RETIREES MEET IN FLORIDA

Over 200 Fish and Wildlife Service retirees and family and friends met in Melbourne, Florida, to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System. The March 14 celebration in Sebastian, Florida, centered on the events recognizing Pelican Island NWR, the first unit and the beginning of today’s 540-unit System. Retirees attended a time capsule ceremony and the official commemorative celebration with Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Service Director Steve Williams and numerous Florida state and local dignitaries. The gathering provided retirees the opportunity to renew old friendships highlighted by a social icebreaker and a banquet that were also attended by numerous current Service personnel supporting the celebration activities.

The foregoing paragraph would be the typical ‘commercial’ news version describing 3 days of events that retirees participated in but lacks the strong feelings of emotion, enjoyment, exhilaration, pride, patriotism, and strong friendships that this reunion generated. Let me try it this way!

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Dear Fellow Retirees:

It is difficult for me to describe to you who weren’t able to attend the latest reunion of Fish and Wildlife Service retirees just what a memorable first class event it turned out to be. Let me share these thoughts and observations with you.

  • The dedication of the time capsule was at the Indian River Mall in Vero Beach. Special seating was available for retirees for a program of patriotic songs and with comments by Director Steve Williams for the unveiling of the time capsule exhibit. Items, all from the NWR System, included everything from wildflower seeds from the upper Midwest to musk ox hair and other NWR artifacts -- all with a significant connection to a National Wildlife Refuge. Teddy Roosevelt read the original proclamation that set aside Pelican Island, there was a special appearance by Challenger, an un-releasable bald eagle, and the march of the Orlando Peabody ducks down a red carpet.
  • It was a hot sunny day for the Pelican Island 100th birthday celebration at Riverside Park in Sebastian. Again, special VIP seating was available for retirees and was accompanied by plenty of bottled cold water

 

and snacks by the refuge Friends group. Secretary Norton was greeted by a plane pulling a banner, ‘Don’t

Drill in Arctic Refuge.’ Each retiree received a first day of issue commemorative postage stamp and stamp pin featuring, what else, a beautiful brown pelican. Master of ceremonies was Jack Hanna. The stirring Voices of Liberty from Walt Disney World assisted in the celebration.

  • Uniforms. Uniforms everywhere. Dress FWS uniforms. A backdrop of 150 Service personnel from all over the U.S. was on stage with the Secretary and the many dignitaries. And they looked good! Each of the many Service exhibits were manned by uniform Service personnel. You would have to have been from another planet not to know this was a 100% Fish & Wildlife Service event. The word pride comes to mind.
  • The Secretary took time in her remarks to note the large contingent of Service career personnel attending the celebration and paid tribute to them for their stewardship to this Nation’s natural resources. She also was aware that a number of FWS retirees were in the audience and in presenting a ‘thank you’ for our careers with the Service asked us to please stand. When fully half of the seated VIP area stood, there was a gasp from the folks outside the fence craning their necks to take in the ceremony and comments like ‘my goodness.’
  • The retirees visited the boardwalk leading to an observation deck overlooking Pelican Island. The boardwalk was built by Service staff from Refuges across the System. Each plank of the boardwalk is engraved with the name of a National Wildlife Refuge, the blue goose logo, and the date of its inclusion in the NWR System. The planks are arranged in chronological order with the first plank being Pelican Island at the observation deck. In the morning ceremony, the Secretary nailed in a plank at the opposite end of the boardwalk representing the newest NWR into the System.
  • For many whose careers spanned many years stationed at a number of NWR’s, walking the boardwalk conjured up memories of times past and was an emotional event. Former Director Greenwalt who was part of the ceremony with the Secretary and all the handlers and schedule keepers, folks with clipboards, and things on their hips that go ‘beep’, revisited the boardwalk the next day with wife Judy, son & daughter-in-law and grandson Patrick where the full spirit of the emotional moment could surface in peaceful private.
  • Retirees were treated royally, being included in every event with special transportation and seating. The events were well organized and planned, the Service and NWR System did not take the ‘cheap charlie’ approach and it showed, coming off like the really big deal it was. In return, the retirees included and invited active Service personnel to its social icebreaker and banquet -- and they accepted.
  • The icebreaker was held on the hotel deck on a beautiful, warm, moonlit Spring evening just feet from the Atlantic Ocean. Except for being a little dark, the turnout of nearly 400 folks made it impossible to find and say ‘Hi’ to everyone, but it was nonetheless, a most enjoyable social evening, and true to the promise, did not run out of beer.
  • How would you like to serve 228 for dinner? The banquet did and it came off well. As part of the Service family, Steve & Sue Parry who retired to California’s Napa Valley and started their own winery, provided a bottle of their wine for each table. "The Service gave me a lot," said Steve, "and this is my way to give a little back." M.C Denny Holland gave a touching salute recognizing the key role of wives in the completion of Service careers. Keynote speaker Lynn Greenwalt gave an outstanding and spirited address recounting "100 years of National Wildlife Refuges."
  • Book signings. Registration included copies of the Smithsonian book of National Wildlife Refuges by Eric Dolin with photographs by John & Karen Hollingsworth and a book of Pulitzer prize winner J. N. ‘Ding’ Darling’s conservation and wildlife cartoons. Both Ms. Hollingsworth and Kip Koss (grandson of Ding) came early and stayed late to accommodate every request to sign their books.
  • Door prizes included bottles of wine from the Parry’s Napa Valley winery as well as wines from Oregon’s Willamette Valley, two pair of the special ‘Pelican’ model binoculars donated by Eagle Optics, and a variety of beautiful artistic and hand crafted creations generously donated by retired Service folks.
  • Every registrant received a loaded goody bag that included the coffee table book of photographs by John & Karen Hollingsworth, a book of Ding Darling’s conservation cartoons, a beautiful insulated coffee mug with the Service & NWR ‘Century of Conservation’ logo and a lapel pin with the same logo, a NWR calendar published by Caterpillar, a bill cap with metal Service logo, a bag of items from Disney World, and many more favors.
  • To complete the weekend, Sunday morning was reserved for the special memories of those friends and former colleagues who have passed on. The remembrances came in the forms of emotional reminiscences to humorous incidents.

