Dinner Meeting - March 1998

Dinner Meeting - March 1998 Memories and Photos
	Last Revised: March 08, 2007
TEHCC Winter Dinner Meeting - March 1998 Steve Perri reporting (Reprinted from May 1998 Hiking and Paddling News) TEHCC held its annual Winter Dinner Meeting at the Eastman Lodge on Saturday, March 28th. Dwayne Stutzman and Alan Householder provided the evening's program on the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Dwayne provided an overview of the trail's design and intention to be the main trunk of a number of trails to be ultimately added on to form a N.C. Trails System. The trail was originally conceived in the 1970's, and has been slowly developed with about 380 miles completed of an estimated 800. Alan provided an overview of his experience as the first through-hiker of the trail. The trail setting currently is much more primitive in the mountain areas compared to the A.T. since streams don't have as many bridges and water sources can be fewer. The lower elevation areas of the trail are often part of residential settings which removes the remote feeling associated with the mountain environment. In retrospect, Alan thought that a combination of hiking and biking would be a great combination or alternative to just an entire hiking experience. But, he has completed the trail during a one season hike, much to his credit. Several awards were presented that evening to recognize significant contributions and accomplishments. Those presented with plaques were: Hiker of the Year, Kevin Edgar; Maintainer of the Year, Derrick Stowell; and the Stan Murray Award, Mary and Bruce Cunningham. Kevin put in lots of miles last year to complete the A.T. Derrick Stowell, age 17, is one of our most active members and has truly put forth a lot of hours and many trips for maintenance. Mary and Bruce Cunningham were presented with the Stan Murray award as co-awardees. The Cunninghams are really a very active team and have contributed a great deal to the trail over the years. During the last several years they have individually been one of the top five maintainers in hours. They have also been very generous by financially sponsoring special work crews to do work on the A.T. A list of items presented and the number of items include the following: Club Patches for volunteer hours since 1993; 50 hours (13), 100 hours (3), 250 hours (5), 500 hours (4), 2,000 hours (1), 3,000 hours (1). A total of 36 members received complimentary t-shirts designed by LuAnn Mack-Drinkard for contributing 50 hours or more during the 1997 calendar year as part of the Club's anniversary celebration of maintaining the A.T. for 50 years. Photos: Click on the small image or description to see a larger image. All photos courtesy of Steve Wilson:

	Bill Stowell (l) and Steve Wilson (r) look at the t-shirts for members who contributed 50+ hours A.T. maintenance during 1997 (45KB).
	Derrick Stowell (l) and Ray Hunt (r); two generations of TEHCC stewardship of the A.T. (34KB).
	Ed Oliver (l) and Frank Oglesby (r). Ed has contributed more A.T. maintenance hours (3,000+) than any other TEHCC member; Frank founded TEHCC in 1946 (37KB).
	Gether Irick (l) admires the commemorative t-shirt (37KB).
	TEHCC members and guests socializing before dinner (36KB).
	Ted Malone distributes commemorative t-shirts to members who contributed 50 hours or more in A.T. maintenance during 1997, while Joe DeLoach looks on (37KB).
	Ted Malone describes the features of the commemorative t-shirt (48KB).
	Joe Deloach (r) awards a door prize to Gether Irick (l) (47KB).
	Steve Wilson (r) with the recipients of the Stan Murray Award, Bruce and Mary Cunningham (36KB).
	Steve Wilson chats with Bruce and Mary Cunningham (30KB).
	Bruce and Mary Cunningham examine their awards (18KB).
	Steve Wilson presents the Maintainer of the Year Award to Derrick Stowell (30KB).
	Bruce and Mary Cunningham (l) and Derrick Stowell (r) display their well-deserved awards (35KB).
	Derrick (l) and Bill (r) Stowell; father and son, and dedicated A.T. maintainers (19KB).
	The Stan Murray Award, presented to Bruce and Mary Cunningham for their many years of support of the A.T. (21KB).
	Alan Householder, the first thru-hiker of the Mountains to Sea Trail, answers questions from TEHCC members (50KB).
	The Hiker of the Year award, presented to Kevin Edgar. Kevin completed the A.T. in 1997 (26KB).