A Letter of Thanks from Mary Rhoades

This NSC could never have happened without the scores of people who volunteered their time.

My thanks:

To the folks, both Scrabblers and volunteers from Dayton, who worked at stuffing tote bags on Thursday and at registration on Friday.

To Jane Williams, Patty Hocker and Theresa Bubb, who came early and said, "We'll do whatever you want us to" and next thing I knew they were putting tablecloths on the tables, baskets of forms on tables, and whatever nitty-gritty stuff that needed done!

To our five division leaders, almost constantly roaming their divisions seemingly tirelessly, but having been a division leader many times, I know it wasn't tirelessly.

To the division assistants, some of whom were job-sharing, for their scrutiny of the result slips and whatever else the division leader needed them to do.

To my own personal "slave", Lauren Tyler, who ran errands for me, organized some of my stuff really well, practiced her SCRABBLE on her travel SCRABBLE board, and looks forward to getting involved in the competition at some point.

To our data staff, who kept things running in spite of us all....

To our donors of money, prizes, money from the raffle (Gene and Bob) as well as proceeds from tile sales (Sam), and the amazing donation of providing the table linens for all these tables by Lois Greene, who helped in other innumerable ways.

To Willie Pitzer, who searched nooks and crannies for things for us to enjoy while we were in Dayton.

And finally, to Chris Cree, whose vision for what NASPA and the NSC could be came to fruition at last.

Much needs to be done in our infant organization--remember it's only a few months old. More of you will get involved, and we look forward to a bigger and better organization as time goes on.

If I've forgotten anybody, you are thanked, too. I sit in my den surrounded by the 11 boxes from the tournament just barely so far making a dent, so it's really hard to settle my mind enough to remember everyone.

To the players, it was a real joy to touch base with old friends, meet new friends, and see such a sea of people in one room for our annual SCRABBLE family reunion!

—Mary