Just recently, I picked up a 2016 Calvert County Visitors’ Guide. I was shocked at the thickness of the

guide. My mind took me back to the early 1980’s when I first came to Calvert County.

Wow! Calvert County has really exploded in growth, businesses, accommodations, restaurants, etc.

Restaurant Week in Calvert County? Are you serious? Cultural arts and performances – A Community

Theater/ Wineries/ Breweries/ Spas/ Attractions/ Bed & Breakfasts/ Beaches/ Historic Churches /Lodging

and more!

A calendar of major events featured the “Taste of Solomons” coming Saturday, March 26th;

“Discovering Archaeology Day” in April; “Celtic Festival & Highland Gathering” in April; and

numerous other interesting festivals and events. I was amazed at the number of events listed each

month. I was especially pleased to see the Old Wallville School and the One-Room Schoolhouse listed

under the Attractions section of the guide.

If you haven’t seen a Calvert County Visitors’ Guide lately, I suggest that you pick one up. It is very, very

nicely done.

Article written by Kathryn Coleman

CRSPA Calvert Retired School Personnel Association

Kathryn Coleman

7106 Meadow Rue Terrace

Upper Marlboro, MD 20772

Happy 2016 to everyone! Our new year started out fine but wasn’t that a whopper of a storm we went through on January 22nd and 23rd? Glad to be in Southern Maryland with only 16+ inches while the rest of the state had much more. Hopefully everyone safely survived and got dug out without suffering to many aches and pains. I’m done with the white stuff for this winter. Hope Mother Nature feels the same.

We had a delightful Holi-day Celebration at our December 9th meeting. I would like to extend a thank you to all who came and shared in the joy of hearing a musical presen-tation given by Calvert High School’s strings or-chestra accompanied with their instructor Dr. Cheryl Blockland. We also en-joyed having Calvert County’s 2015 Teacher of the Year, Mr. Robert James, and 2015 Support Person of the Year, Mrs. Sharon Kruder. Our coun-ty students are truly blessed to have such en-thusiastic and devoted adults in our school

system to help them in their educational journey. Our fifth year of collecting school supplies and mon-ey to give to Student Services was another success. Along with many book bags and classroom supplies, we were able to present a check totaling $514 raised from attend-ing member donations and our holiday raffle. It’s nice to know that our efforts help make a differ-ence for children in need in our school community. On January 21st I attended CCPS Associations Health-care Benefits Meeting at the Central Office. They held this meeting to review facts and consider-ations for active staff and retirees benefits for the upcoming year. Once a decision is made on what the upcoming year’s plan will cover and cost, Dr. Vicky Karol and Mrs. Brid-get Scott will come to one of our last meetings to explain and answer ques-tions. Your Executive Board will be meeting on March 2nd to work on our final two meetings for this school year. Carole Wagner has arranged for

Jeff Karberg with the Mar-yland Attorney General’s Office to speak to us at our general meeting on March 9th.. Members expressed an interest in learning more about iden-tity theft and how to keep our Information safe.

I’ll close with a reminder to all that it’s that time of year when we need to stay alert to the changes being proposed in Annap-olis that will impact re-tired school personnel and senior citizens. Our Legis-lative Chairs, Jan Travers and Pam Enrico, are watching for us but you can always go on the MRSPA website to check updates on legislative matters as well. We need to look out for our quality of life in our Golden Years. Look forward to getting together in March.

President’s Message

CRSPA

Calvert Retired School Personnel Association

M A R C H 2 0 1 6

Every year on March

17th, the Irish and the

“Irish-at-heart” across

the globe observe St.

Patrick’s Day or

the Feast of Saint Pat-

rick. This is a cultural

and religious celebration

held on the 17th of

March because this was

the traditional death date

of Saint Patrick

( AD 385–461). What be-

gan as a religious feast

day has become an in-

ternational festival cele-

brating Irish culture

with parades, dancing,

special foods and a

whole lot of green. On

Saint Patrick’s Day, Irish

families would tradition-

ally attend church in the

morning and celebrate in

the afternoon. Len-

ten prohibitions against

the consumption of meat

were waived and people

would dance, drink and

feast–on the traditional

meal of Irish, bacon and

cabbage.

Barbara McKimmie

P A G E 2

May 4, 1929 - January 6, 2016

Meet Your Officers!

President Barbara McKimmie

President Elect Vacant

Vice President Ann Brown

Past President Kathryn Coleman

Secretary Maureen Sengstack

Corresponding Secretary Ruth Reid

Treasurer Dorothy Greene

Committees:

Archives Russell Costley

Auditing Gary Graff

Constitution/Bylaws Vacant

Hospitality Loujeania Johnson

Legislation Jan Travers

Pam Enrico

Membership Sherry Burcham

Necrology Beatrice J. Fletcher

Pam Mackall

Nominations Carole Wagner

Port Republic One

Room School Fran Armstrong

Wallville One Room

School Glossie Leake

CRSPA Newsletter Kathryn Coleman

Nancy Zinn

Public Relations Vacant

Scholarship Ann Brown

Anita Shepherd

Special Projects Cora Drumgo

Ruth Reid

Telephone Tree/E-mail Charlotte Clark

Becky LeBow

Website Coordinator Lynn Cox

The Rev. Lillie Wallace Gray began her teaching career in 1960 at Mt. Harmony Elementary School as a fourth grade teacher. She retired from Calvert County Public Schools as a Reading Specialist after 32 years of service. Rev. Lillie Gray was very active at church, school, and the communi-ty. Reverend Gray graduated from Bowie State University with honors and furthered her education at the University of Maryland where she obtained a M. Ed. In Reading and worked toward a doctorate degree before becoming a minister. In the commu-nity, Lillie Gray served on the Advisory Board of Adult Care; was a member of the Concerned Black Educators; served on the Advisory Board of South County Faith Network in Anne Arundel County; was a Life member of the NAACP in Calvert County; sponsored the Lillie W. Gray Scholarship; worked in the Ministry of Calling the Elderly; was a life-time member of the Order of the Eastern Stars and auxiliary affiliations with Prince Hall for the State of Maryland; served on the Board of Directors of the Lily of the Valley- Moses Cemetery; Calvert Retired School Personnel Association (CRSPA) for several years; and numerous other church, civic, and community organizations. Reverend Gray will be deeply missed!

