A Message from the President
President’s Message
President’s Message
Since being sworn in as interim President at County Park at the end of June, it’s been a whirlwind of activity at the Lake County Historical Society!
We have had booths at the Redbud Festival, the Lake County Fair, the Blue Grass Festival, and the Pear Festival. The booth at the Fair was wonderfully done, perhaps the best layout in years. A core group of dedicated volunteers set these booths up, manned them, and broke them down. They sold scores of books, signed up numerous new members, and dozens of renewals. A big thanks to everyone that helped out with these events!
We have had two directors meetings, the one in July being held at Ely Stage Stop, where we got a full update on the progress of the project from Greg Dills and Kim Claymore of the County of Lake. Progress is slow, but steady, and over time, great strides have been made. One upcoming phase is the raising of the barns, which shall one day house various historical artifacts.
The directors meeting in September was held at our Nice Clubhouse among the stacks of items moved from the storage facility in Upper Lake. A preliminary sort has been accomplished and the next step is to get volunteers to sift through the items to determine which items are historical in nature, and which items should be sold or thrown away. For those things of historical nature, they need to be cataloged, displayed or stored. It will be quite a project, and volunteers will be needed!
After many years of outstanding production on the Pomo, Mike Anderson had to pull back to take care of some health concerns. For years, he was known as “Iron Mike” for his ability to always get out the Pomo in a timely and great quality manner. Our membership was both impressed and highly appreciative of his efforts. One of my jobs was to try to find someone to fill Mike’s shoes, and I think I did. KC Patrick, Melissa Anderson, Ruby Glebe, and Mildred Pickersgill have volunteered to step up and take on the Pomo. This is what I call the “Dream Team.”
The last General Meeting was on October 3, 2010 was at Grace Free Church in Kelseyville. The topic was “The Killing of Sergeant Helbush” and was made up of a panel of people who were with the Sheriff’s office the night of the murder. The presentation was captivating, emotional, and even tearful at times. The capivating story was told from each participant’s perspective with the aid of slides of the crime scenes and an animated map which were projected on a giant screen. The presentation’s recap even made the lead article of the Record Bee’s front page on October 8!
When I agreed to fill out the remainder of Randy Ridgel’s term, I expected to help with a few meetings and events. But this is one active organization! No wonder Randy wore out! He and Jackie have been great in helping me out along the way. From what I can tell, he did a terrific job in building and managing this organization, and I am finding those shoes hard to fill. Every week I have more respect for what he accomplished during his many years of service to this organization. But no one could make this work without the help of dozens of hard working, dedicated volunteers, and I am simply amazed at the quality and commitment of so many members.
I am proud to be part of such an amazing organization, and hope I can somehow do a tolerable job at being president. Thank you for your patience as I learn what the heck is going on and figure out what needs to be done. Together, we can explore and preserve our County’s history and heritage for future generations to enjoy and learn from.
Phil Smoley
Interim President
