Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end. This will be my last letter
to you. June first the new board headed by George Ondricek as president will take over. I'm sure his term will be as productive and exciting as mine has been.
Printed in the last Newsletter was a wonderful tribute to Pauline Arias. On Sunday, March 30th there was a celebration of her life held at the home that she and Vince shared. It was put together by Cathy Stahlman and George Ondricek, and a great job they did. It was attended by about 150 people, new and old members and others whose lives Pauline had touched. Quite a testament to a grand lady.

At the risk of being redundant, I again want to urge all of you to consider volunteering in some capacity to help our Club. We need trip leaders as well as folks to work on our board. You can be an integral part of the organization and derive satisfaction from helping the Club to grow and prosper. At the moment we have a pressing need for a web site manager. I also hope you all have rsvp'd to Sandie for the formal Springfest to be held at the Riviera Country Club, May 3rd. It should be a fabulous affair.

Allen Benowitz, Maggie Zaitz and Bill Scott have put together some excellent Dine-a-rounds. If you have not partaken of these, you should. The venues are excellent and it gives you a chance to get to know more people on a one to one basis. On the same note, there is going to be a Keys Weekend in August. This is always a fun time with plenty to do on land and on sea. It's also an opportunity to get down to Key West and enjoy being a tourist.

As usual there are plenty of special events offered every month, with something for everyone. We have selected our snow-ski trips for 2009 and as usual will be opening those at the Riviera Country Club at the end of July. As I said before, we need trip leaders. This is an opportunity to enjoy a free trip. It does take some paper work, but the completion of a trip well run is very satisfying.

I want to thank all of you for your kind words and support during my tenure as president, they were very much appreciated. I will still continue to be involved as past president. It's been a great two years, and I look forward to many more with the best Club ever.

During the suffragist movement, Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) approached newspaper editor Horace Greeley hoping to gain his support. Unfortunately, her request fell on deaf ears because Greeley opposed the idea of women's rights and showed little favor to anything that did not involve the military. To make a point, Greeley asked, "What would you do in the event of a civil war?" Anthony, refusing to be intimidated, responded:" I would do just what you would do. I would sit in my office and urge other people to go and fight."

~ Adapted from the Random House book of Jokes and Anecdotes