​

     The 35th Anniversary was an event to remember. The slogan for the Anniversary was Kept It! I thank the Anniversary Committee for putting the event together. Charlene Blair did an outstanding job as Chairperson. I thank Committee members Clarence McKnight, Betty Lewis, Jean Lewis, Betty Sessions and Rosina Major. The committee donated their time, talent and treasure to make the event enjoyable for all. I thank all the members who came from far and near to celebrate our Anniversary!

       The Bourse vendors on Friday had lots for items for sale. I purchased items from many of them to add to my collection. Betty Sessions set up a special display to honor our founder Dr. Esper Hayes. The workshops were great. I did a workshop on collecting, Jean Lewis did a workshop on reaching out to youth and Charlene Blair did a workshop on exhibiting. On Friday night we had fun showing our favorite stamp items. There were lots of photo opportunities in front of the ESPER banner.

           The Bus tour on Saturday was outstanding. The first stop was the Miles Davis Museum. When you go into the house, see the video and all the other items in the house, it was a moving experience. I have his stamp sheet and several First Day Covers (FDCs) with his stamp in my collection. The second stop on the bus tour was the Blues Museum. Walking through the museum and seeing all the Blues / Jazz greats was inspiring, Coltrane, Johnson, Monk, Armstrong, MA Rainey, Holiday just to name a few. I have all the Jazz singer stamps, the Jazz and Blues singer stamps and FDCs in my collection. We ate lunch at Sugar Fire BBQ which is right next door to the museum. The bus driver was a stamp collector, too. He gave us a mini tour of the city as we were returning to the hotel. We stopped for a photo opportunity at the Budwiser plant and then for some pretzels at a St Louis landmark.

         Prior to the Banquet on Saturday we took the group photo. A big thanks to Tony Thaxton for being our official photographer for the Anniversary.

At the Banquet I was surprised not once but twice with presentations. My thanks to Estelle Bell of the USPS for being at our Anniversary. She presented me with a large framed poster of the John Lewis Stamp. She also brought John Lewis stamp ceremony programs, stamp pins, Good Trouble wrist bands, Ruth Bader Ginsberg stamp ceremony programs and stamp pins to be given out. The Anniversary speaker (Alvin Parks, Former Major East Saint Louis, Illinois) challenged us to reach out to youth, to share the hobby and get them involved in stamp collecting. Hellen Felter (member Amsterdam, Netherland) could not attend the anniversary but she sent a special ESPER stamp sheet from the Netherlands. Clarence Mcknight framed and matted the stamps and that was presented to me. Thanks to Helen and Clarence I now have Framed ESPER Stamps and 35th Anniversary Stamps as a remembrance. Don Neal produced a special cachet for the Anniversary and each person received one. The cachet is available on the website for purchase.

      The Memorial Service on Sunday gave recognition to our members who had passed in the last five years. The Business meeting give some good ideas that we need to work on for 2024 and the future. Don Neal will be doing a special edition of Reflections for the Anniversary. The special edition will have more of the details of the Anniversary as well as many of the pictures taken during the event. It will be a great Anniversary keepsake. 

 Howard Ingram, ESPER President