Next Meeting will be March 17th -- St. Patrick's Day Luncheon

Have a Merry Christmas Everyone

Dec 16th Christmas Luncheon is Cancelled

We’re having a bah-humbug moment, members of the Watauga Unit of North Carolina Retired School Personnel. You’ve probably noticed that the snow is falling (along with the temperatures!), the wind is blowing, and the roads are largely impassable. What’s more, the forecast doesn’t look encouraging.
While we still can, before George orders our food and begins preparing our meal, your executive board has voted to cancel the December meeting scheduled for this Thursday at noon. Stay in, stay warm, and stay safe – and plan to gather in March.
AND, AND, AND, while the weather may have stopped our getting together, it doesn’t affect our responsibility to report volunteer hours to Eula Mae before her state-mandated deadline. Fill out your form now, please, and mail it to: Eula Mae Fox, 199 Watauga Dr., Boone NC 28607. If you have a question, call her at 264-3066. This little task won’t take long and it is SO important!
Finally, we know that we have a number of members who do not receive unit emails. Please phone your non-email friends in our group and let them know that our next meeting is in March, not this Thursday.
And from your executive board – a Merry and a Happy and all good wishes for a healthy, safe holiday season and new year.

Nanci

Christmas Luncheon Thursday Dec. 16th

Let's have a great crowd. Make plans to attend

Dec Red Pencil

The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel

Vol.XIII, No.3 December 2010 ntn1066@hotmail.com
December Meeting
Noon, Thursday, December 16, 2010
Deerfield Methodist Church

Cost per meal is $10, payable to Watauga Unit, NCRSP
Program: Music from the Blue Ridge Vocal Ensemble, with, perhaps, a little help from you.
To make your reservation: Respond to your caller or call Dot Barker (264-3621) by December 12. Please note that you’re calling Dot this month, not Margaret. Unfortunately, Margaret has been under the weather for several weeks and Dot is filling in for her. We’re all eagerly awaiting Margaret’s healthy return.

To bring: as much non-perishable food as you can for the Hunger Coalition. Powdered milk, soup, oatmeal, pasta products, canned fruit and vegetables, ANYthing non-perishable will be acceptable. Don’t forget those medicine bottles, either, and this month, please include all those annoying little plastic bags from the grocery store and Wal-Mart and every other shop in town. We can recycle them!
Also to bring: a new or gently read children’s book for distribution to the children in this county through the Santa’s Toy Box Program.
DO NOT bring books that have been marked in. We’re honoring the legacy of Dr. Seuss and the Read Across America program he loved. On that subject, if you would like to volunteer to read to kids, select an appropriate volume, put the first week of March on your calendar, and call your favorite elementary school.

NEW THIS MONTH:
After our lunch, you will be able to purchase a second meal to take home for $5. As good as George’s food is, imagine how much you’ll enjoy sharing with a friend or spouse or having your own dinner already prepared!

President’s Message
Holidays always remind me that I am not the best cook in the world but I plug along at it and hope the results taste good. I can remember my first cake when I was about 5. I couldn't figure out what made cakes smell good, so I put my older sister's "Evening in Paris" in it. Needless to say, the house had to be aired out for a while. Another time I used maple flavoring making syrup for my children's pancakes. This was about the time I was sneaking whole wheat and other healthy ingredients into their food. My spoon set up in the brew and I had to throw away the spoon and the pot. Soaking for days wouldn't get the mixture out. So here I am again, trying to cook for Thanksgiving and as soon as the kids get here, they will say, "What have you burned today?"
Putting aside my personal challenge for Thanksgiving and the holiday season, I am thankful for the knowledge that I know so many famous people. You may not be athletes or tv or movie stars, but when I think of your contributions to school children and all the other kind things that you have done , you all go to the top of the list of people who deserve to be famous for their generosity and warm hearts. I am so grateful to you and for you, and I am proud to know each of you.
Gentle blessings to you and your loved ones.
La Verne Franklin

News of Our Members

We’re delighted to welcome Jane Arrington to our happy band.
As noted, Margaret Sigmon has been having a rough, rough month and has spent some time in Watauga Medical Center. We all wish her a quick recovery.

Your Executive Board was comparing travel notes the other day. Janice Burns is headed to Cancun, Beth Carrin is off to Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji in the new year, and Billy Ralph Winkler has been to Greensboro on official business, accepting the Commissioners of the Year Award from the NC Association of School Boards on behalf of the Watauga County Commissioners.

La Verne Franklin is delighted to share that she has been to Toys R Us, and your humble newsletter editor has spent time in exotic Foscoe.

Billy Ralph Winkler, Watauga Unit Vice-president, has been nominated for District 3 Vice-president.

??????????????----------------------------------------------------------------------- In Memoriam
Kate Peterson died on October 24, 2010 at 100. In her memory, we have made a donation to the Watauga Unit Scholarship Fund, of which she was a generous supporter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christmas Recipe

A really great website for foodies is www.southernplate.com, the website of Christy Jordan, author of Southern Plate: Classic Comfort Food That Makes Everyone Feel Like Family and Alabama’s answer to Paula Deen.

For an easy, perfect seasonal snack and little giftie item, too, Christy suggests Candy-coated Peanuts.
You’ll need 1 cup of sugar, ½ cup of water, and 2 cups of raw peanuts (skin on).
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the peanuts and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the peanuts are completely sugar-coated and no syrup remains, about 30 minutes. Pour out onto an ungreased cookie sheet and separate the peanuts with a fork. Bake for for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Allow to cool on a cookie sheet and store in a sealed container.

Computer Talk
ü Our fabulous and informative Watauga County NCRSP blogspot is http://wataugacountyretiredpersonnel.blogspot.com/. Lee Stroupe updates this site often with new photographs and copies of The Red Pencil and other goodies you’ll want to read.

ü For NCRSP, the website address is www.ncrsp.org. If you are trying to reach Pam or Dave Deardorff, their numbers in Raleigh are 800-662-7924, extension 244 for Pam and 242 for Dave.

Membership Matters!

Membership is a topic that just won’t go away, and it shouldn’t. We need every single member we can attract and we need new and present members to be aware of the benefits of their membership and participation. At present, we have 127 members in our unit, 85 of whom are on payroll deduction and 39 of whom pay their dues by check, and 8 new members this year.

In a change in policy, NEW members only, not present or past members, may join NCRSP on a pro-rated basis if they are on payroll deduction. If you have colleagues who have been thinking of joining us but did not come to the August or October meetings, please let them know that they can join now or at any time during our year by paying the pro-rated sum. Call Dot Barker, 254-3621, for specific details.

What I Love – another in our continuing series of personal expressions from our members. If you would like to contribute to this feature, please send your brief essay to Nanci Tolbert Nance, ntn@skybest.com, or give her a written copy. This month’s piece comes from Leota Cloyd.

What I love? Books.
I grew up on a farm five miles north of Lincoln, Nebraska. It was depression years so there was no money for luxuries such as books. The little country school that I attended had no library. We were allowed to borrow books from the State Library in the capital.
Receiving a book at Christmas was the most exciting present. I managed to collect several Louisa May Alcott books over the years and reread them many times.
Keith and I both love to read and our biggest extravagance is buying books. We just can’t pass up a bookstore, a library book sale, or any other book sale without purchasing a precious volume for our bulging book shelves. We wonder about a time when books become extinct. Will our collection be valuable – or burned?

Business:
At our December meeting, we will vote on the budget presented in October. We will also have our NCRSP cellphone trappers for sale for $10.

