Winter weather didn’t hamper our Christmas Party this year as we saw almost everyone that signed up make it in. KY3 normally calls it pretty good but I think this time they might have prognosticated more than we actually got because it seemed to me that the roads were in pretty good shape… which is a great thing! And the Doubletree Hotel was a great location for our 
Christmas Party! Helen Beeman did a fantastic job by working with the folks to secure not just the room but also some of the best banquet food I have ever partaken of. Everyone at my table was in agreement that normally you can’t expect the food to really be good at events like these but, this time was very different. The pot roast, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and salad was prepared very well and made for a great comfort food luncheon! I didn’t get to see it but I heard that Santa’s Dessert room was pretty nice as well.
With 88 folks present we had a great time not just eating but we also had door prize drawings provided by the Board of Directors, the Christmas Challenge and show’n’tell. Our guest turner last month Rudy Lopez left us his finished turnings that he demonstrated back on November 9th for the club to use in our monthly drawing. Ernie Lorenc and Dan McKinzie were the lucky winners of those items.
Our Club Challenge for December was a Christmas Theme. The winner was Jim Kramer who won a $50 gift card from Hartville Tool with a very nice segmented cookie jar. Jim and Helen Beeman in the picture on the right. Congrats Jim!
The Gift Exchange table had approximately a dozen participants. We drew those names and everyone that brought an item got to go home with one. There were some really nice pieces on the table.
Our elections are always the last meeting of the year and this year our Nominating Committee Chairman, Bob Bezanson, presented the nominations for next year’s officers. They were elected by the members present through public vote. They are:
Larry Randolph, President
Bob Bezanson, Vice President
Don Carlson, Treasurer
David Van Giesen, Secretary
Helen Beeman, Director
Mark Hannum, Director
Michael Young, Director
We would like to thank Denvard Heasley and Ben Alexander for their service over the years. Ben will still be very involved on our education committee and will continue to be an advocate for safety but tells us that he and his wife Char will be doing more travelling “Nationally” next year. Denvard has announced that he is getting married to his new fiancé’ Beverly in February and like Ben and Char, he and Beverly are planning to do a little traveling next year. Thanks Guys!
After the election we went on to acknowledge two individuals this year. In 2012, the Board of Directors thought it good to start an annual tradition of selecting both a Master Turner and a Most Improved Turner each year. Last year, 2012, Ernie Lorenc was named Master Turner and David Pettibone was named Most Improved Turner.
This year by unanimous vote Karen Kathka was named our “Most Improved Turner” for 
2013. Karen has taken on the task of trying several different challenge items over the last year and has finished very well in the voting. She has also taken advantage of our Mentoring Program and been tutored by Helen Beeman, Mike Ilkiw and Ernie Lorenc. It is obvious that she is taking her experience as a retired art teacher (Fair Grove) and is now applying it to woodturning and has turned out some very nice work. Karen received a laser engraved bowl gouge as her award. Congratulations Karen.
Our “Master Turner” was awarded to Carl Huser. As a Master Woodturner Carl has demonstrated the exemplary skills required to create fine woodturnings. In addition he 
is also one who has unselfishly gone beyond his own talents in order to help nurture, share and encourage others in our wood-turning community with his knowledge and experience. Carl was presented an embroidered woodturners smock (Hartville Tool) and a new club name tag labeled Master Turner. Thanks Carl for being part of the solid foundation of our club.
After we awarded Karen and Carl we moved onto the entertainment for the afternoon. As John and Fran Trainer, Jim and Marge Johnston, Ernie and Marge Lorenc and John and Linda Taliaferro volunteered to play their role in the “Not So Newlywed Game.” They might not agree that they volunteered but they did accept the offer of the first places in 
the buffet line. 
With the questions the four couples proceeded to remember back in their relationships and answer some questions about each other just like the classic “Newlywed Game.” When the dust settled and the two rounds were over, Jim and his lovely wife Marge Johnston emerged as the Grand Champions and won a nice $30 gift card to Jim’s Steakhouse just south of Sunshine on Glenstone. The other three couples didn’t go home empty handed… each couple received a consolation prize of a nice gift certificate to spend any evening of their choice at any Springfield McDonald’s for 5 dollars.
We owe a big thank you to David Van Giesen and Helen Beeman for the organization and leg work that it took to bring this event together. There was a lot of time spent chasing down the awards, setting up the tables, sending out invitations and all of the other things it took to end in a successful party. Thanks Guys!
– Larry
Enjoy a few pictures from the event below.
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