Once again Le Chalet in Cleveland, Tennessee was the site of our Fall Meeting on 12-14 October 2007. We have been meeting in Le Chalet for more than twenty-five years. Without exception, these meetings in Cleveland seem to attract the most members.

And once again, true to form, the original die-hards were in attendance in large numbers, but there were a couple of new members and even some old members that decided to see what attending a chapter meeting was all about.

And as is the custom when we meet at le Chalet, Friday night is American Legion night. We gathered at the newly built American Legion and partook of food, wine and music. It was Karaoke night and there were a couple of members from this chapter who braved the audience and performed some rather interesting sonnets.

Then it was back to le Chalet and more stories, more refreshments and more stories.

Our business meeting commenced precisely at 1400 hours on Saturday. Someone must have really shook the bushes because our turnout was better than usual. We had about thirty-three members present for this meeting.
This was the changing of the guard time. Our old administration was being replaced by the new administration. Hugh Johnson, our out-going Secretary, passed his rosters and letters to Bennie McDonald, the in-coming Secretary. Bill Long, our out-going President, passed his gavel to himself as the in-coming President. Mike DiRocco did likewise. He was the out-going and the in-coming Vice-President. Harry Mathews, the out-going Treasurer, passed his books and bank accounts to the in-coming Treasurer---Margie McDonald.
This is a first in our chapter (and might be a first in the SFA) where we have husband and wife serving as chapter officers at the same time. At least it's going to be easier keeping the books and writing the checks.
The in-coming administration was officially installed at the dinner on Saturday night.
And we did have a drawing. Our in-coming Secretary sold tickets for one of his now-famous jugs of "Wildflower Honey". The honey is farmed (do you farm honey?) by Bennie McDonald and is from a secret recipe that Bennie swears he'll take to his grave. The drawing, by the way, brought in $71.

All members were instructed to be seated for dinner at 1800 hours. Art McRae, one of the hosts of this gathering, asked Jim Hash, the other host of this gathering, to say a few words about our Chapter namesake, Lieutenant Larry A. Thorne. Jim started his synopsis of the life and times of Larry A. Thorne by mentioning Lt. Thorne was a national hero of Finland. He enlisted in the Finish Army to fight the Russians. Then joined the German Army to fight the Russians. Then joined the American Army to fight the Russians. He joined the 77th SF Group and was promoted to Lieutenant. He ended up in Vietnam where he was listed as MIA for years. He is now buried at Arlington. Chapter XXXIII changed it's name from the Dixie Chapter to the Larry A. Thorne Chapter to honor this outstanding soldier.
Art then read the name of each of our comrades-in-arms that has passed before us. Forty-one names were read. Each name was accompanied by the single chime of the bell. With each sound of the bell, the wine glasses were raised in a final salute.

The new officers were given the oath of office by our barrister, Bert Bate, and we then settled down to a very good meal of prime rib and fixings.

Our compliments to Art and Jim for an outstanding evening. This meeting has to go down in our history books as one of the best.
Thanks Art. Thanks Jim

Sunday morning came early and, as all good things must do, our Fall Chapter Meeting drew to a close. The die-hards tried to keep the hospitality room open but Art and associates closed and locked the doors. The troops could do nothing else except take their brides and/or girlfriends and depart to places unknown and await that next call to arms in January, 2008.
I have snapped a few photos of this meeting and you can view them at your leisure. Hope you enjoyed your stay at le Chalet this last weekend and hope to see you in Brevard, NC in January for our Winter Meeting. I don't have the dates or times but this information will be published as it becomes available.
For those of you that want to look at more photos from the meeting you can do that on this page . These photos are unedited or untouched. What you see is what you get.