The    GFWC Convention was an exciting adventure for me. I spent the time in Hollywood, Florida meeting up with all my old friends, and managed to meet new ones as well. GFWC International President Mary Ellen Laister gave us time to even enjoy the outdoors a couple of days. I attended the business sessions, workshops, banquets, and a night out at the Villages of Gulfstream. The Region Presidents’ meeting facilitated by Babs Condon, GFWC President-elect was enjoyable and very informative.  We talked about what we had planned for the Region luncheons, and what was being planned for our Con-ferences in the Fall. Great Lakes Region Conference, October 11-12, 2013 is going to be an exciting and informative conference. I am going with my same theme, “Good Old Fash-ioned Friendship”. You may remember the song, “Make New Friends, but keep the Old. One is silver and the other gold!” I truly believe in friendships and want everyone to catch up with their friends during the weekend. We also have many workshops being planned. I am very excited about getting this conference under way!

I am including my report from the Great Lakes Region Luncheon. I must explain a little about this report. I asked my officers to write a report on their own story. I believe the luncheon attendees enjoyed getting to know their officers. Hope you enjoy my story. This is my story: I have been married to my best friend Chris for almost 45 years. I have two children Julie & Christopher, a son-in-law Steve, a daughter-in-law, Jennifer and five grandchildren, Courtney, Caitlin, Sean, Avery & Evan. My family is my greatest achievement. My working career was at my hometown bank for fifteen years. I decided after my children were off to college, perhaps it was time for me to further my education. I had taken banking & accounting classes during my working days, but I was interested in music. So I applied to a college as close to me as possible, and began my classes in music appreciation. I really enjoyed the classes and it was the best time of my life to further my love of music. I could really appreciate the education I was getting. I have been a cantor at two different Churches for over 20 years. I learned to play the alto saxophone in High School. I play the piano and have made an attempt at learning to play the violin. The violin has not been a huge success though. Not so good at that! My love of music has been evident throughout my life. My GFWC story is: I’ve been a club member for just about 30 years. I have been a club president, district president, and state president for Michigan. I also have worked on committees for GFWC, in Leadership, and Domestic    Violence    Awarenes & Pevention capacities. I tackled a GFWC choir direction with the help of Rose Ditto.

I am the first Region President in 24 years from the State of Michigan. It has been a wonderful journey for me. I believe in friendships and GFWC has afforded me the won-derful experiences of meeting many women around this country and forming many friendships from these associations. And the rest of the story is: I am truly honored to be your Region President and I am looking forward to another visit with everyone in October at our Annual Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. Linda