The dramatic winter weather is living up to the Boston motto “if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.” It seems this is the norm across the country with frigid weather followed by abnormally warm weather. The only certain fact is that spring is just around the corner, and our Lincolns can start to peek out of the garage, longing to be on the open road. The Winter Board meeting, held in Tucson in January, was exceptionally constructive. The two and half days were full of productive discussions and improvements as suggested by your representatives, the National and Regional Directors. This year we had a number of changes in leadership positions due to retirements. The updated board worked very well together, so I expect there will be good progress this year improving the LCOC. Many thanks to Gary Birk for arranging the hotel, meeting room, wonderful lunches and of course the popular hospitality suite. Even after adjournment for the day, business continued in the hospitality suite as evidenced by the level of noise emitted from the room! Thanks, Gary!
The board members were greeted with a binder containing all the information needed for the meetings thanks to Executive VP Paul Temple. While it is a significant effort to collect the information and make copies, the binders facilitate discussions as everybody has a copy to reference and make notes on. This is something that Bob Johnson started, and Paul is continuing. This allows us to use every minute of these meetings to best advantage.
Steve D’Ambrosia is retiring as Chief Judge after five years of stellar service in this position. Steve improved the functioning of this office both behind the scenes and to the membership on the show field. I, along with the membership, were fortunate to have Steve provide his expertise in this important position. A big thanks to Steve for all your support as Chief Judge. I am happy to report that Tony Russo has accepted the Chief Judge’s position. Tony brings great enthusiasm to this position, knowledge of Lincolns and organizational skills. We are all familiar with Tony’s award winning 1927 L Judkins Coupe. Tony has additional changes planned to the process to optimize his team’s strengths to continue the improvements that Steve initiated.
VP Regions, Jon Wessel, retired early this year due to time and travel constraints. Jon has many great ideas for aligning regions based on the current size of the Club and the changing demographics. I will miss Jon’s ideas in our ever-changing hobby and hope to engage Jon in areas where we can utilize his knowledge base. Jon is heavily involved in the collector car hobby and has written many technical articles for Comments focused on driving our Lincolns. Jake Dout from Colorado, has agreed to take over as VP of Regions. Jake has experience in growing regions, as he and a team have shown with the Rocky Mountain Region. He is willing to share this knowledge with other regions to grow members and interest across the LCOC family.
I would encourage you to note how easy it is to contribute to our Foundation when renewing your membership. All amounts are appreciated, so don’t be bashful, as all contributions are greatly appreciated to assist in perpetuating the Foundation and the Lincoln Museum.
Until next time
John