Message from the President December 2018

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the End of the Year…

Welcome to a month of holidays (Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza and so many more), which means I hope you are enjoying your friends and family this month. Togetherness is a key part of the human experience, and I sincerely hope you are enjoying that sentiment to its fullest in December. Of course, togetherness is one of the reasons we have our convention each July. Spending time with each other is something we all enjoy and make the most of, and our convention next year is no exception. We have been working to bring you a wonderful convention and I believe we have succeeded.

The 52nd Annual ICGA Carnival Glass Convention will take place at the Holiday Inn Des Moines Airport on July 10-13th next year. The convention is taking place at a hotel you may remember (it’s across from the Des Moines airport) as we were there a decade ago. We had a fascinating display room this year in Indianapolis, and we are building on that with what should be an AMAZING display room next year. Titled “Tall Tales”, the display room will feature your carnival glass that has a past. In other word, it has an interesting history. Bring your glass and your stories about the glass, how you found it, what was very interesting about it to share with others. If you don’t want to speak, write it down and we will tell your story for you. At the end of each story, it will be up to the audience as to whether the story is real or a tall tale (so make your stories OUTRAGEOUS for all of us to enjoy!). Bill and Kenda Jeske are the display room coordinators, and their contact information is on the inside cover page of The Carnival Pump. Jump into this opportunity with both feet and make it truly unbelievable.

I need to step back a bit and discuss a few things I really don’t want to discuss. The first is the loss of Lee Markley in November. Lee was a true ICGA treasure. If you haven’t read Lee’s history of ICGA on our website, you really must. He has been involved since the beginning and his life is woven into the story of ICGA. Serving for decades as the ICGA Secretary, his kindness, sense of humor, and overwhelming drive to make being a member of this organization such a wonderful thing has left many of us feeling the tremendous loss the lack of his presence brings. Our convention this year was great fun, but one of our family wasn’t there. And, unfortunately, Lee’s death in November meant that we would no longer have him at our conventions.

Lee is one of the very few recipients of ICGA’s Frank M. Fenton Award of Excellence, and it’s because he was such a rarity, incredibly unique, and very special to so many. Lee had recently added a new carnival glass room to his home, one that he didn’t get to enjoy nearly enough, but it epitomized his efforts. Lee always put others first, only allowing himself to enjoy things once everyone else had been served. His loss is all of ours. Fortunately, we will have Lee’s legacy with us for many years,

It is also my duty to announce the appointment of Mitchell Stewart as ICGA’s new vice president. Like Lee, Mitchell is one who puts great amounts of effort into the successes of carnival glass clubs. His effort for ICGA, one of the many things he has done for our organization, resulted in the wonderful new Christmas Compotes we have offered our members the past two years. It takes quite the time and drive to get 100 of the compotes and bring them back to his home from Ohio and then double box and mail all of them out to you, but Mitchell does a fantastic job and does it happily and willingly. He will make a great vice president until our election in July in Des Moines (when hopefully we can convince him to run again)!

There are other issues in this edition of the Pump that you already received a letter about. Please feel free to contact either me or any other officer or director from ICGA with any questions you may have. We never enjoy situations such as the ones mentioned in the Pump and letter, but we continue to work to address and prevent things such as these now and in the future.

As always, I hope you are at a great place in your life, one cilled with laughter, togetherness, and warm thoughts. December is the time for all of these, and truly, you deserve such happiness in your life. Belonging to a carnival glass club isn’t something everyone can do, but you can and do. Your friendship and membership are a true delight. Thank you, and stay warm!!

Brian