Overall fellow retirees, this was an event to be cherished and remembered. What wonderful gatherings the past two reunions have offered. The opportunity to meet with old friends and colleagues was the exciting social highlight as was the theme to have fun. [In this writer’s opinion, this retiree gathering hit a home run with its support of the Service’s Centennial event. Judy and I also made a re-visit to the boardwalk and guess who we met doing the same thing? Director Steve Williams and his family! We had a nice chat on the boardwalk on a beautiful Florida Sunday morning and the Director has indicated he will make the next reunion.]

~ Jerry

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THE NEXT REUNIONS

The nest reunions will be held at the NCTC for 2004 and the 2005 reunion in Portland Oregon. The particulars:

What: The 2004 FWS Retirees Reunion

Where: National Conservation Training Center

Shepherdstown, West Virginia

When: April 29 — May l, 2004, Friday thru Sunday

package special for room and meals will be offered with Friday and Saturday night lodging and meals beginning with dinner Friday evening through Sunday lunch. The reunion will begin Friday evening with a 6:00 p.m. evening icebreaker social and dinner. Saturday morning will feature reports on Heritage Committee and retirees activities, workshops on issues important to retirees giving way to a fun afternoon of socializing, tours of the NCTC campus and its museum archives and / or tours to local historic sites. This will be followed by a banquet and awards dinner Saturday evening. Karen Hollingsworth has been invited as guest speaker. Sunday will be a breakfast remembrance session and goodbyes. D.C. area Service employees will be invited to join us.

What: The 2005 FWS Retirees Reunion

Where: Portland, Oregon

When: September 15 — 18, 2005, Thurs. thru Sun.

number of events commemorating the bicentennial of the journey by Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery will be in the Portland area. A planning team will seek to incorporate memorable tours at the Ridgefield NWR to view the Cathlapotle archeological excavation and a newly constructed plankhouse of native American design that was once at this site, and to Spring Creek NFH to see salmon spawning operations and be treated to a salmon lunch cooked by native Americans of the Columbia River. Both Service sites figured prominently in the Lewis and Clark journey. Thursday evening will begin the reunion with a social icebreaker. Friday will be a trip up the Columbia River gorge, designated as a National Scenic Area, to the Spring Creek NFH with a stop and tour of Bonneville Dam. Saturday morning will be scheduled workshops of interest to retirees followed by a tour to the Ridgefield NWR. A banquet and awards ceremony on Saturday night will be followed by the Sunday morning remembrance breakfast. If interest is sufficient, a pre-reunion trip on Wednesday to Fort Clatsop, the over wintering site of the Lewis & Clark expedition and an add-on trip beginning Sunday at 10:30 a.m. to Mt. Hood with lunch at Timberline Lodge may be arranged. Local area Service employees will be invited to join us in our social events.

