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Notes from Supreme Session

Tuesday, August 4.....Hey folks, this is Dad Ashley in Vancouver.  I just flew in from St. Louis and boy are my arms tired.  I'm sorry, I've been waiting for 20 years to use that joke.  Anyway, I didn't get to do much today.  Due to my flight from St. Louis being very late, I missed my connecting flight in Toronto and had to cool my heels for around 4 hours until the next flight into Vancouver.  Obviously my Supreme Session travel record hasn't gotten any better.   Anyway, I saw our Grand Bethel Senior Princess, Felicia Rodemacher and our Miss Missouri Job's Daughter, Heather Howard when I finally got here.  They were all heading out to shop.  What with the Canadian "Loonie" (the nickname for their currency) going down in value, hopefully they will find some bargains.  I also saw Mom Ginny Goede, Mom Ann Tisdale, and Laurie and Sarah Lenhardt.  Everyone is geared up for a great session.  That's about it for now, gotta get some shut-eye.   Tomorrow starts bright and early.  I'll TTYL (Talk to you later).

Wednesday, August 5.....Well it's been a hectic day, but everything had finally wound down and folks are getting back to their rooms.  I spent most of the day working at the Supreme Bethel registration table.  What a wonderful way to spend the day, getting to meet Job's Daughters from around the world.  It's really neat to see the Jobie spirit that these young ladies have.  Even after a long day, their enthusiasm is such that they keep you going.

I also attended the Men's luncheon today and it was great.  The food was excellent and the company even better.  I was at a table with Lon Goede, Earl Tisdale, Bob Sandstedt, Curry Sanders, Doc Howe,   There were also some gentlemen from British Columbia at our table, and they were most welcome company.

The formal opening was this evening, and as per usual, it was long.  For those of you who think that Grand Session Formal Opening is long, as Al Jolson used to say, "You aint seen nothing yet."  Of course I'm not sure how many of you know who Al Jolson was.  Let's just say he was the Will Smith of his time, making movies and hit songs both.  I know that some of the "old timers" are saying who is Will Smith.  He was the Al Jolson of his day.  Anyway, the best part of the formal opening was when some of the awards were announced.  Kelly Goede from Bethel #43 tied for the most petitions brought in this year.  Bethel #43 and #47 won membership awards.  Mary LaTragna from Bethel #3 won 3rd place in poetry and 1st place in story writing, and Amy Dierkes from Bethel #49 won a Supreme Scholarship.   Congratulations to them all.

Well I have to be over at the hall for the Supreme Bethel meeting at 6:00 a.m., so I'd better get to bed.  Take it easy everybody.

Thursday, August 6.....Hey folks, well the server was down on Thursday and we apologize to those who were unable to access the website.  Anyway, we had our Supreme Bethel Meeting on Thursday and it was really cool.  Heather Reardon of Washington was selected as Supreme Bethel Honored Queen.  I thinks she'll do a great job.  Bev Jackson, PHQ #47 was selected as the Supreme Second Messenger, Erin Brown, PHQ #40 was selected as the Supreme Representative to Minas Gerias.  The meeting was really smooth and everybody did a great job.

Later that evening we all attended the Miss International pageant.  Our own Heather Howard, Miss Missouri Job's Daughters was in the pageant and did a great job.   Unfortunately she didn't win, but she's still number one in our book.  Amanda LeBlanc from Minnesota won Miss International Job's Daughters, and Traci McEwen from Ontario won Miss International Congeniality.  The pageant was very pretty and all the contestants did very well.  One note, it seems that our Associate Grand Guardian, Ted Cassens, has managed to get a couple of tickets up here.  At the Miss International Pageant they had the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as escorts.  I went over to one of them and asked her to hassle Dad Ted about the tickets.  She (that's right, she) did, and told Ted that he couldn't leave Canada until those tickets were paid.   He was sweating for a minute but then the Mountie started laughing and Ted knew that he'd been set up.

