by Four Past Presidents of IWCS
Twenty years is a long time to be in a job especially in these days of fast paced careers and frequent job changes. But that is the time span over which Bill and Myrtle Cockrell, have devoted faithful and continuous service to IWCS in their joint role as Secretary/Treasurer of the organization. They took over that job from Dennis Wilson, #2324L in 1993. One is hard pressed to find any other single member or member couple with such a long and continuous record of service to IWCS. In fact, looking as the history of officers in IWCS since its founding in 1947, one is lead to conclude that 20 years is a record for long service in the Society. So we salute Bill and Myrtle Cockrell for their long time faithful, honest and hard working efforts for this organization. Our hats are off to you both.
It is hard to imagine a more complete and competent couple combination to fill this job as they have. Bill is a talented wood worker, often to be seen at meetings creating incredible complex multi faced geometric shapes from blocks of wood. He comes from a publishing background, bringing another set of skills and knowledge to IWCS in this important area for IWCS. Myrtle brought administrative and financial skills to the table from her career in a government organization.
She faithfully kept track of memberships, dues payments, books of account, banking and paying the bills and a myriad of other “head office” type duties that kept IWCS solvent and on the right side of the IRS over the years. They served as New Member Correspondents, welcoming thousands of new members to IWCS during their period on the job. They kept the World of Wood moving to members by close liaison with the printer in recent years and continue to do this even in their retirement from the job. Thank you, Bill and Myrtle Cockrell by Four Past Presidents of IWCS They served under nine different presidents and administrations in IWCS and kept them all in line regarding what was required and what was not allowed under the IWCS by-laws.
They religiously attended annual and regional meetings and faithfully recorded the minutes of business meetings by audio recordings and by the old fashioned method of longhand notes when the technology sometimes failed. At many meetings, Bill took photos of members giving demonstrations and made reprints for them. The pictures were a thoughtful gift and a nice remembrance of the meeting.
Several technology advances occurred while Bill and Myrt were in office. IWCS has the ability to collect funds and payments via the internet. As an international organization, this advance reduced the complexity of managing IWCS financial operations.
We have an on-line member database, which will soon allow members to make edits to their contact information and woodworking interests. The member database powers the “Members Only” section of the IWCS website, allowing access to the archived issues of WoW and the wood identification content section. A complete list of their efforts and work for IWCS, most often above and beyond the call of duty, could go on and on, but you get the idea. So, Bill and Myrt, enjoy your retirement and may you enjoy many more years of good health and fellowship in IWCS – we will be looking for you at meetings in years to come.