THE HERITAGE COMMITTEE

he Heritage Committee had its regular meeting just prior to the Pelican Island Centennial event. Of particular interest to retirees is that an update of the charter establishing the Heritage Committee has been approved by the Director. The purpose of this update was to clear up some language and clarify committee membership. The charter calls for ten voting representatives. These members will be comprised of one representative for each of the Regions (7) and the Washington Office (1), an at-large FWS retiree representative (1), and, a Deputy Regional Director or Deputy Assistant Director to serve as chairman (1). The Director of the D. C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery, the Director of the NCTC, and the Service Historic Preservation Officer are ex-officio members. The regional members may be either a current Service employee or career Service retiree.

he Committee is supporting establishment of a FWS Retirees Association (or some such title), to be chartered under 501c(3) for obtaining non-profit organizational status. This recognition will allow the retirees group to collect and accept funding and donations to meet the purpose and objectives stated in the charter as well to dispense funds for projects approved by the organization. The charter will also require elected officers to conduct the necessary business and probably a Board of Directors to guide them. A work group composed of Denny Holland, Arden Trandahl, Jerry Grover, Jerry French and Steve Chase will soon begin drafting this document and to begin the review process.

THE HERITAGE COMMITTEE AWARDS

he Heritage Committee award is presented annually to recognize an individual, Service employee, or organization that has contributed significantly to the preservation and enhancement of the heritage and history of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The presentation ceremony is during the FWS Retirees reunion.

2002 Award

ecause of a schedule conflict, the 2002 award was held for presentation this year in Melbourne. Former Heritage Committee Chairman H. Dale Hall gave the introduction speech for this award. Dale’s words were eloquent and inspiring to all of us listening. The recipient is Kip Koss the grandson of J. N. ‘Ding’ Darling the famous wildlife artist / conservation cartoonist and a former Director of the Bureau of Biological Survey. Kip, his real name is Christopher, grew up next door to his grandfather, visiting him nearly every day. As a child, he sat on his lap while Ding was drawing his perceptive editorial cartoons on America’s conservation movement. He served in the U.S. Army, and was a pilot on Pan America Airlines International routes. Ding was a modest person never mentioning his fame or contribution and it wasn’t until much later in life that Kip realized what an important and influential person his grandfather was. Ding’s friends and colleagues began the J. N. ‘Ding’ Darling Foundation 40 years ago and Kip has served as its president for the past 20 years. Kip has made available to the Fish & Wildlife Service virtually all of the original Ding Darling very important historic cartoon artwork. Ding also created the ‘blue goose’ logo used by the Service today. This material is now housed at the NCTC museum in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

2003 Award

he 2003 Heritage Committee award was presented by incoming Committee Chairman John Blankenship to H. Dale Hall currently the Regional Director in Albuquerque. Dale was the first chairperson of the Heritage Committee and it was through his leadership and commitment to preserving the Service’s history and heritage that the active FWS retirees group came into being. Also, the collection of the mail database, the oral history project to collect and preserve and assure that the history, institutional knowledge, and memories of former colleagues are not discarded or forgotten, and the Fallen Comrades Memorial wall at the NCTC was begun. He further lead the concentrated effort to encourage contributions to expand the extensive archival collection of historical artifacts, documents and photos now preserved in the Service’s state-of-the-art museum and storage space during the period he was chairman. Dale retains Emeritus status on the Heritage Committee

A BIG THANK YOU!

A big thank you goes to Denny Holland who along with wife Kathy, personally and directly negotiated for the hotel and social functions of this retirees reunion. Great job! Also recognized is the yeoman support from the Atlanta Regional Office and its Division of National Wildlife Refuges, in particular Lou Hinds & Kyla Hastie, who by keeping retirees included helped make this event the tremendous success it was.