That's about it for now.  Talk to you later.

Friday, August 7.....What's going on everybody.  Supreme Session is rolling on and it sure is a lot of fun.  I went to the Supreme Elections and watched with joy as Marilee Smiley from Michigan was elected as Supreme Guardian and our own Bill Dinkmeyer was elected as Associate Supreme Guardian.  They'll do a great job.  Vanessa Fowler from Australia was elected as Supreme Marshal and Bill Walker from Washington was elected as Supreme Outer Guard.

On Friday evening the Supreme Bethel Installation was held, and Heather Reardon was installed as Supreme Bethel honored Queen. The Installation was really great.  Mom Jeannie Link-Johnson from Michigan was installed as Supreme Bethel Guardian, and I had the honor as being installed as the Supreme Bethel Associate Guardian.  Thanks to all the Missouri people for their very vocal support, it was great.  Also, thanks to Bill and Marilee for their trust that I can do a good job.  I thank them for that.

Following the Installation there was a dance, and the girls (and Dad Ted) danced the night away.  Well, that's about it for now.  More later.

Saturday, August 8.....Well, Supreme Session has come to a close.  Today we had the rehearsal for the Supreme Council Installation.  It went pretty well, and then everybody was on their own for a while.  Most people just went shopping or hung around the hotel taking it easy.  It has been a long week.   The Installation started promptly at 7:30 p.m.  Marilee Smiley was installed as Supreme Guardian and our own Bill Dinkmeyer was installed as Associate Supreme Guardian.  Way to go Bill.  Marlene Frakes and Doc Howe from Missouri were the Installing and Associate Installing Officers, and I was the Installing Musician.   That was a lot of fun.  Julie Kitsmiller was one of Bill's escorts, and she did a great job.

I hope everyone has enjoyed these Supreme Session updates.  As I said it was a long week, but one filled with fun and excitement.  If you every get a chance to go to a Supreme Session, make sure you take it.  It is a wonderful Job's Daughter experience.  That's it from here.  Signing off from Vancouver, British Columbia, this is Dad Ashley.  Take it easy folks.

Sunday, August 9.....I probably would not have had a section for this as it was basically just a travel day, but as with my trip up to Vancouver, my Supreme Travel record is intact.  We had a group from Missouri heading home on the 8:00 a.m. flight out of Vancouver.  Those in the group were Julie Kitsmiller, Jenny Yourdan, Bev Jackson, Mom Diane Kitsmiller, and me.  Right off the bat we figured we were in trouble when we were unable to get the same taxi due to regulations regarding the number of passengers.  We made it to the airport, got checked in, and caught our flight.  So far so good.  We then got into Toronto and things went downhill.  When we got off the jet, we had no idea where to go to pick up our luggage (the airline doesn't help by automatically putting your luggage on your connecting flight).  Finally we got someone to tell us to go to baggage pick up number 30 and 31.  We stood there for about 20 minutes waiting for our luggage, but it never came.  Finally an announcement was made that those going to the U.S. had to pick up luggage at another section of the airport.  We asked a worker at the information desk where to go, and he gave some vague instructions that at least got us in the right direction (go out the door and turn right).  After we did that we walked for about a mile, and after finding another information desk, were sent to the Air Canada check in gates.  Since we were already checked in, we figured this might not be the right place to be.  We wandered around a bit, and I spotted a baggage carousel far in the back of the airport.  We went there and low and behold it was the right one.   We found our baggage, some of which had been tossed into a corner by who knows who, and proceed on the customs.  We stood in line for about 20 minutes just so we could be grilled by the customs officer who asked, "Got anything to declare?"  We answered, "No."  "Okay," the officer said and waved us through.   We then went by the drug-sniffing dog who apparently was also trained to sniff out the potato chips I had in my carry on bag.  Anyway, we were waved though the gate, and once again were lost.  We checked the video screen looking for our flight and it was not listed.  There was not an information desk in this section of the airport, so we finally found a maintenance worker and, after threatening him with being rubbed with potato chips and sent to the drug/potato chip sniffing dog, he finally found someone who sent us to gate 93.  Gate 93 turned out to be a bus which took us to the U.S. departure section of the airport.  A magnificent section of 8 gates in a terminal about the size of my garage.  Once we got there, we just had time to sit for a bit and wait for our flight.  Then it was announced that due to bad weather, our flight would be delayed.  There was no bad weather in sight, but hey, what do we know.   Mom Diane and I guessed that this was actually the training section for the pilots.   Those who flew these jets only had a learner's permit and had to fly with another pilot who was over 15.  When a pilot walked us carrying a brown bag lunch which we figured was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, we guessed we were right.  Finally, about an hour after the flight was supposed to leave, we got on board, and there we sat.   We sat for over an hour waiting to leave.  The flight attendant was very nice, and kept all of the passengers calm, and I commend her for her going above and beyond the call of duty.  While we were waiting, there was no air conditioning for about 30 of the minutes we waited.  No happy campers on this flight.  We finally got airborne, and made it to St. Louis, tired but very happy to be home.

