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By Bill Cox, Past President

The North Carolina Region of the AACA held its annual conference at the Ramada Inn in Raleigh NC this January. It is our annual meeting to conduct the business of the Region and present awards for the previous year, including vehicle and member awards. A regular board meeting is held as well as a membership meeting to vote on the installment of new officers and other business requirements of the Region.

In addition to the serious side of the club, we are entertained with a few speakers, some memorabilia and a good time catching up with friends we haven’t seen in a while. It is a good time to enjoy seeing what other members are doing over the winter and make plans for the coming year’s activities. Dain King and his wife Jean drove down from Pennsylvania to provide the judging school on Friday that all AACA judges need to take each year in order to judge at a National Meet. We are blessed to have Dain’s time and expertise in the rules and procedures for judging AACA vehicles. He says he just loves to come down to NC, but we also know it takes a special effort to travel here and provide the judging school. I always leave with an enthusiastic feeling about the fun meets and tours I have to look forward to each year.

We enjoyed two really good presentations at the meeting. First, we were treated to a talk from Mike Petersen and Annie Goldman who played 19^th century residents of the US during the Civil war era. Mike and Annie were dressed in period clothing and spoke in first person as Henry Estes, who was a Union Soldier who left his home and wife Jane to join the war effort in the early 1860’s. He chronicled his life leaving home and enduring illness and peril as a soldier before coming back home to his family in 1865. He showed a number of slides with actual documents from his service as Henry and Jane were actually Mike’s ancestors. The whole presentation provided a vivid understanding of life at the time of this period in US history. We were all on the edge of our chairs listening to the story of his family and the feelings they had about his involvement in the war.

Our second presenter, Jerry Ledford, also had some fabulous slides about the use of railroads for logging and other purposes in Western NC during the early 20^th century. He had maps and pictures of railroad equipment used at the time to operate Champion Paper Company near Asheville for paper goods in the US. Some of the discussion revolved around rail gauges and engines that were used along routes to harvest and transport logs in the mountainous regions of our state. Jerry joined us via internet video and we were able to see him and his slides as he spoke. We were able to ask questions and interact during the talk. It was a really cool format to be able to see his presentation and learn about the railroads. He has written several books on these subjects that are available for purchase and he can be reached at gledford55@yahoo.com. The documents and pictures for both these presentations were exceptional and quite interesting to see.

The afternoon membership meeting provided updates from all our committees as well as award presentations and the installment of new officers. John Allred retires his service as President and will hold the position of Ex-officio President for the coming two years. Ashby Armistead will serve as President and Lorrie Oaks will be our new Vice President. Look for a complete list of our officers, Chapter Presidents and Board Members in the NC Region Newsletter that comes out every other month. Since we did not meet in January of 2021 due the Covid Pandemic, awards for the Circle of Honor and the Dave Hinkle award were given for both 2020 and 2021. The Dave Hinkle award was given to Bill Cox for 2020, and Bob McAdams for 2021. Circle of Honor inductees were Rod Moore from the General Greene Chapter and Bill Thomason, from the SanLee Chapter for 2020 and Denny Oestreich, from the Triangle Chapter and Ginger Wright of Three Rivers Chapter for 2021. As always, many people stepped up during this past year and helped guide us through the constant flux that we experienced due to the covid shut-downs. John and Ashby worked tirelessly to keep whatever events we could hold on track for us to enjoy.

During the meeting, Jack Harris brought us up to date on the news from the National AACA and the new headquarters building. The building is close to being fully paid off and the national board is asking for continued donations in order to fund an endowment to maintain the building for the future. We decided to pass the hat for a donation to the building fund and from cash donated by the audience, we collected around $450 dollars. We had a motion for the region to kick in the difference to bring the Region donation up to the full $500 dollars. Rod Moore secured the money and as our Treasurer, will submit a check for the Region donation.

Fewer people attended the meeting than pre-pandemic times, but it was a good-sized crowd given the continuation of the threat of the Covid 19 virus; and attendees were respectful and careful with masking and distancing observed by most everyone. I hope everyone is safe from illness and continues to be throughout the year. The meeting was a great kick-off for 2022 and it promises more time together as most all our 2022 events are planned to be held. If you have never been to an annual meeting, consider it for next year, you will likely enjoy the time and the friendships that develop… and don’t forget to bring something old, mysterious and vehicle related for the “What is it” contest!

Have a great 2022 and Happy Motoring!

Bill