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Chapman Chatter-Gil Alford
I guess those who are, or were, subscribers to my newsletter "CHAPMAN CHATTER" are surprised to see this title here. Well, I am too. Amelia asked each of the officers to submit something for publication. As the corresponding secretary of the Chapman Family Association I plan to submit to her, in the future, information from letters that I exchange with association members. I have none at this time.
All of us who have been associated with my newsletter over the years are going to have some trouble distinguishing between what is Chapman Family Association (CFA) and what is Chapman Chatter (CC). I told Amelia that I ought to try to make that distinction in one of the early newsletters.
Those who have been with CC know that the CFA more or less grew out of the CC. CC is a private or personal effort of my own-- made possible by subscriptions and donations- the latter being both money and material (information). As one person there is a limit to how much I can do and how long I can do it.
We, you and I [past and present subscribers of Chapman Chatter], have invested too much in time, labor, and money to have all we have done come to an end if and when I croak. [I've not decided yet if I'm going.] Some effort was made over the years to find another younger and more able individual to take over from me. I'm sorry to say no one came forward. The alternative was to establish an organization with a number of folks doing a small amount of work. With this arrangement the organization should live on into posterity and as the individual workers become too old, tired, or otherwise unable to continue- they can be replaced.
The association has been established and now I am making plans to phase out CC. I have not set a date but it will be several years in the future. I want to see the association mature and I have a number of projects/publications which I have begun that I would like to complete. At some future date I will announce my plans for termination and it will be beyond the subscription period of most present day subscribers. Those who have paid beyond [the currently unknown termination date] will be given a refund. Don't bail out on me yet because there is a lot more to come from CC. If both publications, the CFA newsletter and CC, were to continue indefinitely there is no way we could ever publish all the information that is available and will become available as we progress.
Over the next several years I expect to pass on to one CFA officer or another most of the Chapman stuff I have accumulated over the years. We will report on it as it takes place.
I will continue to send material to Amelia for publication in this newsletter. I'll do it under the title as it appears heading this section. Hopefully some of the members will see fit to write to the corresponding secretary so he will have something to write about next time. If not then I'll select some correspondence from a CFA member who wrote to me as CC.
In addition to the information published under my by-line I'll try to provide Amelia any information that I have which she needs for publication as long as it does not duplicate anything that I have done recently or am in the process of doing. We both will make every effort to preclude duplication as it would be a disservice to those members who also are, or were, a CC subscriber.
The corresponding secretary is waiting for some correspondence - but please don't all write at once.
Gil K. Alford, Jr.; 1403 Kingsford Drive; Florissant, MO 63031-2422
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