Post Business – Page 20 – Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063

2021-2022 Officers Installation Ceremony held

Former VFW District 2 Commander Carl Cristopherson installed the 2021-2022 slate of elected and appointed officers of VFW Post 3063 on May 6. First nominations were made in March, followed by second nominations and an election in April. Officers do not take office until July after the department commander is installed.

Congratulations and good luck to the new leadership team!

Commander: Joe Fitzgerald
Sr. Vice Commander: Bryce White
Jr. Vice Commander: Alyson Teeter
Quartermaster: Harold Rodenberger
Chaplain: Joseph Mesa
1 Year Trustee: Nestor Tamayao
2 Year Trustee: Joe Tiffany
3 Year Trustee: Robert O’Brien
Adjutant: Shennae Curtis
Service Officer: Joseph Mesa
Judge Advocate Dan Stokke
Surgeon: Bob Lehman
1 Year House Committee: Pete Krawitz
2 Year House Committee: Russ Selig
3 Year House Committee: Gail Engler

Commander’s Corner (May 2021)

The VFW 2021 National Convention scheduled for July/August in Baltimore Md has been OFFICIALLY CANCELLED!

BUT – NOT EVERYTHING IS CANCELLED!

Sunshine, Spring, Love, Kindness, and Hope have not been cancelled.

…and our Post is not cancelling anything!

However, we do have to make adjustments. In spite of the Governor’s office announcing the possibility of going back to phase 2, the Post will continue moving forward as it has throughout the pandemic months, making adjustments to our meetings and other commitments as needed.

This takes me to our upcoming business meeting on May 6th and the Induction of the 2021-2022 Post Officers Ceremony.

The ceremony will be will be conducted at our Post by Past District Commander Carl “Chris” Christophersen who is also the current Commander of Blackburn-Aurora Post 3348. This meeting will be made available to all members via Zoom as usual, and for this meeting – there will be in-person attendance allowed as well!

BUT – in-person attendance will only be allowed to those members who have been vaccinated!

After much consultation and discussion on this matter, – for now, and although we desperately recognize the need to “return to normal” – this is the adjustment we have deemed necessary in order to proceed safely with in-person meeting attendance.

So… There you have it. Get vaccinated!

Get vaccinated and you too can attend this next business meeting and induction ceremony in person!

-Commander Joe Fitzgerald

Hybrid Approach to Business Meetings

We had our first in-person gathering at a business meeting in more than a year during the April business meeting. It was a hybrid event with some who tuned in via Zoom. There were a couple technical hiccups but going forward we think regularly using Zoom will allow more participation from our membership.

For those members who are vaccinated, they are welcome to attend our business meetings in person starting in May.

New Member Spotlight: Shennae Curtis

Comrade Shennae Curtis in her dress whites with friends shortly after she enlisted in the Navy.

This is a recurring column that highlights new VFW Post 3063 members. Comrade Shennae Curtis joined in October 2020 and volunteered to be the Post 3063 Historian.

What motivated you to join the VFW? After seeing so many of my compatriots struggle as they got out to find purpose and meaning in their lives I realized that what I really wanted was a community. One of the things that is hard to find in civilian life but was easy when I was in the military is finding a network of people all trying to achieve the same positive goal. While the time has passed for me to be on active duty, the VFW is a way to still support both my country and the people that protected it.

What is your military background? In the Navy I was a nuclear Electrician’s Mate. We worked long hours, in the depths of a ship, with little in the way of sunlight or communication to the outside. It was difficult, but by bonding together we managed to make the most of it. Some of the strongest bonds that I’ve made in my life were in the service, and I carry them to this day.

Civilian job, education, family, hobbies, or anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself? Now I’ve taken a much less stressful position as a Field Service Engineer for a lighting control company and spend my off hours pursuing my education or reading.

What do you hope to achieve being a member of the VFW? As Post historian I hope to catalog all the stories that Post 3063 holds. I would like to capture all the memories that we have and preserve them so that new members can see all that we’ve accomplished and all that we’ve experienced. If you would like your stories put to record, please reach out to me: [email protected].

Goodbye to Smoke Stained Ceilings

By Harold Rodenberger

Those of you who have been in our hall in the past few years may have noticed that the ceiling tiles are yellowish from the days of inside smoking and stained from water leaks.

A few weeks ago, our contact at FRIHET 402, VASA (Swedish Freedom Assoc), called and wanted to know if we could use some almost new ceiling tiles. They were removing a dropped ceiling in their recreation center at Lake Sammamish and were willing to donate them to our post. During normal times they meet in our hall once a month and had noticed the stained ceiling.

On January 16th, we rented a truck and, with the help of several volunteers, loaded up about 600 ceiling tiles and brought them to our post. The following weekend we changed out the tiles in the small meeting room. Next we will replace the tiles in the main hall. It’s a big project so we’ll do it over upcoming weekends.

Here’s a big THANK YOU to the folks at Frihet and many thanks to volunteers Dan Stokke, Bryce White, Russ Seelig, Pat Ronan, Joe Tiffany, Campbell Krawitz and our Commander, Joe Fitzgerald. Their help made it work.