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In 1995, SGMP National President, Sadie Rogers, tasked all SGMP chapter presidents to write a history of their chapter and bring the documents with them to the SGMP National Education Conference. Presidents were given a set of questions (as outlined) to answer. Claudette Ferris was the 1995 president of the Colorado Chapter and began writing this document. This document remains a “living history” of the Rocky Mountain Chapter. The Chapter’s History committee is tasked to keep this document updated in order to have a comprehensive archive of the Rocky Mountain Chapter.
The Colorado Chapter organizers began the process in July 1985.
The first organizers of the organization were:
* Elly McFadden served as acting Chair until the election.
The process took approximately four months.
Since the Colorado Chapter was chartered in 1985, it was difficult to connect with any of the originators to get background information on the formation of the Chapter.
Since the chapter history project began in September 1995, and the Colorado Chapter was chartered in 1985, it was difficult to connect with any of the originators to reminisce
about the early days.
October 21, 1985 – Colorado was the third SGMP Chapter to charter.
The following information was taken from the SGMP National newsletter, dated December 1985:
“On Monday, October 21, 1985, the new Colorado Chapter of SGMP was installed by National President, Bob Driscoll, at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver. The Denver Inn
hosted the evening. Roger Smith, President, Denver & Colorado Convention and Visitors Bureau, was the Emcee.
The Chapter was installed with 22 members and was attended by a total of 65 people. Bob Driscoll presented a plaque to the incoming President, Virginia Burns, of the
Environmental Protection Agency.
The two people most instrumental in starting the Chapter are Becky Ellis, Governor’s Court Hotel, and Elly McFadden, Radisson Hotel Denver. Elly served as Acting Chair until the election. Bob Driscoll commended the Colorado group for putting the Chapter together in a span of just four months.”
In an August 11, 1995, letter from Debbie Beamer, Beamer and Associates, to Colorado Chapter President Claudette Ferris, Ms. Beamer stated that National Headquarters did not have any records of the Colorado Chapter charter. The letter also stated “this was due to SGMP having two other management companies before signing on with Beamer and Associates, Inc. in July 1988. Either those companies didn’t keep copies of charters or one was never provided to them. Possibly the person responsible for helping Colorado Chapter didn’t give the information to the office.”
(Remaining slate of officers/years of service to be found later in document)
The original name of the Chapter was the Colorado Chapter, although once in a while it was referred to as the Denver Chapter in the National newsletters.
In November 1998, the Chapter changed its name to the Rocky Mountain Chapter to reflect more of its encompassing states of New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
No, the Colorado Chapter was never a part of another chapter.