Community Participation
Eula Mae Fox
At our August meeting, I announced a challenge that has been issued by the state organization to all local units in regards to our community participation. They gave us three goals:
(1) that 50% of our members will report their volunteers with
(2) 25% of the hours in educational activities and
(3) that we have a group project in a school or in the community.
I feel that many more than 50% of our members do good works (without pay) every month; if you will report them (few or many), achieving one third of the goals will be easily accomplished. We need to have some conversations in order to set our plans for reaching the other two goals in 2011.
Please, please understand that reporting your community participation time is NOT patting yourself on the back. It is NOT bragging. It is your own way to make a very valuable contribution to the impression we make on our legislators and to help our lobbyists to safeguard the benefits we receive as retired school personnel. Your community participation and your report have never been more important than they are now.
Bring your completed form to the December meeting or mail it to Eula Mae Fox, 199 Watauga Dr., Boone NC 28607, by December 31.

Total Hours in All Categories ________

Remembering Some Good Advice from Nima Burns
If you missed our October meeting, you missed a really, really good one as Nima Burns, the fraud and identity theft specialist in the NC Attorney General’s office, spoke to us about being proactive in protecting ourselves from some of the dangers of this world. Among other important pieces of advice from Nima were these reminders:
1. Never carry your Social Security card with you. Make a Xerox copy of it, make a copy of the copy, and black out the last four digits of your number. Carry that. Do the same thing with your Blue Cross/Blue Shield card and Medicare card.

2. Make Xerox copies of the front and back of your credit cards and file those papers in a safe place.

3. Take advantage of the free credit reporting services from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion by scheduling your annual report from each one every four months, i.e. Equifax in January, Experian in May, and TransUnion in September.

4. If you’re expecting checks in the mail, have them sent to your bank, especially if your mailbox is some distance from your home.

5. If you’re putting checks in the mail, take them to a post office rather than put them in your mailbox and alert a potential thief by raising the red flag.

Katie Jane Peterson

Katie Jane Peterson
Retired Educator

Miss Katie Jane Peterson, 100 of Johnson City, Tennessee, died on Sunday, October 24, 2010. She was born in 1910 in Relief, North Carolina, Mitchell County, to Joseph Hendricks Peterson, a farmer, and Amanda W. Peterson, a homemaker.
Miss Peterson attended Cumberland County High School, graduating as salutatorian of her class in 1927, and Tennessee Wesleyan Junior College, graduating in 1929, again as salutatorian. She earned a B.A. as a Phi Kappa Phi graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a master’s degree from George Peabody College for Teachers, now part of Vanderbilt University.
Miss Peterson began teaching in the Cumberland County, Tennessee schools, conducting classes for all grades and in all subjects in one- and two-room buildings. Ultimately, she taught in schools in Mill Creek, Lantana, Ozone, Woody, Creston, Centers, and Westel before she transferred to Cumberland County High School in 1940 and taught English and history there for seventeen years. In 1958 she moved to Boone, North Carolina, and joined the faculty of Appalachian High School, the laboratory school of Appalachian State Teachers College. In addition to her high school classes, she taught English Methods courses to students at ASTC. When the county schools consolidated in 1965, she became a part of the first faculty of Watauga High School, where she taught and chaired the English Department for another ten years, retiring in 1975 after a forty-four-year career.
An inveterate traveler, Miss Peterson particularly enjoyed seeing the places she taught about for so long. She visited all the states of the U.S. and all the provinces of Canada, including the Yukon Territory, and spent time in Mexico, England, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and China, the Fiji Islands, Tahiti, Australia, and New Zealand.
Since 1989, Miss Peterson had lived at Appalachian Christian Village in Johnson City, Tennessee, where she served one term as president of the Residents’ Council.
She was a member of the Watauga Unit of North Carolina Retired School Personnel and the Tennessee Retired Teachers Association, the Boone Chapter of BPW, which established a scholarship in her honor, Delta Kappa Gamma, American Association of University Women, Phi Kappa Phi, the Audubon Society and the Red Hat Divas of Crossville, Tennessee, a chapter of the Red Hat Society. A Methodist for more than eighty-five years, she was a longtime member of Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church in Johnson City.
In 2004, she was inducted into the Cumberland County High School Hall of Fame, an honor she considered her crowning achievement.
Preceded in death by her parents and her elder sister, Mamie Lee, Katie Jane Peterson is survived by a number of cousins and hundreds of former students and friends. Her legacy is one of dedication to excellence, unending intellectual curiosity, great good humor, boundless enthusiasm, and abiding faith.
Memorials may be made to the Kate Peterson Endowment, Appalachian State University Foundation, ASU Box 32007, Boone NC 28608-2007 or to the Watauga Humane Society, 200 Casey Lane, Boone NC 28607.

October Meeting Focuses on Fraud Prevention

Nima Burns from the NC State Attorney General's Office discusses valuable precautions from predatory practices on our seniors

National Award for Local Member

NCRSP Watauga Unit vice-president William R. Winkler III has just been named
as the recipient of the 2010 Mark R. Sumner Award.

This national award recognizes excellence in American outdoor drama and is
presented by the Institute of Outdoor Drama, which has a constituency of 101
theatres in 37 states.

Billy Ralph retired last year as the much-honored chairman of the music
department at Watauga High School and has been everything at Boone's "Horn
in the West" from an usher to the chairman of the board of directors. He is
currently serving as the board chairman of the Southern Appalachian
Historical Society, which produces "Horn" and the Hickory Ridge Living
History Museum

He is also a Watauga County Commissioner

The October Red Pencil

The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel

Vol.XIII, No.2 October 2010­­ ntn1066@hotmail.com
October Meeting
When: Thursday, October 21, NOON, $10, check made payable to Watauga County NCRSP
Where: Deerfield Methodist Church
Why: To learn from a presentation by Nima Burns of the office of the NC Attorney General. Ms. Burns will be making a power point presentation on identity theft, fraud, and scams. NOTE that this presentation will take approximately 45 minutes, with time for questions and comments. The topic is extremely important to all of us; therefore, please arrange your schedule for the day to give you enough time to participate.
With: staples and canned goods for the Hunger Coalition (powdered milk, peanut butter, soup), medicine bottles, and plastic bags. Add old cell phones to be donated to the battered women’s shelter.
all the lovely, noisy, loose change you’ve been collecting for the Scholarship Fund
all the lovely, quiet, folding money you can manage for a one-time special donation
If your caller has not reached you by October 16, phone Margaret Sigmon, 264-2036, to make your reservation.


ON YOUR CALENDAR:
ü October 24. The administration at Watauga High School has offered us a private tour of the new facility at 1P on Sunday, October 24. No one else will be in the building and we will not be hurried through. Imagine – school with no bells, no crush of students in the halls, no rush to get from here to there, no lessons to plan or papers to grade – just “school.” The facility is quite large, but it has three elevators to help us get around and we will take everything slowly. The tour will begin promptly at 1 and we can stay until 3, although that isn’t required. Please be at the front door at 1 so that we can set off together.
ü December 16. That’s our Christmas meeting. Billy Ralph promises much music.
ü December 31: That’s the due date for reporting your volunteer hours to Eula Mae Fox. Mail to Eula Mae Fox, 199 Watauga Dr., Boone NC 28607 if you aren’t planning to attend the December meeting. We REALLY, REALLY need to have at least 50% of our members reporting their hours.

Is Your Car Registered in North Carolina?
On Dec. 1, 2009, a new law went into effect that requires the state’s name across the bottom of the plate as well as the year and month stickers on a license plate to be fully visible. They can no longer be partially covered by a license frame.
After Nov. 30, 2010, vehicle owners can be cited for committing an infraction and fined $100 for the violation. Do yourself a huge favor right this minute and look at your license plate. You may have to do without that gorgeous ASU Alumni frame, but you’ll save $100!