CRSPA Executive Board 2015-2016 IN MEMORIAM

CRSPA General Meeting

March 9, 2016– Noon

Call Loujeania Johnson at

(410-586-1066) to reserve a meal.

Lunch is $17.00.

Executive Board Meeting

March 2, 2016 - 1:00pm - CCPS

Reverend Lillie Mae Wallace

December/Christmas Meeting We had so much fun at our Christmas meeting that we wanted to share it with you through photos. To get

a better look at these photos and check out old friends and colleagues, view in 150% or higher zoom.

We will have Jeffrey Karberg for our March 9th meeting. Jeff Karberg has been the

Identity Theft Administrator for the Consumer Protection Division of the Maryland

Office of the Attorney General since July 2012 and began with the Office of the

Attorney General in February 2011 as an associate attorney. Previously, he worked

for the Federal Trade Commission in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Karberg holds a Bachelor’s

degree in economics and earned his Juris Doctorate in 2010. Mr. Karberg will give a

presentation on how to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft and what to do if you

think you have been victimized. He will explain common ID theft scams and recent

developments in Maryland’s ID theft laws. He will provide resources to assist us in

recognizing the many forms of criminal activities that take place daily such as telemarketers getting our

personal information, home repair contractors telling us something is broken when it isn't, and many more

situations that may arise. He will answer any questions we may have.

CRSPA March Meeting

Thanks Dotty Greene does an outstanding job of overseeing and

organizing the door prize and raffle procedures. The prizes were

fantastic and the raffle was a big success thanks to generous

donors! Two local businesses donated door prizes for our raffle

to raise funds to donate to CCPS Student Services Department

to help students with school needs. The Gott Company by

Johnny Gott, Jr. and Weems Liquors by Commissioner Steve

Weems made donations. Mr. Gott donated gas cards and

Mr. Weems gave bottles of wine. Large, beautiful, red and white

poinsettias were donated by Barbara McKimmie. CRSPA

members brought school supplies. Our sincere

gratitude to all who made donations for this

worthy cause.

Future Program Ideas Needed

What are you interested in learning more about at CRSPA future meetings?

Please take a minute to think of some topics you would like to hear. Past topics have covered estate

planning with wills and trusts, financial options for retirement account funds as we reach 70 1/2, CCPS

health benefit plan changes, and coming up in March identify fraud and actions we can take.

Do you know someone who can share their talents with us? It might be an author, artist or historian.

What is a current hot topic of interest?

Write down any suggestions and let us know. You can bring them to our next meeting or call or email us.

Carol Wagner at 410-535-4887 or email carole.wagner@gmail.com

Barbara McKimmie at 410-257-9320 or email mckimmiebj@yahoo.com

Congratulations to CCPS’ former Superintendent of Schools, Jack Smith, who was just recently named

the Superintendent of Schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. Best wishes to Mr. Smith. We wish

him much success in his new endeavor!

Congratulations

In Memoriam

F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 6

CRSPA March 9th Meeting March 9, 2016 - 12 Noon

Christ Church, Port Republic, MD

Call Loujeania Johnson at (410-586-1066)

to reserve lunch. Lunch is $17.00.

Executive Board Meeting March 2, 2016 — 1:00 PM

Welcome New Members

Please join us in ex-

tending a WELCOME

to all of our new mem-

bers since March 1st,

2015 (the beginning

of the new membership year)!

Elaine H. Bradley Patricia C. O'Brien Sandra Kendrick Burton Ron Saunders

Arlene J. Elam Carol Schmitz-Corken

Patricia M. Erly Kathleen Smialek-Simone

Victoria Frierson Deborah A. Smith

Nancy V. Highsmith Kandia Spain

Jan Hill Desiree Stamps

Marguerite Kaupp Lisa Tettimer

Cheryl Kent David Lee Thomas

Pamelia K. Moore

We now have 177 members (a 6.63% annual

increase). Let’s keep going! Please encourage

anyone you know who has retired from Calvert

County Public Schools and has not joined the

Calvert Retired School Personnel Association

(CRSPA) to do so at once. Invite them to join

their fellow retirees! This is, after all, the only

organization that provides a legislative voice and

benefits for school system retirees. As stated in

the December newsletter, Legislative Priorities

this year include Pension Protection, Health

Care, Consumer Protection, Education, Supple-

mental Pension Funding, Long Term Care and

others.

We Need You. Please Join Us!

CRSPA Christmas Luncheon

The 2015 Teacher of the Year, Robert F. James, social studies teacher at Huntingtown High School and

the Educational Support Person of the Year, Sharon T. Kruder, instructional assistant in the

media center at Calvert High School were guest speakers at our Christmas luncheon. The MRSPA

Area II South Director, Harold Siskind, and his wife, Lonna joined us. Mr. Siskind gave us up some

legislative updates. The Calvert High School’s Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Cheryl

Blockland entertained us. These students are so talented. The teacher of the Year, Robert James,

amused us by displaying a necktie that his grandmother gave him when he first began his teaching

career. This was an enjoyable program! As always, the food was delicious/.

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