Nancy O'Neill Ed. D

24th President

2005-2006

The 2005-2006 officers of the Gwinnett County Retired Educators Association were installed by Pat Major on May 20, 2005. The officers for that year were President-Nancy O'Neill;   President-Elect- Jean Biggers;   Secretary- Linda McQuaig;  Treasurer- Beverly Dryden; Immediate Past President- Beverly Dryden. In addition to the Executive Committee, thirty-three members served as the Board of Directors for the organization. The Board met in June,  2005;  August, 2005; and January,  2006 to set goals, and to make decisions about the business of the organization.

One  goal  for the year was to update the By-Laws to reflect GCREA's new non-profit status.  Brenda Bigham,  By-Laws Chair,  and her committee spent countless  hours  during  the summer,  2005 so that the By-Laws and proposed changes could be distributed to members at  the September luncheon.   Input from all members was encouraged,  and  each proposed article change was read and discussed  by  the Board before the revised By-Laws were presented to the membership for a vote at the December luncheon.

In updating the By-Laws, the Board decided to create a new committee to oversee the flnances  of GCREA. Scott Pryor, Chair; Donnie McQuaig; and Swan Cornell agreed to serve as the Finance Committee. Their task was to bear two reports: one from the Treasurer regarding the adopted budget and the expenditures made during the year and the second from the Chair of the Scholarship Investment Committee regarding income and any actions taken in regard to investments.

Carson Melvin chaired the Scholarship Investment Committee, which set a goal of $50,000 in an investment portfolio.  This amount would generate the $2,000 needed each year for two scholarships given each April.  Clarissa Rice led a Scholarship Investment Fund Drive which reached and exceeded its goal of $6,000 for 2005. Phyllis Caffey chaired the Auction Committee,  and the auction with Brooks Coleman as auctioneer,  was an overwhelming success.

Sarah Finger awarded the Student Scholarship to Jessica Moody,  a senior at Dacula High School who planned to teach elementary education after completing a degree at Georgia State University.

The teacher Scholarship was awarded to Carla Whitehead, the media specialist at North Gwinnett High School who was working on a specialist degree at North Georgia College.

Ralph Greene was given an individual award for the Hands Are Not for Hitting program and alsoreceived the individual AARP National Award for his outstanding service to the youth of the county. Rosa Fite received an award from the National Retired Teacher Association for her work in the With Our Youth Program. The GREA Leadership award went to Beverly Dryden and the Community Service Award to Lori Ziecker.

The GREA Convention was held in Augusta, May 3-5, 2005. Reid and Deloris Mullins,Mary Long, Jane Alexander. Beverly Dryden, Lois Allen, Robert and Jean Biggers,  and Nancy O'Neill attended.