternity based on the success of the 20th reunion.
The reunion committee is now starting to plan for the 25th reunion to get a head start. We want to give classmates as much time in advance to be able to make plans to attend. Based upon feedback from the 20th class reunion, classmates wanted to be able to give more input on the future reunion events. WE HEAR YOU AND WE’RE LISTENING! To accommodate this request, we have created a 25th Reunion Poll page. Please take a brief moment to complete this questionnaire. Your input is very important to deciding the 25th class reunion format.
Here are some of the feedback and suggestions we have received so far:
- Having the reunion dinner in the high school was excellent since most of us had not been in the school since the day we graduated. But, the lack of a cocktail bar and area to smoke made classmates feel like they were back in high school when they had to ‘sneak’ back to their cars for ‘breaks’.
- Too many reunion activities were packed into 1 day and thus classmates opted to attend only 1 or 2 events (i.e. golf in the morning, family picnic in the afternoon, dinner in the evening, and social gathering in the late evening – all in one day).
- Since the 20th reunion was the same weekend as the Brickyard 400, classmates already planning on being in Indiana from out of state for the race were able to attend the reunion as well.
- Since the 20th reunion was the same weekend as the Brickyard 400, classmates felt they had to either choose between attending the reunion or the race. Others that attended both had to cut short or miss the evening reunion events to be able to get to the race Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
- Being able to have classmate / business sponsored events was unique and a great way to support our class and helped cover the cost of the reunion.
- A lot of classmates would have like to help more financially with the 20th reunion, but most classmates do not have their own business or a company that was willing to sponsor our 20th reunion and the posted sponsorships were more than most classmates could afford individually. It would be great if there was a way to individually donate a smaller amount (like $20) to help offset our reunion event costs and lower the overall cost for each classmate to attend.
- The class website really brought back a lot of memories and provided classmates with a great communication tool to promote the reunion, pay online, etc.
- Having the reunion in the summer is the best time to have it.
Just to give everyone a better idea of what goes into putting on the reunion, here is a listing of some of the tasks / costs the reunion committee carefully considers each reunion:
· date selection
· determine event venue and format
· event program (speakers, tributes, etc)
· event location / lodging selection
· financing
· liability insurance
· classmate contact listing
o postal addresses, email addresses, phone numbers
o search for missing classmates
· web site development / maintenance
· decorations
· entertainment
· photographer
· registration & name tags
· mementos
o reunion / memories booklet
o novelties
o prizes / awards
· marketing & communications
o mailers, emailings
o newspaper, radio, and internet advertising
· deceased classmates tribute
· additional reunion activities
o school tours, pre & post reunion events
· class gift to school
3. Missing Classmates (not really missing, but classmates who we have lost track of and don’t have current contact information for):
We still need your help in finding Missing Classmates! Please check out this page and help us locate our classmates who have not yet been found. Out of approximately 600 classmates in our graduating class, the reunion committee has been able to confirm approximately 400 classmates’ contact information. Not too shabby, but we can do better with everyone’s help.
Our goal is have current contact information (i.e. postal addresses, email addresses & phone numbers) on all 600 classmates before the 25th year reunion in order to be able to include and provide the opportunity to attend for as many classmates as possible.
One thing the reunion committee would like to point out is that at no time is your contact information EVER shared with anyone outside of the reunion committee without your consent. We do NOT share your information with other classmates unless you say it is OK first.
From time to time, the reunion committee receives a request from classmate #1 to get in touch with classmate #2. The reunion committee will only pass on classmate #1’s request to classmate #2. Classmate #2 is then free to respond back to classmate #1 if they so wish. Another way to get back in contact with a classmate is to post an update about yourself on the Classmate Profiles page. Your contact information is NOT shown on the website, but other classmates are still able to send you an email message and you can respond back if you wish.
4. Donation Request for Future Reunions Fund:
Without the reunion sponsorships we received during the 20th reunion, we would have absolutely not have been able to put on such a wonderful event. In fact, the reunion committee has been contacted by a dozen or so other class reunion committees from Kokomo (class of ’87) and across the country (even one from Ramstein High School on the Ramstein Air Force base in Germany) to ask for information on how to solicit sponsorships for their own class reunions. We, the KHS Class of ’86, are definitely trendsetters!