President’s Message
The time has come to say goodbye to Indian summer and hello to jackets and sweaters. Appalachian flags are waving from many of our houses as we exhibit our loyalty to our favorite local institute of higher education. The leaves are changing, the nights are cooler, and our gardens are settling themselves for a long winter’s nap.
When I was in junior high in Hickory, I remember traveling the mountain in February and arrived at the coldest, iciest place I had ever been. It still is the coldest, iciest place I have ever been. One of the things that warms my heart, however, is just the thought of being with the members of our unit of NCRSP. Each of you contributes to the uniqueness of our group. Nowhere could I find more talent and cooperation than with this group of education retirees.
Your board, and particularly your vice president, Billy Ralph Winkler, have been busy making plans, and I am pleased to tell you that our programs this year will be informative and entertaining. Meeting dates are on the front of your calendars and I hope that you will make sure nothing else on your schedule interferes with them.
I hope to see all your smiling faces Oct. 21st. May you be protected and blessed until then.
La Verne Franklin

Need to know what’s going on?
Look for meeting announcements in local papers and check out our blogspot at http://wcrsp.blogspot.com/ for the latest news!


What Do You Love?
Guest contributor, Bobbie Austin

What I Love – the sky

Sky is the canvas on which God paints in ever-changing hues – black to mauve to many shades of blue.
Streaks of pink and yellow introduce a golden dawn.
The sun bursts up over the mountain, bathing the foggy meadow with its warming rays.
Clouds move across the sky – soft, gray clouds shrouding the treetops, faint, feathery clouds drifting slowly, small, puffy clouds scudding swiftly, dark thunderclouds towering ominously.
Contrails from jets form straight white lines, but frisky breezes aloft break them into streaks and swirls.
Thunderstorms darken the sky, making a contrasting background for bright flashes of lightning that zig-zag toward earth with loud claps of thunder.
A rainbow follows the storm, shimmering in a high arc above the trees, seeming to touch earth on the horizon.
The sun sinks down to back-light the clouds with silver linings.
Sunset lights up the sky with dazzling, fiery hues of orange, pink, and gold.
Twilight comes, a magical time of peaceful serenity as the sky turns purple and the first stars peek down.
Night turns the sky to black velvet with a scattering of twinkling diamonds on it.
The full moon rises, its cool white light softly caressing the earth.
The infinite imagination of the Great Painter of the sky may convey a mood that is serene and soothing or mysterious and menacing, but it is always awe-inspiring.

Terrific Gift Idea
Do you keep your cell phone in your handbag or in your pocket and then fumble to retrieve it when it rings? The solution to safekeeping for your phone is a phone trapper, a rubberized mat that will stick almost anywhere you put it AND hold your cell phone, keys, or even a pen. You may have seen these magical little wonders at Radio Shack for $12, but we have some with the NCRSP cardinal on them for $10 each. They’ll make wonderful stocking stuffers at Christmas or thank-you gifts for friends, colleagues, children, grandchildren, and more!
Welcome to the following new retirees who joined the Watauga Unit of NCRSP at our August breakfast: Sharon Brooks, Pinkie Bumgarner, Karen Crotts, Linda Hall, Teresa Lentz, Linda Mauldin, Louise Osborne, and Rose Anna Wade. We’re blessed to have a large number of retirees this year and we hope that we will have more to welcome as new members after our October meeting. If you know any of the new retirees, please give them a personal invitation to attend our next meeting.
In the photo below, some of our newest members.

A Non-fundraiser Fundraiser
We could organize a bake sale, we could wear skimpy outfits and have a carwash, we could gather our household junk and concoct a yard sale, or we could just avoid all that extraneous effort, skip straight to the point, and contribute to an operating fund for our unit. The absolute simple truth is that we go a little bit more in the financial hole every year. We always have enough to support our scholarship program, but money for necessary incidentals is virtually non-existent. For example, did you know that your officers personally provide our door prizes? They buy them or buy the materials to make them with their own money, not chapter funds. Printed materials you receive come from the hands – and handbags – of your officers, who pay for paper and ink themselves. Did you receive a folder last year to keep up with helpful emergency information? An officer bought it. Did your state-supplied calendar have a sticker on the front with the dates of our 2010-2011 meetings? An officer bought it. And printed it. And paid for the ink. We have been truly fortunate to have Linda Harwood’s expertise and kindness in lending us decorations for our tables and using flowers from her garden, because we certainly couldn’t afford to purchase them.
So, we’re going to pass the plate at the October meeting and we’re going to ask you to be generous. Please.

We will vote on approval of this budget at the October meeting.
Watauga Unit of NCRSP Proposed Budget for 2010 - 2011
Income
Local dues based on 90 members @ $8.00 = 720.00
Local dues based on 40 members @ $10.00 = 400.00
Total income 1120.00 Other estimated income 400.00 Total income 1520.00

Expenses
Newsletter printing (5 @ $90.00) 450.00
Other Printing $25.00
Postage for newsletter (5 @ $70.00)350.00
Other postage & supplies $75.00
Total printing, postage,supplies $900.00
Officers’ expenses State Convention 300.00
Workshops, etc. 50.00
Total Officers’ expenses 350.00

Miscellaneous (Memorials, gifts, TLC) 200.00
Committee Expenses 70.00
Total Expenses 1520.00


Winter’s Coming!, being a list of suggestions for preparing yourself, some serious and some not so.
Round up and wash the afghans that have been hanging unused on the backs of chairs all summer.
Inventory the winter clothes – who needs what, what can go to the Humane Society after enough Januarys with you, what doesn’t fit any more….
Check out the pre-season sales on the above.
Make a list of seeds to purchase for your spring garden. Lay out the garden plan.
Make sure your car anti-freeze is good.
Check your windows and doors for gaps and leaks and make a quick trip to a hardware/home supply store for insulation.
Freeze apples for baking, hamburger for cooking, and soups and stews and casseroles.
Remember to drain outdoor hoses and insulate faucets.
Have a professional check your heating system, clean out your gutters, and replace missing roof shingles.
Know where your snow shovel is.
Have extra pet food in the house in case you’re snowbound.
If you’re a sewer, knitter, quilter, crocheter, or woodworker, arrange a few long-term projects to give yourself something to do on dreary afternoons – or make a pile of books to read.
Make sure you have candles and fresh batteries in advance of power outages. Replace batteries in carbon monoxide and smoke detectors. Check on your fire extinguishers.
Insure that you have a supply of cold and flu treatments, cough remedies, and prescription medicines in the house.

Stock the cupboard with dried essentials, including milk and instant oatmeal.

The Importance of Membership

If you have not renewed your membership in the Watauga Unit of NCRSP for this year, you will find the amount of your dues in the upper right corner of the mailing label on this newsletter. Your Horace Mann Accidental Death Insurance policy will end on October 31 if you do not renew your membership by that time.

If you are newly retired and have not joined yet, please make your decision now to join this vital organization. You need us, and we need you, too! In fact, we need every retired educator to be on our membership roster in order to strengthen our position as advocates for retaining and improving benefits for all retired school personnel in this state. Together, we have strength.
You can pay your dues at our October meeting or mail them to Dot Barker, 451 Poplar Hill Dr., Boone, NC 28607. If you are a new retiree, your dues are $106 and can be paid by check or you can join by Payroll Deduction and your dues will be deducted from your retirement check and will be spread out over the year. Both forms will be available at the meeting. If you have questions, please call Dot at 264-3521 or Barbara or Roland Moy at 264-8811.

Breakfast Meeting starts off with a Bang

Great Group of New Faces and Members

Horn Freedom Singers


The Registration Gals

The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel

Vol.XIII, No.1 August 2010 ntn1066@hotmail.com
August Meeting

When: WEDNESDAY, 11 August 2010, 9AM
Registration, payment of dues to begin at 8AM

Where: Deerfield Methodist Church
How much: $10, check payable to Watauga County NCRSP
for a buffet country breakfast catered by George Wellington
What: getting together on the first day of school, welcoming
new retirees, and enjoying the pleasure of each other’s
company, with musical entertainment

If your caller does not contact you, call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 before 8 PM on Saturday, the 7th of August or email her at margaretsigmon@bellsouth.net. NOTE NOTE NOTE that school begins on WEDNESDAY this year, NOT Thursday! Don’t forget to put your golden apple pin on your lapel, either!

