Annual Meeting... Well????
 

OK - how did the annual meeting go? Any pictures?? Who won the raffle gun?? What was for dinner? Any great buys at the show? How was the silent auction? How did the display of "C" grades go? Who won the merit awards? Who traveled the furthest to attend? Who was best dressed? Who...???

Dang - so many questions - so few answers....

;)

John

I thought it was next weekend!

;)

Well, if you bought a ticket for the Annual Banquet - you could try to eBay it for next year???

;)

Best to you, Harry!

John

Well what John? It was such a great meeting and so much happened and so many guns of significance and so many imporatnt decisions were made that the internet couldn't possibly hold it all.


Bruce Day while driving west from Louisville.

2011 Top Secret annual meeting.

I'm gonna start saving now so I may attend the 2012 meeting.. :rolleyes:

What John D. asked + 1


Kind regards,

Jeff

I like Bruce's reply. Maybe we should go into the forum archives to see how the news of the Annual Meeting was disseminated in 2010. Times change.

Hi ya' Bruce..!

I'm guessing that you took a lot of pictures - and others did as well..! I know today is a "travel day" for folks getting back home - so to those folks, travel safe, OK? We'll wait for the updates in the meantime.. ;)

Best to you,

John

I'm sure we will get news of the meeting, the auction, the raffle, the show, as time goes on. In years past, we haven't had to wait for the next issue of Parker Pages, and we shouldn't have to wait for the Parker Pages this year either. Get on those computers, guys.

Bill,

Some folks who are on the Forums don't live in Louisville have to actually get home before they post. I know - unbelievable, huh? ;) The Annual Banquet happened last evening. I wasn't able to attend as I was in in airport waiting to get to Haiti the day before.

As you live in MD - I figured you would be there and could update the rest of us, given your proximity to KY.

Didn't happen, huh?

Nope - for me either ;)

My Best Always,

John

Hi Parker Guys and Gals,

This was my first annual meeting and what I most enjoyed most was meeting my fellow PGCA members. Of our 1080 paid members approximately 68 attended our meeting and banquet.

Mark

PS: Click on the photo and it will open up to a larger size!

These photos are of many of the entrys for C Grade Guns:

And a few more...

Other attendees will have to provide the details on these fine guns!

For any person unable to attend, please be patient with us for for the past few days have been very busy. Also, most persons are still reroute to their homes. Certainly they will post their photos and reports soon.

Mark

PS: You guys missed great camaraderie and an awesome gun show!

Outstanding Pics, Mark!!!

My thanks for the share!!!

:cheers:

John

Distinguished Service recognition was awarded to three most deserving individuals. Long over due. Charlie Herzog, Alan Swanson and John Dunkle. Congratulations fellows and thank you for all you've done and continue to do. John Davis

John,
I have already told Allan and Charlie "congratulations". Yours is very well deserved, indeed. Congratulations!!!!
Mike

I'm reading your note, John...

I'm re-reading your note...

I'm humbled and I am speechless.... For Charlie and Al - they are what the PGCA is all about...

I'll reply as the other guy when I gather some thoughts..? But to say I'm honored would be an understatement... I had no idea until your post.

Thank you. From Jen & myself - simply - well.. Just simply, thank you....

John

Thanks, Mike!

Umm - I still have no idea what to say - except thank you, Sir....!

I'm still humbled, overwhelmed and a little speechless...

Simply, thank you.

John

Well after 14 hours on the road this will be a very short post. The annual meeting went great. As mentioned three most deserving individuals won the distinguished service award. John sincerely, congratulations for this much deserved award. You have no idea how much you mean to this organization and it's members. I hope that when Dean gets home he posts his speech/announcement of the awards as he did a wonderful job of describing what each of the three recipients means to the PGCA.

Knowing how few C grades were produced and how few 28 gauge guns were ever produced what are the odds of three of these beautiful guns being present in the same room at one time. The guns were fantastic and the talk that Bruce gave regarding the history and collectability of Parker C grade guns was great.

