May 2012 Red Pencil--Luncheon May 17th

The Red Pencil Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel Vol.XIV, No.5 May 2012 ntn1066@hotmail.com___ May Meeting When: Thursday, 17 May 2012 Where: Deerfield Methodist Church How much: $10, check payable to Watauga County NCRSP What: Annual presentation of scholarship Memorial service Election of officers Please bring SMALL medicine bottles (and recycle the larger ones!), any food staples you wish, especially powdered milk, canned soups, and cereals, and lots and lots of diapers. If you can manage it, include a bag of cat or dog food for our four-legged friends at the Humane Society. If your caller has not contacted you by the 12th of May, call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 or email her at margaretsigmon@bellsouth.net. Please understand that an accurate accounting of our attendees is extremely important, since that is the number of people for whom George will cook. Callers make every effort to reach all the names on their lists, but you can help by responding to your caller or by notifying Margaret. In a practice we began last year, we will have meals for sale for $5 after our meeting. If you are having guests or eating alone for dinner or just love George’s wonderful food, place your order as you arrive or stay for a few moments after the meeting. President’s Message Father Time and Mother Nature must be in cahoots with each other because time is speeding up and my knees are slowing down. I hope you’re finding the warming sun to be kind to your spirits and bones! Spring, of course, is about a renewal of life and of hope. Today, I’m hoping that I can get through my list of responsibilities, both the ones the world hands me and the ones I impose on myself. Each of us, I suspect, wakes up each morning with just such a list. Today, my list includes finding a chance to: Smile at little kids and tell them how cool they are. Visit a friend in a nursing home and do her hair. Tell my dental hygienist that I appreciate her cleaning my teeth for about 25 years. Open the door for someone. Sing with my grandchildren. 2 Plant some flowers in a friend's yard. Wash [a] window. Check friends on Facebook since we don't get to visit that much anymore. Be more patient with my "hard-of-hearing" husband. Appreciate the fact that I am an active part of an organization that does many things for others just as we all did in our school systems. Finally, I’m taking this opportunity to wish you comfort and joy this spring and throughout the summer months. See you in May. LaVerne Franklin Important Bits and Pieces: Congratulations to our vice president, Bill Winkler, who brought an entire NCRSP state convention to absolute silence with his a capella performance of “How Can I Keep from Singing” at the memorial service in Winston-Salem. Our memorial service in May will honor three past members of our chapter and two current/recent members who have died this year. Past members are Jim Cole, Kathleen Goodman, and Mattie Lou Wilson, and current/recent members are Elizabeth Elliott, Mary Henson, Mary Moore, and Jim Roberts. Please remember to keep up with your volunteer hours. At a time when our membership and our mission are being challenged by the state legislature, explaining the value of our contributions to the community is more important than ever. 3 An invitation for us all: “You are cordially invited to a very special celebration of the lives of Robert and Agnes Shipley of Vilas, NC, a birthday gathering in honor of Robert, who will be one-hundred years old on June 23, and Agnes, who will be ninety-five years old on June 26. The celebration will be held on June 23, 2012 from 1:30 to 4:30 PM at the Historic Cove Creek High School, 207 Dale Adams Road, Sugar Grove, NC. If you have any inquiries, please direct them to the Shipleys’ daughter, Janie, at shipley100@mindspring.com by email, or 828.263.4218 by phone. Come help us honor these two special individuals. No gifts, please.” For your calendar: The 2012-2013 school year begins in Watauga County on Wednesday, August 8. Mark your calendar now and plan to attend our annual breakfast meeting at 9A on that date. ****If you haven’t completed the flipping process to pay your dues, please do it as quickly as you can. Remember that you can still pay your dues by check at the August meeting if you wish. The bank draft for your dues will NOT begin until September; our membership year has not changed. If you have any questions about continuing your membership in NCRSP, please call Dot Barker at 264-3621. Don’t forget to make regular visits to our blogspot at http://wcrsp.blogspot.com/ for the latest local news about your NCRSP chapter, and go to www.ncae.org to sign up for daily political briefings about legislation that affects retired school personnel. Other helpful sites include www.ncrsp.org for our NC Retired School Personnel and www.ncga.state.nc.us/ for the NC General Assembly. To share news of our own unit activities and members, please get in touch with Nanci Tolbert Nance, ntn@skybest.com or 828.963-8892. 4 The Red Pencil Watauga Unit, NCRSP 451 Poplar Hill Dr. Boone NC 28607