Vol. II, Issue II The Falcon Legacy Page 1

The Falcon Baseball team is

looking to play at “THE K”. In

order to achieve this, they must

sell Royals’ game vouchers —

1,000 of them by mid-March!

The vouchers are good for most

home games* redeemable by mail

or at the ticket widow, in advance

or day of game.

Vouchers sell at $8 (value seat) or

$15 (GREAT seat). This is a huge

discount! There’s no limit as to

the number of vouchers you can

buy. For information, and to order

ticket vouchers, contact Van Horn

Head Baseball Coach, Tim Wilson

tim_wilson@indep.k12.mo.us or call (816) 682-2156.

Van Horn Falcons must sell 1,000

of the vouchers (as well as Sum-

mit Christian Academy, their

Crossroads Conference opponent)

in order to get to play at “The K”.

Let’s help Falcons’ baseball

achieve a Major League experi-

ence which is scheduled to be

played at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday,

April 3, 2012. Admission will be

FREE!

* Vouchers not good for Opening Day,

the Fri/Sat/Sun games of the Yankees

series, or the Cardinals series — but

good for all other 2012 Games.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME

BASEBALL?

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

President’s

Message

2

Otto Kaifes’ Party 2

Membership Drive 3

Calendar

Letter to Editor

4

P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E

V A N H O R N H I G H S C H O O L

A L U M N I A S S O C I A T I O N The Falcon Legacy F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 2 V O L U M E I I , I S S U E I I

S P E C I A L

P O I N T S O F

I N T E R E S T :

Website

Hall of Honor

nominations

Reunion news

Vol. II, Issue II The Falcon Legacy Page 2

From your President —

As promised last year, your Van Horn Alumni Asso-

ciation website is now up-and-running (actually, it has

b een s i n ce N o vem b er ! ) T h e s i t e ,

www.vanhornalumni.org, features not only Associa-

tion news and photos, but also information on happen-

ings at the new Van Horn. Also from the site, you

may download and print applications to join the Asso-

ciation (we are a 501(c)(3) non-profit), and to nomi-

nate a former student, staff member, or “Friend of Van

Horn” to be inducted into the Van Horn Hall of Honor

(nominations for the 2012 class of inductees are al-

ready being accepted - more on this below). Finally,

you can download current and back issues of The Fal-

con Legacy, the Association’s newsletter. Later this

year, you can expect to see improvements to the site,

which will make vanhornalumni.org easier to navigate

and use, as well to become an even more informative

and valuable resource for Falcons worldwide.

Last August, nine persons—including seven Van Horn

alums, one former teacher (Otto Kaifes), and Col. Van

Horn himself (posthumously) - were inducted as the

inaugural Class of the Van Horn High School Hall of

Honor. In addition to rightly honoring Falcons whose

bodies of work as adults has brought honor to the

school, the Hall’s presence seeks to communicate to

current and future Van Horn students that they, too,

can create for themselves extraordinary lives after

high school.

We are now accepting (and have already received!)

nominations for the 2012 Hall of Honor class, who

would enter the Hall of Friday, September 7 (the day

of Van Horn’s first home football game in 2012). Ap-

plications to nominate a distinguished Van Horn alum-

nus, former staff member, or “Friend of Van

Horn” (the latter defined as someone who neither at-

tended nor worked at the school, but whose actions or

work have directly benefited Van Horn High School

and its neighborhoods) are available for download/

print at the Alumni Association website,

www.vanhornalumni.org.

Nominees/inductees do not have to be Alumni Asso-

ciation Members; however, for a nomination to be

considered for induction, the person doing the nomi-

nating needs to be an Association Member. Applica-

tions to join the Association are also available for

download/print at www.vanhornalumni.org. We will

accept nominations for the 2012 Hall of Honor class

through Monday, June 4

Jay Fisher, VH ’75— President VHHSAA

Honorarium for retired teacher, Otto Kaifes

COME HELP US CELEBRATE OTTO’S

20TH BIRTHDAY!

