Web page www.ussfrancismarion.com

News Letter # 1 December 2003

(Next reunion will be in NEW ORLEANS, LA. October 20 – 23 2005)

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President: Vice President: Committee:

Bob Martin Dick Gagnon Wayne Rogers

16 Staples St. 3 Pinedale St. Curtis Stone

Melrose, MA 02176 Hudson, NH 03051 Tom Clossey

(781) 665-9222 (603) 883-1738 Steven Forgeron

bob@ussfrancismarion.com gagnonpop@yahoo.com Lin Warren

Robert Wright

“The Reunion”

Good News!! We have a hotel picked for our reunion in “New Orleans.” We held a committee meeting this morning at my house. (October 24th.) In attendance were, Dick & Claire Gagnon, Robert Wright, and myself. We were in phone contact with Jim Stafford.

I had sent out an e-mail to the other committee members last night asking to vote on the hotel we wanted to use for the reunion. The Four Points Sheraton in Metairie was chosen. The room rate for October 19th to the 23rd is $69.00 plus tax per night. For that $69.00 they are giving us our Welcome Reception with Beer & Wine as our beverage on Thursday night, a Continental Breakfast every morning. The Four Points Sheraton will provide a three-night stay Gift Certificate for our reunion to raffle off at the Welcome Reception. The gift certificate is valid for use during the reunion or for a stay in the next 12 months. There will be three prizes raffled off. The information on the raffle and tours that we will be going on will be in the January Newsletter along with your reunion registration form. We will be using Cajun Pride Tours for all our tours and transportation needs. Cajun Pride Tours had given us a tour over view of all the different kinds of tours that we could do. We will be getting the costs in a couple of weeks from the tour company. We also will be doing an “Early Bird Special” at the New Orleans Reunion. There is so much to see and do that we decided we would offer a couple of extra tours for those who would like to come in a day early. There is a 20-person minimum for those functions. If you arrive on October 19th we will be going to the Treasure Chest Casino for a Buffet Dinner plus having a little fun trying out your luck! The Casino will provide the transportation. They will come and pick us up at our hotel and return us at a set time. It’s a fun night out.

On Thursday morning we will be picked up by bus and travel to the New Orleans School of Cooking. You will learn how to cook a traditional meal and then you get to eat it for your lunch. From lunch we will go to Mardi Gras World for a one-hour guided tour, then return to the hotel in time for our Welcome Reception. Please come on the 19th and have some extra fun with us! (We decided not to put the tours in a package deal.) It was noticed that we could get a better group rate by doing all the work ourselves with the tour setups. It’s more work for me but we did it for the last four reunions and it worked out well, so what the heck, I might as well go for it again. You will still book your own room and your credit card will not be charged till you check in.

There are tickets to be bought for some of the tours and the month of October is a busy month in New Orleans. We will have July 1st, 2005 the deadline for all deposits. The deposit will be $50.00 per person. September 19th all payments must be paid to me so that I can make the final payment to the tour company. Please help make my job a little easier. (Thanks a bunch, I will appreciate it.)

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(“Dues”)

We have a lot of operating expenses with getting the newsletters out, plus the monthly fee for the ship’s web page. I send out postings for our reunions every year to 56 military publications. Most are free to post our notice, but some we pay for their service. The site inspections of our reunions are done at our own expense. Dick and Claire Gagnon and Linda and I flew to New Orleans, while Jim and Faye Stafford drove down and met us at the first hotel. We checked out a total of five hotels! (No fun living out of a suitcase.) Now I know what to expect when we arrive for the reunion. I don’t like surprises. I want all of us to have a fun time. I keep in weekly contact with the hotel and tour company in case there are any changes.

So, a $10.00 per year dues isn’t much for what you are getting for it. If you can’t afford the $10.00, send me what you can afford. Since the last reunion we have picked up 45 new members. Only 10 out of the 45 have sent me their dues for this year. There are 480 members listed on the crew list, 180 are on the active mailing list. (Not good) The orders from the ship’s store have slowed down. I hope sales will pick up for Christmas. When I get down to one item left in a size I have to re-order to have them in stock. We have a 12 minimum on most items when I re-order. We will be doing away with some of the small items when they sell out. We need to get the ship’s store inventory down. There will be a ship’s store at the reunion. Some of the small items will only be sold at the reunions. That way I can place an order just before the reunion.

For those who think they might owe dues, contact me by e-mail or give me a call, I will check when you last sent in your dues and let you know if you owe. Those who attend the reunions usually pay their dues through to the next reunion. I hope you will help us by sending in your dues.

Fair Winds and Following seas,

BOB

“CHARGE”