Presidents Message
I want to start these remarks by thanking Frank Geracie for all his hard work during his tenure as our newsletter editor, 2014 – 2017. Frank received special recognition at our Christmas party and Annual Meeting in December, including being named Member of the Year for his efforts. Frank also received a framed copy the Dec/Jan 2018 issue of the Badger Star, his last issue as Editor. Frank has stepped away from the editor’s duties and also left our board due to job commitments. Next I would like to welcome our new newsletter editor, Bailey Hansen. Bailey came to the Wisconsin Section via the recommendation of Andrew Opicka, our newest board member. Read more about Bailey elsewhere in the Feb - March newsletter.
Our Christmas Party and Annual Meeting was again a success. Read about the event elsewhere in this newsletter. Many thanks to JoAnne Peterson for hosting a wonderful party and for the lovely gifts each member received. During the Annual Meeting portion of our party it was announced that Andrew Opicka is joining our board of directors, replacing the departing Frank Geracie. Andrew has been a member since November 2012 and lives in Green Bay.
Upcoming Events
Looking forward to 2018, our first event for the year is our 28th annual bus trip to the Chicago Auto Show, Sunday, February 11th. Frank & Cathy Lubinski once again host our Fish Fry and New Member Appreciation on March 16. Anyone who has joined the WI Section since March 1st of last year can attend this event free, as in no charge, with the exception of adult beverages. This is a great event for new members and old to meet and visit. Saturday, April 28 is the date of the 13th Annual Spring Tech Session, hosted by Black Forest. Black Forest always does an outstanding job, and it’s late enough in the spring that you can take your baby out of storage for the drive to Glendale. All 2018 events presently scheduled are listed on the upcoming Events Calendar. Additional events will be announced as plans are finalized. I encourage you to put all these events on your calendar now and join us for as many upcoming functions as you can. If you have a suggestion for a Drive-to-Dine venue or an idea for an event, please contact myself or one of our other board members. We are always looking for feedback and opinions from our members.
2018 Officer Line-Up
At their January board meeting your board of directors chose their 2018 officers:
Bruce Hamilton, President
Bernd Kampe, Vice President
Dan Hellenberg, Secretary
Frank Lubinski, Treasurer
Andy Stockhausen, Membership Director
John Ledbury, Newsletter Liaison
Tell Us Your Story
Do you have a story to tell about how you got your beloved Mercedes? Did you travel across the continent to find the perfect Benz for you, or find it sitting a barn, awaiting a new home? Whether it happened last week or a decade ago, if you have an interesting story about “the journey,” how you acquired your favorite Mercedes-Benz, we want to publish it. Contact our newsletter liaison John Ledbury with your story.
Survey Coming
Watch for a survey that will be coming to you in the near future. Your board of directors wants to know what you want our Section to do for you. What kind of events would you like to see? What can we do to improve your membership in the Wisconsin Section? Your feedback is very important, so please complete the survey when you receive it.
Thank you to Prestige Auto Works
We always encourage our members to patronize our sponsors whenever possible. After visiting Prestige Auto Works during our tech session there last May, I scheduled my CLK350 for a detailing before putting it in winter storage. When I picked the car up I was absolutely blown away at how fantastic it looked, even better than when I took delivery new. Thank you to Chris Zdroik, Keith Raskin and the technicians at Prestige Auto
Works for a superlative detailing job.
I close these remarks by welcoming our newest members as of January 21st.
Deol Adhithia Edward M Albrecht Brenton Blawat
Carlton Davis Peter Georgeson Julianna Javor
J Montoure Don Peters Richard Pittelkow
Mark Purath
I hope to meet all of you at our Fish Fry & New Member Appreciation on March 16th.
Bruce Hamilton