Minutes
March 10, 2018
Did you know there was a Fort Des Moines and there is a Des Moines River? Of French origin, Des Moines means “River of the Monks”. But to our club we know it as the home of Glen Gall (actually he lives in the suburb of Urbandale). Our first 2018 Great Plains Heisey Club was at Glen's home on March 10. 24 members and 1 guest were greeted by sparkling-clean Heisey glass and the aroma of food for lunch. Chef Tim was on the job preparing a delicious spread of turkey, ham, roasted veggies, and kale salad for our dining pleasure. Thank you Tim and Glen for a wonderful meal.
President John Mock called our meeting to order at 1 p.m. We took a few minutes to recognize the passing of Dave Spahr and the contributions he made to HCA as Board Member and Treasurer, Auction Chairman, and many other volunteer efforts.
We finalized our election of officers: President, John Mock; Treasurer, Tom Files; Secretary, Kathy Files. Fortunately, Eric Tankesley-Clarke agreed to stay on as our Program Director. That's not an elected position but very important to our club's success and we all love the information Eric provides.
Our pass-the-hat fundraiser for the meal was next and Glen graciously donated the proceeds to our treasury. We heard Tom's report on our treasury balance and the minutes of our previous meeting were approved.
We have some members planning to attend the April Benefit Auction and more planning on the June HCA Convention. Of course, we're also looking forward to the PVM event in Minnesota in September. Bev Heise gave a brief report on their planning progress and it sounds exciting. Let's all go!
Trudy Mock's “Martha Moment” showed an Easter project using a Heisey basket, Bunny Peeps, chocolate eggs, and other candies. Chris German snapped a picture of this great idea and immediately uploaded it to the Heisey Collectors facebook site.
Eric presented a great program, “Is it live or is it Memorex?” (remember that old ad) paraphrased to, “Is it Heisey or a fake?”. Eric displayed a large table filled with look-a-likes, Imperial reissues, fakes, counterfeits, and confusing pieces – all meant to clarify our knowledge of Heisey. Did it? I'm convinced Eric knows – the rest of us will probably still make some mistakes.
Show and Tell featured some winter finds: Lodestar Dawn vase/crimped top; Sussex cocktail/Moongleam bowl; Verlys duck-over-pond; Daisy & Leaves large vase; Urn decanter; Pillows pickle dish; Jamestown goblet/Barcelona cutting; Yeoman cocktail mixer/cobalt; #4229 favor vase; Fluted Neck cruet/purple & gold trim; Cabochon sign; 4 Plantation goblets (all different styles).
Our auction was larger than usual thanks to Chris and Lehi German's contribution of their extra pieces from a collection they bought. They generously gifted our club treasury with the proceeds and the attendees went home with some wonderful Heisey. We appreciate such actions from our members who think of our club and HCA. Another generous member is Jean Will who makes jelly for selling at our meetings. And this month she donated money from dish cloths she made for a friend as a gift but the friend insisted on paying her. Thank you, Jean, for your years of service to our club and HCA. Bottom line, we added $1,142 to our balance.
Thanks, Glen, for hosting. We had a great time at your home visiting and viewing your Heisey collection (and we were thankful the March Iowa weather cooperated).
Our next meeting is in Leavenworth, KS at Jean Will's home on May 12, 2018. Fittingly, the program will be on the Heisey pattern Prison Stripe. Come spend some “time” in Leavenworth with us. Visitors are always welcome. See more pictures and other club information on our website www.greatplainsheiseyclub.org.