The facility and dinner were wonderful and Josh, Dave and everyone else who helped bring this all together are to be commended for their efforts in making this a memorable event.

After 16.5 hours on the road I went straight to bed. Now I'm up and getting ready for work. I have not even located my cameras yet but will do so this evening and post some photos.

Re: the Distinguished Service Award recipients - They were elected by the general membership of the PGCA... the three awardees were chosen "by a committee of their peers", as the document says, and that says it all.

John, I'll get your DSA pin and document to you very soon. And I'll shake your hand as a representative of the membership in the congratulations you, Allan and Charlie so richly deserve.

Best, Dean

Well after the teaser I posted while texting and driving John called and talked to Charlie and me for 2 hours while we drove back. We told him that Charlie and Allen were awarded Distinguished Service Awards and that there was some other d--------d also but nobody had heard of him and he didn't even show and he got it because he was some crony of somebody else . And John was saying what kind of ass.... gets an award like that and doesn't even show up, and we were stifling a laugh and it wasn't easy. We talked about all that was happening and several times about this jerk that didn't even show up.

Well we get finally back to Charlie's house and about then we get this call from John again who by this time has read John Davis's post and he finds out he is the third awardee and you should have heard the howls . We got him good. We thought for sure he would catch on, but that's our John:)
And we had three great Parker people who so deservedly were recognized and John couldn't make the meeting because he was trying to get back from Haiti and you know what he does down there.

So the initial post about John asking what happened at the annual meeting , I kind of thought if I posted something that teased but did not answer John's question, he might be interested in talking about by telephone and we just might be able to pull off a litlle trick on John and not tell him who got the third award and darned if it didn't work. Now the problem is that paybacks are hell but that's for another day with our friend John.

We sent John a bunch of photos he said he would post.

The recipients of the DSA are the most deserving of these awards. Thank you to the committee who worked so hard to process these awards. I recommend that the committee remain in their present positions as recognition of their work this year. Thanks.

Someday....

Well - to be honest - I'm still a bit overwhelmed... To leave me speechless is no small feat. However, I will say that.. Actually - I have no idea what I could say to fully express my gratitude and appreciation..? Simply thank you...

As well - here are some photos of the dinner and presentation sent in by Charlie & Bruce. Please feel free to add others to this thread, OK? I think it's also appropriate to recognize the tremendous efforts of so many who pulled this together for the organization - Josh, Larry, Dean, John D. (Davis), Bill M. (Mullins), Dave, Ed - and a lot more folks who do so much for so many others. Our collective thanks...

Bill Mullins presents Allan Swanson an original painting of Allan's Brittany Spaniels - Meg & Bell
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=2810

Allan's acceptance comments:
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=2809

Meg and Bell
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=2807

Bruce Day during his keynote presentation regarding "C" Grade Parkers:
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=2806

Mary Bowes receives some well earned applause and recognition:
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=2805

The Dinner buffet:
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=2804

The Frazier History Museum, location of the show, banquet and this years PGCA event:
http://parkerguns.org/forums/picture...pictureid=2801

Congratulations to Charlie,Allan and John....:bowdown: You guy's are long overdue for this recognition. Thank You for all that have done and continue to do......

Thanks Bill and Bruce and John.

For those who could not attend the Annual banquet at the Frazier Museum, you missed a very interesting and informative discussion by Bruce Day on the Grade 4 (C) Parkers. Bruce's presentation very nicely augmented the People's Choice display of some of the finest C's in existence.

Annual PGCA Meeting
 

Hello All--!!
First let me say CONGRATULATONS to three very deserving members for their DSP awards! John, Charlie and Allan give their all to the betterment of the PGCA! It was a great show, some fantastic Parkers ( I recall at least three A1S on display, several excellent displays----Gary Carmichael, Bob Faddis, Eric Eis, and Tom Bouwkamp. The People's Choice theme of C grades produced some 22 or so fantastic Parkers. Congratulations to Charlie Green and Gary Carmichael for their selection of the top three spots!
Also, I want to thank all the directors, staff, and speakers who gave and volunteered their time to making this year's meeting, banquet, and show a "Top Shelf" affair! We are already looking forward to 2012!!

