PENNSYLVANIA 156TH STATE SESSION
The 156th Annual State Session of the State Council of PA met on September 14th, 15th, and 16th, 2016 in Ligonier, Pa, in the Western District at the Historic Ramada Inn. It was the first time Pennsylvania had tried holding their State Session biennially instead of annually, the last State Session being held in 2014. It seemed all in attendance had dearly missed seeing their brothers and sisters from opposite ends of the state for two years and one of the proposals for amendment to the by-laws to revert back to annual state sessions was placed on the agenda and passed vigorously. The Pennsylvania State Session will once again be an annual affair. Registration was held on Wednesday afternoon on the 14th with a State Board meeting held at 4:00 p.m. to appoint replacements for any State Council officers unable to attend. One such replacement was sadly made necessary by the passing in June of our late Jr. Past State Councilor, Fred Franceschelli, who will forever truly be missed. The State Secretary, Rich Beppler, also informed the State Board that proposals to amend the by-laws from the 2014 session to combine the State offices of State Warden and State Conductor into one officer – a State Warden/Conductor, as well as the offices of State Inside Sentinel and State Outside Sentinel into one officer – State Sentinel; had been ruled unapproved by the National Law Committee because State officers must coincide with National officers. The necessary chairs were newly appointed and all other business was finalized to run a smooth session. The opening meeting was held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday as all officers and visiting dignitaries were introduced. We were very happy to welcome our National Councilor, Dennis Everett, as the National Council representative, along with his lovely wife Joyce. After a social hour with snacks, the 68th Annual Hendler Club meeting took place at 10:01 p.m. The Hendler Club is a fun club which meets at every annual session and raises funds for charities through an auction held at a Hendler breakfast the last day of the session. Thursday morning after breakfast the State Councilor, John Pietrafase, called to order the First Business Session at 10:00 a.m. During the morning session the National Councilor, Dennis Everett, was asked to share and gave a very enlightening synopsis of the progress of the new and dramatically improved National website, stressing and explaining how Pennsylvania can now easily share with all other states in developing their own individual state blog page which is part of the National web site. After a break at noon for the Hendler luncheon, the members came back for the Second Business Session, until an adjournment of all business was called at 4:00 p.m. to prepare for the annual State Session banquet. The 156th Annual State Banquet began at 5:30 p.m. with a greet & meet of the State Board of Officers, who were all traditionally formally dressed in white dinner jacket and black tie, even the State Vice-Councilor, Maryann Beppler, who felt out of place in a white dinner jacket but actually looked quite attractive. A sit down dinner of a choice of chicken or beef was enjoyed by all and followed by an extremely appropriate patriotic musical skit portraying our nation’s history from revolutionary times till the present which was joined by those present in singing many old time favorites and much flag waving. Raffles were held at the end and the main 50-50 raffle was won by Joyce Everett, wife of National Councilor, Dennis Everett. Joyce made a generous donation to the Hendler Club charities of her entire winnings, and was almost immediately rewarded from the Grand Councilor in Heaven by also winning first place in the door prize drawing a few moments later. Friday morning everyone attended the traditional Hendler Club breakfast and charity auction where there was stiff bidding on a variety of member donated odds and ends which raised money enough to donate to two worthwhile charities. First was the Flight 93 National Memorial site in Shanksville, PA. The second charity was the Meredith Volunteer Hose Company in Childs, PA. in memory of our recently deceased Jr. Past State Councilor, Frederick Franceschelli, who was a past president and longtime member of the hose company. This was followed by the annual Memorial Service of State Council members who passed away since the last State Session. The memorial service was presided over by Fred Franceschelli’s widow, State Chaplain Gale Franceschelli, who bravely and emotionally honored her late husband as well as two other members, including the first woman State Councilor in Pa., Arjanna Frank. Then at 10:00 a.m. Friday morning, September 16th, after a meeting of the Past State Councilors, the Final Business Session was called to order. The final order of business was election and installation of officers, after which the 156th Pennsylvania State Session was convened till the following year to be held in Dunmore, Pa. The Officers for the State Council of Pennsylvania for the coming term are: State Councilor............................................. Maryann Beppler State Vice-Councilor.................................... Archie Parker State Secretary............................................. Rich Beppler State Treasurer............................................. Robert Buraczewski Jr. Past State Councilor............................... John Pietrafase State Warden................................................ Tim Wagner State Conductor........................................... Fred Wagner State Inside Sentinel.................................... Joseph Pietrafase State Outside Sentinel................................. Burson Beppler State Chaplain.............................................. Harry Laudenslager National Representative............................... Harry Laudenslager National Representative............................... John Pietrafase National Representative............................... Gale Franceschelli
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