Every year we say the same thing about our first meeting, but it still matters and you can really help “the staff” by being ready when you arrive to:

pay your dues. You’ll find more about the amount later in this newsletter, but you know by now that your dues are noted on your mailing label on this issue of the RP. Bring a check in that amount made out to Watauga Unit, NCRSP. Remember to pay particular attention to the article about dues later in this newsletter;

contribute to the Scholarship Fund. The sum of $5 is a suggestion, but we’re happy to be the recipients of your generosity in any amount;

drop all the lovely, noisy, loose change you’ve been collecting into the little watering cans at your table at the direction of our new Scholarship Committee Chair, Billy Ralph Winkler;

keep up with your volunteer hours for Community Participation chairperson Eula Mae Fox; and

pile the tables just inside the door high with school supplies for distribution to the students in the Watauga County Schools. Marshall Ashcraft, who is responsible for getting our contributions into the schools, says that he probably receives more spiral notebooks than the students need but that they would really appreciate some 1 ½” 3-ring binders and backpacks. Because the backpacks usually cost between $15 and $20, perhaps you’d like to team up with another member or two and hit Wal-mart! Remember that school supplies are tax-free on the weekend before school begins.

BIG RAFFLE COMING: At our August meeting, we will have a package of five (5) tickets to Tweetsie to raffle off. The package is worth between $130 and $150. The tickets are good for one day at Tweetsie, NOT for special occasions. If you’re expecting children, grandchildren, or houseguests, what could be better than a day at our historic attraction? Raffle tickets are $5 each or six for $25. Bring cash and buy raffle tickets for a day at Tweetsie. As always, proceeds benefit the scholarship fund.


A REALLY IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM MARGARET SIGMON

The members of Watauga County North Carolina Retired School Personnel receive a call before each of the five annual meetings reminding them of the meetings and confirming their attendance. Our volunteers make many phone calls and leave many messages on answering machines. If you find a message on your machine, returning that call is EXTREMELY important so that the callers can get their lists to Margaret Sigmon by Sunday before the meeting day. A total number must be given to George Wellington on Monday so he can do his grocery order. If you do not receive a call about the meeting, please phone Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036.

Our really important callers this year are Jackie Adams, Sue Aldridge, Wanda Bentley, Beth Carrin, Nancy Cooke, Eula Mae Fox, Joan Mackey, Mary F. Mast, Susan McKay, June Mann, Anne Millsaps, Mary Moretz, Gay Murphy, Rebecca Robinson, Joyce Sherrill, and Deane Shuford.

We thank them for taking their time to make sure we’re know about meetings and have other timely information.

Electronics = Savings

Each electronic issue of The Red Pencil saves our unit roughly $5 per year on paper, ink, postage, and printing. That’s money we can use for scholarships and community projects. If you have an email address, please notify Nanci Tolbert Nance at ntn@skybest.com and begin helping our unit to help others.


President’s Message

It's that time of year again when I try to control the urge to buy pencils, pens, rulers, notebooks, and anything else that looks like school supplies. I'm sure some of you have the same urge and find yourself at Wal-Mart and Staples, rummaging around to see what’s new.

You may already be hearing the chirp of crickets in the evenings and you know that autumn is closing in on us.

Looking forward to this year, the members of our organization have a lot to be proud of. We are especially good at volunteering to help others. At a district meeting recently, I listened as members of our neighboring counties told of their unit activities. When we listed those things that we had accomplished for the year, I was amazed and pleased that all our activities, with the sole exception of our meetings, are for the benefit of others. Who wouldn't want to be the president of an organization that is of so much benefit to our community? I should have an easy job!

One service we can do for ourselves and our fellow retirees is to stay abreast of what is going on in Raleigh with the legislature. Because we know that the voice of many has more clout in decision-making than the voice of a few, I hope that you will join me in encouraging others to become members of our unit. Our theme for the year is "What Have We Got To Lose?,” and we will have much more to say about that as the year progresses.

I will try to do a good job for you and I am depending on you for ideas, encouragement, and support.

Stay safe and healthy as we begin a new year’s adventure together.

Kindest regards,
La Verne Franklin


Contributions/Suggestions/Email Edition of The Red Pencil, anyone? Change of email or snail mail address?

ntn@skybest.com or snail mail to
Nanci Tolbert Nance, P.O. Box 188, Blowing Rock NC 28605



The Loves of Our Lives

This year, your beleaguered editor is going to be asking various members of our unit about “love,” -- not your spouse or your children but something much simpler and less universal – perhaps your pet or your car or the first crocuses in your yard in the spring or the feel of your favorite old sweater. To kick us off, here’s mine:

The other night, I craved tomato juice, and not just a little bit of the stuff, either. I wanted a LOT of tomato juice, salted a little, sprinkled with celery seed and chilled to Emily Dickinson’s “zero at the bone.” Fortunately, I had a bottle of Hunt’s Tomato Juice in the fridge, but as I sat with my tall glass and a book at 1AM, I suddenly realized that I LOVE TOMATOES. I do. I love the acid-y smell of the plant leaves, the warm feel of a ripe tomato in my hands when I pick it off the bush, the assorted shades of red and yellow – and the new striped ones, too. Pink hybrids, black heirlooms, yellow pears, Rainbow’s End, whatever.

I love tomato sandwiches in the late summer, made with white bread and Hellman’s mayonnaise and so drippy that you have to eat them standing over the kitchen sink. I love my mother’s tomato aspic, made with celery seed and a little sugar, and I especially loved it years ago when my mother-in-law made her own tomato juice. Oh, my word. If God has that recipe and can get Anne Nance to make some tomato juice, I hope He serves it with Sunday lunch.

I love broiled tomatoes next to scrambled eggs and grilled toast in a “full English breakfast” and huge peeled tomatoes quartered, splayed on a bed of lettuce in a bowl and filled with cottage cheese. I love fried green tomatoes – and the book of the same name, too.

Go easy on the hot sauce and the booze, and I love a Bloody Mary.

I love enormous tomatoes the size of my cat’s head and little bitty cherry tomatoes. I love tommytoes and Romas and Big Boy and Better Boy and Best Boy.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. And to think that Shakespeare’s audiences thought they were poisonous and bought them from vendors in the street in front of the theater to throw at the actors! Let me on that stage!

What do YOU love?



REMEMBER THAT OUR AUGUST MEETING IS ON WEDNESDAY, NOT THURSDAY!

$$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$ $$$$$

MONEY MATTERS: paying dues the efficient way

As always, your dues amount is printed in the upper right corner of your mailing label this month. If you receive your newsletter by email, you may check with Dot Barker, dot24@bellsouth.net on your amount. Please bring this amount to the August meeting, with your check made payable to Watauga Unit of NCRSP. If you are unable to attend the meeting, you may mail your check to Dot Barker, Treasurer, 451 Poplar Hill Dr., Boone NC 28607. If your label has PR printed on it, you have chosen to have your dues deducted from your retirement check through the Payroll Deduction Plan. DO NOT WRITE a check for your dues if you see PR on your label. You certainly will, however, want to write a check for the Scholarship Fund. If you are not on the Payroll


Deduction Plan and will be writing a check for your dues, you may include your donation to the Scholarship Fund in your check if you wish.

If you are a new retiree or a membership prospect, you will find no dues amount on your label. If you retired after July1, 1999, your annual dues are $106. If you retired between July 1, 1985 and July 1. 1999, your annual dues are $60.

Please consider paying your dues this year through the Payroll Deduction Plan, whether you are a new retiree or a current member. With this plan your dues are deducted from your retirement check each month, so they are spread over the year rather than in one check. You have no check to write at the beginning of the year. Also, even though we all hope that we won’t have to use it, the amount of the Accidental Death and Dismemberment Policy that comes with your membership is $7,500 for those members on the Payroll Deduction Plan and only $2,500 for cash-paying members. Please note that the state will drop accidental death coverage for cash-paying members who have not paid by December 15. The forms for both types of membership will be available at our August meeting. Again, PLEASE consider paying through Payroll Deduction, for your benefit and our chapter’s.

