President's Message

Hello again, Gaither cousins,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I wish all of you a marvelous New Year, with long life and good health for you and all yours.

Our next reunion looms on the horizon - 8 June 2011. This will be my first reunion as president and I'm eagerly looking forward to meeting all of you again. Hopefully we will also have some new attendees. In my last newsletter message, I brought up a couple of thoughts that I think you should be considering before you arrive in Raleigh.

I mentioned that the organization no longer operates in strict accordance with its by-laws. Although I do not believe that this is a serious problem, I think that it is an issue that the membership should be aware of and possibly move to correct. If there is a member who has experience with organizational by-laws, I'd appreciate it very much if the person or persons would contact me early during the reunion, and share your expertise with me. I think it would be good for the organization if there was someone who would step forward and volunteer to be chairperson of a committee to review and revise the by-laws.

Even more important, I suggested the establishment of a Research Panel. I envision this panel to become a standing committee and to consist of three to four members selected from among the Society's member ship. I know that there are genealogical issues among the members concerning many of the facts of the early lives of your ancestors. Such disagreements over issues of fact are common and understandable. After all we are dealing with old, sparse, and sometimes conflicting documents. I think that, each year, at the general meeting, one or two of these issues should be referred to the Research Panel for their consideration during the coming year. They would then attempt to resolve the issues, if possible, or at a minimum, develop a set of assumptions about the data underlying the issue. I think that a knowledgeable Gaither researcher could make an important contribution to the goals and purposes of the organization. At the last reunion several people mentioned the desirability of "getting back to our research".

At this point, I'd like to interject a gentle reminder to all our current committee chair-persons. I hope that by the time we convene, the chairpersons will have completed their work and be ready to present their findings to the general membership.

Again, I look forward to seeing you all again. If you have any thoughts as to administrative changes the organization might need, please chat with me during the reunion. I'm always happy to hear new ideas.