President Dan Conway did the honors installing the officers and directors elected in December.

Guest speakers Melvin Finley and Linda Lewis of TriWest.

Dan Conway presents MOAA tumblers to Melvin

Officers: President Terry Tassin, 2nd Vice Ronald Perkins who has also volunteered to be the Secretary, 1st Vice Ron Worthington and Directors Chuck Schluter, Ron Green, Jo Ann Thompson, Chet Baumer and Jim Seidl. Treasurer Bill Johnson was absent.

Our new President Terry Tassin called the MOAA meeting to order for our luncheon February 17, 2007 at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club. 

President Tassin also announced that Courtesy Chevrolet had donated $2000.00 to the Scholarship Fund.

         Terry presents Jeff our MOAA tumblers

Our guest speaker was Jeff Young and his topic was "Humor is not a laughing matter".  He is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and Senior VP of First Financial Equity Corporation.  His anecdotes of his marriage, raising teenagers, and current events evoked much laughter from the audience. 

Jeff was accompanied by his wife Jane.

Gary Fredricks brought us up to date on legislation and reiterated the need to send in the MOAA inserts to support the fight against proposed increases in Tricare cost increases.

President Terry Tassin called the March 17, 07 MOAA meeting to order and Bob Rutherford gave the Invocation.  Terry led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and got right into the short business meeting.  Gary Fredricks brought us up to date on legislation matters. 

The guest speaker was Ron Klaphake, a former shipmate of Terry Tassin.  Ron entertained us with the trials and tribulations of building and opening the Arizona Broadway Theatre an Arizona one of a kind dinner theatre.

Marie Fredricks has something different in the planning for the summer and is planning a meet at the Arizona Broadway Theatre during July.  Ron has promised a tour back stage to see how it is all put together and should be quite interesting.

Ron Klaphake

Terry presents tumblers to Ron

The Arizona Chapter MOAA meeting was held April 21,07 at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club.  Marie Fredricks had special table decorations of flowers that set the scene for lunch.

 Our guest speaker was Steve Irvin from ABC's Channel 15 morning Anchor.  You missed a very entertaining speech if you missed this luncheon.  He spoke about his adventures during the Bosnia affair, visits with the Airborne Troops and Marines.  He ended his speech by recounting his flight at Luke with a fighter pilot in one of the Luke F-16 fighters.  He noted the flight was airborne in seconds, followed by a "fast climb" straight up to 23,000 feet altitude, then loops and rolls, high G turns of 4, 6 and 9 Gs where he asked to surrender and land.  He had been promised a "One hell of a ride" and that is what he got.

President Terry Tassin presented Steve with a set of MOAA Tumblers.

President Terry Tassin called the meeting of the Military Officers Association of America to order at noon May 19, 2007 at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club.  This was our annual presentation of Certificates and checks for $1,000 to selected JROTC Cadets.  Mr George Carson represented Courtesy Chevrolet that donated the money for two of the winners.  Each of the Cadets gave a short speech on what the scholarships meant to them.

Fifty plus attended the meeting which included the families of the Cadets and their instructors from their high schools.  The Chef's Choice luncheon of chicken, potatoes and veggies was followed by chocolate cake.  You can thank Marie Fredricks for the beautiful table decorations again.

Pictured are Chapter President Terry Tassin, Cadet Clinton May, Cactus High School, Cadet Michael L. Jurezak, Alhambra High School, Cadet Monique Ramirez, Apollo High School and Mr. George Carson.  The Cadets hold their certificates and checks.  Many thanks to Courtesy Chevrolet for supporting our Scholarship Program and 2nd Vice President Ron Perkins for heading up our JROTC Awards. 

The June 16, 2007 meeting of the Military Officers Association was held at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club.  The guest speaker was BG Greg Maxon who spoke about the status of the Arizona Veterans Home and the Arizona National Guard.  This was the last meeting before the summer break, but there will be an added attraction in July. 

 The Chapter has reservations at the Arizona Broadway Theatre on Saturday July 14, 2007 that includes lunch and the performance of GREASE.  Forty six have signed up so far and should be a good summer break.

Our guest speaker was Steve Marshall, MCPO, USN (Ret) 

President Terry Tassin called the Arizona Chapter MOAA to order at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club September 15, 2007 at 1200 hours. 

The summer has been unusually hot ,setting records for the longest number of days over 110 degrees this year.  We have hopes of a break in the temperature soon and an increase in the attendance of members to Chapter functions.

The guest speaker was Steve Marshall, MCPO, USN (Ret), who is with Homeland Security developing plans and exercises for emergencies for the state of Arizona.  

He was an explosive Ordinance Expert specialist during Operation Desert Storm. 

If you did not attend, you missed another interesting presentation.

The MOAA luncheon meeting was held October 20, 2007 at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club with 42 in attendance. 

A large golf tournament was being held and parking spaces were at a premium, but all managed to find a space as time went along.

Our guest speaker was LCDR Lee Marona, USN - Retired, who spoke on his experiences during the Battle of Midway during WWII.  Lee was the Plane Captain for Ensign Gay, the sole pilot survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8 and later became a Navy Aviator himself. 

Another note of interest, he was aboard the Carrier Hornet when the 16 plane raid of B-25 type aircraft were launched against Japan under the command of then Col Jimmy Doolittle.

The members enjoyed an excellent steak sandwich with French fries, tomatoes, onions, dill pickle quarter followed by pecan pie and coffee or tea.

Chapter President Terry Tassin presents Lee our MOAA tumblers as a gift of appreciation

The 2007 Streamer Award from MOAA National was attached to our MOAA Flag by President Terry Tassin and Past President Dan Conway.

The 2007 Streamer Award was attached to our MOAA Flag by President Terry Tassin and Past President Dan Conway. The 2007 Streamer has been presented to President Tassin at the 50th Anniversary Party of the Tucson Chapter.  This Streamer joins our 2005 and 2006 Streamer Awards.

The election of officers for 2008 went quickly with the proposed slate voted in by acclimation following the absence of any nominations from the floor.

The meal of Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and banana cake for dessert was enjoyed by all.


     

Terry and Gary                                                Terry and Bill

Terry and Ron                                                   Terry and Marie

The program was the presentation of Meritorious Service Awards to the
following (left to right): Pat Dale, Bill Johnson, Ron Worthington, Marie Fredricks, Ron Perkins, Gary Fredricks, and Terry Tassin.  Chuck Schluter was absent and will be presented his award at the next meeting.  These are the hard working people who keep the Arizona Chapter running on all 8 cylinders.

President Terry Tassin was presented his award by 1st VP Ron Worthington

Terry and Ron

Terry and Pat

The Arizona Chapter MOAA met on December 15, 2007 at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club.

 

The Dickens Carolers entered the dining hall singing and continued throughout the luncheon and those who could, joined in from time to time - good job.

Velma drew a bottle of wine.

Ron Perkins drew next and stole Marie's candy who in turn stole Velma's tree decorations.

Chuck Schluter was presented with his Oak Leaf Cluster for meritorious service.

The Board of Directors and committee persons all donated prizes to be given away by a raffle type drawing with the kicker being that the next person with a winning ticket had the option to take that prize or steal the prize of the previous winner. Ron Perkins directed the drawing.
 

Marie Fredricks drew the box of Sees candy. Velma Birtciel drew the box of Egyptian Christmas Tree decorations. The next person stole Marie's tree decorations and Marie then stole Velma's bottle of wine and so it went until all of the prizes had been picked. A good time was had by all. The drawing netted the Scholarship Fund about $170. and we had around 50 persons attending.