Fayette County Retired Teachers Meet, Elected Officers Installed
On June 12 the Fayette County Retired Teachers’ Association met in the First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall with 30 members in attendance. The fellowship time was held at 1:30 p.m. complete with Blue Bell ice cream, and refreshments by the Executive Board. President Melanie Mica welcomed all members, and the pledges to the flags were led by Lisa Slinkard.
New Business: The business meeting began at 2 p.m. with District 13 TRTA President, Gene Stokes, giving a few remarks about the legislature session he said that it is looking positive for the retired teachers to receive a COLA (Cost Of Living Adjustment). He reminded all that the District Fall Conference will be held this year and urged all present to try to attend. It will be held at the Holiday Inn, in San Marcos, with a reduced room rate, if anyone wants to come a day early.
He then proceeded with the installation of the 2021-2022 Fayette County officers and Committee Chairs. The officers are as follows: President: Lisa Slinkard; Co-1st Vice Presidents/Programs: Kathy Migl and Rebecca Halder; Secretary: Karen Fitch; Treasurer/Membership: Nancy Pietsch; Immediate Past President: Melanie Mica.
Committee Chairs: Historian: Jeanne Wetjen; Public Relations: Karen Fitch; Community Service/Parliamentarian: Joan Miertschin; Healthy Living: Kathy Koch; Member Benefits: Debbie Morrill; Information and Protective Services: Kim Joost; Legislation: Karen Fitch; TRTA Foundation: Melanie Mica; Website: Chris Morrison; Hospitality: Sondra Cooper, Debbie Copeland.
President Melanie Mica presented Patty Reid with a certificate for having completed 3,000 hours of community service. Joan Miertschin, chair, said that out of 150 members, 36 participated, contributing over 13,000 hours. That number, multiplied by $30 per hour, signifies the amount of money that our retired educators have contributed to the economy of Texas. The number of participants and the total hours contributed with the amount are sent to the governor’s office.
Book Project: Jan Jenkins, chair, announced that in 2019, we donated $400 to the Turtle Wing Foundation, for our statewide Children’s Book Project.
The business portion of the meeting being concluded, members relaxed by playing five games of Bingo with prizes being either HEB or Walmart gift cards. Drawings (with names from the sign-in sheet) were then held for the following: (1) Local dues paid: Kim Joost (2) Raffle item (for the Book Project: books most recently given to the Turtle Wing Foundation): Marceil Prestridge (3) New member: Four newly retired teachers, now TRTA members, were present: Nora Otto, Nancy Muil, Carole Stuiff, Dorothy Von Minden. Carole was the winner, all were given packages of M & M’s for “Members and More” (TRTA slogan) (4) Retention member: Mary Ann Williams.
TRTA, the nation’s largest organization of retired public school employees, serves to represent retired personnel before the Texas Legislature. It is the only state organization that works exclusively for all retired public school personnel. Members are encouraged to give voluntarily of their time, talents, training, and experience in the furtherance of education, and civic endeavors.
The next meeting will be held Monday, Sept. 13, with the “Welcome Back!” Luncheon. The luncheon will begin at 12:30 p.m. with games and door prizes, to follow. Although the name may imply that the group is only for teachers, all retired personnel are welcomed, even if from another city or county.