 

 

 

THE ATTENDANCE LIST

ncluded in this mailing is a list of retirees that registered for or took part in all or part of the reunion. These folks are now retiree ambassadors. Please give them a call for a first hand account of the reunion. Interestingly, there was a fairly large number of retirees that attended last years reunion in Spearfish, SD, to support the Fishery Resources Program 130th anniversary who also attended this years event.

RETIREE ADDRESS DATABASE

he address database of FWS retirees has now reached 1800 and still growing. Over 675 of you also have e-mail addresses for rapid contact. We still need your help in locating and re-connecting with additional former colleagues. Please keep us informed of your address changes.

Denny Holland is leading the effort to gather mail addresses and has a toll free number:

1-877- 831- 5591 [toll free] or

e-mail: Denny_Holland@fws.gov

Jerry Grover is leading the effort to collect and maintain the e-mail database for the retired FWS. You can contact him at: Ph: 503- 684-1809. or

e-mail: Groverjerry.judy@att.net

We count on the retirees whose addresses we have to share the addresses (Holiday card list?) of their former co-workers.  Therefore, if you would please share this message with the folks you still maintain contact or share their address or phone number with us, we'll take it from there.  We would like to include the names of spouses also in our contacts  --  including yours.  There is an explicit obligation on our part  --  the address list is secure and goes nowhere else; it is used internally to provide you information of interest about happenings of the Service, the passing of former colleagues, etc.  Also, if you do not want your name on either the e-mail or snail mail address list, just let us know and it is off.

We can also be of service in re-connecting you with lost friends and co-workers. Just let one of us know and if we have a connection, we will be glad to share.

 

REFUGE CENTENNIAL CD AVAILABLE

ongs of the System’ is a new CD celebrating 100 years of the National Wildlife Refuge System. It is a unique compilation of original works created by Fish & Wildlife Service employees and volunteers. All the 21 songs and poems were written, composed, performed, and donated by employees from nearly every program of the Service. ‘Songs of the System’ is brought to you by the non-profit Friends of Forsyth NWR, [i.e. Brigantine NWR] with all profits going directly to conservation. To order or find more information, see: http://www.refugecd.com. Denny Holland has copies available for $15. Call at 1-877- 831- 5591 [toll free] The CD is also available from your nearby NWR or by ordering from Friends of Forsyth NWR, P.O. Box 355, Oceanville, NJ 08231 or calling 609-748-1535 or 609-641-4671.

PASSING OF COLLEAGUES

I received a phone call from Gerry Stephens that Bob Stephens (Robert F. Stephens) passed away on Friday, Feb 21st. He had an illustrious career in the Fish and Wildlife Service, starting in the Division of Fish Hatcheries in Minneapolis, MN. He worked in Fisheries in the Washington Office and retired from the Service while he was working in the Albuquerque Regional Office. He and his wife resided in Albuquerque after his retirement. Gerry's address is: 969 Antelope Avenue NE, Albuquerque, NM 87122-1311. He was a great friend and will be greatly missed.

Bob Piper

It is with sadness I report that Stella Bartonek, my wife of nearly 33 years, died sometime in the early morning of February 21, in our motor home in her sleep. While the proximate cause of death was respiratory related, the ultimate cause was a result of her 5-year-long, debilitating illness of Multiple Systems Atrophy. Stella retired as an administrative secretary to the Deputy in the Portland Regional Office of Ecological Services. Her husband Jim had his career with the Migratory Bird Program and retired after a long tenure in Portland

Jim Bartonek 503-657-9662

Retired Maintenance Foreman, Kenne Locke retired in the mid-70's from Tishomingo NWR, Oklahoma passed away March 19.   I was asked that I get in touch with you to see if his death could be sent out so those who knew him and those who passed through the gates of Tishomingo over the years would know about his death.  Appreciate anything you can do to get that word out. 

Take care,  Bill Hawthorne

Rex C. Tice, 90, a World War II veteran and retired law enforcement officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, died March 22 at his home in North Andover, Mass. He had been in frail health for several years. Tice retired in 1974, and with wife Jeanette moved to Port St. Lucie, Fla. After Jeanette’s death in 1984, Tice moved back to New England, taking up residence in North Andover.

William C. Tice, Tel: (978)749-9946