Again, you may include a contribution to the Scholarship Fund in your dues check. If you mail your dues to the treasurer, you may include both dues and Scholarship Fund donation in the same check.

Our unit has an Associate Membership plan for noncertified personnel - assistants, secretaries, cafeteria workers, etc. The Associate Membership is $10 and is for nonvoting membership in the local unit only, which includes our newsletter, The Red Pencil. This does not include membership in the district, state, or national organization. This is available only for noncertified personnel.

If you have any questions about dues, please call Dot Barker at 264-3621 or email her at dot24@bellsouth.net.


In Memoriam
In this issue we note the deaths of Lovely Danner and Jane Robinson and extend our sympathies to their families. In their memory, $50 has been added to our scholarship fund.


Need a Lift?
If you or anyone you know needs transportation to one of our meetings, please call Beth Carrin at 264-9227 and she will make arrangements.

2010-2011 Officers
Watauga Unit
North Carolina Retired School Personnel

President La Verne Franklin 964-3337 franklin160954@bellsouth.net
Vice Pres/Pres Elect Billy Ralph Winkler 264-3330 winkler3@bellsouth.net
Sec./Treas. Dot Barker 264-3621 dot24@bellsouth.net

Parliamentarian Robert G. Shipley 297-2832
Legislative Comm. Chr. Ben Strickland 264-2320 benstrickland@bellsouth.net
Membership Comm. Chrs. Roland, Barbara Moy 264-8811 moyrf@appstate.edu
Necrology June Mann 264-8626 junemannwhs@aol.com
Community Participation Eula Mae Fox 264-3066 emfox5429@bellsouth.net
Scholarship Billy Ralph Winkler 264-3330
Decorations Linda and Roger Harwood 264-3974 rlharwood@bellsouth.net
Meeting Arrangements Margaret Sigmon 264-2036 margaretsigmon@goboone.net
Remembrance Lera Randall 264-3979 lerarandall@earthlink.net
Historian Janice Burns 295-7454 burnsjn@bellsouth.net


Red Pencil Editor Nanci Tolbert Nance 963-8892 ntn@skybest.com
ntn1066@hotmail.com

Webmaster Lee Stroupe 264-1276 lstroupe@gmail.com

New Watauga Unit Officers
Billy Ralph Winkler, Vice President; La Verne Franklin, President; Dot Barker, Secretary/Treasurer

NCRSP – What Have You Got to Lose?

Do you know any prospective members of our unit, new retirees who would benefit from membership and who would add energy and another perspective to our group? If so, please let them know that we need them and they need us. What do they have to lose if they don’t join? Subscriptions to Panorama and NCAE News Bulletin, FREE accidental death and dismemberment insurance up to $7,500, lobbyists representing retirees’ needs, free hearing screenings, member discount cards for discounts at over 150,000 locations/businesses – and all for as little as $6.75 a month on payroll deduction, that’s what – and more.

New retirees have received a letter from our unit. At the bottom of the letter is a coupon for breakfast at our first meeting of the year.

If people ask you exactly what we do, please tell them that in addition to meeting five times a year for fellowship and information, we also donate school supplies to Watauga County students; collect children’s books for Santa’s Toybox; collect food, medicine bottles and plastic bags for the Hunger Coalition; give cell phones to OASIS and to our troops overseas; and provide services to our members that include Christmas gifts for our shut-ins and transportation to meetings.

Volunteer Hours Prove Members’ Worth to Legislators

In these particularly difficult times, we need to use every bit of leverage we have to make sure that our legislators in Raleigh are aware of us and of our value to the state. With each of our volunteer hours estimated by the May issue of Panorama to be worth $20.25, Watauga Unit retirees contributed more than $191,000.00 to our community in 2009 – and that figure comes from ONLY 23 reporting members! Imagine what that number would have been if we’d ALL reported our hours!

That same May issue of Panorama announced a new program called “Gold Star Locals,” which will reward units that have outstanding Community Participation programs. The state goals relating to volunteer hours are (a) 50% member-participation in reporting volunteer hours; (b) 25% of volunteer hours in educational activities; (c) a local group project in a local school or community endeavor. We already meet goal (a), for I am sure that more than 50% of us do volunteer work. We will need to have conversation and planning to achieve (b) and (c), but both are certainly within our reach.

We have a problem with modesty. We think that reporting our volunteer hours is bragging. Believe me, it isn’t. It is, in fact, the most generous, unselfish thing you can do, because it will help to influence our legislators to act on behalf of all NC state retirees. Keep the form below in a handy spot and be ready to report HUGE numbers in December!


NCRSP Community Participation Volunteer Hours 2010
Name:

Other (not familial)
Total Hours in All Categories ________

Emergency Actions needed Now

TO: NCRSP LEADERS

NOW IS THE TIME TO CONTACT THE BUDGET CONFEREES!

NCRSP is in support of the General Assembly funding the Annual Required Contribution (ARC) of $181 million for the Teachers and State Employees Retirement System. The Senate has recommended only $20 million be appropriated. The House of Representatives has recommended $40 million, with a provision that could potentially add up to $135 million more from delinquent business taxes collected during the year.
A Conference Committee has been appointed to sort out the differences in the two budgets. Now is the time to contact your Senators and Representatives and ask them to support the House version of the budget regarding funding of the Retirement System. All of them need to hear from their constituents but particularly those members on the Conference Committee.

Find out if your legislative representatives are on the Conference Committee by visiting the General Assembly website: www.ncleg.net

OR

Click here to view the list of 2009-2010 Appointed Bill Conferees: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/confcomm/confcommittee.pl?BillChamber=S&BillID=897&session=2009

Please share this information with your members locally. Act on this right away, as the members of the Conference Committee are trying to finish their work in the next two weeks in order for the final budget to be voted on by the end of June. Thank you for your attention to this important matter!!!!

Pam Deardorff
Executive Director
North Carolina Retired School Personnel
PO Box 27347
Raleigh, NC 27611-7347
800-662-7924 x 244

