Dianne Lockwood

GCREA History

2008-2009

Dianne Lockwood, President

Nita Hallford, President Elect

Linda McQuaig, Secretary

Beverly Dryden, Treasurer

Our theme for the year was based on the State's theme of Keys and so we adopted the theme Keys to the Heart.

During this year we gained 65 new members and received the State award for highest membership  growth in our Class.  We felt honored by receiving this award.

We were asked to consider relocating our meetings to a more central location and so we did some research and put three locations on our list. One was a retirement community located just off Highway 316. They hosted our January Board meeting and provided us with a complimentary luncheon. We also considered the dining facilities at the Chamber of Commerce building on Sugarloaf Parkway as well as continuing at the Hamilton Mill location. At our  March meeting all members in attendance voted by secret ballot and those votes were tallied along with any we received from members unable to attend. The vote showed a majority of members wanted to continue meeting at the Harnilton Mill location and we signed a new contract with them for the 2009-2070 year

At our February meeting, we enjoyed the music of the Brookwood Jazz Band and honored the retired educators from the Brookwood Cluster. We hope to continue this tradition in the coming years.

One of our most successful endeavors was the work of the puppeteers as they visited elementary schools and performed puppet shows that focused on bullying with words as well as with physical actions.

We followed the organization's policies of highlighting our Emeritus members; honoring our Scholarship recipients; conducting a Memorial service for our departed members and installing our new officers. This year's installation was conducted by our new state president, John Upchurch.