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Sons & Daughters Update

Hello from the 6^th Marine Division’s Sons and Daughters Group (SDG). The Group’s first official meeting took place in September 2003 during the Division’s Florida reunion.

There were 20 + S/Ds at the reunion. It was truly exciting to meet and plan with them. Particular thanks to those of you who brought your parents and made their reunion special. And kudos to those of you who also were able to participate in the S/D round tables--what an eclectic group! To the Stoel "boys," Walker "brothers" (heck, the whole Walker family was there to help with planning!), Susan the 2004 Reunion Czarina, Dan the Media Extravaganza Man, John Wise--newly crowed acting Division newsletter editor, Richard the consultant, Dave Klocke the quality control specialist, Harley-riding Rick, Sheriff Gary, Leo, and all the rest--hats off to you and thanks for your show of support and provocative ideas.

We held two formal SDG meetings that established a leadership structure, confirmed the goals and missions of the SDG, and determined our 2004 focus. We settled for now on a Spartan leadership structure-just three billets-which can expand in the out years. The focus now is on supporting the Division, not building an SDG empire. Jean Steed is the SDG Executive Director. Susan Parham is the SDG Operations Officer, dual-hatting as the 6^th Marine Division’s reunion co-chairman for the 2004 Nashville TN event. We are still "advertising" the volunteer position of SDG Database Manager! At the request of Buzzy Fox, the new Division President, S/D member John Wise volunteered to serve as the Division’s acting Newsletter Editor, and he will be supported by S/D Dan Accrocco.

We confirmed the mission and goals of our adjunct group: perpetuate the history of the Division and support their annual reunions.

Our out-brief at the annual Division’s business meeting included our operational status and plan of action for 2004. The gist: after eight months of canvassing the ranks of potential S/Ds, we are confident that we can be a viable Division adjunct. We chose the 2004 reunion as our Group "proving ground." S/Ds will be firmly integrated in every aspect of its planning and execution. In fact, at the business meeting, Susan presented a well-researched bid for the 2004 reunion to be held in TN: the Division selected that bid!

As we focus planning for the 2004 reunion, scheduled for 26 Sep-2 Oct 2004 in Nashville, TN, we will be soliciting volunteers for several committees. Much advance work can and will be done remotely and on line, so even if you think you can not attend next year, there will be lots of groundwork action.

I also would like volunteers or action officers to shadow the Division’s newly elected officials this year. I will support the new President, Mr. Buzzy Fox. I also will field all support requests from Division officers/members and try to link them up with a S/D who can provide that support. Susan, as Operations Officer, will primarily focus on the reunion. Her cochairman is Claud Wilkins, a 6^th Marine Division pro at reunion planning, so Susan is tutoring under the wings of the best! S/D John Wise as acting newsletter editor gets to endure baptism under fire, but since that is the trade he plies in his other life, we are not at all worried! The expertise of several former Division editors is available to him.

Right now, I have two urgent requests for support:

-- The Division’s new website manager is Division member Bill Pierce. He has some great ideas that he is working on with Lucy Young, the S/D lady who manages the Division website. However, I notice that Bill is very prolific in his ideas and material for loading on the website (some involve transcribing hard-copy to Word documents, and/or scanning hand-written or hard-copy articles so Lucy can effectively load them on the site; some need loading into Excel database, etc.) We would like S/D volunteers to work with Lucy and Bill on implementing his ideas. Please contact me soonest and I’ll link you up.

-- We need a S/D to serve as SDG Database Manager: work on our S/D membership roster and jazz up our S/D button on the Division website. Yes, the S/D button under the 6^th Marine Division website is finally up and running, thanks to Lucy. However, Lucy’s main responsibility is to the Division’s website so the more we help with our button contents the easier it is on her.

To better support the organization in future years, we S/Ds need to understand how it runs today. The S/D questionnaire (download it from the Division website; look under the S/D button) lists the elected and appointed positions that you could consider supporting. Based on the responses I have received to date, some of you expressed interest in a certain nature and level of support. During November, I’ll be contacting the "first responders" to see if you are now interested in specific tasks!

We will be posting another tab under the S/D button that lists specific tasks and reunion committees for which you can volunteer. I’ll also be posting updates periodically under the "current activities" tab. So stay tuned and hope to hear from you.

Jean Steed
7507 E. Roy Rogers Rd
Scottsdale, AZ 85262
(H) 480-563-4731

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