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PRESIDENT-ELECT
MARGARET FOGARTY TO HEAD YMCA ALUMNI; TAKES OFFICE JAN.1, 2027
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Margaret Fogarty of the Grand Canyon Chapter has been named President-Elect of YMCA Alumni, effective Jan. 1, 2027.
Margaret is presently serving as Secretary of the National Board. The announcement was made by President Phill Morgan on behalf of the Nominating Committee at the “48 Hours” conference of chapter presidents and board members in St. Louis.
"Thanks to Phill Morgan and Jean Carmichael for building a solid foundation to the YMCA Alumni Board in the past years, I have big shoes to fill,” Margaret says.
“Some have asked me why I would agree to be President. I believe that God has a plan for each of us, and that this is my calling for this time. If I can somehow help people to connect, travel, or serve, then maybe I am fulfilling my time here.”
Margaret retired from the YMCA of the Pike’s Peak Region in Colorado following a 30-year career. Positions with the Pikes Peak Y included Director of Healthy Living, Associate Executive Director, Human Services Director, and Staff Training and Development Director.
She has also served two years as a branch executive for the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City and eight years as a training partner for Ys in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Her current volunteer work is with Family Connections, St. Joseph Parish.
Margaret and her husband, John, live in Colorado Springs, CO.
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Are you interested in serving in some capacity on a YMCA Alumni board or committee? If so, please click the button below and let us
know via email.
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PHILL MORGAN
FROM THE PRESIDENT
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The F. William Stahl Award Committee, co-chaired by past recipients Len Wilson (Central Atlantic Chapter) and Nancy Reece (Weatherford Chapter), will present the Stahl Award for writing at the YMCA Alumni Reunion in June 2027 in Kansas City.
Your Board has made one key change in the award criteria: Going forward, the written works of nominees must be produced exclusively while the author is an active member of YMCA Alumni or its predecessors.
Those nominees who were runners-up during the 2025 cycle shall be considered re-nominated for one subsequent nominating period only (for the award presented in KC in 2027).
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Did you know that our modern YMCA Retiree organization was founded in 1972 and named the International Association of Retired Directors (IARD)? In 1977, the name was changed to Association of YMCA Retirees (AYR), which expanded to include retired YMCA staff and spouses.
The name was changed to YMCA Alumni in 2013, reflecting a broader vision that included YMCA Retirees, former YMCA staff, spouses, and surviving spouses.
The core tenets of YMCA Alumni have been CONNECT, TRAVEL, and SERVE. Why not ask a Y retiree who is not a member of YMCA Alumni to attend your next chapter gathering to experience and be part of our wonderful history?
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JUNE 16-19, 2027
Click the image above to visit some of Kansas City's 100 informative, exciting, and entertaining museums. We'll include several in our reunion excursions, and you can visit others on your own. There's the famed World War I Museum, the Kemper Art Museum, the iconic Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and even the Steamboat of Arabia Museum. Many more, too.
We'll stay at the Embassy Suites Hotel by Hilton, just 4 miles from the airport, with a free 24-hour shuttle. Registration will open later this summer. Yes, you've got a date in Kansas City.
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MEMORY LANE
with BILL MOSS
AND NOW, 'PHAMOUS SMILES'
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From time to time in Memory Lane, I’ve written about Chau Pham, the young Vietnamese Refugee (right photo) I brought home from my YMCA volunteer service at Camp Pendleton in 1975.
Following the fall of Saigon, the Marine Base in San Diego served as a massive temporary processing and resettlement center for over 50,000 South Vietnamese refugees. The YMCA provided critical community, educational, and recreational programs.
Perhaps it's time for an update:
Following college, Chau worked his way into senior management at Motorola just as the company was designing a new phone. There were two schools of thought on how to go about it. Chau’s team lost the debate, but later, his team’s theory was proven right when the winning side’s model failed.
The losing team decided to leave Motorola, but to receive their severance, each had to sign a non-compete agreement.
One day, Chau was reading the newspaper and saw an article about a new dental school opening on the west side of Phoenix. They were ready to receive applications for admittance to the first class. Chau thought to himself, “I put a brother and a sister through Dental School, why not myself?”
The next day, he drove to the new school to get information on entering the first class. Since his original college degrees (BS and MS) were in Electrical Engineering, all his courses were in the physical sciences. He needed to return to Arizona State University to take a couple of undergraduate Biology classes.
When Chau completed those classes, he was admitted to the second graduating class of the Dental School.
