November 2019 Meeting Recap and Don Ulmer Memorial Service

We started off the November meeting with Tolling the Boats lost in November, followed by birthday wishes for our members, introductions, and then the officer reports.

We also presented USSVI 10-year membership pins to Doug and Andrea.

Andrea (left) and Doug (right) get their 10-year membership pins from Base commander Ric (center)

Old and New Business
Holiday Luncheon – Our annual Holiday Luncheon will be Saturday, December 14 at the Nile Shrine Center. We are asking you to send your registration forms to Base Secretary Steve by the November. The registration form (linked here) has been updated with Steve information.

Seattle Base Elections – We will have our base elections at the January meeting. At a minimum, we will need to elect a new Base Commander. Many of our member have done multiple terms as officers and we need fresh faces to step up too. We hope everyone will consider becoming an officer or committee chairman. If you are wondering what you can do to help or what the duties of certain officers are - please talk with one of the current or former officers.

USSVI National and Seattle Base Dues – Reminder that annual membership dues for USSVI National and Seattle Base need to be paid before the end of January.

Float Storage and Work – With the parade season over, the float and associated gear is going into winter storage. We will be looking for a work part to do some renovation on the float early next year.

Cabela’s Meet & Greets – We were not able to do any meet & greets at Cabela’s in 2019 due to some changes with their corporate polices after they were acquired by Bass Pro Shops. We are talking with them, with support from the team at Cabela’s Tulalip store, and we think we have covered all their concerns. We hope to plan a couple meet & greets in 2020.

November Program – This month we continued to show interview recordings Base Commander Ric did with Ervin Schmidt. The November recordings covered Ervin joining the submarine force, his time on USS Saury (SS-189), and assignment to new construction on USS Torsk (SS-423).

Don Ulmer’s Memorial Service
The memorial service for Don Ulmer was held on November 22. Seattle Base members participated in the service, with Dick G providing a remembrance of Don and Seattle Base members acting as pallbearers. It was a good service for a unique individual that will be missed.

Don's photo at the service

Dick providing a remembrance of Don

Seattle Base pallbearers

One last salute for Don