Texas Voyageur News

La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux

Grand Voiture du Texas

VISIT THE GRANDE DU TEXAS WEBSITE AT WWW.TEXASBOXCAR.ORG 1

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE GRAND du TEXAS

Winner of the Arthur McDowell Award 1991 – 1992 – 1993 – 1994 – 1995 – 1996 for the Best Grand Voiture Publication in the Nation without Advertising

November 2014

From the

Grand Chef…

I must apologize for not getting out any editions of the TVN since May. Part of this edition is from the edition which should

have gone out in July but I got side tracked with everything else going on this year.

I would like to say Thank You to both Voiture 1031 and Cabane 1031 for their hard work in hosting our Grand Promenade in June. Quite a lot had to be done with limited resources as several of their active members were unavailable or unable to help so “hats off” to the dedicated members who helped make the promenade a success.

The Fall Cheminot was held by Denton County Voiture 1601 in Lake Dallas. Although a small locale with fewer than 10 members they did a good job in hosting the Cheminot and we had a great meal for the banquet. Thanks to all who helped from the locale and American Legion Post 88.

We are set to have our Spring Cheminot in Austin on February 6-8, 2015. We had to move to the 1st weekend of February this year due to a scheduling conflict with the hotel. All will remain much the same with the Dames meeting in the hotel and the Voyageurs meeting at American Legion Post 83 for the Cheminot on Saturday afternoon which is where we

will hold the banquet on Saturday night. More information is enclosed in the TVN and also available on the Grande du Texas website at www.texasboxcar.org David Knutson Grand Chef de Gare

GRANDE DU TEXAS

HISTORY BOOK TAKES 1ST

PLACE AT

PROMENADE NATIONALE Along with some other recognition at

Promenade Nationale, the Grande Voiture du Texas won first place in the History Book competition. A very big Thank You to the talents of Deborah Knutson who put the book together in short notice. I assisted with some of the event cataloging but all the creativity and skills are to her credit.

The book covers the past year and included several events from around the state, the 2014 Grand Raffle, Promenade Nationale, the move of the Merci Boxcar and Grand Opening of the Merci Boxcar exhibit at Camp Mabry, and other events. It will be out for everyone to look through at Merci Boxcar 2015.

I would like to thank those who sent me photos and information about events they participated in so we could include events from several locals within the Grand du Texas.

Deborah is already started to work on the 2015 Grand History Book so if your locale is involved in any events – take a photo or two and send them to Deborah so she can work on some pages as the year goes on and we can have another great entry to Promenade Nationale 2015.

Send photos and a description of the event including date, event, and names of people in the photo to Deborah via email: [email protected]

http://www.texasboxcar.org/


mailto:[email protected]




Membership Report We are off to a good start for 2015. The final

totals for 2014 are shown as goal as well as current

numbers for each locale.

One problem that has been discussed and we

are pushing to eliminate is to have all current

members renew their membership as early as

possible. Some locales are offering “early bird”

incentives and some do not have any problem getting

their members to renew early. Failing to renew early

does create a problem as time that can be dedicated to

other activities ends up being spent on contacting and

pushing to get current members to renew their

membership.

I have discussed this with our Grand Chef and

after attending Promenade Nationale for a second year

in a row and seeing the many good things people in

our organization are doing I cannot understand why

renewals are so difficult for some. If there is a

problem – address it. Many organizations welcome

their members identifying problems but you should

also have a reasonable solution to the problem. The

Grand Chef and I have discussed some issues with

membership, but there are no significant problems

with our organization that I am aware of which would

prevent members from renewing their membership

early in the year.

Every member in La Société was recognized

for their high character and dedication to helping

others. Even if that was years ago – we need your

continued support and early renewal is one way to

show that support.

I ask each Voyageur Militaire to renew as

soon as possible so your locale can then concentrate

on gaining new members or solving other problems

vs. wasting this time and energy on renewals.

We currently have four locales at or above

100% and they are commended for the great job they

are doing. Keep up the good work!

Joseph McCullough

Grand Chef de Train

Membership Totals November 20, 2014

Division / Locale Sous Chef de Train Current Goal Percentage

1st Division Ron Mick 939 Wichita Falls 6 9 67%

1123 Longview 10 13 77%

1185 Ft Worth 11 24 46%

1601 Lake Dallas 4 9 44%

Total

31 55 56%

2nd Division George Murphy 163 Houston 26 34 76%

266 Copperas Cove 28 28 100%

312 Beaumont 10 16 63%

980 Willis 6 21 29%

1031 Killeen 35 77 45%

Total

105 176 60%

3rd Division George Alexander 175 Austin 18 17 106%

231 La Feria 16 15 107%

542 San Antonio 17 39 44%

1077 Edinburg 6 13 46%

1134 Kingsville 3 15 20%

Total

60 99 61%

4th Division Dan Barman 605 El Paso 27 26 104%

1055 Kerrville 14 24 58%

Total

41 50 82%

Grand Total

237 380 62%





40 & 8 PROGRAMS

With the awards given out in the Fall

Cheminot and the reports submitted and not submitted

it is apparent that this is an issue needing work.

