I’m sitting here at my desk on Christmas morning thinking of all the many Christmases I’ve spent wishing our members, and especially our Board members, a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year…more than twenty, I think.  Well, this will be the last as your President.  It was with a heavy heart that I submitted my resignation to the Board at our last meeting on December 14^th.  Due to some unexpected events in my personal affairs (not health related), I will not be able to expend the time necessary to carry on the duties of President.  Your Vice President, Jane Banfield will assume these responsibilities on an interim basis until the Board elects a new President.  I want to give you my heartfelt thanks for allowing me the privilege of serving you throughout these years.  As you all know, if you have been members for any length of time, it can be a bittersweet task to deal with our former employer.  While we had many successes in dealing with individual cases, it was much more difficult to win major ones.  Although the best one I can recall was the “claw back” issue.  We called AT&T on this one and they eventually backed away from collecting funds they themselves mistakenly paid retirees.  And then there was the “Life Insurance take away” we challenged, and lost, even though we embarrassed them by exposing their callused attitude toward retirees through a major Wall Street Journal article.

I could spend the rest of Christmas day expounding on the wins and losses over these past twenty years, but to no end.  There’s more battles and wars to deal with in the coming years and I will continue to be involved in and in support of TelCo, as I will remain on the Board.  As one Board member, Lee Brown reminded me…” it’s been quite a ride.”  What an honor it has been to serve with past Presidents S.K. Emery and Chuck Gilbert.  Not to mention all the notable Board members.

In closing…it has been a lifetime pleasure to be able to serve you!

Sincerely,

Monte Baggs

Former President TelCo Retirees Association