Lovely Danner, Watauga County Educator, dies at 87

Mrs. Lovely Emma Miller Danner, age 87, of Grandview Heights, Boone, died with her children by her side on Saturday, May 22, 2010 at her home. Lovely was born on December 23, 1922 in Duffield, VA to the late George Jefferson Lee Miller and Bessie Neeley Miller. Mrs. Danner was a member of the NC Retired School Personnel, the National Educators Association, Alpha Delta Kappa and the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW and DAV. She was a graduate of Appalachian State Teacher College, now Appalachian State University, with a Master's degree in elementary education and speech pathology. Lovely taught in the Watauga County School System for 33 years before retirement. After retirement Lovely worked for Mount Lawn Memorial Park & Gardens in Family Services for 12 years. She was also instrumental in initiating a bereavement group for widows and widowers. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Boone, NC since 1942, where she taught Sunday School, and was a member of the Friday Club and Joy Circle. She is survived by one son; Joseph Cameron "Joe" Danner of Glen Allen, Virginia, one daughter; Linda Danner Byrd and husband Kim of Vilas, 6 grandchildren; Jennifer Danner Klein Swanson and husband Gunner of Los Angles, California, Angela Danner Smith and husband Taylor of Mt. Sidney, Virginia, Aaron Danner and wife Josie of Golden Colorado, Marshall Hopper and wife Tiffany of Vilas, Clint Byrd of Vilas and Morgan Byrd Dugger and husband Daniel of Mountain City, Tennessee, nine great grandchildren; Harrison Klein, Ethan, Klein and Adele Swanson of Los Angeles, California, Braxton, Carter and Katherine Smith of Mt. Sidney, Virginia, Ryland Danner of Golden, Colorado, Mollie Hopper of Vilas, Emma Dugger of Mountain City, Tennessee three step-great grandchildren; Camille and Evan Swanson of Los Angeles, California and Cameron Fletcher of Vilas, four sisters; Nancy Brown of Chesapeake, Virginia, Leona Maready and husband Linwood of Chinquapin, North Carolina, Betty Chapman and husband Melvin of St. Augustine, Florida, and Nell Porter and husband Clint of St. Augustine, Florida, three brothers; Thomas Miller and wife Anna Mae and Hansford Miller and wife Edna all of Boone and Richard Miller and wife Quintilla of Buford, Georgia, three sisters in law; Bette Mae Miller of Vilas, Bina Danner Marsh and husband Roy of Hickory and Laura Foster Danner Waddill and husband Tom of Angier, North Carolina, one brother in law; Robert Danner and wife Nadine Greer Danner of Winter Park, Florida, and a number of nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Cameron Marshall Danner, her parents; George and Bessie Neeley Miller, one brother Malcolm Miller, four brothers in law; Ibry Brown, Reece, Carl and Dean Danner, two sisters in law, Virginia Danner Miller and husband Lester, Mabel Jean Danner Minton and husband Rev. Ray Minton as well as her mother in law, Vergie Moody Danner Hayes. Funeral services for Mrs. Lovely Emma Miller Danner will be conducted Tuesday morning at 11 o\'clock at the First Baptist Church. Officiating will be Rev. Roy Dobyns. The body will lie in state at the church from 10 until 11 o\'clock. Burial will follow at Mount Lawn Memorial Park & Gardens. Flowers are accepted or memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church, 375 West King Street, Boone, NC 28607. The family will receive friends Monday evening from 7 o\'clock until 8:30 at Austin & Barnes Funeral Home. Online condolences may be sent to the Danner family at austinandbarnesfuneralhome.com. Austin & Barnes Funeral Home & Crematory is serving the Danner family.

Kyle Miller our Scholarship winner speaks to the Retired teachers

May Meeting recognizes our scholarship winner, memorializes four educators, supports our new officers, and gives tribute to Beth Carrin

May Edition of Red Pencil

The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel

Vol.XII, No.5 May 2010 ntn1066@hotmail.com___


May Meeting

When: Thursday, 20 May 2010
Where: Deerfield Methodist Church
How much: $10, check payable to Watauga County NCRSP
What: Annual presentation of scholarship – La Verne Franklin
Memorial service – Pegge Laine, Susan McKay, Nanci Tolbert Nance
Installation of officers – Ben Strickland



Bring medicine bottles and any food staples you wish, especially powdered milk, canned soups, and cereals. Add a jar of peanut butter or two to your donation! The need at the Hunger Coalition has never been greater. And, AND, AND don’t forget our furry, hairy friends. Pick up a bag of cat or dog food for our four-legged friends in the animal shelter.

If your caller has not contacted you by the 16th of May, call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 or email her at margaretsigmon@bellsouth.net.

Remember to wear your little gold apple pin, the sign of your membership in the Watauga County Unit of North Carolina Retired School Personnel.

President’s Message:

WHERE DID IT GO? I have followed all the footprints backwards for the last four years looking for Time, but all I could find were the footprints we all made as we journeyed together on the trail with our Watauga County Retired School Personnel. As we walked along, we saw the Watauga High School students who received our scholarship, the families that had survived because we sent food to the Hunger Coalition, the students who were helped by the school supplies we gathered, the charitable organizations that benefited from our volunteer service, the entertaining/informative programs, and the joy and support that we gave to one another. Time cannot be captured in a bottle, but the precious memories of my four years of serving as your vice-president and president will be with me forever.

As our year ends, our amazing Executive Board will be going to workshops and planning for next year. Our way is not always soft grass but a mountain path that goes upward, forward. As we journey toward the sun, we will be walking together and experiencing the Power of One.
Thanks for the memories,
Beth Carrin

Quick Reminder, Membership Division

If you did not renew your membership this year, please come to the May meeting anyway and be thinking of renewing your membership in August when the new year begins. Remember, too, that membership can now be pro-rated for new members.



Quick Request, Membership Division

If you know of educational personnel who will be retiring at the end of this year, please send their names to Membership chairs, Roland and Barbara Moy or to Dot Barker, Treasurer, and give them a personal invitation to the first meeting of our new year, the August breakfast. We can never overestimate the power of reaching out to former colleagues in our schools and telling them about the value of this organization.


Dorothea Brande was an American writer and editor, well known for her books Wake Up and Live and Becoming a Writer (a useful resource for writers, by the way).
In Wake Up and Live, she suggests twelve mental exercises to make your mind keener and more flexible. These exercises are meant to pull you out of your usual habits and to put you in situations that will demand resourcefulness and creative problem-solving. Brande argues that only by testing and stretching yourself can you develop mental strength.
Even apart from the goals of creativity and mental flexibility, Brande's exercises make sense from a happiness perspective. One thing is clear: novelty and challenge bring happiness. People who stray from their routines, try new things, explore, and experiment tend to be happier than those who don't. Of course, as Brande herself points out, novelty and challenge can also bring frustration, anxiety, confusion, and annoyance along the way; it's the process of facing those challenges that brings the "atmosphere of growth" so important to happiness. (It's the First Splendid Truth: to be happy, you must think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.)
Here are Dorothea Brande's twelve mental exercises. You may need to adapt of few of them to your own circumstances, but hold on to their spirit and intent.
1. Spend an hour each day without saying anything except in answer to direct questions, in the midst of the usual group, without creating the impression that you're sulking or ill. Be as ordinary as possible. But do not volunteer remarks or try to draw out information.
2. Think for 30 minutes a day about one subject exclusively. Start with five minutes.
3. Write a letter [or email or text message] without using the words I, me, mine, my.
4. Talk for 15 minutes a day without using I, me, my, mine.
5. Write a letter or email in a "successful" or placid tone. No misstatements, no lying. Look for aspects or activities that can be honestly reported that way.
6. Pause on the threshold of any crowded room and size it up.
7. Keep a new acquaintance talking about himself or herself without allowing him to become conscious of it. Turn back any courteous reciprocal questions in a way that your auditor doesn't feel rebuffed.
8. Talk exclusively about yourself and your interests without complaining, boasting, or boring your companions.
9. Cut "I mean" or "As a matter of fact" or any other verbal mannerism out of your conversation. [2010 update: “You know,” “Like,” and any form of “go” instead of “say.” Also eliminate “awesome.”]
10. Plan two hours of a day and stick to the plan.
11. Set yourself twelve tasks at random: e.g., go twenty miles from home using ordinary conveyance; go 12 hours without food; go eat a meal in the unlikeliest place you can find; say nothing all day except in answer to questions; stay up all night and work.
12. From time to time, give yourself a day when you answer "yes" to any reasonable request.



District 3 President Phyllis Little shares a word of wisdom with the unit’s executive board in April at the Sagebrush Restaurant in Boone. Attending from the Watauga Unit were Beth Carrin, La Verne Franklin, Eula Mae Fox, Billy Ralph Winkler, and Nanci Tolbert Nance.

Make your computer your new NCRSP friend. Save our unit approximately $1 a copy by receiving The Red Pencil via email. Give your address to Nanci at ntn@skybest.com. Keep up with programs, news, events, and colleagues in the Watauga County Unit by logging on to the chapter website, http://wcrsp.blogspot.com, created and updated by Lee Stroupe. Email and blogspots – we’ve entered the brave new world! Additionally, the editors of our state publication, Panorama, are planning to offer an email/online edition and have asked our permission to use the Watauga Unit as their test audience. If you are on the Red Pencil email list and DO NOT want to receive Panorama electronically, please email ntn@skybest.com.

