Ground Breaking for New School
[UPDATE]

Dear Gwen and Alumni;

I was hoping that I could announce that the Dayton School Board was going to give us an Alumni Room inside the new school. On Thursday August 26th, (My husband the civil engineer from AK Steel, myself, Guy Gifford and Ron Vincent both in the class of 1956) had a meeting with that architects that are still designing the school plans. They showed us a space on the left side of Pleasant Street where we could build, a building that they would draw up that belongs to the Dayton Board of Education. That would cost approximately $275,000 to $300,000. We would have to have our own furnace/AC, utilities, water & plumbing, insurance and pay for the electric and security.

What a deal. I told them that we were not under that impression and considered the meeting a waste of our time. They get paid by the hour so it was no skin off their back. When we left we were looking and considering the catacombs that are under the auditorium for our room. Problem is they want us to get someone that can clear out the dirt and prepare it for a room that would only have a 6 foot ceiling in it. Still not good!!

I am trying to get other help with this matter and won't have much of a clue for a few weeks. This is a FULL TIME JOB. Some people said that there won't be an Wilbur Wright High School Alumni after I die because nobody else has had time and energy to pursue the project. A few say, to just auction off all the stuff in the Alumni Room and be done with all the stress.

The other item that needed to be addressed is, "A Hall of Fame", "Walk of Fame" etc. The guys at the Milton Club are considering this idea. One of them want it for all the jocks that played in sports. I feel that the girls would be totally left out of that equation. I feel that the people in military and anyone that did good to help the communities and add such notables as Vic Cassano class of 41, Dot's Supermarket (class of 42) Robert and ??, and everyone that is listed at the end of the DVD of the Grande Finale. EX; Bing Davis, Gerry Busch, Archie Lewis, Dave Gilbert, etc etc .......... I told them as they are going down all the names in the list it would be easier to search out the 3 categories at once then do each name 3 times. If we don't have a room to display anything in, where are they going with this???

I have the plaque that hung in the Alumni Room with names of those people to donated $100 or more to the Alumni Association, inscribed on brass panels. We will need donations if this room transpires, Pray for a miracle!

How would you handle this? What are your thoughts about the Alumni Room?

Sincerely,
Diana Lee (Riddlebaugh'62) Schwieterman
298-7764 around 9 PM hopefully.