2015 Ruckman Reunion minutes

Sunday, June 21, 2015 at Dorie Miller Park, Lewisburg, WV, 1:00-3:30

We had sunny, hot weather. There were 19 in attendance. These included Franklin & Sylvia Ruckman, Bob Ruckman, Lavina Ruckman, Betty Tenney, Bob Henry, Tom, Susannah and Ben Henry, Todd Weinbrenner, Darren Weinbrenner, Terri & Brian Cookerly, Betty Neal, Steve Schrader, Gary & Vickie Dove, Nancy Scipioni, and Diane DiPaolo.

After a delicious lunch and socializing, Bob Ruckman called the meeting to order. After a warm welcome, he began with old business. There are items for sale such as tee shirts and puzzles. The proceeds will go to the Ruckman Scholarship Fund.

The next item on the agenda was the Ruckman Scholarship Fund. Franklin Ruckman, chairperson of the Scholarship Committee, spoke about the scholarships that were awarded to this year’s applicants. The Scholarship Committee voted unanimously to award scholarships to all that applied. The repeat applicants would each receive $500.00. This includes Thomas Henry, Dana Ruckman, Pam June, Darien June, Robyn Smith, and Courtney Bond. The one new applicant, Benjamin Henry, will receive $1000.00.

Then, Franklin next announced that the Ruckman Heritage Foundation is now a 501C (3) foundation. This means, ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE. He also told those in attendance to encourage previous scholarship award winners to let us know what they are doing now. He could then put these updates on the Ruckman website.

New business followed. Get-well cards for Ruth Neal and Gale Smith were passed around to be signed. Darren Weinbrenner read the treasurer’s report. It was decided that Darren would rent out Dorie Miller Park for next year. The date was scheduled to be June 19, 2016.

The hat was passed around and donations received totaled $720 to be added to the Scholarship Fund. Also, those in attendance introduced themselves. After that, there was a discussion of the many Ruckmans that were either teachers or nurses.

There were two motions made and seconded. The first was to include the reunion attendees in the minutes, and for the Secretary to send out the minutes in a November letter. Also, state in the November letter that, if anyone who was not able to attend the reunion and wanted to MAKE A DONATION TO THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND, they could send that to Vicki Dove. The second motion was to ask the Secretary to send a letter out in March highlighting the “upcoming” reunion, and so everyone could make their their hotel reservations. This March letter could also contain the scholarship application information. The meeting adjourned at 3:30.

Respectfully submitted, Diane DiPaolo