Bill

[QUOTE=John Dunkle;49869] I think it's also appropriate to recognize the tremendous efforts of so many who pulled this together for the organization - Josh, Larry, Dean, John D. (Davis), Bill M. (Mullins), Dave, Ed - and a lot more folks who do so much for so many others. Our collective thanks...


And deep thanks and appreciation from Josh, Larry and myself to the ladies, our ladies, Adina Loewensteiner, Deb Frey and Kathy Romig for their tireless work behind the scenes and at the reception desk making all of our jobs seem easy. :bowdown: Without their dedication we would certainly have struggled to get the work done. :clap:

Dean, thanks for the name clarifications.

I've got a couple of shots of Gary's and mine displays, now I just have to find the camera.... I'll try and post them tomorrow.

Ok, now tell us who were not there who won the raffle gun and other important info.

Great meeting! The banquet venue totally surpassed my expectations. We had 65 people at the banquet, had 19 tables all together at the gun show and with the PGCA Table cloths, we looked great! The gun show was a fun time with a lot of beautiful Parker guns on display- many for sale- really at all price points.

None of this stuff happens without the hard work and dedication of the Board and the Staff. The Board and staff would be powerless without supportive spouses/family members and I cant echo Dean's comments enough on how helpful it is to have our "better halves" really running the show behind the scenes.

It is my pleasure and honor to continue to serve the members of the PGCA on the board.

Now that it is behind me, I can say it was fun putting together the Annual Meeting and chairing the committee along with my co-chair Dave Suponski. Looking forward to doing it again!

Tom, it's alway like pulling teeth to find out who won the Raffle Gun. I just know that I got no late night phone call even though Linda used a month's food budget to buy tickets, as always.

Bill, I didn't jot down the raffle winner's name but it was a name I didn't recognize. As I recall he was from a state somewhere west of the Mississippi and likely bought his ticket at Pheasant Fest. I suspect Ed Morgan has all the details and will (or already has) notified the winner.

I remember that the winner was from Iowa.

Yup, Iowa's west of the Mississippi...

Don't know if we came the farthest or not (right about 2000 miles), but it was well worth the three-day drive from Newman Lake, Washington!! As always, the board and volunteers did a marvelous job, and deserve the heartfelt congratulations of all the membership for their hard work and dedication.

Dave

Oh No..Guess I will now go to bed..been up all last night and all of today waiting for that phone call...Guess I'll buy a Lotto ticket...Bill

More photos from mtg.

Black Hole Or Just a White Trailer?
 

Here's the PGCA trailer that holds the physical objects. Its kept in a shed and well protected from the weather. When a request is made to display objects from it, Charlie ( or me too if we are doing it together) haul the boxes out of the trailer, get what is wanted, load that stuff into the back of a truck or van and then reload the trailer. Then at the end of the show, we do the reverse. Now this time, the footlocker exhibit was requested and the Parker progressive shot shell loader was wanted. So we hauled that.

The loader is big and heavy and has the original glass powder and shot jars....it was used to load the factory paper shotshells. But there was no handy way to bolt it to a rental table and we didn't want the glass jars to get broken so that ended up being left in the box although some folks did look at it unmounted.

We are careful with these objects because a Parker small and rare item was stolen some years ago from a table at a PGCA meeting, so they are now kept under glass. We also have tablecloths and banners, and these get borrowed and not returned despite calls to send them back. And we can't just go down to Wal Mart and get replacements of these custom made logoed tabled cloths, and they are not cheap.

So here is the Black Hole of the PGCA, it looks like a simple white utility trailer to me, but what do I know? So we hauled stuff from it to the annual meeting and put it back in the trailer and will do so again when the next time rolls around that these things are requested. We have the Browning AH gun also, which will be shown again at the winter Pheasants Forever Pheasant Fest, then it goes back into the black hole gun safe again for a few months.