usma1955: USMA1955 - Message

[Sent for [mijdrawoh@gmail.com] by [usma1955]]

Dear Classmates,

     As you are aware, our Class President, Dick Secord, passed away recently. It was my privilege and pleasure to have served as his vice president. In accordance with our Class Constitution, I have assumed the honor of Class presidency in his place.  RIP, Dick.  "Old pilots never die, they just fly away."

   There are a few issues we must address, mostly generated by the inevitable aging of our membership and associated decline in activity.   First is the Constitutionally-designated membership of our Executive Committee (EXCOM).  It consists of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Scribe, Historian, and Information Systems Officer (ISO).  For several years, many of those positions have been inactive.  Tom Sims, who also recently passed away, acted in a webmaster position for the ISO.  When Tom died, Jim Howard volunteered to assume the most important features of Webmaster in order to keep Class communications alive.  When the Treasurer resigned, Jim stepped up again and assumed the basic functions of that office.  While VP, I had to also fill  the position of Secretary when that office became vacant.  The positions of Scribe, Historian, and ISO appear to be inactive.

   In summary, Jim Howard and I are currently acting as EXCOM. Jim has expressed to me his concern that his age might not allow him to continue indefinitely in those two roles, and that his search for volunteer backups has not been successful.  That could result in a Class President with responsibilities and no staff, a situation I'd prefer to avoid,

     But fortunately we have a five-year reunion coming up in about six months.  One of the features of that event is an election of new Class officers. Soon I will be looking for three volunteers for the Nominating Committee with hopes that, at the reunion, the Class can elect new EXCOM officers.   In the six-month interim I hope that one or two classmates will volunteer to back up Jim Howard's dual positions as Treasurer and Webmaster.  Jim will be happy to discuss the requirements for both functions, which have been minimized by the helpful assumption of many tasks by AOG and WP-ORG.

     I know that we all have plenty of things that need to be done every day, and not as much energy or capability as when we were young sprouts.  But I hope that there's enough vitality remaining in '55 to handle the few but necessary business affairs that remain.  So please consider giving Jim a hand, just as he twice did when the need arose. (Jim's email is mijd...@gmail.com and his phone is 828-290-5530.)

   And on behalf of the Class I would like to thank Jim for his services, and Stan Sydenham and Al Raymond for volunteering to coordinate reunion affairs for our 70th.  Thanks, guys, for your good work for "55.  See you at the reunion, God willing and the crick don't rise.

Best wishes,

Bob Wray

President

USMA 1955

bobr...@bellsouth.net

ReplyForward Add reaction

[Sent for [llmcauslan@yahoo.com] by [usma1955]]

I'm aware I heard from no one from the class when my dad died 

Leanne Mcauslan