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From our President

Bill Eddleman

I hope everyone is having a pleasant summer! I have been very busy teaching and trying to keep up with other aspects of work. I guess I brought it all on myself, since I elected to teach my normal fall course load in order to have next fall as my "summer". I am looking forward to being able to do some things in cooler weather! Meanwhile, Hope is enjoying having the summer off, and Chris has been keeping busy with swim lessons, Boy Scout camp, and having summer fun with friends. I'd love to hear from many of you--drop a line about any events happening in your life that you would like to let us know about. We could use more material from more of you for the News!

I am happy to report that we continue to get more contacts from family members. I am strongly convinced the web sites Ed Stout has assembled has helped a great deal with this. Most recently, I have received information from new member Joyce Hendrickson about John Fulbright (son of Jacob Sr.), who went from Haywood Co., North Carolina, to Madison Co., Tennessee early in the 1800s. Many of his descendants stayed in Tennessee, but many later went on to Texas. More in a future newsletter.

The 2000 Fulbright Reunion, originally scheduled for Springfield, Missouri, was canceled in March. All of you should have received a postcard informing you of this action. The decision was made to cancel because no plans for the reunion had been communicated to me or to any of the Board members by March. A number of us made repeated attempts to get information on the plans, but since none was forthcoming, we had no choice but to cancel. Repeated offers to help plan the reunion also went unanswered. For future reference, if you plan to host a reunion, motel and banquet reservations and dates usually have to be set at least a year in advance. These events just don't happen by themselves. Plan on doing most of the early work yourself, but you can count on the Board and other members to help out with last minute details and with onsite chores. This cancellation also emphasizes to me that we need to consider an alternate year reunion. Plan on discussing this topic more at the next reunion in 2001 in Texas.

If the treasury can support it, I would like to get 3 or 4 newsletters out each year. Look for three more before the next reunion--the next one in the fall. And PLEASE send information about your family, family history, or anything else related to the Fulbrights.