President's Wire By John Baesch

 RABO had an exciting and busy summer.  Our second annual meeting at the B&O Railroad Museum was a great success and 73 people attended. We had a picnic-type lunch, (prepared with skill and kindness by some of the RABO ladies) train rides and tours.  Both last year and this, the meeting was the best-attended of all our Baltimore Division functions. We were especially pleased that Michael Gross, the celebrity spokesman for the Museum, stopped by our meeting for a quick visit. You might recall him as Steven Keaton, the father of Michael J. Fox on the popular TV program, Family Ties. He also starred in the cult fiction movies and TV series Tremors as Burt Gummer. Mr. Gross has recently starred on the popular TV shows Parks and Recreation, How I Met Your Mother, Brothers and Sisters and CSI, Law and Order and has just completed a new movie Christmas in LA to be released later this year. See the pictures of Michael and others at the meeting on page 63.

In addition to Baltimore’s monthly and Jacksonville’s quarterly luncheon meetings, there is a wide range of social activity at both locations.

This leads me to make a very important point.  This year, your officers will work hard to see if we can’t generate some interest in establishing other RABO divisions in addition to Baltimore and Jacksonville.  The RABO roster indicates that there are other concentrations of RABO members in places like Western Ohio, Chicago, and Michigan.  Your officers believe it would be a good thing to extend the bonds that are created by our common heritage to other geographies.  Nothing fancy: just the occasional good lunch and fostering contacts. I have asked Ron Drucker to champion this effort and you will be hearing more about this in the near future.

Other employers may not have the strong bonds that connect their members after retirement.  For example, Westinghouse was a significant employer in the Baltimore area but there is no local unified Westinghouse retired people’s organization in this area, let alone across the country.  Westinghouse retirees are exploring the possibilities of a local retirees’ organization.  In the meantime, Baltimore RABO made an outreach and invited the Westinghouse people to join us for our crab cake special luncheon on August 31st.  Swelled by an enthusiastic Westinghouse group, we had a total of 54 people at the luncheon.  We hope to have the group join us again in November.

In this quarter, RABO elected nine new members into its ranks.  We have not had to hang the markers for any of our RABO members, although this issue of News & Notes contains the obituary for Randy Rice who died earlier this year.  Our October meeting will honor seven RABO members who will be awarded The Gold Watch Certificate in recognition of attaining their ninetieth birthday.

This issue of RABO News & Notes is particularly impressive for the wide variety of subjects included, as well as first-class contributions from our authors.  Our biography subject for this issue is Charlie Amos.  Bill Howes writes about Charlie’s life and tells about commissioning paintings from Charlie on behalf of the Casualty Prevention Department.  Frank Dewey explains service design—no small feat.  Frank also writes about the pancakes and the M&K helpers at Mrs. Howard’s in Rowlesburg, West Virginia,—experiences we both share.  Frank Wrabel takes us across the Susquehanna one more time.  Rails’ Tales has some fine contributions by Frank Provenzano, Lloyd Lewis, Chuck Neal, Bill Howes, Ed Courtemanch, Jim Sell and Keith Rader. All in all, News & Notes is just what you need to curl up with and enjoy in a warm room on a raw, autumnal day.  Happy reading.

Finally, as always, be aware of your environment and look out for your personal safety. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families.