|
President's
Report
LCDR Earl Kerr, USN
RET
JOB OPENING
NWSA Historian
There is a
need for a new NWSA Historian. Job
requirements are not extensive but require custody of essential NWSA
archival materials. These
records include our quarterly newsletter, roster, necrology, and related
people files. The
correspondence load is moderate. This
job has always been tailored by each historian so there are no strict
specifications. However,
attendance at annual NWSA reunions is essential.
Please contact the NWSA President, of interested.
From
Don Cruz: "We
seriously require a relief NWSA Historian. My relocation to Ashby Ponds
retirement community is being > delayed by turnover requirements."
From J. E. Kerr: "We all wish Don a graceful withdrawal from
being the Historian. Surely someone can pick up where he left off and can
continue with the good work of our past!"
Source:
Aerograph, February, 2010
Reunion
36 will not only be an
opportunity for us to see and visit with shipmates, past and present;
there will be some definite opportunities to adjust our organization.
There is activity going on to make changes to NWSA so that
the programs that have been in existence for many years will continue into
the future.
First,
Don Cruse
will present a change to the By-laws to restore having the “New”
President take over at the second Executive Meeting. This
will give the new person an opportunity to get important new committees
appointments filled without having to resort to having to using “E”
mail and the Aerograph.
Next, there will be a discussion and hopefully resolution to a proposed
change to the By-laws where by our current Scholarship fund will be
transferred to a reputable organization, to continue the goal of promoting
Environment Science, when NWSA is no longer viable. Currently,
all funds are slated to be transferred to Navy Relief upon termination of
NWSA. There can be no question
as to the how well Navy Relief has provided support to needy Navy families
through the years. However,
most of the money going into our Scholarship fund is for a specific
purpose. There are at least
three organizations, Navy Institute, American Meteorological Society and
Military Officers Association who can set up Scholarships in our name and
with the same objective of promoting Science. Getting
agreement on which way to proceed would be a noble goal of the Dallas
Reunion.
Mike Gilroy
has asked that each chapter have people who can give the scholarship
committee a hand for applications within the chapter’s sphere of
influence. Given the territory
to be covered, it would of course be great if there were individual
volunteers from some of the less populated areas within these
United States
.
Lastly, the Lone Star Chapter is busy working on the Dallas Reunion. This
year there are three different registrations required – the DFW Wyndham
Airport North hotel, the Military Reunion Planners for events and the Lone
Star Chapter beverage tickets and the like. Most
events require a minimum number of participants and thus registration for
your preferences would be most welcome in order to insure that there is
sufficient number to actually hold the event. A
whole section of this Volume is devoted to the
Reunion
. It is time to contact all your acquaintances, whether they are NWSA
members or not, and get a commitment for all to attend
Reunion
36.
Thanks – Earl Kerr
Source:
Aerograph, November 2009
We still have no volunteers for the
Historian, which must be considered to be one of our more important
responsibilities. Don is
moving to a smaller household and he has certainly has earned this a
second retirement. It would be
a shame to have all his work boxed up and just put in some musty storage
room. If anyone is
interested or knows of someone who may like to have such a responsibility,
then please do forward the name. At
Dallas
we will be discussing a number of changes but one very important topic
will be what to do with the scholarship fund when we are no longer a
viable organization. Other
“senior” groups have had to face this problem and there are a number
of long haul organizations that will continue to provide scholarships in
our name long after we can no longer have a reunion.
We also want to change the effective time to turn over the
Presidency so that the new president will take charge over the second
Executive Board meeting. Thus
the new person could get started on whatever agenda that need immediate
attention before everyone departs the respective reunion.
The cost of
sending out the list of Navy Weather Service folks is increasing and we
must look at ways to reduce those costs.
One concept being talked about is to divide up the name list into
regions and have communication literate people go down their respective
lists to either verify the data or eliminate the entry.
Libby has done a lot of work on the non-member lists and so
dividing up the lists would be within the realm of possibility.
Libby has done a lot of work with our finances and we are at this
time in very good fiscal shape.
For
a many of us this will be our last trip to
Texas
. Some of us will
be making a stop in
San Antonio
after the reunion. For those
of you, who may be interested, please contact me when you have the
opportunity so that we can stay in the same lodging.
