January 2023 President’s Letter

Gentlemen:

I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season and wish you a happy and healthy New Year! As we enter the New Year, I see positive signs all around me for the Club.

What about that Christmas party at the newly refurbished Bayview Yacht Club? Ninety-five festive gentlemen and guests enjoyed fellowship, food, drink, singing, and dancing. This is the best turnout for a Christmas party in a long, long time. It was encouraging to see the revived enthusiasm for this tradition. Thank you to Ed and Fran Benz who chaired the committee, committee members Jim Callahan and Tom Kneeshaw, and the chorale. Thanks to photographers Brendan Ross and Ed Benz for memorializing the evening with photos, some of which are displayed in this newsletter.

We returned home to the War Memorial in time to celebrate Veterans Day. A full page of photos and descriptions is dedicated in this newsletter to the first meeting. The service along with the facilities do not disappoint!

New members exceeded deaths from last year’s directory to this year’s. Does anyone know how long ago it has been since that happened? Hopefully, we are on the cusp of growing membership. Everyone is a member of the Membership Committee. Let’s all make a New Year’s Resolution to invite a friend to a meeting. More members are getting involved in committees. Hats off to Ed Wolking, First VP, who has attracted ten members to volunteer for the Program Committee. The Committee had a meeting at The Jagged Fork in early December and is off to a terific start of spreading the workload and the camaraderie that comes with it. I also attended the lunch and walked away thinking to myself, “What a great group.”

A giant step for the future of the Club! Membership records and the Club’s website have been transferred to the Club Express system. The crossing and dotting of t’s and i’s is in process for both. Since 2019 the conversion committee has had various names and members, with one constant, Dave Morrow, chairman. Dave retired from the Board in September 2022 and reduced his club activities. Thank you, Dave, for continuing with the project while holding numerous committee and of-ficer positions. The most recent conversion committee was chaired by Brendan Ross and included members Dave Buckler, Henry Fischer, Dave Morrow, and Jim Regan. We recognize their contribution to getting us to this point. Members of the former conversion committee will continue their contributions as Webpage Committee members. The Webpage Committee also contains officers and committee chairs who will assist in identifying and prioritizing opportunities to enhance communication, increase efficiency, gain access, and improve the information.

The Club is blessed with life members who continue to pay their dues, even though not required, along with members who make voluntary contributions. An honor role list of both is included in this newsletter. If your name is not included and it should be, please contact Dave Buckler by phone or email. If you wish to pay or contribute, it’s also not too late; mail your Check to Treasurer, Men’s Club of GP, The War Memorial, 32 Lakeshore Rd, Grosse Pointe Farms.

The Club is rich in traditions. We will continue to face challenges as opportunities and respect traditions while surviving and flourishing.