Lake County Retired Teachers Association celebrates 60 years
Submitted by Allan Meyer
The Lake County Retired Teachers Association celebrated its 60th anniversary on April 11 with a special expanded menu, at Lambs Farm restaurant in Libertyville. In addition to several retired presidents of the organization, other guests included the president of the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, Dave Davison; IRTA Executive Director Jim Bachman; past TRS Annuitant Trustee Bob Lyons; Area II Representative Bob Kaplan; and the Honorable Superintendent of Lake County Schools Roycealee Woods.
In 1957, Dr. W.C. Petty, longtime Lake County Superintendent of Schools, invited a number of retired teachers to meet as his guests at the Karcher Hotel in Waukegan to discuss the formation of a Lake County Retired Teachers Association. Twenty-eight retirees attended this first meeting and Roy Hurd was elected president. He served in this office for 10 years. Two years previous to this, in 1955, the Illinois Retired Teachers Association was established. From the beginning the LCRTA has held monthly luncheon meetings, one of only three units in the state to do so.
In the early 1980s, under the leadership of president Ruth Pester, LCRTA was revitalized and refocused. Membership, legislation and health insurance became important functioning committees. Local members attended the state convention, and many were appointed to statewide committees. Roman Miller, a LCRTA member, was elected president of IRTA in 1994, the first person from the northern part of the state elected to statewide office since the first president in 1955, Marjorie Cook.
Paid membership in Lake County is currently approaching the 2,000 mark. A newsletter has been published in May and October for many years and additional information sheets are distributed monthly. A website has been established where members can go and find out the latest information about what affects them as retirees.
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