Welcome to the Fred C. Sawyer
North TX Chapter 56
of the American First Day Cover Society
Texas Philatelic Association Unit #6

September 2006 Chapter Meeting Highlights:

Chapter Business:

Members began to arrive at 9:30AM. Tricia Richmond and Mike Gibson brought covers fro Swap and Shop. Our Business Meeting began at 10AM. In attendance were:
Bob Benner
Paul Benson
Mike Gibson
Jones McConnell
Bob McDermott
Tricia Richmond
Fred Starr
Loretta Starr
Cliff Way
Sharon Whiting
Erik Carlson (UTD)

Paul Benson gave the Treasurers report and mentioned donations we received in honor of Fred Sawyer. We received cash and also covers. Kendal Bevil donated covers that we will sell or auction at a future meeting. We have enough in our treasury to cover the anticipated expenses for our Anniversary/Name Change celebration in October.

The first half of our meeting was spent discussing the logistics of the October meeting. Erik gave us the ground rules regarding the use of the Library facility. Parking for anyone without a special permit will be in the Green Lot.

October Meeting/Anniveray Event Planning:

Bob Benner reported that Norm Cohen has volunteered to print invitations, programs
and cachets. Tricia brought a preliminary cachet design--she can coordinate with Norm or Bob to get the cachets printed. Bob indicated that he might have appropriate stamps from 1986 that could be used on the covers. We need a member to get the covers cancelled on 10/14 in Richardson. We will ask Jesse Covey to handle that task -- Cliff Way is backup.

We plan to begin the October meeting at 10:30AM with coffee, punch, and cookies.
Loretta Starr is the coordinator. Betty Covey and Sandy Benson will help. Set up will begin at 9AM. Paul Benson will set up a display of Chapter photos and covers. Jones donated a few new pictures from this years picnic.

All attendees will be asked to register. We plan to have a drawing at the end of the meeting for yet to be determined items. Recent chapter covers will be available for sale as well as recent McIntosh covers. Donated covers will also be available.

All chapter members who have a name badge should wear their badges. We plan to invite other philatelists from the area. Bob Benner will communicate with all the clubs and societies so that they can let their members know that they are invited to attend.

Bob Benner will layout the printed program with the help of Tom Koch. Our Keynote speaker will be Ron Aljoe--Ron was the first President in 1986 and he has lots of information about the formation of the chapter and the growth over the first 10-12 years. Cliff Way will present the plaque to Jeanne Sawyer and her family. It will then be given to the University to be hung in the Wineburgh Library. Special letters will also be read during this ceremony. We expect this portion of the meeting to begin at 11AM.

Sharon Whiting has set up a e-mail address for RSVPs. We need a headcount by October 7. An invitation with this information will be E-mailed to all of you by the end of this month. Sharon will coordinate with Loretta so we have adequate refreshments.

Membership applications for the AFDCS will be available at the Registration table.

September Events - Items of Interest:

The second half of our meeting began after 11AM. Paul Benson discussed Washington 2006 and the Americover Convention. Autographed programs from all the First Day of Issues were shown as well as some FDCs and photos. A DVD entitled "Adventures of a Letter" was shown. This DVD was a very short review of all the latest technology employed by the USPS to process our mail. Our meeting ended at 12:05PM.

Good News from AMERICOVER:
Chapter 56 member Tricia Richmond received an award for the second year in a row. This year she received Honorable Mention for the Non-Original Artwork category. Her cover was for Child Health. Hopefully Tricia will have some copies still available at our next meeting. The winning cachet in the Non-Original Artwork category also won the Top Award for best cover of the year so she had some pretty stiff competition.

All this years winners can be seen in color at the Virtual Stamp Club web site.

Our member, Bob McDermott was able to attend due to the Saturday meeting date. Bob mentioned to me that he would be willing to make a presentation to the Chapter about his collecting specialties which includes the various Texas issues. This is something we can all look forward to after the new year.

Upcoming Meetings/Events:

Our November meeting will be our annual Auction -- desirable donations are needed.
I also hope to have another DVD from the postal service -- one done in conjunction twiht the History Channel--the video was shown daily at Washington 2006.

December will be our annual Christmas(Holiday) party -- Saturday December 16 --please mark you calendars now -- details to follow.

Submitted by Paul Benson

Last updated 16, September 2006