The last few months have been challenging. First, Fran and Paula Pieri, our longtime Membership staff and always-present members, moved to San Diego County to be closer to their grandchildren. That is just too far to commute to our staff meetings and luncheons. I miss them sitting at the table to the left of the door when you first walk into the hall for our meetings. Just really nice people. Luckily Sel Ramsay stepped up and is handling the duties of Membership Officer but I still miss them. Thank you Fran, Paula and Sel.
Then, Dolores Hardy, our longtime Treasurer, has retired. I remember when she took over for Andy Andresen, long before most of our current members were around. Dolores got shanghaied by either Bob Olds or Dave Newbro into taking over the job. You will have to ask her how long she handled that job. Again, a competent current staff member stepped in to take over. Ray LeCompte (and his wife, Joy) has been doing an excellent job of keeping the accounts of the organization and making sure that our bills are timely paid. Carol Fields continues to “man” the reception table to collect lunch payments and gifts from the Great Guys. Thank you Dolores, Carol, Ray and Joy.
Most recently Dick Fields came to me and let me know that he does not want to continue to perform the duties of PAO and Audio Visual guru. I do not recall how long Dick has been doing double and triple duty. Just seems that he has been my “go to” guy for many, many years. It will seem strange not to have him there to fix whatever is going wrong at the moment and make that manure smell like roses. He made things go so smoothly, so effortlessly, for the longest time and he will be missed. As it turns out, we have two new members who have stepped up to take over Dick’s duties.
First, Dave Malmad stepped up as PAO. He has been writing the columns that summarize the speaker’s presentation/brief. He also is sending stories to Zip Rausa at Wings of Gold. I have been very impressed by Dave’s work ethic and attention to detail. The audio/visual duties have been assumed by Joe Murphy. Joe is a relatively new member and has jumped in to help with the computers and projectors that add so much to the presentations. There have been some unexpected challenges but Joe has been up for them. Hardly a hiccup! Thank you Dick, Dave and Joe. I really appreciate the members stepping in for our long serving member/staff. Dick, Carol, Dolores, Fran and Paula did their assigned duties for so many years and they deserve your thanks. When you see them, let them know that you appreciate what they have done for Grampaw Pettibone Squadron for years.
Finally, thank you to Joe, David, Sel, Ray and Joy for stepping up and taking on new duties. It is truly appreciated