After graduating, he and his wife Thuy (who was already a Dental Hygienist) spent two years working in a Dental Office on a Native American Reservation in Oregon. This helped write off some of the expenses of Dental School.
When Chau and Thuy returned to Arizona, Chau bought an existing Dental Practice in Chandler, southeast of Phoenix, and re-named it "Phamous Smiles."
This spring, Chau’s daughter, Paulina, graduated from his Alma Mater, ASU, and has joined the practice.
The nice thing about having a Dentist as a foster son is the superior treatment our family gets when we go in for our check-ups. And his fees aren’t bad either.
| | Bill Moss is a member of the Grand Canyon Chapter, serves on the National Service Project Standing Committee and was editor of this newsletter when it was known as "The Old Guard News." Bill was a nominee for the 2025 F. William Stahl Award. | | |
2026 YMCA ALUMNI DONOR CAMPAIGN
TAKE TIME TO DONATE NOW
| | Jean Carmichael, YMCA Alumni Immediate Past President and current fundraising chair, needs just a few minutes of your time. Her request: "Can we talk?" If you haven't watched it yet, please go directly to our website (click the button below), watch this short video, then make your 2026 donation. She'll explain the need. Already donated? Thank you. Please act now. | | |
'48 HOURS'
CONNECTING AND TRAINING IN ST. LOUIS
| | Some 27 chapter presidents and members of the YMCA Alumni Board took part in the biennial training session, dubbed "48 Hours," in St. Louis in early June. Photos Top: Lee Muckey (McCoy), Jim Heiman (Schreiner), and Bob Warnock (Lyon); Lynne Vaughan (Grand Canyon) gets congratulations on her YMCA Hall of Fame selection. Bottom: Margaret Fogarty, (Secretary and President-Elect); Phill Morgan, President; Dave Patterson (Membership Director); Chuck Ainsworth (McBurney-Morse). | | Talk about filling "48 Hours" to the brim... More photos, Top: Larry Garvin (VP/East), Bob McDowell (Central Atlantic), Lisa Drouin (New England); Tony Delisio Chambers, Orville Lindquist (Upper Midwest); Middle: Louie Warren (Mott); Laura Kamperman (Weatherford), Tracy Muckey (ISC Chair); Kurt Kaboth (Assistant Treasurer/WBF). Bottom: Carmelita Gallo (VP/West), Teresa Hill (Grand Canyon); Cindy Koenig-Daggs (Assistant Treasurer), Dianne Clark (Treasurer). Camera-shy: Dave Rogers (VP/Central), Nels Bagnardi (Ozark), Dave Phelps (Messer Brandenburg). Photos by Craig Altschul. | | |
THE Y WORLD COMES TO TORONTO
WFYR BRINGS RETIREES TOGETHER
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Toronto, Canada, will play host to the YMCA World July 19-24 as leaders of the World Fellowship of YMCA Retirees (WFYR) and delegates to the World Council of YMCAs will meet and connect separately and together. More than 1,300 people are expected. YMCA Alumni is a member of WFYR, and so are you.
Helene Weir (photo left), a YMCA retiree who can claim membership in both Canada YMCA Alumni and USA YMCA Alumni, will take over as WFYR Chair for the next four years during the event. She succeeds Kohei Yamada of Japan.
"I am excited — and truly honored — to be stepping in as the incoming Chair of the World Fellowship of YMCA Retirees. To serve alongside people who have dedicated their careers to this incredible organization means a great deal to me," Helene says.
"WFYR is special. It connects YMCA retirees, both staff and volunteers, who care deeply about the YMCA’s global work — and in today’s challenging world, that work has never been more important. Together, we promote fellowship and support YMCAs and Y employees around the world through special projects that make a real impact."
The WFYR agenda includes reports from YMCA Retiree groups in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and North America; the Global Retirement Initiative (funded by YMCA Alumni’s World Brotherhood Fund); the Secours Speciaux assistance fund; plans for the Bridges newsletter, and more. The group will be welcomed by World YMCA CEO Carlos Sanvee and YMCA Canada President Peter Dinsdale. Special sessions will be held on Meaningful Retirement and Christian Identity.
WFYR members are official delegates to the World Council and can participate in any and all sessions, excursions, and special events.
YMCA Alumni members attending include Craig Altschul, Don Anderson, Jean Carmichael, Ray Day, Phil Dwyer, Deborah Dwyer, Kurt Kaboth, Linda Lindeman, Bonnie Mairs, Phill Morgan, Susan Rittscher, Jerry Prado Shaw, Peggi Simmons, Janis Sterling, Helene Weir, Len Wilson, and Joyce Wilson.
