Jimmie Alford, who has Kentucky roots and encouraged many of his
relatives to attend, hosted this year's meeting. About 150 attendees
represented at least 48 of our identified branches. The meeting began
as usual with registration Friday morning at 8:00, with Treasurer
Doris Vetri and Secretary Max Alford making sure it went smoothly.
Genealogical workshops on Friday covered such topics as how and where
to access various records such as census, county courthouse, federal
government, military. Part of the Friday workshop was dedicated to
various computer programs that help you manage and manipulate your
genealogical records. The workshop was conducted by Lynn Shelley,
our Vice President, assisted by several other members who generously
volunteered to give presentations. As in other years, the Friday night
reception had the second highest attendance (the Saturday night buffet
was the largest gathering). The serving tables were on opposite sides
of the room which kept the crowd mingling.
After the reception, the Board of Directors held its annual meeting
to discuss business issues and finalize the proposed slate of candidates
for the 1998-99 Board. The Saturday morning business meeting was opened
by host Jimmie Alford and Ramona Darden, meetings chairwoman. After
opening remarks, the meeting was turned over to President Gil Alford.
Before getting down to the serious business, prizes were awarded in
various categories (newest member, oldest member, etc.). Following
reports from various officers and committee chairs, Wick Alford, Chairman
of Human Resources, presided over the election of the new Board of
Directors. The slate of candidates prepared by the Human Resources
Committee was elected unanimously. The new Board includes four new
members: Jare M. Pearigen, Ramona A. Darden, Harris M. Alford, Joyce
C. Foster. Re-elected returning members are: Cecil O. Alford, Gil
Alford, Max R. Alford, Sally Stoewer, Lynn D. Shelley, Pamela Thompson
, Doris O. Vetri. The outgoing members of the Board of Directors--Paul
W. Alford, Nolan David Alford, JoLynn Alford Long, and Janice Smith--were
presented certificates of appreciation on Saturday night for a job
well done during their tenure of service. Immediately after the election,
the new Board convened and re-elected our current officers for the
coming year from a list of nominees prepared by the Human Resources
Committee. Ramona Darden then presided over selection of a site for
our 2002 meeting (1999 Texas, 2000 Georgia, and 2001 North Carolina).
After much discussion, Salt Lake City, Utah, was selected as the site
for our meeting in 2002. The 1998 business meeting was then gavelled
to a close.
The Saturday afternoon Alford Forum was hosted by President Gil Alford.
His presentation covered the Alford migration across the U.S. As he
covered the lineages of those in attendance, he recognized those in
the audience who belonged to that particular line. Presentations were
also made by Dr. R.M. "Dick" Alford, Mike Heazel, Jimmie
Alford, Milton Folds, John and Janice Smith, and Dr. Cecil Alford.
The presentations covered family migrations of some of the different
family groups. The Saturday night buffet was delicious and enjoyed
by all. After everyone had eaten, two inductions were made into the
Alford American Family Association's Hall of Fame. Alicia Houston
was inducted for all the work she has done guiding the extraction
of census data from the beginning to the last census released. She
has to go back many generations before she finds an Alford ancestor,
but she has really put in a lot of time and effort into helping AAFA
attain its goals--and she's done so since the very beginning of AAFA.
Lynn Shelley, our Vice-President, was also inducted into the Hall
of Fame. She has served as Vice-President for several years. She is
also very involved in genealogical research and has traveled extensively
at her own expense to do some of the research. Both Lynn and Alicia
have distant Alford-named ancestors, but more tireless workers and
promoters of AAFA would be hard to find. Many members were also honored
as Distinguished Members for their work over the past year. Lodwick
"Wick" Alford, chair of the Human Resources Committee, introduced
our first memorial service for deceased members. His committee is
responsible for maintaining the AAFA memorial album which contains
information and photographs, to the extent available, of all deceased
AAFA members. The album was available for viewing and will be at all
future meetings. Wick read the names of the recently deceased members,
after which the Reverend Ben R. Alford led attendees in a special
prayer. After the awards were presented, the drawings for the raffle
prizes were held. Elroy and Jan Alford make wonderful curios and craft
items, and like they did at the California meeting last year, they
donated two of them to be raffled off at the buffet: a beautiful wooden
angel and a charming birdhouse. Doris Alford, our treasurer, donated
a cross-stitched Christmas stocking and a cross-stitched sampler for
the raffle also.The proceeds from the always-popular raffle go into
the Alford American Family Association's general fund. We thank everyone
for their support of this effort-buyers, sellers, and especially the
prize contributors. Sunday morning the research room was open for
some last-minute research and saying last-minute goodbyes as the meeting
drew to a close. An important aspect of the meeting is providing access
to a lot of the Alford material that Gil Alford keeps in his basement
(or Alford Central as he refers to it) and the notebooks containing
census data that Alicia Houston brings to the meeting. But just as
important is the camaraderie that builds between members. Friday and
Saturday nights it is not uncommon to find groups sitting in the hotel
lobby chatting until the wee hours of the morning. Victor Alford was
in charge of procuring chairs Friday night and I think he relocated
almost every chair in the hotel to a group that started out small
but grew significantly before everyone retired. There are members
who make almost every meeting and god kept alive by attendance at
the meetings.