Most of the problem appears to be how to

work the programs and how to document our work.

Many of our programs are worked and just not

reported. We will address some programs in this issue

and other programs in subsequent issues.

We plan to have all reports sent to the same

person in Grand who will coordinate with the Grand

Directeurs of each program. One reason for this is

after the Grand Promenade in June – the positions of

Grand Directeur sometimes change so this should

make it easy for each Locale Directeur to submit their

report. The Grand Directeur of each program is the

primary contact for questions and guidance for that

program.

Each locale should have Program Directeurs

for each program. If there is no Locale Directeur then

the responsibility falls on the Locale Chef de Gare and

Locale Correspondant.

There is a lot of information on most of the

programs at Voiture Nationale website. Another

excellent source is the monthly Voyageur Briefs put

out by Voiture Nationale.

There is a link to Voiture Nationale on the

front page of the Grand du Texas website:

www.texasboxcar.org or you can go to it directly at

www.fortyandeight.org/ and look under the

“Programs” tab and “News and Notes” tab.

We Don’t Work Some Programs We commonly believe that we do not

participate in many of the programs, but if you look at

the program report forms you will find that our regular

activities do fall into one or more programs. See “keep

track of your activities” below.

If you actually do not work a specific program

– that is okay. It is better to do what you can on one or

two programs then do poorly on all programs.

When reporting time comes; just indicate that

you did not do any work in that program (called a

negative report) and there should not be any judgment

or backlash for not doing something in all areas.

Again - it is better to do what you can on one or two

programs then do poorly on all programs

The can be a problem if your locale does not

participate in at least ONE program. If you are not

doing anything – then the locale charter can come

under jeopardy and you are asking for a big problem if

audited by the IRS.

Keep Track of Your Activities

Keep a monthly Activities Report to help

you keep track of your contributions to our

community, state, and nation. Many of us wear

several hats and our participation in these many

events is also related to your activity as a 40 & 8

member. Keep track of a few simple things to

help you report your activities: Date, Description

of the Event, Number of Voyageurs present, Miles

travelled, Hours spent, Money spent.

These reports should be maintained at the

locale level and then used to complete the annual

reports by each Locale Directeur. This has been

one of our problem areas and more information

will be put out to help streamline this proce



http://www.fortyandeight.org/




AMERICANISM

Our Americanism Program activities are

very frequently under reported as many of the

events we participate in are directly related to

Americanism. Here are several examples of

activities that you should report

Americanism Awards: awards given to schools, college,

ROTC, community organizations, citizens (private), fire

prevention, law enforcement, others.

Americanism Speeches and Flag Activities: flag

presentations, flag raising ceremonies, and/or flag

retirement ceremonies.

Youth Activities: band support, baseball, Boys & Girls

State, oratorical contests, scouting (Boy & Girls Club),

Valley Forge Freedom Foundation, child ID programs,

driver training, FFH, 4H, PTA, etc.

Community Activities: blood donor, community services,

“Get out and Vote”, national security, political action,

senior citizens, hunter safety programs, poppy sales, Special

Olympics, meetings/promenades/wrecks, activities in other

fraternal organizations.

Holidays and Memorials: Calvin Kain memorial service,

grave decoration, Memorial Day, Memorial Services:

funerals, memorial dedications, parade participation,

patriotic events, installations, Veteran’s Day.

Veterans: veterans home activities, transportation to

hospitals/doctors, veteran’s employment.

Flags for First Graders Program.

TAX EXEMPT ISSUES

I have asked Voyageur James Baca, our

Grand Commissaire Intendant, to learn exactly

what needs to be done and then we will get the

information to everyone. If documents need to be

filed we will assist each locale to make sure

everything is filed correctly. I took a look at the

requirements and in addition to being confusing –

like most of the tax code – it is not just that simple

so Thank You to James in advance for taking on

this challenge.

From what I did see – if someone is not

doing the correct paperwork then you could end

up in very hot water with the IRS. We had one

locale who got rung through and had to pay a

hefty amount to the IRS to make things right.

GRANDE RAFFLE

Thank you to Don Taylor, V-266 who is

heading up the Grand Raffle this year. See the

attached flyer and there is also an order form if

you would like tickets you can send to him to get

your tickets. We again have an opportunity to

make a good profit for our Grand to support our

programs and other activities.

