I haven't seen anyone else report on last night's meeting,
so I thought I would recap last night's meeting for everyone.
I'm sure some people would like to know what happened.
Thirteen people met on a very cold evening in the break
room of Skyline Aviation from 7pm to 9pm. We were offered the
upstairs classroom but declined the offer as some people might
not be able to negotiate the steep stairs.
The break room was cozy and just the right size for our
round circle of friendship.
We were excited and many of us spoke at the same time,
making it hard for Bob Reece and others with hearing aids to
hear what was being discussed. Bob chastised us and demanded
that we use Robert's Rules of Order and hold up our hands and
speak one at a time when recognized by Gerry Hatch, who was in
charge of the meeting for reasons no one could define, but
only guess at.
Bob's excellent idea made the evening business meeting much
easier for everyone to understand. Someone suggested that we
each take a turn at telling how we felt about the chapter
continuing in 2018. As we went around the room everyone was in
favor of continuing EAA Chapter 493 but no one was
volunteering to be an officer except Andy Spinks, who said he
would serve as treasurer for a one, two, or three year term.
His commitment generated excitement in the crowd. Don
Smucker said he would be secretary when he was in town, which
might only be half of the time. At that point several people
started handing Andy cash and checks for membership. I handed
him one of the two $20 bills I was carrying last night. My
wife Nancy volunteered to fill in for Don Smucker as secretary
when he was out of town. I asked Andy if he had change for
a twenty dollar bill so I could buy a family membership. Andy
did not have change, only twenty dollar bills. LeRoy quickly
gave two dollars toward a family membership, I found a one
dollar bill in my wallet and Andy said he had two dollars
which made Nancy a member and an auxiliary officer in less
than a minute.
Bob Reece had volunteered before the meeting to take any
officer position, so Gerry nominated Bob Reece for president
and he was elected without opposition. A visitor named Ron
volunteered at that point to be Vice President and after he
was elected we had a complete slate of officers, with Bob and
Andy serving two year terms and Don and Ron serving one year
terms.
There were many good ideas shared for programs. Everyone
was encouraged to come up with one good program during the
year. It was decided that some monthly meetings would be held
on saturdays during the day so the chapter could meet on
location to inspect whatever project the host was building.
Nancy York volunteered her home as a meeting place, Nancy
Treadwell said we had room for the group, and Gerry thought
it might be time to have another meeting at his ranch since he
held the neat meet the Sirius Jet at his home in 2009. It was
decided that the next meeting of Chapter 493 would be held at
Skyline Aviation on Tuesday, February 20 at 6PM. There will
not be food at the meeting so eat before you arrive. It
appeared that Andy Spinks would probably be at the Mathis
Field Chinese restaurant an hour or so before the meeting, or
when ever he could get there after work.
I think all 13 people paid membership fees last night and
we counted another six people that we felt were likely to join
later. If you are interested please send your $20 or $25
(family) membership fee to Andy Spinks.
Everyone attending last night's meeting enjoyed being able
to hear what each person had to share with the group. It was
easy to hear since we spoke one at a time and we all had a
sense of getting to know first hand what each person felt and
wanted to share with the group. I have a couple of small
amplifiers that we could try at the next meeting to see if
that helps everyone to hear those who speak softly. In the
coming year some meetings we be held during the day on
Saturdays so that people from distant locations will have an
opportunity to fly in to San Angelo and return home before
dark. If you know of someone who may be interested in
attending the next meeting please spread the word and let them
know that everyone is welcome and invited to attend.
It is very enjoyable to be back in a big circle of friends
and getting to hear what each person has been working on
during the last month.
After our meeting was adjourned there was the usual
camaraderie of many people visiting at once. One of the nice
things about Skyline Aviation is they have a big quiet hangar
just outside the meeting where people with difficulties
hearing could talk one on one with another member.
Don Treadwell
PS: I am aware of mistakes in this letter but between Go
Daddy's and Apple's worthless operating system and lousy
software it is impossible to get the cursor, and I do mean
curser, to appear where I would like to edit .
fly-web.us)