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Missouri Awards and Honors
(Special thanks to Laurie Lenhardt for this Info)

The following is a list of those from Missouri who won awards and/or took part in various Supreme activities:

Opening Ceremonies:
Dad Dinkmeyer & his Escort, GBHQ Julie Kitsmiller
The Missouri Flag was carried by Diane Lynch.
Felicia Rodemacher & Jennifer Lynch represented Missouri Grand Bethel and served as Escorts for the evening.

Girls from Missouri that took part in the Mother Mick Memorial Ceremony

Girls from MO that took part in the Closing at the Formal Opening

Competitions:

Heather Howard as Miss Missouri Job's Daughter Competed in the Miss International Job's Daughter Pageant.  What a wonderful example of Job's Daughters Heather is as we are all very proud of her!

Sign Language ( 11-14 yrs. ) Kelly Goede 1st Place
Sign Language ( 11-14 yrs. ) Sarah Lenhardt 2nd Place
Sign Language ( Bethel ) Sarah Lenhardt & Kelly Goede represented Bethel #43 and received 3rd Place

Ritual Winners:
Group A 1st Messenger Kelly Goede 3rd Place
Group B 1st Messenger Jennifer Lynch 2nd Place
Group B 5th Messenger Diane Lynch 2nd Place

Membership awards:
Kelly Goede from Bethel #43 tied for the most petitions brought in this year. 
Bethel #43 and #47 both received membership awards. 

Creative writing:
Mary LaTragna, Bethel #3 won 3rd place in poetry.
Mary LaTragna, Bethel #3 won 1st place in story writing.
Amy Dierkes, Bethel #49, received a Supreme Scholarship.  

Scholarship:
Amy Dierkes from Bethel #49 won a Supreme Scholarship.

Supreme Bethel:
Bev Jackson, PHQ #47 was selected as the Supreme Bethel Second Messenger
Erin Brown, PHQ #40 was selected as the Supreme Representative to Minas Gerias.
Felicia Rodemacher was selected as the Supreme Bethel Installing Recorder
CONGRATULATIONS to these girls!

Congratulations to Dad Ashley Underwood who is the new Associate Supreme Bethel Guardian

Supreme Council:
Dad "Dink", Supreme Associate Guardian
Escorted by: Julie Kitsmiller & Megan Hughes

Dad Curry Sanders, Supreme Sr. Custodian
Escorted by: Kristen Goodman

Mom Betty Sandstedt, Supreme Deputy to Tennessee
Mom Marlene Frakes, Supreme Deputy to Arkansas


Misc awards:
Most parking tickets, Dad Ted "RCMP" Cassens
Most accidents, Mary "Lou" Gismegian

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