President’s Letter – December 2025

Happy Holiday Season to all!

Winter has finally arrived and I look forward to time in the snow with my skis, my wife, and my dogs.

I look forward to seeing many of you at our Annual Meeting, Thursday, December 4, 6:00 pm, at the Glacier Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 1515 Trumble Creek Rd, Kalispell. This will take 15 minutes before Kathy Dunnehoff’s session. You’ll receive an update of AotF Board actions for the year, a financial report, and we’ll have the yearly balance sheet from our accountant for anyone interested to peruse. We’ll also elect new officers for the year. More on this in a bit.

Other upcoming meetings:

• December 11 – Sue Purvis hosts a speaker TBA. 6:00 pm on Zoom.
• December 18 – Annual Holiday Potluck and Party at the GUUF, 6:00 pm. No alcohol, please. Bring a dish, your own utes, and a wrapped book for a white Elephant exchange.
• January 8 – Kathy kicks off the new year with a session on procrastinating. I’m curious if we’ll discover how to be better or to overcome that scourge of we creative folks.

The slate at this time is:

President –

Vice President – Larry Baer

Past President – Craig Naylor

Secretary – Fran Tabor

Treasurer – Heidi Wolf

Conference Coordinator – Shira Marin

Membership Coordinator – Ann Trinca

At-Large – Carl Stevens, Susan Purvis

Voting is in-person or via email to our secretary, Fran Tabor – frantabor@gmail.com. Only paid members are authorized to vote but we don’t have a way to check that yet so we are on the honor system.

We can take nominations from the floor too. If nobody steps forward for President, Larry and I will steward the organization until that’s resolved, but it would be lovely to split the work three ways. This past year, AotF moved the VP – Pres. – Past Pres. is a three-year rotation, one year in each position. Please step forward if you can serve as President. Larry, the Board and I will have your back.

We are a volunteer organization so I encourage you to pitch in and help out, like our Non-Board Advisors and Project Directors, who deserve our thanks:

Industry Advisor – Julie Stevenson

Grants – Carl Stevens, Craig Naylor, Jennifer Eversole

Student Writing Competition – Chani Craig and Craig Naylor

Second Thursday Interviews – Susan Purvis

Conference Assistant Coordinator – Jennifer Rogge

GUUF Facilities Booking Liaison – Glenn Schiffman

Accountant – Dianne Guenther

Steve Hruza – webmaster

Jess Owen – Facebook and Instagram posts

Mindy Peltier – Interlake and Beacon schedule posts

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your president these past few years. When I took the job, I was unpublished and now have my first novel out on eBook, soon in print, with articles and poems published, and a poetry book in the works. My service has walked in step with my professional growth.

Happy Holidays to you all! Write On!

Craig

Craig Thomas Naylor, DMA