July 30, 2021, at the Spellman Museum of Forney History, Board Members and Regular Members gathered for actually two meetings in one: the usually-held-in-December meeting to elect/confirm new and continuing Board of Directors and to celebrate the end of the 2020 operating year and the usually-held-in-July “All FHPL Members Meeting” to meet & greet. We had both on Friday night, and a wonderful and informative evening was held by all in attendance.
The meeting opened around 7:00 p. m. in the Multi-Purpose Room with a welcome by President, Charles Beason, a few grins, laughs, and “noddings-in agreement” by the crowd, the Museum Manager’s Report and the ELECTION (both as detailed later below), and then an invocation and call to “supper,” also by President Beason.
Many members had brought favorite salad, appetizer, light course, and vegetable dishes, which were supplemented by sandwiches from Lathams Bakery, and various soft drinks and iced tea by other members. Oh, yes, and so many wonderful desert dishes finished out the meal and caused many of us to “let out our belts!”
As the actual business meeting continued, Kendall Milton, Museum Manager, was called to center court to give an overview of various activities from the “now past” 2020 “covid year” and the 1st half of the “ZOOM,” and then “a little more open” 2021 year. A few details told of 1679 visitors during 2020, with gift shop sales of $1,423.00 and donations of approximately $500.00----Exhibits and activities that included “Black History Arts and Discussions/Lectures,” “A President’s Vision (6 of them),” “The War Comes Home” (Civil War through present letters home), “Coreen Spellman Art Works,” “Prairie View Cemetery Presentations,” “Free Book Exchange in Lobby,” “Re-painting of some areas of the Museum,” “Black History Month Display,” “More Coreen Spellman items,” “Falcon (North Forney HS) Art Show,” “Women, Aviation, and WWII,” and, coming soon, a “Civil War Collection.” I could have listed more, but we hope you will visit us to see in person all we have planned for the following months!
Next on the agenda was the ELECTION of DIRECTORS. To spare you the details of “who and what and why” from the past year and one-half, suffice it to say that a total of five (5) DIRECTORS were either “confirmed” or elected unanimously. They were (as named by Nominating Committee Chairperson, Jana Garner), Tracy Drane and Charles Beason each returning for a new 3-year term and Debbie Stuart, Fran Jones, and Rick Townsend, all for terms that will end on December 31, 2023. This gives the Board thirteen (13) members at this time.
As a point of interest, there is one vote per membership during these elections, and it “boils down to” the following: a “couple” membership has one vote together, and a single individual membership has one vote.
Back to the “eating and greeting and mingling!” I believe that this meeting was one of the most jovial and laughing and reminiscing ones that I can remember since I came onto the Board, which was “I don’t know how long ago, but I was still young!” And the food was GREAT. I tried not to go back for seconds at the desert table, but Donna Hervey forced me to take “just one more piece of her pie,” and then I could not disappoint others by not taking some more of theirs, so I tried to accommodate everybody!
I hope that all of you reading this article will join the FHPL for 2021 and become active members and attend our next “Members Meeting” so that there will be more deserts and more Forneyites helping to preserve the “heritage” of Forney, Texas.
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