President's Comments
by: Harry D. Bryan
FUTIAWA President

‘My Final Thoughts as President’
The past two years have gone by extremely fast. I still remember Jesse Francis, chair of the nominating committee, calling and asking if I would serve as president of FUTIAWA. I replied, "don't you mean the Smoky Mtn. District and he said, no, I am referring to the state association".

When your former boss ask you to do something, it is still hard to say "no", so I accepted. This was before I had looked at the records and could not find where a retired county agent had ever served as president. I hope I have not embarrassed anyone with my outspoken views on the Institute of Agriculture and The University of Tennessee.

As was reported in our last newsletter, Dr. John Petersen, our university president, spoke at our state association meeting held in April. He was very complimentary of the institute and referred to the Institute of Agriculture as the "shining star" within the university.

One of Dr. Petersen's assistants called me prior to his visit and asked me our reason for existence. She had been on our website and read our by-laws but wanted to know the "real reason" for our association. I told her that most of us had spent from 1/2 to 2/3 of our lives working for the university and wanted to feel we were still connected in some way with the university that had meant so much to us. She replied that was reason enough.

I still wonder why many of our retirees do not take part in our meetings. I have certainly enjoyed attending our area meetings and seeing old friends. When you see people that went to work the same year you did over 40 years ago there is a lot of reminiscing.

Just as a reminder, the purpose of our organization is the following:
• To unite all former Institute of Agriculture workers.
• To serve as a communication liaison between the former employees and the present Institute of Agriculture administration and its employees.
• To keep all former employees informed of policy and retirement benefit changes.
• To solicit all former Institute workers support for the Institute programs.
• To provide social contact with former co-workers.

We have worked hard to try to follow the purposes of our organization. We contact all former workers with five or more years of employment and encourage them to join. According to Bob Burney, our secretary/treasurer, we have taken in more members during the past two years than we have lost by not renewing or have gone on to meet our maker. We have done this without increasing dues as most all expenses of the association have gone up.

Probably the most important responsibility we have as an organization is to keep our members informed through our newsletter and website. George Mays does a great job of keeping us informed of what's happening in our members's lives as well as what is happening within the Institute of Agriculture. You can help us serve our organization more effectively if you will let George know of news items that others would want to know.

Also, if you have an email address and are not receiving updates from George through email, let him know your email address. You will receive regular updates weeks before it can be published in the newsletter. Many times this information is also published on our website and can not be accessed by going to www.futiawa.org

I want to thank all our officers for the unselfish service they have given our association during the past two years. Martha Jo Tolley has been most helpful with her advice and counsel having served as your state president prior to my term. Bob Burney has kept our finances in check and will hand over to Alma Pike our balanced books that are in the black. Thanks Bob.

All of our district officers have done an admirable job planning and conducting the area meetings. We heard from members wanting to plan their own meetings and we witnessed some very good meetings the past two years. Thank all of you for the job you have done and continuing to do. I have said on many occasions, our organization would not be what it is without the work of George Mays. Thank you George for the wonderful job you do as our communications director.

I wish Roy Lessley and Alma Pike the best as they lead our organization the next two years. Best wishes to all.