|
The 2006 Annual Meeting
Many of the faithful, and a few
newcomers, converged on Marietta, Ohio, September 15-16 for the 67th
annual meeting of the Sons & Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen, better known
as simply “S&D”. The historic Lafayette Hotel was once again the
headquarters.
Friday
Evening Reception
An evening reception/mixer was held in
the ballroom of the hotel on Friday
evening
where folks renewed acquaintances, made friends and visited with old
ones. As a special surpri se to the gathering, Margaret Blennerhassett,
wife of Harman Blennerhassett, whose island lies several miles below
Marietta, appeared in her 1700’s period dress. This modern-day apparition
of Margaret was actually Debra Conners of Parkersburg, W. Va., who
launched into a delightful performance playing in character to the crowd
and with a description of her life before, during and after her
inhabitance of Blennerhassett Island, made famous by the actions of Aaron
Burr over 200 years ago.
Business Meeting—Saturday
The annual business meeting was gaveled
to order at precisely 9:30 am on September 16 by President Jerry Sutphin.
Reports were presented by: the Treasurer; Secretary; the Chairman of the
Board; the Chairman of the J.Mack Gamble Fund; the manager of the Inland
Rivers Library; and the presidents or representatives of three of the
four S&D chapters—the Mississippi River, Middle Ohio River, and the
Ohio-Kanawha Chapters. Following the reports, Lee Woodruff was called
upon to give the Nomination Committee’s recommended slate of officers.
They were: J. Sutphin, President; J. Fryant, V. President; R. Prater,
Secretary; D. Flick, Treasurer; Board of Governors, Bill Judd, Tom Dunn,
and Fred Rutter, There were no nominations from the floor and a
unanimous ballot was cast in favor of the slate.
President’s Address
Jerry Sutphin looked into his crystal
ball and saw three challenges for the S&D association during the coming
months.
1.
The membership has declined during 2006 as shown in the
Secretary’s report. He challenged each member to get one new member and
urged attendees to take several of the new S&D brochures along when they
left the room.
2.
Finances are a concern as the Treasurer’s report revealed.
Sutphin advised that the BOG would again be looking at increasing the
dues. Most members agreed with this position.
3.
As the current editor of the S&D Reflector is retiring at the end
of the year there is an urgent need to find a replacement. Sutphin
invited anyone interested in editing the Quarterly to contact a BOG member
or officer.
The meeting was
recessed so that members could take part in the noon luncheon and
entertainment at the River Museum.
Picnic
Luncheon at the River Museum
Picnic lunches were provided by the
Third Street Deli, Marietta, and co ntained an assortment of choice
viands surrounding a turkey or ham sub sandwich. Beer and soft drinks were
supplied by the Ohio Historical Society. This picnic tradition predates even the
arrival of the W.P.SNYDER, some fifty years ago.
Entertainment was supplied by the crew from Madison Coal & Supply Co.
The diesel sternwheeler LAURA J. brought the deck barge ANNA MARIE with
a steam generator aboard and both were landed at the bank below the
stern of the SNYDER. The bright-eyed
Helen Hughes Prater had just celebrated her 94th birthday and
Doc Hawley launched into “Happy Birthday” on the steam calliope. Also
there were a number of steamboat whistles in Nelson Jones’ collection
that were blown and the whistle from the SNYDER herself had been mounted
on the steam manifold.
Launch
of Snyder Renovation
Following lunch, a campaign to secure
funding for a renovation of the towboat, W. P. SNYDER was kicked off.
For several
years
 it has been know that the SNYDER, the centerpiece of the Ohio
Historical Society’s River Museum, was in great need of a major
renovation (the last one was in 1998), so a major effort has been
launched to secure the necessary funding for the effort. Remarks by
Marietta resident, David Baker, the general campaign manager for the
restoration project, and Andy Verhoff manager of the River Museum,
provided a very positive outlook for obtaining the necessary funding. A
matching $350,000 grant has already been awarded by the National Park
Service, in addition to over $100,000 in grants from other sources.
Evening Banquet
The ballroom of the Lafayette Hotel was
the scene of the annual S&D banquet and 115 or more were on hand.
Captain “Doc” Hawley, originally from Charleston, West Virginia, where
he began his river career as the calliope player on the excursion
steamer AVALON, was
 the
speaker of the evening. His distinguished career since popping corn on
the tramping AVALON, has made him a well known figure on the Western
Rivers including positions as master of five of the six remaining
steamboats running today. During his career on excursion and tourist
boats, Doc has accumulated a host of friends and also a trunk full of
stories from a number of river characters he has known. For most of an
hour, Doc captivated the audience with many of these amusing stories.
The appreciative crowd gave Doc Hawley a standing ovation--and another
friendly and entertaining gathering of S&D came to a conclusion.
|
