2007 All Deadwood School Reunion Proceeds Report by Reunion Chairman Bill Beshara DHS1955

Bill Beshara, Deadwood School Plaque, & Dick Dunwiddie

DickD comment:

Chairman Bill Beshara and his committee/helpers of Janet Chyba Thoresen, Carolyn Johnson Dirkson, Marcia Moore Darlin, Don Gross, Jim Veitl, Karen Shockey Balderson, Roselle Stalder, Larry Ryan, Hank Frawley, John Fillmore, Dick Schlax, Yvonne Spaulding Hendrickson, Merno Stalder, Sherill Person Dunwiddie, Vince Gravelle, Dick Dunwiddie, Barbara Shedd Allen and many others helped to provide a best ever DHS All School Reunion.

This is Bill's final report.  His committee also brought the Deadwood High School roster information up to date.  There were over 900 graduates still living at that time.  The working roster for the reunion was done on MS Excel format.  No one had the time to publish the roster or keep it up to date.

I think this report represents the above-and-beyond efforts that Bill Beshara always provides in his DHS Activities.  I think we shoud grant him the title Deadwood High School Class President, Emeritus.

DHS All School Reunion Scholarship Award

July 1, 2012

Dear classmates of Deadwood High School,

After the All School Reunion in 2007 there was a balance in the bank account from our reunion and the previous all school reunion. Talking to people during and after the reunion there appeared to be no interest in having another all school reunion so the reunion committee was left with making a decision about what to do with the money.

We had several committee meetings and came up with two possible solutions that we hoped would please all those involved.

About the time of the Reunion, Deadwood/Lead schools were starting a Backpack Program. This program provides food and backpacks for needy kids in the community that don’t have food at home on the weekends. So, our committee decided what better way to use some of these funds than to help kids in need. We donated $1,139.94 to this program. They were very grateful that we could help them get this program off the ground. Thanks to Karen Balderson for this idea.

That left us with $2,400.00 in the bank. After discussing several options, our committee came up with the idea of having a scholarship in the name of the “DHS All School Reunion”. The intention was to provide a scholarship to a student who is pursuing a Vocational Program of continuing education following high school graduation. A student selected each year from the graduating class would receive a scholarship in the amount of $600.00 toward tuition costs. It was set up for scholarships of $600.00 each for four years. Preference would be given to students whose relatives had attended DHS in the past.

The scholarships were started in 2008 and the last one was awarded this year, 2012. The scholarship for 2011 was skipped because we could not find a suitable candidate.

2008 Recipient: Frank Derby. Welding.  Western Dakota VoTech. Rapid City, SD.

2009 Recipient: Eric Quaschnick: Lives in Lead. Course of study is Auto and Diesel Tech. at Western Dakota VoTech. Rapid City, SD.

2010 Recipient-----Chelsee Jacobs: Lives in Deadwood. Course of study is Veterinary Technician at Bel-Rea Institute of Animal Tech. Denver Co.

2012 Recipient: Lauren Hoffman. Lives in Lead. Course of Study is Phlebotomy. Draws blood for a blood tests. Attending Western Dakota VoTech. Rapid City, SD.

Thanks to all who attended the reunion and I hope this meets with your approval. We feel that we helped serve the needs of young people in the community and this completes the 2007 Reunion efforts.

Reading the commencement programs for the last few years I found 

there are several graduates of DHS and many others that give money towards scholarships and commencement awards. They are to be commended. Our young people today need all the support they can get.

Sincerely

Bill Beshara

Class of ‘55