Presidents Ponderings...

Written by: Gary Grogan

RCRA Celebrates 50 Years (1961- 2011)

At our October 26, 2011 meeting, we celebrated RCRA's 50th anniversary. That's right...50 YEARS! Collins Radio established an office in Richardson in 1951, which ushered in the North Texas electronics era. In 1961, a group of Collins retirees formed the Collins Retirees Association with a stated purpose to benefit the local community and its' members. Our retirees association was subsequently renamed the Rockwell-Collins Retirees Association (RCRA) following the merger with Rockwell in 1971.
During our 50th anniversary meeting:
 The City of Richardson presented us with a proclamation for outstanding service over our first 50 years.
 Tommy Dodson, VP&GM of Surface Solutions for Rockwell Collins, filled us in on the current state of R-C. Tommy also highlighted a large number of active programs today...that are a direct result of legacy programs (which many of us helped create, develop and support during our careers).
 We had a number of retirees who made this their "first ever" RCRA meeting to attend. I personally took great pleasure in seeing several people for the first time in over 20 years. I also enjoyed that we picked-up the conversation like we saw each other last week, not 20 years ago.
So, we celebrated 50 years in operation which provided us an opportunity to honor the past, recognize the people we've worked with, and look forward to another great 50 years. Along the way, we've made lifelong friends.
We took a lot of pictures at the last meeting. The link to those pictures is on the RCRA Website. Here's a challenge for you: Take a look at the pictures and see how many faces you recognize. Then, see how many stories you remember from those faces. I bet you'll be surprised how fast you remember the faces and how many interesting stories you can recall. That pretty well sums up our organization. We use the RCRA meetings to keep renewing the personal relationships developed over decades of work and accomplishments at Collins and Rockwell. Happy 50th Birthday RCRA! Now, we look forward to starting the next 50.

 

Thanks to Our Hostess Committee

We want to express our gratitude and thanks to is our Hostess Committee organized by Janice Taylor and Bernice Toller. This group of Hostesses greets members, prepares the meeting room, handles name tags, arranges and serves the refreshments, sells rosters and collects the money to support the meetings and does an outstanding job at every meeting.  We all greatly appreciate their support at each meeting. Remember, our primary means of supporting our meetings is donations from you.  Please give generously when the baskets are passed around .

 

US Mail of Newsletter is now by Request ONLY!

We are no longer sending our newsletter via the US Mail to those who have not requested that method of delivery. The newsletter will continue to be available at the RCRA Website and if you will provide your email address to us, we will email it to you when a new newsletter is available. If you need an exception, we will mail a copy of the newsletter to you via the US Mail, but you must specifically request this exception and verify your address for us, as follows: 1. Come to the meeting and make that request at our special signup table. 2. Mail a written request to us with your current home address to P.O. Box 851271, Richardson, TX 75085-1271 3. Email your request to us at rcretirees@gmail.com. Please include your current home address, as well.

 

Member Contributions

Contributions received at the meetings continues to play a major role in offsetting the expenses of this organization. When the baskets are passed please be generous.  Another way to help RCRA is to purchase an ad in this newsletter. Any officer can help you with the details.