2011 In Review• We celebrated our 50th Anniversary in February2011 with national management conferences for ourmarket-rate/healthcare administrators, directors of nursing,assisted living directors and affordable housing managers.The annual meeting is a time when we conduct corporatebusiness, and we welcomed delegates from RHF communityboards as well as 26 United Church of Christ (UCC)Conference Ministers.The annual meeting worship service was hosted by FirstCongregational UCC, Long Beach. Preaching was theRev. Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., Senior Minister Emeritusof Riverside Church in New York City. A combined choirof almost 100 comprised of RHF team members andchoir members from First Congregational and Los AltosUCCs Long Beach and Community CongregationalUCC in Los Alamitos provided music under thedirection of Curtis Heard and David Joseph.Approximately 450 people were in attendance.At the annual business meeting, the Rev. Harold Schultzwas elected to the National Board of Directors Class of2012, and Jean Dremstedt, Raymond East, and Dr. DarrylM. Sexton were re-elected to three-year terms, Classof 2014. The anniversary banquet was held at the LongBeach Hilton and several awards were presented.Larry Minnix, who has served as President and CEOof LeadingAge since 2001, formerly the AmericanAssociation of Homes and Services for the Aging(AAHSA), received the Friend of the Elderly award.LeadingAge is the national advocate for 5,600 nonprofitproviders. 2011 also marked the 50th Anniversary ofLeadingAge. For more than 35 years Larry has beena passionate advocate for leadership and innovation innot-for-profit aging services.RHF 2011 Resident of the Year was Boneata Kautz fromWestover Manor, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She was the firstperson to move into Westover Manor when the communityopened in November 1989. She has organized potlucks,including set up and clean up, and has served on theresident association and put together fundraisers for theassociation. She is in charge of the exercise class, helpswith Bingo and monthly birthday parties, arranges forthe bus to the grocery store every week, and sets upappointments with the visiting nurses.6Volunteers of the Year were Anita and Forest Wasson whowork tirelessly to provide residents of Mayflower Gardens<strong>Retirement</strong> Community and others in need in Quartz Hill,California with food items. They have expanded their 12-year mission from feeding three families a week to morethan 1,200 people each month.RHF 2011 Local Board Member of the Year was Rev. FritzMellberg also from Westover Manor in Cedar Rapids.Fritz has served as a member of the board since 1993when he became Pastor of Hope United Church of Christ.He is a graduate of Chicago Theological Seminary, andwhile in school he worked as a speech writer and reporterat the UCC Office of Communication in New York City. Inaddition to his governance work at Westover Manor, hehas led Bible studies for residents and staff and encouragedhis congregation to assist with financial contributions tocommunity events.The Manager of the Year award was presented to PamelaJennings from Independence Square, Evansville, Indiana.In 2003, the Deaconess Hospital transferred this123-apartment HUD 202 community to <strong>Retirement</strong><strong>Housing</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong>. In addition to serving IndependenceSquare, Pamela is one of the leading managers of the Midwestregion and is very willing and eager to help train newmanagers and offer assistance to others when needed.A surprise award was given to me when the Rex ChapmanAward was presented by Rex and Gertrude’s grandchildren,Catherine and John Collinson. They also quoted from aletter that Rex had written in 1997, which I had not heardabout before, in which he said, “I believe that the mostimportant thing I’ve done during the time I’ve been on theBoard of RHF was the recruiting and employment of theRev. Dr. Laverne Joseph for the position of President andCEO.” I was quite moved and humbled by that statement.I thank the RHF Board for this honor.TransitionsDuring this period the following board and team memberspassed away: Board members Richard Dean, PilgrimPlace, Mason City, Iowa; Gilbert D. Gwaltney, West ValleyTowers, Van Nuys, California; Priscilla Savage, CrookedCreek Tower, Indianapolis, Indiana; and team memberCarl M. Cook who served as on-call security at GuadalupeSenior Apartments in Denver, Colorado. Also, Dr. WilliamRader who served on the RHF Board of Directors from1972 to 2005 and chaired the Board from 1989 to1994. Bill was also responsible for organizing the
Modesto Affiliated Church <strong>Housing</strong> Corporation,which worked with RHF to develop Ralston Towerand Marple Manor; and most recently Kathy Almerswho served at The Carolinian, Florence, SC, as officemanager from 1994 to 2000, and since that time asadministrator.Christina Bagley joined us as National MarketingDirector for our market-rate communities.Irene Armstrong, Corporate Bookkeeper, retired after21 years of service as a member of the headquartersteam, and Ramona Ponce retired as Director of DietaryServices at Angelus Plaza where she was employedsince 1981 when the community opened.Promotions included Joanne Silva from OccupancyManager to Director of Occupancy and Tax CreditCompliance, Deborah Stouff from Director to VicePresident of Corporate Records and CorporateSecretary, Conrad Dungca from Internal Audit Managerto Director, and Jennifer Staley from Payroll Managerto Director of Payroll Services.We welcomed John F. Bauman, Ph.D. and the Rev. Dr.Norma Nomura DeSaegher to the RHF Board of Directorsand Barbara Bauman and Col. John DeSaegher to theRHF Advisory Commission.The Rev. Dr. Teruo Kawata is retiring from the RHFBoard of Directors with this annual meeting after 15years of service, and Kiku Kawata is retiring from theAdvisory Commission.We thank our 2,784 team members (1,644 full time and1,140 part time) as well as our 253 national and localboard members and our 50 advisory board members forhelping to make the mission a reality in the lives of nearly18,000 people, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Onehundred of our team members work in the headquartersoffice and ten in our regional offices.• We continue to work with the conferences ofthe UCC, Council for Health and Human ServiceMinistries of the UCC (CHHSM), and ecumenicallywith other churches, as well as cities, counties, states,service clubs, and national organizations.Anita &ForestWassonBonita KautzPamelaJenningsLarry Minnix,President & CEOof LeadingAge.Rev. FritzMellberg• Brian Magnone continues to serve as Treasurer onthe Board of CHHSM.(Continue on page 8)7