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October 2011 On October
28, 2011, the Oklahoma SCS/NRCS Retirees met at the Hometown Buffet
Restaurant in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Forty-eight people were in attendance.
They were:
Don & Darlene Bartolina,
Dale Bell, Otis Bennett, Bob Bumgarner, Charles & Carolyn Cail,
Larry Caldwell, Steve Chessmore, Duane Crider, Bob & Betty Day,
Wayne Fjeseth, Fred & Gayle Fortney, Randy Freeland, Jim & Roberta
Frie, Lloyd Garrison, Chuck Grimes, David Haggard, Jim & Mollye
Henley, Odos & Dianne Henson, Sandra & Terry Hough, Winnie Jaques,
Otho LaMar, Paul May, Jim McCampbell, Forrest & Louise McClung,
Lowell & Minnie McMasters, Hadley Meinders, Gordon & Minnie Carol
Moebius, Nelson & Mary Mueller, Glen & Eunice Mullen, John & Joy
Pewthers, Dan Runnels, Keith & Phyllis Vaughan, and Loren Zweiacher.
Sandra Hough
said she mailed 340 notices about our meeting and asked members to
help her with lost addresses for those we no longer seem to be able
to reach. The names of
those missing will be listed on our Oklahoma website at:
http://www.cyber-shack.net/nrcs/
Sandra
read a note from the son of
Billie Hutcheson, Chelsea, advising that his father died in 2005
and his mother, Kathryn
died in 2010.
Carolyn Tucker, retired
district secretary at Hinton, sent an email advising she would not
be in attendance due to recent back surgery but wants to be kept on
the mailing list.
Betty Todd sent dues
with a note that she will try to come to meetings when she can and
is always glad to get a meeting notice.
Nick Lambeth had
surgery in January and again in August on his ankle.
He has been off his feet for 10 weeks and was just released
so he can start walking.
He lost two brothers and his wife
Doris lost a sister in
recent months to cancer.
Nine new
retirees have been added to our retiree list:
Wilma Fraley,
Office Clerk @ Claremore TSO for 12 yrs., 6/1/11;
Ken Swift, DC @ Idabel,
7/1/11; Becka Redding,
Secretary to State Conservationist, 8/31/11;
Greg Kindell, RC&D
Coordinator, Tulsa, 9/30/11;
Carl Smith, RC&D Coordinator, Tulsa, 9/30/11;
Angela Williams, RC&D
Coordinator, Pauls Valley, 9/30/11;
Larry Wright, RC&D
Coordinator, Cordell, 9/30/11;
Joni Mustain, Program
Assistant in Programs, Stillwater, 9/30/11; and
Terri Daniel, Visual
Information Specialist, Stillwater, 9/30/11. ‘First Time
Attendees’ were asked to stand and introduce themselves:
Paul May, retired
as DC at Durant. He
indicated he plans to travel, do church work, part-time tax return
work, and just enjoy the family and especially grandkids.
Loren Zweiacher
retired as DC at Pawnee but now lives in Stillwater and attends many
OSU sporting events.
Larry Caldwell retired
in 2009 but continues to work part time for the Oklahoma
Conservation Commission on projects involving watershed dams.
He has also been actively involved in renovation work at his
church. He and
Carolyn really enjoy
their grandkids (2.9, 4.2, and .1 years old) who live in Stillwater
and Owasso. The group
welcomed the first timers and encouraged them to come back.
Others in attendance then introduced themselves. Nelson
Mueller reported his daughter was married in September and his son
joined the Job Corp.
Nelson spent most of the summer in the Oklahoma Heart Hospital with
heart valve surgeries and suffered a stroke.
He is recovering quite well with physical therapy. It was
reported that Glen Miller,
retired State Geologist, Stillwater, is battling a brain tumor.
A local hospice group has been called in to help with his
needs.
Charlie Cail has
recently spent time with
Glen taking him to coffee with other retirees and to other
functions around Stillwater.
Glen was given a
special invite to attend our meeting but felt his health just
wouldn’t allow it.
An email was sent from the State NRCS Office indicating
Walter Lamar, retired
District Conservationist from Fairview, has been fighting cancer for
some time. Those in
attendance were encouraged to send him a card or go by for a visit
if possible.
Fred Fortney
read a list of recent retiree deaths:
Lee Hayden,
5/10/11, Accounting Technician in State Office, retired in 1988;
Giles (Dee) Passmore,
7/31/11, Soil Conservationist @ Sayre FO, retired 1/1/10;
Alfred Thompson, 8/4/11,
Soil Conservation Technician @ Wagoner FO, retired 7/3/09;
John Chelf, 9/11, DC @
Wewoka FO in 1980’s;
Michelle Nichols, daughter of
Ray & Donna Riley, died
in car accident 8/2/11.
Ray worked in watersheds & lives in Stillwater.
A moment of silence was observed and
Fred offered a prayer.
Randy Freeland
presented a slide show of slides he had borrowed from the State
Office information section.
He noted the most difficult thing to find these days is a
“working” slide projector.
A Kodak Carousel Slide Projector is almost an antique.
The slides were of various employees over the years and some
of the conservation projects they had worked on or completed.
Many were able to identify the work sites shown in the
pictures. Don Bartolina
provided a report for the Nominating Committee for a new slate of
officers to be elected at this meeting.
They were: Dan
Runnels, President; Charley Cail, Vice-President; Sandra Hough,
Secretary-Treasurer.
The group unanimously voted to accept these individuals as officers
for the coming year to lead our Oklahoma Retirees Group. The next
meeting was scheduled for Friday, April 27, 2012, at Hometown Buffet
on NW Expressway in Oklahoma City.
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