As many of you read this, my son Chris and I will have just arrived in Cimarron, New Mexico to begin our backpacking trek. While I would have liked to have seen all of you, I�ve looked forward to the trip to Philmont Scout Ranch. I�ll be back in North Carolina next year! I WAS able to take two trips to Lebanon to research Fulbright records and prepare the banquet talk on John Fulbright Jr. There is an abundance of Fulbright history information in the courthouse in Lebanon (part of which I�m sharing in this newsletter), and I hope some of you who are interested will be able to do some research during the reunion.

It�s been a busy and challenging year for me. I just finished a stint as Chair of the Faculty Senate at Southeast Missouri State University, and somehow managed to keep most of the faculty and the administration on speaking terms with me. (Kind of like finishing a tight-rope walk!) I have also started as the Scoutmaster of Chris� scout troop. Chris finished 8th grade and is ready to start high school next year, and Hope is teaching summer school for special needs pre-school children.

How about all of you Fulbright cousins? I don�t hear from too many of you, so it would be nice to receive some news for the newsletter. Otherwise, I end up writing most of this--and I simply have less time to do this than I have the last couple of years. That�s why this newsletter is a little late. It takes very little time to drop me an e-mail or mail me a note to keep all of us up to date on you, so please do so!

We have a hard decision to make at this year�s reunion--whether to raise dues. I checked back to the formation of the FFA in the old newsletters, and apparently we have NEVER raised dues in 9 years. Costs for copying and postage have gone up in this time, so we will need to seriously consider this move. I have offered to give the FFA the rights and originals for record abstracts and transcriptions, the first of which will be available at this reunion. However, more is needed to get the FFA in good financial shape for the future. David Herd will have the monetary figures to document the need, so please consider doing this.

Hope you enjoy the reunion, and be sure and thank Vera Harrill and David and Patricia Herd for all they did to make it possible!