2025 Alumni Weekend Most Beautiful In Years Part 1

Class of ’70 55th Reunion: L-R John Crull, Dan Siegel, Doug Smalis, Rocchi Reynolds, Wally Jarvis, Paul Thompson, Craig Buskirk, Niles Sexton

Class of ’75 50th Reunion: L_R Bill Hugget, Walt Tappan, Rick Penzenik, Jeff Putz, Mark Nida, Ray Schroch, Jim Harkness, Barney Southworth, Laszlo Pinnyei

Class of ’80 45th Reunion: L-R Tim Gasho, Ken Hedgeman,  Dan Hersey, Greg Taylor

Our Association celebrated its most beautiful Alumni Weekend in many years.  Not only was the weather more like June than October, but the attendance and participation of our membership was the best in a decade.  Class agents were organizing class reunions on their own again, showing the restoration of Association involvement, which has been our goal since the turn of the century (21st).  Directors and Officers were elected/re-elected at the Annual Meeting, almost 50 attended the Annual Banquet, and the Alumni Club remained open until 0002 Sunday morning!!!

Kneeling – Crystal Vaughn ’12
Front Row L-R – Rick Penzenik ’75, Ken Hedgeman ’80, Tim Gasho ’80, Walter Tappan ’75, Greg Taylor ’80, Fred Seibold ’53, Craig Buskirk ’70, W. Rocchi Reynolds ’70, Bill Huggett ’75, Mike DeWitt ’01
Back Row L-R – Jay Harkness ’75, David Frederick ’48, Dan Hersey ’80, Dan Siegel ’70, John Crull ’70, Niles Sexton ’70, Doug Zierle ’81, Lots Pinnyei ’75, Brian Morabito ’90

Thanks to the kind consideration of Great Commission University, the present owner of Howe’s former campus, alums gathered at St. James Memorial Chapel Saturday morning for the now-annual group photo. GCU is not open to the public. The buildings are not open. Alums are asked to please respect GCU’s property rights. On Alumni Weekend drive-through (only) campus visits are permitted by GCU as a courtesy to HMS alums.

The Annual Meeting commenced shortly after 1300. Directors re-elected were Eleni Mitropolous-D’Andrea 2004, Brian Morabito 1990, and Fred Seibold ’53. Timothy M. Gasho ’80 was newly elected as a Director. All were elected for a three year term. Association President Michael DeWitt 2001 reported that our Association has come a long way in recent years. From near insolvency, donations and increasing member involvement have enabled us to have nearly $60,000 in the bank and to afford the cost of preserving Howe’s legacy, technology, communications and outreach operations with routine overhead that averages about $15k-$18k annually, not including the costs of regional gatherings or our Alumni Weekend in Sturgis. You can help support this work by going to our Donations page and being generous.

CDR Fred Seibold ’53 reported on the work of the Traditions and Website Committees. A major achievement in “keeping the legacy alive” this year was the registration of the School Crest and our Association name as registered trademarks with the USPTO, which is why we use ® on every appearance of our crest and our Association name. The ™ mark should appear on Howe School™, Howe Military School™, Howe Grammar School™, and Howe Military Academy™, to maintain our common-law claim to that intellectual property, as advised by our IP attorney, as part of our “working to keep the legacy alive”.

Our website has added much “new” (but actually historic) info, including the first detailed description of life in Howe Grammar School™. Early in the year, our Association subscribed via our web vendor to new Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) software designed to better position us to compete for page rank in the new Google® search algorithm they introduced late last year. Do a Google® search for military school alumni and you will see the result: Our website ranks number one on page one among over 50 other military school alumni websites in the first ten pages of search results, including Howe above West Point with their average class size of 1200.

In the Board of Directors’ Meeting immediately following the Annual Meeting, officers for the new Association year were elected/re-elected to one-year terms: Greg Taylor ’80, President; Eleni Mitropoulos D’ Andrea 2004, 1st Vice President; Craig Buskirk ’70, 2nd Vice President; Brian Morabito 1990, Secretary; and Michael DeWitt, 2001, Treasurer.

Directors assemble in The Party Place gathering room, adjacent to the world-renowned Alumni Club, to face the membership for the 2025 Annual Meeting.
L-R: Dr. David Frederick ’48, Crystal Vaughn 2012, Craig Buskirk, ’70, CDR Fred Seibold ’53, Brian Morabito 1990.

The Traditions Committee restored a bronze plaque during the Alumni Weekend.

Our Association not only preserves 135 years of Howe documents, we also save many artifacts. When we recovered this 20 x 30-inch bronze plaque in 2019, it was deeply corroded about half-way up. During Alumni Weekend this year, alums Brian Morabito ’90, Craig Buskirk ’70, Fred Seibold ’53, and Ray Miller, honorary alum, used a non-toxic British organic chemical compound to remove nearly all the green corrosion but save the century-old patina.

This plaque named the first White Hall (Lower School) for Bishop White, who hired Dr. McKenzie. Dr. McKenzie made Howe a top-rated prep school. So Bp. White’s hire gave us a school to attend, which is why we work to preserve his memory. To help our Association do this work to keep our legacy alive, please visit our donations page and be generous.

Part 2 of this report, covering the Annual Banquet, its Awards, and Sunday Breakfast, will appear here in a few days. Please watch for it. Thanks for reading this. Thanks to all who attended and worked to make the 2025 Alumni Weekend the best in years!!