Locales can buy tickets as well and then

use the prize to do their own fundraiser. Thank

you for your support.

CENTRAL STATES PROMENADE

2017 TO BE HELD IN AUSTIN Grande Voiture du Texas will be hosting the

2017 Central States Promenade. This will bring in

Voyageurs Militaire from 8 other states.

Grand Chef de Gare David Knutson will be the

President of the 2017 event which will also be the

100th anniversary of the US entering WWI. This is a

Grand function and will take help from others from

within the Grand to make successful. More

information will be coming at our next Grand

Promenade in June 2015.









Grand Raffle Ticket Order Form

Name:________________________

Address:_______________________

Number of Tickets

____ x $5 per ticket: _____ or 6 tickets for $20

____ x $20 books: ______

Total:$_______

Make checks payable to Grand du Texas Raffle and mail to:

Don Taylor

3271 Colonado Dr

Copperas Cove, TX 76522





















Voiture 175

New Year’s Eve

Fundraising Raffle 1

st Place: Samsung Tablet

2nd

Prize: Yeti Cooler

3rd

Prize: Samsung DVD Player

4th

& 5th

Prize: $25 gift cards.

Tickets $5 each or 3 for $10

To support our Locale charities

and activities. Please order tickets

using the below order form.

Thank you for your support.

V-175 Raffle Ticket Order Form

Name:________________________

Address:_______________________

Number of Tickets

____ x $5 per ticket: _____ or 3 tickets for $20

____ x $10 books: ______

Total:$_______

Make checks payable to Voiture 175 Raffle and mail to:

David Knutson

1904 Rutherford Drive

Leander, TX 78641





Grand Promenade held June 2014

Hosted by Bell County Voiture Locale 1031





FALL CHEMINOT IN LAKE DALLAS, TEXAS

OCTOBER 18, 2014





FALL CHEMINOT IN LAKE DALLAS, TEXAS

OCTOBER 18, 2014





Trophy and Awards

Grand du Texas

2014

_____________________________________________________ Ronnie Wheeler Award for Americanism (Voitures with 25 members and over)

Winner: V-605 2nd

Place: V-266 3rd

Place: V-1031

Milton Chatham Award for Americanism (Voitures with under 25 members)

Winner: V-175 2nd

Place: No Award 3rd

Place: No Award

Jim Fowler Award for Nurses Training (Voitures with 25 members and over)

Winner: V-1185 2nd

Place V-266 3rd

Place: V-605___

Lanny Givens Award for Nurses Training (Voitures with under 25 Members)

Winner: V-312 2nd

Place: V-231 3rd

Place: V-175___

Daniel Thompson Award for Membership (Voitures with 25 members and over)

Winner: V-605 2nd

Place: V-1031 3rd

Place: V-542___

Jerry Brady Award for Membership (Voitures with under 25 members)

Winner: V-1055 2nd

Place: V-1134 3rd

Place: V-175___

Rick Overturf Award for Child Welfare

Winner: V-1031 2nd

Place: V-266 3rd

Place: V-605___

Gabe Cina Award for Youth Sports

Winner: V-605 2nd

Place: V-175 3rd

Place: V-266___

Bob Nagle Award for Box Car

Winner: V-1031 2nd

Place: V-175 3rd

Place: V-605___

Don Barfield Award for POW/MIA

Winner: V-542 2nd

Place: V-1031 3rd

Place: V-175___

David Knutson Award for Carville Stare

Winner: V-1077 2nd

Place: No Award 3rd

Place: No Award

John Powell Award for Ritual

Winner: V-605 2nd

Place: V-1031 3rd

Place: V-1055__

Jim Shannon Award for Voiture Activities

Winner: V-1031 2nd

Place: V-266 3rd

Place: V-605___

Darrel Gibbs Award for VAVS

Winner: V-1031 2nd

Place: V-266 3rd

Place: V-175___

Lowell Mix Award for Public Relations

Winner: V-605 2nd

Place: V-1031 3rd

Place: V-175___

Paul Chevalier Award for Law Officer of the Year

Winner: Not Awarded______________________________________________

Grand Voiture Award for History Book


Grand Voiture Award for Hero of the Year


Grand Voiture Award for City of the Year


Grand Correspondant Award

Winner: Douglas Pendleton V-266___________________________________

Grand Voyageur of the Year Award

Winner: David Knutson V-175______________________________________





La Grande Voiture du Texas


P.O. Box 170074

Austin, Texas 78717

ADDRESSEE: Please notify sender of name/address correction Chef de Gare – David Knutson Correspondant – Milton Chatham Commissire Intendant – Tom Larsen L’Editeur – Dave Knutson

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