By Suzanne Kelly, Texas, USA
The Lone Star Association of Urantia Association International (UAI) recently hosted a meeting and BBQ with the Trustees of Urantia Foundation. From my perspective as co-organizer of the event and as vice president of the Lone Star Association, a great time was had by all. The Hyatt Hotel provided a cozy and comfortable gathering space with a great coffee bar and dining area to meet and greet people from all over as they arrived for the event. People traveled from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and all over the great state of Texas from San Antonio to Houston, Port Lavaca, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Everyone came to support Urantia Foundation and meet the Trustees.
I was happy to open the meeting and introduce Richard Keeler who gave a wonderful tribute to the late Bert Cobb from Idaho in one of the coolest buffalo shirts I have seen in a while − or ever! Richard then introduced Mo Siegel, President of Urantia Foundation, who gave a power point presentation overviewing the Foundation’s projects. He then introduced Georges Michelson-Dupont, Vice President and Manager of Translations, who gave an informative talk on the process of translating The Urantia Book. He was followed by Gard Jameson, Treasurer, who spoke on the educational endeavors of the Foundation. Next, Jay Peregrine, Executive Director, spoke about book printing. One can only imagine how involved the process is! Dr Ralph Zehr, Associate Trustee, gave an inspiring speech titled “Life’s Greatest Opportunity.” Tamara Strumfeld, Urantia Foundation's office manager, made the concluding remarks by giving a run down on the daily operations at 533 W Diversey Parkway and asking each of us to consider donating to Urantia Foundation by joining the Dollar-A-Day Club. They all entertained and enlightened the crowd of 60 or more attendees.
The informative talks were then followed by a question and answer session. Each answer gave us a greater understanding of the meaning and purpose of Urantia Foundation, its mission to seed The Urantia Book and its teachings throughout the world, its goals, and how important we all are in its outworking and success. It was great to see my local Urantia study group friends and to meet new ones from across several states. It was also fabulous to see long time friends who I’ve known since my first UAI Conference at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee − friends such as Judy Van Cleave, Tamara Strumfeld, Richard Keeler, Ralph Zehr, and too many more to list here!
We ended the meeting with a great Texas BBQ, lots of camaraderie, and plans to do it all again in the near future. Thanks to Rick Warren, Betty Tarpley and Tamara Strumfeld for pulling together such a great meeting!