I am constantly amazed by hearing about other Posts who can’t get folks to their meetings and have open officer positions due to lack of interest. There are other fine Posts in VFW, but we are at the top with them. The reason is we have great members, and I will mention just a few. You always get in trouble by not naming everyone, so I will preface this piece by saying if I forgot to mention your name it was entirely unintentional or due to lack of space. First, we have new members who have stepped up like Pete Farmer who is our membership chair and did the “New Members” column in this issue. Also, there is Dick Simmons who is our new adjutant and Chris Edwards who will be our Senior Vice for the next couple of years. Then there are the older members who have stepped up to the plate like Bob Crawford who has done a fantastic job in organizing our Buddy Poppy drives. Rock Roth has been there as Senior Vice Commander and now Chaplain but also a driving force along with Fred Apgar in the Patriot’s Pen and Voice of Democracy contests. Jim Collins has grabbed the Safety Officer position like a dog with a bone. Of course, not enough can be said of Elizabeth Mather’s contributions to this Post as Quartermaster before having to retire from the job. Fred Apgar, our incoming Commander, has done more behind the scenes then can described here, including selecting the Teacher of the Year. I want to thank Carl Kurfess for being everywhere when we needed volunteers and Don Whedon for being an excellent Service Officer. Post 8870’s biggest problem is having too many good candidates for the positions available. I have one more meeting in May before turning the gavel over to Fred in June. I look forward to watching Fred take the Post to the next level and remaining the best Post in District and, for that matter, in the Department of Washington. And if didn’t mention your name , it was for lack of room, not because you didn’t deserve the recognition.
