The Theodore Burr Covered Bridge
Society of Pennsylvania, Inc.
Monthly Business Meeting
Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church,
Manheim, PA
Sunday, March 1, 2020, 2:00 p.m.
President Tom Walczak called the
meeting to order at 2:09 p.m. welcoming everyone to our first meeting of the
new decade. Tom thanked Jim Smedley for filling in for him at the December
Christmas Dinner. He led us in the
pledge of allegiance.
.
NEW
MEMBERS AND GUESTS: None
APPROVAL
OF MINUTES – Tom
reminded everyone the minutes were available for review and he will ask for
approval later in the meeting.
TREASURER’S
REPORT: We have 371 members renewed for 2019-2020, 4
more than 1 year ago.
MEMBERS’
REPORTS:
Clyde Scheib announced that the Luminaries Event at
Kennedy Bridge in December was a big success!
The weather was beautiful and they had a great turnout.
Joe McCarthy shared an article in Timber Framers
Magazine written by one of his crew. He
had extra copies available for those interested. He took a carload to the Luminaries Event
which he said was quite enjoyable. He
reported on the continuing work on Dreibelbis.
Part of the steel has been delivered to the site. They will be connecting sections of beams to
make one long one. Engineers said 3
beams, not 1, will be required or the structure will fall into the river. They will once again need the use of a crane
to pick up the beams to set them in place.
Afterwards, Joe’s crew will set the sides in place. The open house they held this past week was
quite a success with over 130 people attending that day. He talked with a District 8 official who said
they have 7 bridges to repair so they held a meeting on the spot to see how
much it would cost for Lancaster Timber Frames to repair the bridges. Joe thought he was close to retirement but
seems there are too many bridges still in need of repair for him to do so. Joe mentioned that a few of the guys that work
for him are becoming more interested in covered bridges and may join our
society.
Pat Cook and husband Ken had a great time at
Joe’s Company’s open house. They also
saw a romantic shelter while in Florida.
It was white on Dale Travis’s website but is now red. She will send Dale a photo to update his
site.
OFFICERS’
REPORTS:
President Tom Walczak didn’t do any bridging but has been
busy with other society business. He has
sent the wording for the See Pennsylvania’s Covered Bridges Week Proclamation
to the Governor’s Office. Tom is looking
forward to our various upcoming society events.
First Vice
President Jim Smedley
and his wife, Gloria, were in New Hampshire last weekend and stopped to see six
bridges in southwest NH: Ashuelot, Coombs, Slate, Carlton, Thompson and Cresson
and all were in excellent condition. He
mentioned that there are extra safari T-shirt order forms, safari registration forms
and Anniversary Dinner registration forms at the front table.
The deadline for PA
Crossings is June 7, 2020, the Sunday of our Annual Safari.
Second Vice President Ray Finkelstein – No report.
Third Vice President Steve Wolfhope – Steve and Gloria had a great time
at Joe’s Company’s Open House. It was
impressive to see the vast truss laid out on their property. He and Gloria saw Forry’s Mill and Siegrist’s
Mill on their way home from the open house – both are still in good shape.
Fourth Vice President Rob Griner – Bob and KC are in FL for Spring
Training so he was not present.
Treasurer Bob Kuether announced that he had postcards for
sale at 1 cent each and reminded everyone of the silent book auction that is
ongoing today.
Historian Fred Moll gave a Power-Point program on Berks
County Covered Bridges on January 8, 2020 at the Calvary Baptist Church in
Shillington. Their members seemed
interested in our society. He has been
asked to write six articles on the topic “Bridges in Berks” for the AAA on the
Go magazine. Their six bimonthly
magazines this year will each carry one of his articles and several bridge
photos in their magazine. The current
March-April issue has a bridge photograph of Fred’s on the cover of their
magazine. Earlier this year he was also
privileged to have a photograph on the cover of Timber Framing Magazine. Fred wrote a letter to the three county
commissioners of Berks County about the constant damage being done to the
Pleasantville Covered Bridge height restriction device. Along with the letter he sent a copy of the
recent newspaper article reporting the damage.
He suggested instead of having the height restriction device bolted to
the abutment wall to have it moved away from the abutment and be anchored into
the ground. Fred also suggested that a
camera be installed on that side of the bridge so that in the future they might
be able to find out who did the damage to the bridge. According to the newspaper to repair the
device cost twenty thousand dollars. The
Heritage Festival at Wertz’s Red Bridge in October is no longer going to be
held. He will not be able to give tours
anymore through the covered bridge.
However, he will be giving a Power-Point program July 26th at
Wertz’s Red Bridge on old covered bridges of Berks County. After the program he is considering taking
anyone interested on a walk into Wertz’s Red Bridge to discover some of the
secrets of the bridge.
Corresponding Secretary Pam Heisey: No report.
Recording Secretary Gloria Smedley:
No report.
ILLNESSES/DEATHS
of MEMBERS: Gloria Wolfhope spoke with Olive Jones
on the phone and she is doing much better and sends her regards. Member Donald Yeager passed away on September
16, 2019. Pam Mailey is here today just
5 days post-op of knee surgery. Frank
Mailey is here also after having another heart catheterization just prior to
Pam’s knee surgery.
OLD
BUSINESS: Tom asked for a show of hands of those who
would be interested in participating in a yard sale at Poole Forge this
summer. About 7 raised their hands.
NEW
BUSINESS: Gloria
updated the members on the 50/50 fundraiser raffle. Ticket sales are going extremely well. We’ve even received additional donations
above and beyond the ticket sales. At
this time the winner’s pot is approximately $700. Between the society’s 50% and additional
donations the society will get nearly $1000 at this point. Gloria has received a lot of positive
feedback from members regarding the fundraiser.
Member Rebecca Kierski gave a $200 donation in memoriam of her mother
who passed away last December.
NEW
COVERED BRIDGE ITEMS: Greg Williams shared a few framed pictures
he picked up at Goodwill and a ceramic model given to him by a friend.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES – December minutes were approved as
presented.
ADJOURNMENT - The meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.
followed by the presentation “Cruising from Amsterdam to Budapest” by Ray
Finkelstein.
NEXT
MEETING - Our Next
Meeting will be held on April 5th at 2:00pm at Saint Paul’s
Episcopal Church, Manheim, PA. The
program will be a movie entitled “Conowingo Dam, Power
on the Susquehanna”.
Respectfully Submitted, Gloria
Smedley, Recording Secretary, March 9, 2020