Today’s Meeting: – Betsy Garach – Conemaugh Nason Medical Center & Foundation
Future Speakers:
April 24th – Karen McGraw – Armed Forces Mothers
May 1st – No Speaker – Membership discussion led by Alex Seltzer
May 8th – Presentation of two Amtrykes
May 15th – Debbie Kelly – Dreams Go On
May 22nd – Marty Malone – Lehman Engineers – Pa’s covered bridges
Whacha’ May Have Missed Last Week:
…..Last week our speaker was Lou Schmidt. Lou, who is a local attorney, grew up in Altoona and became fascinated with history when he discovered a set of 1968 World Book Encyclopedias in his grandmother’s attic. Lou’s talk centered around the 1787 Constitutional Convention which was held in Philadelphia in the building now known as Independence 
Hall. The convention was designed to work out problems that were associated with the Articles of Confederation. Each of the 13 states, except Rhode Island which chose not to participate, sent representatives to the convention that began in May. Pennsylvania had eight delegates to the convention (more than any other state) including Robert Morris, James Wilson, and Benjamin Franklin. Lou noted that some of the topics of discussion included the term length of the presidency, the pay for legislators and how the states would be represented in the legislature. The result of the conference was the signing of the United States Constitution on September 17th, 1787. Lou noted that his interest in history was one of the factors in his decision to run for the Pa. 79th District House seat.
Guests of the Day:
Tim Holtz, guest of Ken Decker. Tim, who is the president of the Glendale Lakes Snowmobile Club, took a few minutes to discuss the club’s recent efforts to increase the number and length of trails.
News of the Week:
…..Vice-President Kristan reminded everyone that hoagie and apple dumpling orders are due tomorrow….April 17th with delivery on Tuesday April 24th at club that day.
…..Kristan also noted that the club will host a team for this fall’s We Care Softball Marathon, scheduled for August 10th. Team manager, Tony Miller, is once again recruiting anyone and everyone to play on the team or at least to show up and root them onto victory.
…..Scholarship chairman, Tim Parnell, reminded the membership that the deadline for National and local scholarship applications is coming up on April 17th. See Tim if you have any questions.
…..A sign-up sheet was again passed around to work at our annual Blood Screening set for Saturday May 5th at the Park Hills Golf Club. Two more volunteers are still needed that morning from 5:30 AM to 10:00 AM. This fundraiser typically nets the club around $12,000 so it’s a big part of our Amtryke budget. Also remember to sign up yourself for a screening and help advertise the event by placing brochures and posters in your office and any other locations where people would see them. The brochures and posters are now available at club.
…..I think it is fair to say that everyone who attended last Tuesday’s tour of Lenny’s Classic Car Museum was quite impressed with the collection of cars, the renovation of the building, and the excellent details that Lenny’s employees impart on the unbelievable collection of classic cars. It was amazing to witness this collection which has to be seen to be believed! I would assume that most people in the area don’t even realize that this collection is in their backyard. Thanks to Paul Dick for setting up this unique opportunity for us to enjoy.
…..Last week the raffle ticket of Linda Horomanski was chosen by our guest speaker, Lou Schmidt. After picking a card, Linda noted that even though diamonds are a girl’s best friend, the 7 of diamonds wasn’t what she was looking for. The good news for the rest of us is that the pot once more grows….now over $600! So this week, you have the chance to pick the winning Joker out of a remaining deck of 22 cards.
In Closing:
A man and a woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoebox in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.
For all these years the husband hadn’t thought about the box, but one day the wife got very sick and her doctor told them that she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoebox and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the shoebox. When he opened the box, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totally $95,000.
He asked her about the contents. “When we were to be married’ she said, ‘my grandmother told me the secret to a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”
The old man was so moved that he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all of those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. “Honey’, he exclaimed, ‘that explains the dolls but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?” “Oh’, she said, ‘that was the money I made from selling the dolls!”