Month: October 2019

On October 7th, the Region lost another one of our most beloved members. Dodie Frank meant a lot to Gail and me personally. She, along with her husband, Jerroy, are some of our best friends, not just “PCA” friends, but true friends. She always greeted us, whether at a PCA event, car show, track day, or at her home, with a smile and a hug.

Years ago, when we attended our first Thirsty Thursday at Growlers in Sunset Hills, Dodie and Jerroy welcomed us like old friends. They made us very comfortable in our new circumstances and for years afterwards, unless they were travelling, we could always count on seeing the Franks (and getting a hug from Dodie) the first Thursday of every month.

In addition to organizing and running DE registration for years, Dodie hosted memorable activities including a tour of Bellefontaine Cemetery to see the graves of famous St. Louisans, a gimmick rally through St. Louis and “Voices on Valhalla’, a Halloween hayride at Valhalla Memorial Park. In addition, she was a driving force behind a charity car show at the same venue and recruited several of the region’s car show pros to help run it.

At our first Parade in St. Charles, Illinois, we spend several enjoyable afternoons and evenings with the two of them. One afternoon, Dodie casually suggested that I run for region president, insisting that I would be good in the job. At that point, nearly ten years ago, I was not even a Board member and had never considered being president was even a possibility. But the seed was planted. Had it not been for Dodie’s friendship and subtle encouragement, I’m not sure I would have been as active in the region as I have.

Dodie was a great hostess on the personal side, too. She invited us to several family celebrations and to many private get-togethers at their house. Many after-meeting dinners were shared with Dodie and Jerroy. She even hosted our daughter’s baby shower.

I am sure many other region members have special memories of Dodie and will also miss her. She was the epitome of the PCA’s slogan, “It’s not just the cars, it’s the people.” Dodie, we will miss you.

On a lighter note, one of the events Dodie enjoyed was the region Holiday Party. This year’s party will be at the Missouri Athletic Club West in Des Peres. Registration is open at Motorsportreg.com. Let’s celebrate the season, the cars we enjoy and the friends we love. See you there!

As my term as president nears the end, I can’t help look back over the last two years and think about the people who have made my job possible. There are many people who contribute a lot of time and effort to the region without fanfare. Several are board members, others are volunteers, but without them, this region could not present the diversified, almost overwhelming, program of tours, social events and track events that we all get to enjoy.

One such person is Earlwayne Stumpf. Earlwayne has been a PCA and region member for over 45 years, is our Newsletter Editor and Region Historian and is a fount of region knowledge. He attends and contributes to almost every board meeting and, in fact, at our September meeting, added some important background information to our discussion about our region bylaws. At this same meeting, he officially accepted the role of Region Historian, agreed to join our new advertising committee, and agreed to handle the Toys for Tots donations for the region’s holiday party.

As Newsletter Editor, he produces three versions of Die Plauderei each month. He writes much of the content, solicits and edits contributions from others, curates content from other sources and performs all the layout tasks while making sure the details for all upcoming events are correct. Once he has done all that, he provides information to our webmaster, Ted Zimmermann, for calendar updates and our registrar, Marek Parafiniuk, to set up event registration. He even makes sure that my President’s Column is published, even when I’m chronically late with my submissions, which seems to happen more often than not. In addition he is a regular contributor to our region Facebook groups.

He does all this even though he can’t enjoy his Porsches with the rest of us. Over the years, he has owned and raced several 914’s, but I have not seen him in a Porsche in years. Earlwayne is a living embodiment of the club slogan, “It’s not just the cars, it’s the people”, and we, the members of St. Louis Region, are all the better for his contributions. Thank you Earlwayne!

We are currently seeking nominations for board members and officers to lead the region forward in 2020 and 2021. If you are interested in becoming more involved in the club, contact any member of the Nominating Committee, Jim Fiss at jfiss@stl.pca.org or Steve Sullivan at ssullivan@stl.pca.org or Charles Faussete.