Eureka Springs Independent Newspaper Column for May 28, 2014 by Steve Weems

Posted on by

The Eureka Springs High School Alumni Association is the oldest high school alumni association in the State of Arkansas. It held its 124th annual banquet and meeting at the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center over the weekend.

Celebrating their 50th anniversary, the class of 1964 had the most members present at the banquet. Nancy Clark, the 1964 senior class sponsor, and Alice Barker, the 1964 class “room mother” for grades one through twelve, also attended. This year’s association president, Mary McCall-Weems was in the class of 1964 and she and others of the class presented much of the night’s program.

Randy Wolfinbarger (Class of 1973) welcomed the newly graduated Class of 2014 as members of the Eureka Springs Alumni Association and admonished them to not forget from where they come. Randy’s son Langley Wolfinbarger  (Class of 2014) responded by accepting the invitation on behalf of the graduating class. A slideshow of the members of the class of 2014 was shown while the class song, Freebird, played.

Genes Bland (Class of 1964) presented the Alumnus of the Year Award to Jeff Reynerson (Class of 1974), an attorney in Springdale, for his years of service to the association, the Eureka Springs schools and the Northwest Arkansas community.

Allen Huffman (Class of 2003) presented Pauline Crawford (Class of 2014) with this year’s Alumni Scholarship.

Ben Rivett (Class of 1964) called the roll of the members present. The two oldest members at this year’s banquet were Tommy Crews and Mary Janice Thomas-Morris, both of the Class of 1942.

Genes Bland (Class of 1964) read the names of alumni who had died in the previous year.

Bobby Dale Thurman (Class of 1964) asked trivia questions and handed out door prizes. It was determined that the Crews family was the family with the most alumni members present at the banquet.

Association Treasurer Tammy Sherman-Bullock (Class of 1991) presented the financial report and Association Secretary Gayla Goff-Wolfinbarger (Class of 1981) read the minutes of the 2013 meeting.

Eureka Springs School District Superintendent David Kellogg was thanked for attending the banquet, and the crowd sang the Alma Mater.