For the 20th reunion, we were able to successfully raise about $5K in sponsorship money. Our goal for the 20th reunion was to raise enough money to lower the cost per attendee by offsetting the costs of food, entertainment, insurance and rental fees. It really is not cheap to put on a quality reunion even with the generosity of our volunteers. We also set the goal of funding a reunion account (remember…the school board spent our seed money that was set aside for our first reunion) that would be used to cover catering, building and entertainment deposits for future reunions. Our goal was to have $5K left in this account after the 20th reunion. We actually had about $3K. Not bad at all for starting with nothing. Thank you to all of our sponsors!
Our goal is still to reach $5K before the 25th reunion. We have to be forward thinking by being able to lessen the financial impact on our class, especially in this economy. One way to do this is by allowing classmates to freely donate smaller $ amounts starting now which go towards future reunions so our entire class will not feel a financial pinch all at once.
Our $ goal right now is to raise $2K prior to our 25th class reunion. With the ability for a classmate to easily donate $20 with a Debit / Credit card via our class website, all we will need is for 100 out of our 600 graduating classmates to donate $20 each to raise the money we need. Please know that there is no requirement for a classmate to donate, just the ability and willingness to do so. Your donations are greatly appreciated and 100% of all donations go directly towards reunion costs.
5. Classmate Submitted Reunion Ideas:
Here’s just a few of the 25th reunion idea suggestions we have received so far (keep them coming!):
Main 25th Reunion Event Suggestions:
- Bon fire and hog roast
- Rent out Don Lowry Lanes all evening for bowling, food, drinks and live music
- Catered dinner
- Dinner at nice location (Ex: Seiberling Mansion, Kokomo Country Club, etc.)
- Dinner food theme (Ex: Brazilian, Hawaiian, Caribbean, Greek, etc.)
Other 25th Reunion Event Suggestions:
- Friday night ‘mixer’ before main reunion party (Ex: Sycamore Grille)
- Keep family oriented event (Ex: picnic)
- Locate reunion in hotel / stay the night
- Fewer door prizes that are bigger (Ex: hotel stay, airline tix, sporting event tix)
25th Reunion Entertainment Suggestions:
- Live music (rock band, reggae / steel drums, etc.) / DJ
- Comedian / impressionist
- Game shows w/classmates participating (Ex: Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune, The Honeymoon Game, The Dating Game, etc.)
- Fortune tellers / palm readers / tarot cards / hypnotist
- Celebrity look-alikes & impersonators
- Murder mystery dinner
6. Other Information to Share:
Over the past few years since our 20th class reunion, we have heard countless stories from classmates who have been able to reconnect with other classmates that they had not seen or talked with since we graduated. The 20th reunion reminded all of us of the close bond we share and how fortunate we are to all be good friends. It's funny how we all went from seeing each other almost every day through elementary, middle school and high school, then we graduated and went our separate ways. Almost everyone at the 20th reunion said the same thing: “We can’t let too much time pass again before we all get back together.”
Another great thing about the 20th reunion was that everyone was comfortable in who they are now. Yea….we all went through the awkward teen years together, but we survived and are no worse for the wear. We think everyone would agree that most of us may have changed in appearance, but as soon as you started talking with a classmate you hadn’t seen for a while the conversation took off right where you left it the last time you talked (even if that was 20+ years ago). We did talk to a few classmates before the 20th reunion who stated they might not attend because they weren’t sure what to expect. Those that did come felt nothing less than welcome. For those few who may not have attended due to not knowing quite what to expect, we can assure you the 20th reunion events were nothing short of a great time and were enjoyed by all. No worries…Mon!!
We had approximately 175 classmates along with an additional 85 spouses / guests (not to mention all of our countless children at the family picnic) attend the 20th class reunion. It was a huge success. We would like to continue to increase those numbers for the 25th reunion.
We hope you will make plans to attend the 25th reunion and look forward to seeing everyone there!
Enjoy your website and check back often for updates!
The KHS Class of ’86 Reunion Committee
