Museum News 

CLASSEN HIGH SCHOOL ALUMNI MUSEUM 

Alumni Museum News

Notice:  The museum temporarily closed March 15, 2010 due to the renovation of the Classen School of Advanced Studies Building, of which the museum is included, for an indefinite period of time.  The renovation is part of the MAPS For Kids Project.  It is not known at this time when the museum will be reopened.  Notification will be posted whenever it is known the museum will be reopened.

MUSEUM NEWS By Jean Thurston Harris ’48 

Greetings from the “once upon a time” Classen Museum!  Yes, the long awaited and anticipated Maps II renovation of the Classen School of Advanced Studies is now in progress and your Classen Museum as you once knew it is no more!

All the contents of the museum have been packed and moved into a warehouse which was generously donated by one of our board members for storage of our mementos which have been collected over the past 25 or so years. 

There will not be a regular Museum News column in the coming issues as there will be nothing to report in the near future.  We have been told that the present museum space will be used to house classrooms while other parts of the building are under construction.  When the renovation of the museum begins, we will keep you updated with pictures and information in each issue until completion.

I wish we that had pictures of future plans to show you what the new museum will look like when opened, but we do not have those.  We have been told that only the two front rooms will remain, while the three rooms in the back used for files, computers, office supplies, a refrigerator, microwave, jewelry and trophy cases will be eliminated in order to make room for a stairwell and entrance on the south side of the building which is now required by Fire Code.  Most of those items will be packed and stored except the jewelry case in which all the items will be labeled and placed in a safe deposit in a bank.

Our understanding is that the new museum will still contain many trophy cases; however, many others will be shown in other parts of the building, so absolutely nothing will be discarded!  A new jewelry case will be purchased which will be locked at all times when the museum is opened. 

The future museum will be a type of student center and will be open each day to students, faculty, and visitors, and will contain tables and chairs for all types of meetings. 

So there are many unanswered questions as to where many of the original items will find a new home.  We hope that as many as possible will remain in the museum but that probably won’t be known until it is reopened

In early 2000, after the sudden death of Jim Sinclair ’47 in September of 1999 who was a valuable volunteer and writer of the Museum News, I was asked to begin writing the Museum News.  In looking through my old NCL’s, I found that my very first column appeared in the May 2000 issue, exactly ten years ago.  Time does fly when you’re having fun and it has been fun writing and a real privilege.  I wish to offer many thanks to my loyal readers, and I will miss writing the Museum News, but I shall continue to write other articles which hopefully will be of interest to you!

Sometimes it’s very hard for us to accept change, but in this case we are looking forward in a positive manner to our new museum which will be accessible to the students, faculty and visitors at all times during the week.  

We are forever grateful to the founders of our alumni association and to those who worked so hard to begin our beautiful museum.  Our reputation brought many visitors from other schools who were starting museums of their own.  They wanted to see what we had in order to get ideas of how to pattern their museum similar to ours. 

There is no way that I will end this writing without thanking our faithful volunteers who have worked in the museum for months, some for years.  I would like to pay tribute to those friends who have served over the years. The following faithful friends  are gone, but will never be forgotten.  The ones I remember are:   Mentor Baker ’37 (dec.), Sally Freel Brunett ’54 (dec.), Margaret Stewart Cheatham ’42 (dec.), Louis Coats ’35 (dec.), Charles Coley ’28 (dec.), A.V. Peoples ’36 (dec.), Jeanne Porta Mager ’45 (dec.), Stan Purdy ’40 (dec.), Tom Ray ’39 (dec.), and Fred Zahn ’34 (dec.).

Others were Ken Boyd ’41, Buddy Donley ’51, and Ginger Hargrove Shull ’58.  Two of the long-timers still volunteering are:  Alyse Ramsey ’47 and Suzanne Yowell Schneider ’50.   In addition to Alyse and Suzanne, others who have been working one day a month for the past few years are Harriette Westervelt Boatright ’47, Norma Williams Colston ’54, Janie Anderson Cotton ’50, Marie Russell Harkey ’38, Pam Caughron Stottman ’63, Margene Arnett Walker ’40 and Mary Ellen Wells ’50.  We also appreciate the weekly visits from Johnny Shannon ’44 and James Thomas ’50.  Of course Johnny and James will still be available for photographs of reunions and other special activities.  These are the only names which are I have known in the past ten years, so if I have omitted someone, please send me their names.  Many thanks to all of you!

I have given you all the information that we have so far.  As new developments occur, we will definitely keep you posted.  So until next time please take care, be happy and stay safe, because we need each and every one of our Comet friends!  See you soon  

Photos of our empty museum