Spring Chapter Meeting

Was this another first for Chapter XXXIII? It was dubbed “The Southern Hospitality and Culture Weekend”.

The chapter held it’s Spring meeting in Marion, VA on 3-5 February 2017. The award-winning “General Francis Marion Hotel” was the AO for this weekend. The “General Francis Marion Hotel” doesn’t bring to mind the glamorous entry’s of the famous hotels in the Bahamas, Jamaica, Miami or NYC, but it is on National Geographic’s List of Top 150 Hotels in North America.

And they did let our chapter stay there.

Normally, Friday is a time for the arrivals to wind down from some long hours on the road and the now-famous Chapter Auction is held on Saturday after the dinner hour. However, due to the agenda for the weekend, the Auction was held on Friday night after the dinner hour. True, some members did spend many hours on the road but the Auction was well attended and the Chapter coffers were increased by a tidy sum of $1,600+. This was largely due to the item for auction donated by Tim and Joyce Vandersommen...A 3 bedroom, 2 bath deluxe suite at the Wyndham Smoky Mountains Resort in Sevierville, 8-12 May 2017. Tip of the Beret to Tim and Joyce and all members who gave so freely to our Auction. It was nip and tuck between Art and Stan in bidding for this fabulous week, but in the end, our man, Stan, The Man, beat out Art by a $1 increase in Art’s final bid. Enjoy the week in Sevierville, Stan.

The business meeting on Saturday, didn’t have enough members present for a quorum, but a slate of new officers were chosen for the upcoming election. The new officers are:

President – Robert L. “Bob” Bever
Vice President – Robert T. Smith
Secretary – Sidney L. “Sid” Morgan
Treasurer – James W. “Jim” Godwin

The new officers will be installed at our Fall meeting in Cleveland, Tennessee in October 2017. The meeting date hasn't been decided yet, but it is usually held as close as possible to Larry A. Thorne’s birth. This is also a formal affair which has been observed for the last 27 years.

The membership, attired in their green blazer, regimental ties and wearing their green berets, retired to the Lincoln Theater at 1900 hours to attend the presentation of the “Song of the Mountains” show. The Chapter was grouped together and was welcomed and recognized by the patrons and officials of the theater.

The presentation consisted of instrumental and vocal music of the Appalachian mountains, Blue Grass, Country and Western, and Pop Cross-Over music presented by local and regional groups. It was original, entertaining and refreshing.

This show was taped for later presentation on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) network. (We’ll find out when ‘our show’ will be shown and let everyone know.)

This was another meeting to remember...

There is a planned Summer meeting in conjunction with the 2017 Special Forces Association International Conference (“Conventions” are a no-no now-a-days), on 12-17 June 2017 in Fayetteville, NC. However, if there are not enough chapter members attending the Conference, the meeting will be canceled.

All members of the SFA are welcome to any of our meetings. For more information on this upcoming meeting visit the Bulletin Board on our chapter website at http://www.chapterxxxiii.sfsarge.com