Fellow Goats,
As I write this, we have just finished the second most attended convention in GNRHS history. Ranking just behind the 2010 Glacier Park Convention, 250+ members, spouses and significant others were in attendance at Spokane. Mary McGlothlin has a report in this issue of the Goat summarizing our 2016 convention and some of its highlights.
This was Ed Erickson’s last convention as our National Convention Officer and, on behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank him for his time and work over the last 6 years. Many thanks to Ben Ringnalda who worked long distance from the Netherlands to put together very successful tour on the GN in Spokane. Finally, I would like to thank our Spokane Local Chairman and Vice President, John Langlot, who put in over 4 years of work arranging tours, working with local vendors on various items and running all over Spokane making sure that all of our attendees would enjoy their time at the convention.
The time card for next year’s convention in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is starting to fill out and if you have never attended one of our get togethers, please consider coming and spending some time with fellow members learning about the Great Northern’s history and just having some fun.
The summary board minutes are included in this Goat; please read them over and if you have any questions, please contact me or any of the board members and we will get back to you right away.
As in past conventions, the Board handed out several awards to recognize those individuals who have given their time and efforts to the GNRHS. The first award was the Empire Builder Award which is given to a Great Northern Railway veteran for service to the Society; Mac McCulloch was the recipient this year. Rocky Award recipients this year for their service to the Society were Bob Showers, Mike Bartenstein and Mary McGlothlin; congratulations and thank you each for your hard work making the GNRHS a successful organization. As of the writing of this note, the Board is still in discussion regarding awards for the Heritage Fund, so I will include information on those awards in my March 2017 letter.
Last month we had another of our officers suffer a serious illness. Chuck Hatler, our reference sheet editor, suffered a serious stroke and is presently recovering at home. If you would like to send him a get well note you can reach him at his home, 8627 NE 75 Terrace., Kansas City MO. 64185.
If you are interested in contributing to the Goat magazine our editor, Ed Stankard, would welcome your contribution. The article does not have to be as long as a reference sheet and personal stories are the ideal. If you are interested, contact our editor at goateditor@gmail.com or by phone at 913-227-9383.
Finally, as we come to the Holiday Season and the close of another year, I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays, a joyous Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Don