Keeping Up With Those Volunteer Hours, AGAIN

Do you keep a calendar? One with space for the appointments in your life? Add something new, a notation of how you volunteered your time. If you have an appointment with a committee or at church or have plans to run errands for a friend or deliver Meals on Wheels, take a second when you return and jot down the number of hours that event took. Circle it. Later, when the time comes to fill in your Volunteer Hours Form, just add up the circled numbers!

In Memoriam

At our memorial service at the May meeting, we will remember Harlan Ledford, Lucy Luther, Andy Reese, and Gaynelle Wilson. As is our tradition, a contribution to the Scholarship Fund has been transferred from our general fund in memory of each member. Additionally, we have received contributions to the Scholarship Fund in memory of Harlan Ledford, Joe Winkler, son of member Ann Winkler, and former member Ruth Brooks.

The Watauga Unit of NCRSP extends its deepest sympathy to Janice Burns on the death of her husband, Jerry.


Incoming unit president La Verne Franklin and NCRSP Executive Director Pam Deardorff at the NCRSP state convention, Winston-Salem

Join your friends and hers to wish Jonnie West a happy 80th birthday on July 11 at Appalachian Brian Estates from 2 to 4:30. No RSVP necessary.


2010 Scholarship Recipient
At this time, the recipient of our annual $1000 scholarship has not been selected by the WHS Scholarship Committee. Once chosen, our recipient and his/her parents will be invited to our meeting at Deerfield Methodist Church.

Contributions/Suggestions/Email Edition of The Red Pencil, Anyone?

ntn1066@hotmail.com or ntn@skybest.com or snail mail to
Nanci Tolbert Nance, P.O. Box 188, Blowing Rock NC 28605

March 17 Convention Pics

Pics from our March Luncheon

March 17 NCRSP Photos

March Red Pencil -- Next Meeting March 25th

The Red Pencil
The Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel
Vol.XII, No.4, March 2010
Nanci Tolbert Nance, editor,ntn1066@hotmail.com__963-8892

March Meeting

Noon, Thursday, March 25, 2010 [Please note that this date is not the one we planned at the beginning of the year. We have adjusted the date to make room for the NCRSP state convention.]
Deerfield Methodist Church
Cost per meal is $10, check payable to Watauga Unit, NCRSP

Please be on time!

Program: Opportunities for Volunteers. Come to listen to your fellow members Dot Barker, Eula Mae Fox, Mary Moretz, Nanci Tolbert Nance, and Jan Watson about the causes that concern them. Future programs will feature other members and other causes. If you have an organization or a cause near to your heart and would be interested in sharing your passion with the group at a later meeting, please phone La Verne Franklin at 964-3337.

Also, we will be voting for NEA-R/NEA delegates to the NEA National Convention at the March meeting.

Please bring as much non-perishable food as you can manage for the Hunger Coalition. Powdered milk, cans of soup, oatmeal and pasta products, canned fruit and vegetables, ANYTHING non-perishable, will be acceptable. Remember those empty medicine bottles, too; each one of them saves the Hunger Coalition at least a nickel. And plastic bags. And Box Tops for Education. And yourself, of course.

Very important note: If your caller has not phoned you by the 21st of March, call your caller if you plan to attend. If you change your mind at the last minute about attending, call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 immediately and come ahead! As usual, Margaret thanks her team of callers who generously volunteer their time doing important work for our organization.


President’s Message

Our Lou Martin recently sent me a delightful article titled ”How Did we Ever Survive?” Probably, we have all been asking ourselves the same question after enduring a winter that began with the December 18th snowstorm that dumped over two feet of snow and doesn’t show signs of stopping. On the 18th, however, I was delighted because I could dust off my cross-country skis and make tracks in the new snow. Christmas Day, 2009, dawned with the crackling sound of tree branches and trunks snapping like toothpicks and taking down the power lines, leaving many of us without electricity for days. Our granddaughter, like all excited youngsters, woke to see what Santa Claus had left her. Even without light, she managed all the unwrapping, but the family Christmas dinner had to be postponed for weeks.
The snow and the wind kept pounding us until we wanted to yell, “Enough is enough!” We tried to escape once by going to Washington, DC to celebrate our daughter’s 40th birthday - only to be caught in the District’s record-breaking snowstorm. Traveling on snow-packed I-95, we were the third car in a seven-car pile-up. Fortunately, we were not injured, but car was damaged in the front and back to the tune of about $4,000. Life does come at us fast, doesn’t it? We have no doubt that this winter will be talked about in the same breath as the 1960, 1977, and 1993 snowstorms, providing many interesting stories for years to come.
Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote, “O, wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?” The line, of course, is one of hope, and I know that each of us is hoping that the beauty of the crocuses, hyacinths, and daffodils will soon replace our images of the scars winter has left on our landscape.
March is a time of renewal for us as we come together after this difficult winter. It will be a time of joy as we greet each other and join our hands and hearts to accomplish our goals. I look forward to seeing you on the 25th.
Beth Carrin

In Memoriam

The Watauga Unit of NCRSP extends its sympathy to Ann Winkler on the death of her son Joseph, to the family of former member Ruth Brooks, and to the family of Andy Reese.


NCRSP Scholarship Fund in Need

Each May, our chapter of NCRSP awards a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating high school senior who plans to become a teacher. Our generosity to the scholarship winner depends entirely on each NCRSP’s generosity to the Scholarship Fund. As always at this time of year, we ask for your help.

First, PLEASE bring all your spare change for the little watering cans on your table and plan to make an enormous noise when you pour those nickels and dimes and quarters into the pots.

Second, if you haven’t made your annual gift to the Scholarship Fund, please do so at the March meeting or mail a check to Watauga County NCRSP Scholarship Fund to Dot Barker, 451 Poplar Hill Dr., Boone NC 28607.

Third, if you have already contributed to the fund, please consider doing it again, this time in memory or in honor of a deceased member of our chapter, a colleague, or a favorite teacher. Write the name of the honoree on your check and we’ll make a point of including it in the next Red Pencil.

BRAIN WORKS; DOING SOMETHING WONDERFUL FOR YOURSELF EVERY DAY
The website is www.sporkle.com, and it’s a hoot. Skybest recommends it as a great way to give your brain a jumpstart every morning. It won’t take long to become involved and entertained. Try out one of the games (One-syllable Things, U.S. Capitals, Book Covers, and dozens more) by filling in as many of the blanks as you can in the time allotted. Once you get the hang of it, Skybest says, you may even want to create your own game. The site again? http://www.sporkle.com.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ways by which we communicate are changing. Don’t be left behind!


We hope you aren’t tiring of hearing this message, because we can’t tire of saying it: every member of our unit who receives The Red Pencil by email saves the unit nearly $1 per issue. If you do not currently receive the newsletter by email and would like to do so, please send an email to Nanci at ntn@skybest.com with your name and email address in the body of your message.

AND, Pam Deardorff is considering email delivery of Panorama, the newsletter of NCAE, and would like for us to be part of her pilot project. If you DO NOT wish to receive the Panorama by email, please send a message to Nanci at ntn@skybest.com; otherwise, your email address will be included in the list for Pam.

AND, AND, AND, the web address for our Watauga County NCRSP blog has CHANGED. The new address is http://wcrsp.blogspot.com. Put that address in your Favorites column and keep up with the activities of our unit, including a copy of The Red Pencil and photos from meetings, courtesy of our webmaster, Lee Stroupe.


Election of Officers Coming Up in March for Watauga Unit

One of our items of business in March is the election of officers for the 2010-2012 term. Your nominating committee presents this slate:

President: La Verne Franklin
Vice President/President-Elect: Billy Ralph Winkler
Secretary/Treasurer:Dot Barker

Reported Volunteer Hours Totals Exceed Previous Year, but …

News of Community Participation is both good and bad. Good news first: our donations of food and bottles for the Hunger Coalition in December were more than I could fit into my car! Mary Moretz helped to transport it all. Second, our totals of volunteer hours reported in ’09 exceeded the totals from the previous year. We reached 9,246 hours this year – a most impressive total considering that only 23 of our members turn in their volunteer hours forms. Imagine what we could have told the state if all of us had turned in our forms! We congratulate Margaret Sigmon, our unit member with the highest total.
The bad news you’re waiting for? The very idea that only 23 of us actually took the time to complete the form. This year, please make that piece of paper a priority.