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Construction of a prototype “Twig” (small Y branch), the final piece of YMCA Alumni’s first National Service Project, begins next month in the small, outlying community of La Plant, SD. Six, week-long volunteer waves are scheduled for Aug.18-25; Aug. 25-Sept. 1; Sept. 1-8; Sept. 8-15; Sept. 15-22, and Sept. 22-29. If you, your family members, and/or friends are interested in volunteering to help build the Twig, please contact either Gary Graham or Lee Muckey for details and to answer any questions.
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CHAPTER CHECK-IN:
SERVICE, GOLF AND A PICNIC
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Sharing the Harvest Community Farm, a project of the Dartmouth, MA YMCA, got the attention of New England Chapter members on an early June day. The project is a volunteer grassroots effort to help feed "neighbors in need throughout the South Coast region." Participants included Gregg and Lisa Howells, Karen Keslie, Nancy Bonell, Gary Schuyler, Lucria Ortiz (YMCA CEO), Lisa Drouin, and Martha Machnik.
Right photo: Rob Reeves, Dan Desmond, and Kim Kimball get ready to head out onto the Treehouse golf course in Tewksbury, MA, on a New England Chapter golf outing.
| | It's that time of the year when members of the Central Atlantic Chapter head to Strathmere on the Jersey Shore as Joyce and Len Wilson host the chapter's annual tradition in their summer home. L-R: The buffet is open, and Ken White and Walt Fromm catch up with each other. | | |
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
SWISS RAIL TRIP APRIL 14-24, 2027
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No tour or cruise has ever had so many overwhelmingly positive reports from members, so we are doing something we've never done before: Your YMCA Alumni Travel Club is repeating last spring's Scenic Switzerland by Train tour April 14-24, 2027.
It’s the perfect way to see Switzerland’s breathtaking mountains, charming mountain resorts, fascinating old towns, and beautiful lakes, all while you relax aboard the world-famous Glacier Express, Bernina Express, Gornergrat Cog Railway, and others. This escorted trip by Cosmos, part of the Globus Tours family, sold out within days of its announcement last time, so don’t delay. Your YMCA Alumni hosts are Debbie and Larry Garvin.
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Paul Atkinson of the Chambers Chapter has been inducted into the National YMCA Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame inaugural class for his more than 50 years of service to this legacy YMCA program.
Paul coordinated and conducted the Ohio/West Virginia Area and the Great Lakes Regional Swimming and Diving Championships as well as two National YMCA Swimming and Diving Championships; was Aquatic Commissioner for the Ohio/West Virginia Area and the Great Lakes Region; was honored as
as “Maverick Man of the Year;" served as a council member of the National YMCA Competitive Swimming and Diving Council since its inception, and represented the YMCA to the United States Olympic Diving Committee, and more.
There is no limit to what you can accomplish,” Paul says, "if you do not care who gets the credit.” But, we can pass out the credit: Congratulations, Paul.
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A recently released book titled “Nais-MYTH” Basketball’s Stolen Legacy by George and Darrill Fosty makes the case that Dr. James Naismith didn’t truly invent the game of basketball.
In 1891, Dr. Naismith, he of the famed peach baskets at Springfield College, sent a pamphlet to YMCAs in New England, including four principles he believed should be used to develop a new team game.
Lambert Will, a part-time teenage employee of the Herkimer, NY YMCA, received the pamphlet. The authors claim that Will actually wrote the rules and organized the first basketball game, also played in 1891.
The book does much to discredit Dr. Naismith, writes YMCA Alumni member Bill McAllister in the Chambers Chatter newsletter. He says the book paints Naismith in a less-than-favorable light.
We say "boo" to the authors. Leave our legacies alone.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
YMCA ALUMNI
| | THE CONNECTION is written, edited and produced by craig altschul + associates (ca+a). It is published 12 times yearly. Next issue: August 2, 2026. | | OUR MISSION: To provide opportunities for members to Connect, Travel, and Serve while nurturing worldwide Christian fellowship. | | IMPORTANT NOTE: Please think twice when unsubscribing to any unsolicited email. If it has been sent to you by Constant Contact, they are not allowed, by law, to send any more emails to you, including from YMCA Alumni. Just flick away emails you don't want -- but please don't "unsubscribe." We can get you re-subscribed ONLY ONCE. Send us an email if you are not receiving our newsletters or you have accidentally unsubscribed and we will try to reinstate you. --editor | | | |
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