The most
important item for this the November printing is to get the word out to
the many non-members about both joining NWSA and/or attending the Reunion
in
Dallas
. It is a real concern that
many do not want to join NWSA. However,
attending the reunion could be a real opportunity to meet former shipmates
and others with whom they may have know for many years.
There will be more information on the reunion in this publication.
It is suggested that each of us try to include the
Dallas
data in our customary Christmas Letters in an attempt to maximize our
attendance. The Lone Star
Chapter has put a lot effort into making
Reunion
#36 a major event. Please
do contact all your prospective former Weather Service type and urge them
to plan on attending.
Best of wishes to you all for the upcoming holidays.
Submitted by NWSA President LCDR Earl Kerr
USN RET
Source:
Aerograph, August 2009
Well
we have returned from
Reunion
35 and what a grand event it was. We
want to thank all the
Jacksonville
folks but in particular the Johnson’s and the Corbett’s who put so
much effort into making their reunion the success that it was.
The singing ladies performed admirably at the banquet and were
again effective in making a significant increase in 50/50 ticket sales.
One
can’t say anything good about the weather in
Jacksonville
but neither our spirits nor the golf game were dampened by the rain.
One of the notable things taking place at
Reunion
35 was the verification that our finances are in good hands and that Libby
O’Brien had the fiscal records in excellent condition for the annual
audit. Bill Bowers made it
clear that our Non-Profit status filing with the IRS will be done by Libby
and will include all the chapters under a single filing.
Much discussion was devoted to the cost of printing the Aerograph
and postage. You are asked to
contact Libby about receiving the publication via “E” mail for those
of you who are on line in order to minimize the cost of postage.
There were only two Scholarships presented and accepted this year.
We hold some $180K in the Scholarship fund and the organization can
sustain an annual payout of $10K for the foreseeable future.
In this regard our current By-Laws state that upon the demise of
NWSA, all remaining funds will be sent to the Navy Relief.
While there is merit for such distribution, it remains that the
majority of the Scholarship fund donors would probably consider such a
dispersal as fraudulent. There
are a number of other Scholarship funds for Meteorology/Oceanography that
will no doubt exist way into the future.
When we are in
Dallas
, we will discuss a change to the By-Laws, to transfer our scholarship
funds to one or more of these organizations upon the disestablishment of
NWSA. We have some changes to
our Committees and were most pleased that Mahlon Trenz agreed to stay on
as the Webmaster. The
positions of Historian, Chaplin and Master-at-Arms all need volunteers
before we meet in
Dallas
.
The
question of a name change is now pretty well off the table as most people
agree with Master Chief Burton that changing our name now would have no
positive effect on our declining membership.
There was much discussion, as there usually is, regarding how each
of us can make an effort to get the word out to those former Naval Weather
Service personnel who have not shown an interest in joining NWSA.
The sands of time are running out and the “Remembrance” notices
in the Aerograph are beginning to rival the remainder of each edition.
What I have found when making calls to folks is that medical
problems with either the member or the spouse are becoming increasingly
frequent and thus preventing both from attending a reunion.
Still there are many things each of us can do to encourage our
shipmates to join NWSA. One
other new item that will be addressed at
Dallas
will be when a “New” President shall take the reign.
In the beginning, the change over was after the election so that
the New President would conduct the second Executive Board meeting.
The current practice of waiting until the banquet to make the
change puts the New President at some disadvantage and has to resort to
using the Aerograph and “E” mails to get new volunteers and such.
The restoration of the original Presidential turn over will be
presented in
Dallas
by Don Cruse.
The
Dallas
reunion will take place, April 28th to May 2’d 2010 at the
DFW Wyndham – see the
Reunion
article for details. The Lone
Star Chapter has been very effective in locating former NWS people within
their region to support NWSA and attend their reunion.
We all owe it to them to get the word out to the people we know or
have served with to join us in
Dallas
and make
Reunion
36 an event to remember.
Thanks
to all – Earl Kerr
May,
2009
I have a little over one month left as President of NWSA, but in the short
five months of my term, we have accomplished quite a bit.
Our new Secretary/Treasurer has been working hard at bringing our
books up to date, renewing CDs, and updating the Bellinger List.
