March Meeting Notes

We started the March meeting with the reading the USSVI creed, the Tolling of the Boats for March, followed by birthday wishes for our members.

Doug Abramson present Fred Ensslin with his plaque

After that Seattle Base Commander Doug Abramson presented World War II veteran and Holland Club member Fred Ensslin with the cutaway submarine plaque that he won at the 2011 Holiday Luncheon. Fred chose his first Gato class boat, USS Greenling (SS-213), for the plaque. Fred also let us know that his wife Josie only bought one raffle ticket at the luncheon and that Jim Harper assured her it was the winning ticket.

Holland Club patch rocker patches (click on the photo to enlarge it)

During the Officer Reports, Storekeeper Bill Giese let us know that he still has a couple submarine calendars and that he now has the rocker patches that can be added to your Holland Club patch (and I got a picture of them so you can see what we are talking about).

A photo of the new trailer

Base Float Work: Jim Harper gave us an in-depth report on the new trailer for the Base float. The old trailer was sold and the money went to offset the cost of a new trailer. The new trailer comes from an RV trailer that was damaged (only the RV part was damaged, the trailer is in good shape). Jim shared some photos of the trailer and said that he will be looking for help to add a plywood deck and mount the submarine float, once the weather gets better. If you are interested in helping out with the float work, you can contact Jim by email (kh6cn@earthlink.net) or phone (425) 357-6485.

Holiday Luncheon Survey: We are trying to get some feedback from our members on the Holiday Luncheon. We came up with a few questions and have planned several ways for you to the questions. You should have already received an e-mail with survey questions and can respond that way. Alternately, you can respond to the survey online, just click here to go to the survey website. The survey questions were also published in the last issue of the Dolphin Brotherhood. Your opinions are important in determining what we should do for this year's luncheon. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Calendar Recycling: Karl 'Dutch' Krompholz is still asking members to bring any old submarine calendars to him at future meetings, so that the pictures can be 'recycled' for use with other base interactions.

Upcoming Events
Bremerton Armed Forces Day Parade - The 64th annual Bremerton Armed Forces Day parade will be held on Saturday, May 19. Seattle Base is planning on participating in the parade with our float. Be sure to mark the date on your calendar.

Smokey Point Rest Stop Event - This year the Base drew July 9 and 11, a mid-week timeslot, for manning the coffee booth at the Smokey Point rest stop. We will be manning the coffee booth starting around 1:00 pm on the 9th and go until mid-day on the 11th. Once again, Steve Shelton will be heading up the effort to man the booth. He will have more information and a sign-up sheet at future meetings.

Navy Birthday at VFW Post - VFW Post 2995 is planning on having a dinner to celebrate the Navy's Birthday on October 13 and they have invited us to join them. We will have more information about event as it gets closer.

Binnacle List

Chris Opple, Bob Opple's wife, has been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer and is now undergoing chemotherapy.

Don Ulmer had a shoulder replacement last Wednesday and, after arriving home on Thursday, he had a bad fall down a flight of stairs and is back in the emergency room.

Karl 'Dutch' Krompholz had knee replacement surgery and is still recovering (he had hoped to make it to the meeting, but had under-estimated his recovery time).

Tom Rice is improving and has been moved to an assisted living facility. We'll have contact information for him available for the asking.

Doug Abramson's wife Connie has been diagnosed with lung scarring and carries oxygen for when she has trouble breathing.

Bruce Fisher is dealing with diabetic neuropathy of his foot.