Lincoln Lynx Alumni Association
Lincoln High School, Seattle, Washington

Latest News

From the President, Monica Fosmire Weber '73

Posted - November 3, 2026
The holiday season is rapidly approaching, and as always, I’m grateful to those of you reading this for your continued support of the LLAA. Your membership dues make it possible to fund two issues of the Totem II each year, maintain the website, rent the PO Box, and cover other administrative expenses and fees. Many people enjoyed the All Class Luncheon and Silent Auction in June and may see themselves in photos within these pages. Others who continue to support the Scholarship Program with their donations will see the thirteen bright and promising young people whose academic expense load will be a little lighter because of your generosity.

I’ve had a difficult time finding the motivation to write this column because the previous paragraph needs to be followed by a “However….” The reality of the situation has begun to set in like rigor mortis, which is a rather sick metaphor given much of the content of this paper but seems appropriate, nonetheless. My purpose, though, is not to be a Debbie Downer, but to appeal for help breathing some life back into the association before it’s too late. And I’m asking you to attend the Annual Business Meeting on November 21, if possible, if the LLAA is important enough to you to sustain.

One of the things we’re facing is declining membership. Despite Jackie King’s valiant, time-consuming efforts as Membership Chair to remind alumni to renew their memberships before they expire, more and more do not. We have also asked class reps to contact these classmates. Some non-renewals are due to mortality attrition, but many more are not. There’s also the issue of the multitudes who have never been members, many of whose contact information is no longer current despite our best efforts to update it. What inspires you to keep supporting the LLAA (e.g., connections with classmates, website information re: reunions), and how could you promote supporting that to others?

Currently, although dues revenue covers our expenses (e.g., $8,000 per year for Totem II), it has decreased since January by $1,540 compared to last year, despite more alumni paying for multiple years at a time. We do appreciate this practice, but it tends to hide the decreasing number of members, which will eventually catch up with us. Solutions?

Attendance at the All Class Luncheon has also declined in recent years (advance registrations: 2015 - 303; 2018 – 284; 2022 – 160; 2026 – 104), and we’re not entirely sure why. Many members who’ve advanced in years may no longer wish to drive to Mountlake Terrace; others may have passed beyond the reef. But even the number of alumni from the ‘70s has decreased, though markedly up from 2015. So far, we've been able to subsidize the outrageously increasing catering costs, but the higher cost of attending may not seem worth the price of a nice buffet lunch. We receive little, if any, feedback after the event that might inform us. Please join us on the 21st to share your feedback and/or suggestions.

Another issue we face is planning and executing the event. Some of the same volunteers who make it happen, in some cases in more than one capacity, are many of the same people who help keep the organization afloat. Please consider getting on board with this event, because when we burn out, there can be no Luncheon. Many of you have very useful skills. Let us know who you are!

Another topic of conversation will be our LLAA Merchandise. Without a volunteer to oversee inventory, storage, and sales, and given that it currently brings in no revenue for scholarship awards, it seems time to evaluate it. The $1599 in sales this year and $1870 last year have only gone toward recouping the $5756 spent on the products purchased during the same period. We would need considerable pricing mark-ups to achieve any net profit that could be applied to the scholarship awards.

One of the biggest casualties of burnout amongst us is me. I have already resigned from the merchandise department and can no longer be both president and editor of the Totem II simply because no one else has been willing to show their spunk and grit to step into these roles. I recently told Jackie I wouldn’t be “running” for another term, and she started laughing. Not quite so funny was my unwillingness to spend the time it takes to do the Totem twice a year. These are both roles to seriously consider and fill in the coming year. New energy could be the key to survival.

Please join us in discussing the LLAA’s future and reelecting Jim Philbrick (’75) as vice president and Lynne (Moehring) Emmons (’72) as treasurer. If you are local, I hope to see you at the Northgate Branch Library at 12:30 on Saturday, November 21. You can also attend via Zoom. Board members automatically receive the Zoom link (though, of its 35 members, we often barely make a quorum of 10). Others who wish to attend must email me by Friday, November 20, at lincolnlynx73@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link, which I will send only on Friday.

Thank you, and enjoy the upcoming holidays!

Lincoln High Website and Facebook

Posted - March 27, 2023
Visit Lincoln High's website and Facebook pages: click here for the LHS website and click here for LHS Facebook page. These are great information sources to keep you informed of all Lynx student activities with pictures of the events. Catch up with the student newspaper, the Lincoln Log recently published by the students of Seattle's Lincoln High click here.

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