Last month we had an excellent program on the Santa Fe by Wallace Henderson and good refreshments were provided by David Millen. The discussions during the meeting were, also, very interesting. It was a great summer night on the platform as well.
On a different topic, Chuck Hinrichs resigned his position as Vice-President last month in part because he felt that he has not been able to motivate the membership into going on trips or partaking in projects and he also wants to take things a bit easier in his retirement. I want to sincerely thank Chuck for his long time service to the Chapter in various positions such as doing the newsletter for many years, as National Director, as Vice-President, and as our Historian. He has continually supported the Chapter and will continue to do so as the Historian and provider of articles and photos to the newsletter and website. We should all take the opportunity to thank Chuck for his continued service. He is a very knowledgeable fan of railroading and very interested in rail history and the future of our Chapter.
I would like to take a moment to ask you, the members, to consider volunteering to fill out the remainder of Chuck’s term as Vice-President and to give full and thoughtful consideration to allowing your name to be put in the hat for a full term when we have the yearly elections this fall. The job would entail filling in for me in the remote chance that I will not be able to make a particular meeting. I have tried very hard to be at every meeting and scheduling our “Granddaughter trips” around these dates. I did have to miss a meeting in 2007 because of the passing of my Mom but that was unavoidable.
The other function of the Vice President is to try and organize Chapter activities and projects. Examples of past trips have been to the Kentucky Railroad Museum, the rail trip last fall in Tennessee, our rail trip to Chattanooga, our trip to the VMV engine shops in Paducah, the trip to see the yard operations in Paducah, and the yearly picnic in Crofton alongside the CSX tracks. There are other things that we could do and your input and suggestions are welcome. If anyone would like to discuss the possibility of filling out Chuck’s term and of running for the position please feel free to call or contact me anytime. My phone number is 270-825-3429 and my email is rkhane@newwavecomm.net. Thanks for considering this position.
I hope to see all of your smiling faces at our next meeting at 7pm on Monday, July 25, at the Center in beautiful downtown Madisonville.
Rich Hane, President West Ky Chapter NRHS