Newsletter
President's Corner
As only the seventh person to be elected president in the Association's 27 year history, I feel very honored that you've placed your trust in me. My sincere thanks to the board and to the membership for your support. Please be assured that I take this responsibility very seriously and that I will do my level best to keep the Association strong and viable.
We all owe a huge debt to Bob and Yvonne Jett for six years of dedicated service to the Association. We had six memorable reunions Under Bob's leadership, and he left some very big shoes to fill. With your help, hopefully we can build on Bob's legacy.
I asked Captain Bruce for a little corner in the newsletter so that I can share with you my thoughts on where we are and where we're going. We're not getting any younger as a group, so you might expect that our membership would be in decline. Actually, our membership continues to hold fairly steady because of new members finding us on the Internet and joining the Association.
The greater concern is declining attendance at reunions. Because of the recession, and the fact that many of our members are on fixed incomes, attendance has been off a bit since Reno. The board discussed this at length in Memphis and agreed that, at least in the near term, future reunion sites should be "high interest-low cost" venues such as Las Vegas, NV, and Branson, MO, to name just two.
We still want to continue to explore our beautiful country as we have in the past and I'm hopeful that when the recession eases, we'll be able to do that again. My wife, Karen, and I have enjoyed seeing many places that we would never have had the opportunity to see if not for the reunions. The Graceland tour, which we both loved, is a good example of that.
So Las Vegas, here we come for 2010. We're currently soliciting proposals from hotels, and rest assured that we will do our very best to get the most "bang for the buck" for our shipmates.
Finally, I invite you to check out the new pages of our website. We're adding new features all the time, and have recently added a new "Who We Are" page, a new "Sally's Skippers" page, a new "Taps" page, an enhanced "History of the Ship" page, and an enhanced "Contact Us" page.
See you in Las Vegas!
(editors note: A corner turned into a page. What can you expect from an author?)
Memphis Reunion
A great time was had at the city of Elvis. We had 97 attendees including six members who joined us for the first time. As is usually the case the hospitality room was the focal point of the activities. The sea stories have "improved," or at least become more vivid with the passing of the years since the Sally decommissioned in 1967. We had two plank owners with us, Owen Masterson and Paul Weitman, who were on the ship at commissioning in 1946.
Some would say that the See Memphis tour was one of the best, if not the best, tour we have had in many years. Beal Street, with it's excellent foods, not to mention Graceland, home of Elvis, was a great time.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to our outgoing president, Bob Jett, who made all the arrangements for this fine reunion. We especially enjoyed the surprise appearance of "Elvis" who entertained us at the banquet. THANKS, BOB!
Dues
Annual dues are $10 for Charter Members and $15 for Regular Members. After five years of non payment Regular Member will be moved to a Non Member status. Check the fourth line of the address on the envelope to see the last date dues were paid. Those Regular Members In arrears who receive this letter by email will receive an email indicating the last date dues were received.
Las Vegas in 2010
The membership voted for Las Vegas as the site of the 2010 reunion. We will attempt to hold the reunion during the week of the 20th of September 2010. A Request for Proposal is being sent and details will be in the February news letter. Make your plans to join us.
TAPS
During a solemn and inspiring memorial service conducted by Glen Crane we marked the passing of 18 of our shipmates.
New Officers and Board Members
Officers and board members were elected this year. The officers are:
In addition to the officers, the board members are:
Also on the board are past presidents:
E-mail Addresses
We request that you give Marian Bruce (brubru@comcast.net) your e-mail address if you have not done so. That saves the association a few dollars when we send out the news letter and it also helps us contact you about other items of interest. Also please remember us when you change your e-mail address.
First Timers
The following attended a Sally reunion for the first time. Welcome! We hope you had a good time and will join us at many future gatherings.
Missing Shipmates
Correspondence has been returned for these members marked undeliverable. If you have a current address please notify Marian Bruce; phone (505) 293-3841 or email brubru@comcast.net.
Letters
Following are excerpts from an email sent to us from a Canadian:
Hello,
Many Years ago, I had the honor of meeting some of the fellows that served aboard the USS Salisbury Sound. We were young Canadians at the time the Boys from the Sally came up to Vancouver, B.C .. It was an honor to meet them :)) They were so fantastic:)...I remember a young fellow by the name of Johnny Holmes. I believe he mentioned that he was from Oklahoma. Most of all, I remember a wonderful guy by the name of George, he said he was from Galveston, Texas...
(Later) I was Overseas ... serving with N.A.T.O... I did not return till 4 years later...
...after all these years, we still want to wish each and every one associated with The USS Sally all our very, very Best, oh, they were a great bunch!!! I hope & pray that there are still some of them out there, that will remember their time with us all!!!
Time passes on, but good memories linger!! :))
Thank-you, for being part of our Journey:)))
God Bless You all!