Site Last Updated: 12/11/09

President's Hot Seat:
Rick Crisenberry

As most of you will recall, annual chapter elections were held at the last membership
meeting. I was elected President, Vickie Domke was elected Treasurer, Chris Matthews and Jack DiMarchi were elected as Board Members. It is certainly appropriate for all of us to thank the outgoing board members for all of their hard work and dedication to the organization: Pete Haggland, Rob Norris,
Louis Knapp and Phil Schaefer.
I would like to personally thank Pete Haggland for not only giving freely of his time and energy over the last 6 years as the President of Chapter 1129 but also for his dedication to insuring that the Pioneer Air Museum will continue to
function with the untimely death of Corky. This latter job has been a tremendous undertaking and I know it has been a challenge for Pete while he tries to figure out the various tasks that need to be done. With is in mind and with an eye to the future of the museum the Board at it’s first meeting after the election agreed to offer Pete a position as Interim Manager of the Pioneer Air Museum.
The position is considered interim until next summer to give Pete and the Board time to determine a long range plan for the museum. Pete has kindly
consented to accept this position.

Beside the need for some long range planning, other items discussed at the EAA and IAAAF board meetings were the various upcoming activities, meeting programs and workshops. The next upcoming activity is the Christmas party
followed by the EAA annual banquet in February. While the Christmas party is well in hand, the banquet requires a lot of planning and anyone interested in helping put it on is urged to volunteer.

Also I am asking for all of our members to give some
consideration on what topics they would like to see presented as programs at our meetings. The board has committed to making programs a blend of EAA and historical topics so we really need your input on what you would to see presented.

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Chapter 1129/IAAAF Election Results
Newsletter Editor and Rick Crisenberry

The annual elections were held at the November monthly meeting.
New Officers include:
Rick Crisenberry- President
Vicki Domke - Treasurer
New Board Members include:
Jack DiMarchi Seat C
Chris Mathews Seat D

Current Officers/Board Members who still have 1 yr
remaining on their 2-year terms include:
John Zarling-Board Seat A
Arvid Weflen-Board Seat B
Roger Weggel-Vice President
Michael Armstrong-Secretary

EAA 1129 Board Members and officers also serve simultaneously in that capacity for IAAAF. We would like to thank outgoing officers including Pete Haggland who put in 6 years of hard work,
Louis Knapp, Phil Schaefer and Rob Norris. Pete is staying on at Interim Manager of the museum while the Board initiates a more formal process
for hiring a museum manager.

 

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Chapter By-Laws

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Chapter History Lesson

Vickie Domke

EAA Chapter 1129 was founded in 1996 as a result, as I recall, of an offhand comment, “How come we don't have an EAA Chapter in Fairbanks ?”

Actually there was a chapter, but due in large part to the devastating economy in the 1980's the chapter had basically disbanded and disappeared.

The treasurer of that chapter gave the new EAA Chapter over $2000, the sum total of the previous chapter's bank account. That seed money allowed us the ability to incorporate, start a newsletter, pay our national dues, pay the mandatory insurance, pay postage and primitive advertising costs and basically get the ball rolling.

Each of the Chapter 1129 presidents has left an impression. Sterling Muth introduced us to ultralights long before the neighbors in North Pole ever began complaining about the noise. I remember him as an optimistic character, with a conservative don't-change-anything policy contrasted with his wild off the wall purchase of one of the first modern ultralights in Fairbanks.

Clay Cranor had the unglamorous task of wrangling the paperwork and incorporation paperwork to ground. His trademark laid-back style of leadership peaked with his presentation of how he preheated his Cub in the Early Days. “I just ran a hose from the car exhaust and up into the cowling…” We were a very low-budget group.

Dave Gardner probably wrote the second more modern edition of Robert's Rules of Order. His incredibly stable personality, sport coat and tie and look-you-right-in-eye honesty secured our honorary status with the IAAAF museum.

My presidency was built on the foundation of the previous presidents and supported by the solid Board of Directors. I learned that is ok to cry and show emotion when bad things happen to good people.

Pete Haggland has spearheaded our first really big project, building the Jenny wings. His booming voice is a great attribute at the Annual Banquet and he has reached out to other aviation organizations and helped our EAA chapter reputation as one to be considered when making aviation policy in the North Land .

Most of the original early 1996 members still regularly attend meetings, participate in Young Eagle events, eat pancakes at the Annual Breakfast and go to the Board Meetings even when they are not on the Board. Our Chapter has grown to almost 90 members with a reliable newsletter, bills to pay, wings to build, T-shirts to sell, kids to fly and a much anticipated Annual Banquet.

So, fellow EAA members, what's the Next Big Project?

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