MCRTA Meeting May 9, 2022

The May meeting of MCRTA was called to order by President Kathy Steele with a welcome to guests and our speaker, IRTA President Paula Dyer. Members who had birthdays in May were recognized. Members recited the Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation was given by Sue Mullendore. President Steele told many funny stories and jokes and then the membership enjoyed a lunch by Caterer Trish Schwabe.

Vice President Kim Nixon introduced our speaker, Paula Dyer. Paula was a school counselor for 39 years before retiring in 2014. She grew up in Selma a town close to Muncie and received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Ball State University. Paula, along with Executive Director, Laura Penman, are exploring ways to get new retirees to be interested in the organization. She noted that many of the younger generation are not club joiners but prefer to do projects on social media. New ways of engaging with younger teachers need to found. IRTA has had to deal with changes caused by the pandemic and have produced virtual workshops to replace in person meetings. Ms. Dyer encouraged people to attend the Representative Assembly on June 8th in Indianapolis. Several members of Montgomery County Retired Teachers Association will be honored for their outstanding volunteer work. They are Karen Thada, Cherlyn Hunter, Mary Lou Dawald, and Kathy Steele. Steve Bebee, the lobbyist for IRTA will be a speaker and will talk about the past legislative session. The Representative Assembly will be live-streamed this year for those who can not attend in person. An in person fall workshop will be held this year for the first time in several years. One outstanding thing about IRTA is that if you call the office you will actuallly talk to people in the office, not a machine.

The business meeting was called to order by President Steele.

Secretary, Karen Patton, read the minutes from the April meeting and Larry Manlove gave the Treasurers report. Both were accepted by the membership without corrections.

The Constitution committee chair Letty Calder presented the revisions that are being proposed. The revisions will be presented again at the next meeting. One revision was about reinstituting the Retirement Planning Committee. It was stated that there is a need for more publicity about the work of MCRTA.

Member Concerns and Services committee Chair Mary Lefebve announced that a congratulations card was sent to member Ed Stuffle and that get well, thinking of you and sympathy cards were also sent out.

Necrology and Historical Records chair Sue Mullendore informed the membership about the memorial service that is planned for the June meeting. Family members of those being memorialized will be invited to attend.

Nominations chair Sheila Hodges announced the slate for officers for the 2022-2023 school year. They are President- Kim Nixon, Vice President- Steve Frees, Secretary- Karen Patton, and Treasurer- Larry Manlove. The slate was accepted by the membership. New officers will be installed at the June meeting

Old Business:

President Steele announced that five members will be attending the IRTA Representative Assembly in June.

President Steele recommended that two members become Honorary Members. They are Darryl Howard and Larry Manlove. The membership approved making them honorary members.

P resident Steele passed out a sheet for suggestions for programs for next year.

New Business: Treasurer, Larry Manlove read a letter from Larry Parlberg, director of the Lew Wallace Study, which asked for money for scholarships for the summer childrens program. It was proposed that money be sent for the Archicamp summer program. The motion was made and passed.

The possiblity of a Retirement Planning Committee visiting the schools to talk to teachers was discussed. If there is interest a meeting could be set up and the video from IRTA could be shown.

At the June meeting Shannon Hudson will talk about her book on the Underground Railroad. Items will also be collected for the fall backpack program.

The meeting was adjourned and door prizes were awarded.