Libby O’Brien has been a blessing in disguise.
She has been and will continue to be a great asset to the
association.
We had a new member volunteer to serve on the Scholarship
Committee, and we are looking for one more person to serve on that
committee beginning at the completion of
Reunion
#35. AGCM Pat O’Brien had
agreed to serve an extra year and will be stepping down after this
reunion. So don’t be
bashful, it is a very rewarding position helping bright young scholars
attain their ambition of higher education.
Notify me that you will be happy to serve on the Scholarship
Committee.
Several members have answered the call to help us clean up
the Bellinger List, but we still have a long way to go.
I encourage all of you to check both the member and non-member
lists and send me any changes that we need to make to bring the B-List up
to date.
I want to thank Earl & Lynne Kerr and Pat & Libby
O’Brien for making Jacksonville a side trip on the spring vacations to
talk to Bobby Johnson of the Southeast Chapter and provide their
assistance/advice on reunion planning.
We appreciate their efforts to help make #35 a success.
We are also looking for ways to increase our membership and
need any suggestions that will help us to this.
Lloyd Corbett of the Southeast Chapter submitted recommendations
that will be looked at during the Executive Board meetings in
Jacksonville. We need
concerned members like Lloyd to help the association officers and boards
in their duties.
You might have noticed some problems in the past with our WEB
Site. AGC Mahlon Trenz has
agreed to continue to be our Webmaster and has made some changes to update
and improve the site. I want
to thank Mahlon for his desire to keep the site up-to-date and viable.
If you receive this issue by mail it is probably too late to
encourage you to attend Reunion #35 in Jacksonville. But if you receive it
via email – I strongly encourage you to join us for a good time and help
us keep the association moving forward.
There will be a special ceremony on Sunday mornings to celebrate
and remember our members who have gone on before us.
I thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president
for the past six months. I
hope I have done the association well, and will continue to serve when and
wherever I can.
Bill
Bowers
Source: Aerograph, February,
2009
Here we are half way through my tenure and I am happy to say
that everything is going well.
In my last article the first order of business was the
transfer of the Secretary/Treasurer’s responsibilities from Jim Stone to
Libby O’Brien. I am happy to say that Libby jumped in with both feet and
is doing an excellent job of getting our financial records in order. She
has been working closely with the Finance Committee to ensure that our
assets are being managed in accordance with NWSA policies.
In the administrative
area, we need your help in making sure the Aerograph is as up-to-date as
possible. I would like each member to go through the member and non-member
sections of Bellinger List and let me know of any changes that should be
made to bring the list up to date. I personally know of several changes
that need to be made. Getting started on this now will give us plenty of
time to make the changes before the November 2009 edition. Please email
any information you have to me.
I mentioned that there was a lot of correspondence
circulating about filing 990 tax forms with the IRS. Libby O’Brien sent
me correspondence from the IRS that said in our filing status, subordinate
groups of the organization did not have to file if they earned $25,000 or
less in the filing period. Our Secretary/Treasurer files a 990 tax form
that includes all our chapters. Since our fiscal year does not end till
June 30, the report is not filed till that date. I sent an email to each
chapter asking for specific information so the filing data can be updated
to keep our records straight. If you haven’t responded to my email,
please do so as soon as possible so I can inform our Secretary/Treasurer
of any changes we need to make.
I also asked for a volunteer to serve on the Scholarship
Committee. I am pleased to say the Ed Frandle, a new member in the
Southeast Chapter, has answered the call and will serve for the next three
years.
Enough business, now for some fun stuff.
Reunion
- #35 is just around the corner. The Southeast Chapter has been hard at
work to make this a memorable affair. I have been privy to correspondence
that Obie and Libby O’Brien and Earl and Lynne Kerr will be travelling
in March and have offered to meet with Bob Johnson and the reunion
committee in
Jacksonville
during their vacation time to extend their knowledge of putting on a
reunion. This is the kind of support and friendship that makes the Naval
Weather Service Association an organization to be proud of.
Now is the time to make
your reservations for the reunion. I look forward to seeing ya’ll there.
Bill Bowers
Copyright © by Naval
Weather Service Association All Right Reserved.
Updated:
01/18/2010 20:02
Webmaster@NavalWeather.org
|