Since I’ve discovered that a string around my finger is no good for reminding me of things I need to do or things I’ve done, I write on my calendar the things that I must do and circle them when I’ve completed them. Let me suggest that you create a method that works for you. Taking care of family members, although important, doesn’t count in the total of volunteer hours, you’ll remember, but participating in these activities does: educational and neighborhood projects; civic organizations; international charitable organizations such as Project Linus; volunteering at the hospital, a library, or church; working with NCRSP, social services, the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, or politics; and serving as a companion or providing transportation for a shut-in.

We volunteer in so many ways that forgetting to make notes or thinking that they don’t really matter is easy. Please stop for a moment each day to record the good that you do for others. Later in this newsletter you’ll find another copy of our record-keeping form.
Eula Mae Fox, chr., Community Service Comm.

What’s New that You Need to Know:

v The State NCRSP Convention is happening in Winston-Salem at the Marriott, March 17-18. Representing our unit will be Beth Carrin, Margaret Sigmon, Ben and Lois Strickland, La Verne Franklin, and Nanci Tolbert Nance.

v Our unit currently has 128 members. Every single member is important, yet we obviously need to grow. If you are aware of current members of the education community who are nearing retirement, please begin now to explain the value of their membership in NC Retired School Personnel.

v If you are newly retired, this is the first Red Pencil you have received because we have just learned of your retirement and we welcome you. We hope that you will come to our luncheon meeting on March 25 at 12:00 at Deerfield Methodist Church. If you can attend, please call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 by Monday, March 22.

NC State Health Plan makes significant change

You may already have received a packet from the North Carolina State Health Plan. First, you need to know that the state is sending TWO packets, one for Medicare recipients and one for employees and retirees who do not yet qualify for Medicare. If you are 65 or older and have Medicare, you do not need to do anything to retain your current level of benefits. If you are not eligible for Medicare yet, you MUST act to keep your current level of benefits. You must complete the green/white/pink enrollment form and attestation form included in your packet and return them to Raleigh.

Completing the forms may be done online. Go to www.shpnc.org and click on 2010 Annual Enrollment. Scroll down to the Attestation Form/Annual Enrollment Form and complete it.

Angie Miller, Office of Human Resources, ASU, will be conducting help sessions for anyone with a question. Those sessions will be from 1 to 5P on March 17, March 24, and March 31 and on April 7 in the Northwestern Room at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center.

Again, you will receive the appropriate packet from the Health Plan. If you have Medicare, you do not need to do a single thing. If you are not yet eligible for Medicare, you must complete the forms and get them to Raleigh before the 9th of April.

PEOPLE NEWS
Eula Mae Fox has been off again – to Italy this time with fellow NCRSP members Lottie Downie, Nancy and Clayton Cooke, Leota and Keith Cloyd, and June Mann. We know they were thinking of us here in the snow as they travelled the Italian countryside!
Ann Winkler is recovering from back surgery.
Mary Mast has made the news again, this time by jumping out of an airplane. Skydiving, para-sailing, ziplining – the perfect way to relax and enjoy the golden years, right, Mary?
Margaret Sigmon has just returned from “the beach tour” – from Myrtle to Key West and back.
Kate Peterson celebrated her 100th birthday on March 12. If you’d like to send her a card, the past-due date won’t matter at all. Miss Kate Peterson, 2018 Sherwood Dr. #213, Johnson City TN 37601.
As always, please send news about our members to Nanci at ntn1066@hotmail.com or ntn@skybest.com.

The Steel Magnolias entertained at our December meeting, bringing us the merriest sounds of the season.]

Did You Know? Many people have wondered about the trailer parked on the K-Mart parking next to the Boone Post Office. According to our Margaret Sigmon, it’s a money-making project of The Watauga Chapter of Fire Fighters Burned Children's Fund and soon the Deep Gap Fire Department will have a second one all their own.

The trailer is for donating aluminum cans. The firemen sell the cans to raise funds that help with non-medical expenses of burn victims and their families. Because burned victims heal more quickly when surrounded by family members, this non-medical aid has included gas cards so family members can travel to visit the victim and phone cards for the victims to phone home. Another non-medical gift has been to provide different sizes of shoes to victims whose burned feet swell and contract as they heal.

The local chapter gave a Wii set with games to the Burn Center at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem to be used as therapy for recovering burn patients. Engaging in Wii physical activities stretches tight scar tissue and, in fact, helps patients to endure the pain of their therapy.

Locally, funds are raised by selling the collected aluminum cans and by sponsoring the Emergency Fest on ASU campus where the sponsors sell t-shirts and sweat shirts to support their project. This year the Fest will be held on Saturday, June 12.

The Fire Fighters’ Burned Children's Fund has fifteen chapters across North Carolina. At the 2009 annual retreat sponsored at Tweetsie by the Charlotte chapter, each participant received twenty Tweetsie dollars and dinner at the new Blowing Rock Fire Department.

Patient privacy laws make locating burn survivors difficult. If you know burn survivors who could benefit from participation in this program, please give their names and contact numbers to Margaret Sigmon and she will get this information to the NC Burn Center in Chapel Hill.



North Carolina Retired School Personnel
Individual Volunteer Hours Record for 2010
* Volunteer hours for the “Other” category would include the following activities. Please circle the ones in which you participated.



· Political
· Governmental
· Neighborhood
· Civic organization
· Hospital
· Companion to shut-in
· Healthcare/Red Cross
· Church/religious work
· Schools
· Athletics
· Transportation
· Mentoring/tutoring
· NCRSP
· Libraries
· Social Services
· Habitat for Humanity

· NB: Activities for which you are paid (i.e., honoria or stipends) do not count for volunteer hours.
· While the NCRSP Executive Board considers time caring for grandchildren, elderly parents, or other family members as very important, it considers these activities to be family obligations and does NOT accept these hours as volunteer hours.

Harlan Ledford - Educator & Retired Business Teacher from WHS, age 86 died March 10th.

Mr. Harlan Edward Ledford, age 86, of Chestnut Drive, Blowing Rock and a former resident of Boone, died Wednesday morning, March 10, 2010 at Blowing Rock Hospital. Born August 2, 1923 in Bakersville, NC, he was a son of the late Ransom and Esther Sparks Ledford. Mr. Ledford was a US Army Veteran having served during WWII. Harlan was a graduate of East Tennessee State University where he obtained a Masters of Education Degree. He taught business classes at Elizabethton High School and retired from Watauga High School where he taught business and typing for 35 years. Mr. Ledford was a member of Foscoe Christian Church where he taught Sunday School and was an Elder. Surviving are: one daughter, Lori Hill and husband Bob of Boone, one son; Gary Ledford and wife Jackie of Lincolnton; six grandchildren; Brian Ledford, Erin Whitworth, Luke and Matt Fowler, and Sierra and Dylan Hill, four great grandchildren; and one sister Margaret Hamm of Chattanooga, Tennessee. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife Bernice Edwards Ledford, one sister; Helen Richardson and one brother Ransom Ledford, Jr. Funeral services for Mr. Harlan Edward Ledford will be conducted Friday evening at 7:30 at the Foscoe Christian Church. Officiating will be Minister Ken Caswell and Minister Dan Burke. The family will receive friends Friday evening prior to the service at the church from 6 o'clock until 7:30. Flowers are accepted or memorials may be made to the Foscoe Christian Church, 8834 NC Hwy 105 South, Boone, NC 28607. Graveside services and burial for Mr. Harlan Edward Ledford will be conducted Saturday morning at 10:30 at Happy Valley Memorial Park and Gardens in Elizabethton, Tennessee