Please enter the school through the main (front) doors.

For answers to questions, and to R.S.V.P. (not required but appreciated),

contact Brenda Bronson, VH ‘66 at brendabronsonfpe@gmail.com (303) 941-7634, or (303) 763-8598

Mr. Otto Kaifes

Many of us remember that longtime Van Horn math teacher and baseball

coach Otto Kaifes was born on February 29, 1932—LEAP DAY—meaning

that he celebrates his “20th” birthday February 29 of this year. To celebrate

Otto’s “20th”, the Van Horn Class of 1966 and the Van Horn Alumni Asso-

ciation is having a party at the school on Saturday, March 3, from 2:00 pm

until 5:00 pm in the foyer behind the Van Horn Auditorium.

All Van Horn alums—particularly Otto’s former students and players—are

invited to come. Please bring a pot-luck dish or snack to share. (We will

also attempt to have Van Horn baseball coach Tim Wilson there for those

wanting to purchase Royals’ ticket vouchers.)

Vol. II, Issue II The Falcon Legacy Page 3

MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION (a printable form) can be found on our

website, www.vanhornalumni.org or by calling Jay Fisher at (816) 914-6490 or Mari-

etta Boenker at (816) 524-1817 You don’t have to live locally to support Van Horn High

School— your Membership and/or donations will do that!!

Vol. II, Issue II The Falcon Legacy Page 4

03 Mar - Otto Kaifes 20th Birthday Party, VH Aud. Foyer 2-5

21 Mar - VHHSAA Meeting, Alumni Room, VHHS 7 pm

1 Apr - Scholarship application deadline

3 Apr - Falcon Baseball at the “K” - 4 pm (if enough vouchers a re

sold)

18 Apr - VHHSAA Meeting, Alumni Room, VHHS 7 pm

13 May- Birthday Celebration of Col. Van Horn. TBA

16 May- VHHSAA Meeting, Alumni Room, VHHS 7 pm

20 May - Van Horn High School Graduation

8-9 Jun - Class of 1962 50th Reunion, Drumm Farm Golf Course

Jun, Jul, Aug VHHSAA Meetings, 7 pm—locations TBA

7 Sep - Hall of Honor Celebration, 1st Home football game

15 Sep - Class of 1972 30th Reunion, Elms Hotel, Excelsior Springs

19 Sep - VHHSAA Meeting, Alumni Room, VHHS 7 pm

21 Sep - Van Horn Homecoming Parade

22 Sep - Van Horn Homecoming Game at Van Horn HS

17 Oct - VHHSAA Meeting, Alumni Room, VHHS

21 Nov - VHHSAA Meeting, Alumni Room, VHHS

Reunion News

This spot will be re-

served for 2012 Reun-

ion News. Send your

announcement with

dates, times and loca-

tions for your Class

year/anniversary to

vhhsaa@yahoo.com.

All announcements

will appear in the next

issue of the Falcon

Legacy!

P.O. Box 520712

Independence, MO 64052

Phone: 816-914-6490

E-mail: vhhsaa@yahoo.com

A Letter to the Editor:

This is Ken Davis from class of ‘65 and I really enjoy

the Falcon Legacy. I think it is great the way everyone

has pitched in and made my old school such a great suc-

cess. From the pictures it is really looking great. I wish

I lived closer so I could participate in the fun.

Before Truman Road was renamed, it was called Van

Horn Road after the late Col. R.T. Van Horn who was,

as our family tree shows him, a great uncle to my

grandfather. I remember my mother use to say if they

ever tried to change the school name she would stand

on a soap-box out in front of the school and lobby loud-

and-long. Thank God they never tried to rename the

school.

Keep the spirit! I plan to visit on my next trip home.

Kenneth R. Davis, Wichita, KS

Van Horn High School

Alumni Association

Have you renewed your membership?