Delta Golden Wings Annual Membership Meeting

16 October 2022

Sheraton DFW Airport Hotel

 

The annual meeting of Delta Golden Wings was called to order by President Al Dvoracek at 2:05pm. Al opened the meeting by leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Attendees included:

Al and Marilyn Dvoracek

Joe Reid

JIm Baird

Jay and Judy Coyle

Dave and Lynne Roberts

Bill and Pat Vorderbruggen

Buddy and Nita Brooks

Fox and Kelly Ferrel

Ed and Patty Lux

Dave Ewing

Rollin and Patsy Jackson

Bill Felini

Bob and Sammie Pfister

 

President Al Dvoracek recognized the other board members:

Joe Reid, Vice President

Jim Baird, Treasurer

Jay Coyle, Secretary

Julian Black, Membership Chairman (He was unable to attend due to illness.)

 

Al reported of the status of several members who had planned to attend the meeting, but were unable due to illness. He led us in a silent prayer and moment of silence for those who are no longer with us and the members who were unable to attend due to illness.

Al Dvoracek motioned to approve the old minutes. Bob Pfister moved to accept them and Dave Ewing seconded. The motion passed.

 

Vice President Joe Reid gave his report. He spoke about today’s agenda discussed at the Board Meeting earlier in the day. One item that came up concerned the Reunion format and how taxing the tours are on our older members. We plan on taking that into consideration when planning the Reunion activities. Also membership is declining as younger retirees are not joining in DGW activities. The consensus of the Board was to continue with the current format for future reunions as long as our current funding lasts. The members were invited to send suggestions concerning tours and functions at future reunions to the Board.

 

Jay Coyle then spoke of the reduced number of sympathy cards sent for the loss of members and spouses. The number is actually less than the previous two years. The reduction in membership and fewer Covid related incidents are possible reasons. We had 950 members in 2021. The latest roster has 853 listed.

 

Jay then spoke about the cancellation of the Fly-in/Drive-in at Williamson, Georgia. The Fly-In/Drive-in event supported the Ron Alexander Youth Aviation Program (RAYAP) at the airport there. JIm Hoogerwerf sent a report explaining the reasons for the cancellation. It will be made available to our members on the DGW website. Basically the hangar we used for this event was sold. The new owners imposed costs and limitations making it impossible to return a profit in support of RAYAP. DGW is committed to providing a scholarship to a desiring student of the RAYAP through 2023. Mykel Villoria, a sophomore at East Coweta High School, was selected as the 2022 Delta Golden Wings Scholarship on Saturday 15 October 2022.

 

Jim Baird presented the Treasurers report.  We are in very good financial shape. We currently have over $130,000 in our checking and savings accounts. The Board came to the decision to use some of the money we have to subsidize the costs of the Reunion for those members who participate. For example, the costs for the buses for the tours were paid from DGW funds and the costs for the banquet were also partially covered by DGW. We will continue to supplement future Reunions with funds from DGW with the hope that the reduced costs will encourage more participation by our members. We will continue to draw down from the DGW accounts as long as we have adequate funds.

 

Al Dvoracek led a discussion of how to get more people to attend the Reunion. He was disappointed in the turnout in DFW and wanted suggestions to increase the turnout for future. The Delta Air Lines Chief Pilots office no longer provides our Membership Chairman Julian Black with a list of retirees. This is true of all the retirement groups at Delta. The company will not share the personal information of any retiring employees. This, among other factors, has lead to a decline in new members joining DGW for the past several years.

 

Al reminded the members present of the six S3A non revenue passes we each have. These higher priority passes put us just below active duty employees and above Endeavor Air and Delta Private Jet employees because of our earlier retirement dates. The S3A passes can move you up the non rev list significantly. Al also mentioned vehicles displaying Texas license plates issued by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, having a Disabled Veteran (DV) or eligible Meritorious Military Honors designation may receive complimentary close parking at both DFW and Love Field.

 

Under new business our webmaster David Ewing briefed us on the updated website. Our website has gone through a complete redesign. Security had become a problem as we had over 50,000 non DGW people (mostly from Russia) who had signed up for access. We hired a website developer to completely redesign and improve the security so only active DGW members have access and their personal information is protected. Both the roster of members and the history of DGW is now behind a firewall. He explained how to the access the website. He thanked Jim Baird for keeping him updated on the current roster and Dave Roberts for keeping him updated on members who are no longer with us. He will demonstrate the website after the meeting to show members how it now looks.

 

The election of officers followed. Both Joe Reid and Jay Coyle have stepped down as board members. Gordon Wagoner has volunteered to take over as Vice President and Rollin Jackson has volunteered to become Secretary. There were no other nominations submitted. The new nominates was approved unanimously by acclimation. Al Dvoracek, JIm Baird, and Julian Black will continue to serve on the board in their present positions. The new board consists of:

 

Al Dvoracek, President

Gordon Wagoner, Vice President

Jim Baird, Treasurer

Rollin Jackson, Secretary

Julian Black, Membership Chairman

 

The next order of business concerned our future Reunions. Next year’s destination is Charleston, South Carolina. Al again asked members to forward any suggestions for events and tours  to the Board taking into consideration the age and capability of our members. Al mentioned how well liked the Dallas/Fort Worth tours were and plans to use the same company to plan the Charleston tours. We then considered the location for the 2024 Reunion. Members nominated Dayton, Boston, and Buffalo. Some members suggested taking a Caribbean cruise as an option. A discussion of the pros and cons of each destination followed. After voting Dayton was chosen as the destination for the 2024 Reunion with the option of a cruise as backup choice.

 

After new business was completed DGW monogrammed decanters was presented to Joe Reid and Jay Coyle to thank them for serving on the Board.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:10pm.