THE FOLLOWING REPORT
IS COURTESY OF GEN. PATRICIA KAUFMANN...

“Madam President” is now a form of salutation to which I am becoming accustomed. I like it! I even have a “First Gentleman”, which surprised many of the unaware at Charlotte. I introduced my husband, Darryl Boyer, at the Southern Supper. But I had to chuckle at the comments such as “I see congratulations are in order”. Well no, we’ve actually been married for sixteen years, but if I used my legal last name of Boyer, you’d not have a clue who I was. In philatelic circles I shall remain Trish Kaufmann. Darryl is not fresh news, but it isn’t really clear since he only makes an appearance once a decade or so and then usually only for the Southern Supper. He spent most of his time in Charlotte happily waterskiing and knee boarding on Lake Norman with North Carolina family.

Superlatives positively define our experience at CHARPEX 2008 primarily due to the efforts of Gen. Tony L. Crumbley and assisting CSA local host, Richard Canupp. I heard many colonels say that the Southern Supper was one of the best in years, with which I totally agree – not the proverbial hotel “rubber chicken”, to be sure. We did have one “complaint” though, in that there was no peanut soup on the menu - a Williamsburg specialty. Sorry Joe! The fare was an absolutely superb and well executed Southern menu with food served family style.

We are indebted to Col. Scott Trepel and the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries for providing the open bar before the meal, to Col. Schuyler Rumsey for the wonderful souvenir “computer bags” at the show, and to Gen. John Kimbrough and Col. Phil Warman for sponsoring the CSA hospitality suite where we gathered for fellowship in the evenings after dinner.

CSA Exhibit Awards/CHARPEX 2008 Show Awards

As well as the Alliance awards, each of our exhibitors was presented with wonderful gold coin replicas by Charlotte Philatelic Society President Kay Don Kahler at the Southern Supper. Our Alliance exhibit awards were as follows:

• "Prisoners' Mail from Dixie, an In Depth Look" – Col. Galen D. Harrison - CSA Trophy for the best and most comprehensive exhibit of stamps and/or covers – the most coveted of the Alliance awards, CHARPEX Grand Award, and Gold Medal.
• "Straightline, Fancy & Uncommon Cancels on Confederate General Issue Stamps" – Gen. Conrad L. Bush -- CSA Jack E. Molesworth Memorial Award for the best exhibit of off-cover Confederate stamps, APS Research Award, and CHARPEX Gold Medal.
• "Columbus, Georgia in the Confederacy" – Gen. Francis J. Crown Jr. - CSA William G. Bogg Memorial Award, sponsored by an anonymous donor, for the best exhibit depicting the evolution of Confederate postal history and a CHARPEX Vermeil Medal.
• “Independent State and Confederate Mail of North Carolina" - Gen. Tony L. Crumbley - CSA John H. Reagan Award for the best exhibit containing Confederate postmaster provisional stamps and/or envelopes (given in memory of Gen. David Kohn and Col. J.V. Nielsen, Jr. and sponsored by several Carolina members), APS Medal of Excellence – pre-1900, and CHARPEX Gold Medal.
• "Confederate States of America - the 5¢ Lithographs" - Gen. Ronald R. Tate - Robert A. Siegel Memorial Award sponsored by Col. Scott Trepel, Postal History Society Award, and CHARPEX Gold Medal.
• "The 10-cent Steel Plate Issues of the Confederate States of America" – Col. Randy L. Neil - CSA General's Award (formerly the Weatherly Award), sponsored by Gen. Sherrell Nunnelley, and CHARPEX Gold Medal.
• "Arkansas Postal History 1861-1865" – Col. Bruce Roberts - CSA Raymond and Roger Weil Memorial Award, sponsored by an anonymous donor, and CHARPEX Vermeil Medal.
• "Crossing the Borders of the Confederacy" (one frame) – Col. Rex H. Felton - CSA Trustees Award for the best one frame exhibit, CHARPEX Grand Award for the best one frame exhibit, Gold Medal.

Our thanks to the CSA judges, Generals Roger Oswald and Rick Calhoun. Roger also represented Confederate interests among the CHARPEX panel of judges headed by John Hotchner.

CSA Service Awards:

• The Haydn Myer Award for Service was presented to Gen Ronald R. Tate for his long service and assistance with the hospitality suite at annual and mid-year meetings. Ron was unable to attend due to illness, so the award was accepted by his father, Ken Tate to a standing ovation.
• The CP Writer's Award for the best article during the 2007 calendar year was presented to Col. William S. Parks for his Confederate Philatelist article "Corinth Postmaster Followed CSA Army to Tupelo, Miss."  This award is in the form of a $100 check.
• The August Dietz Award for research and publishing during the calendar year 2007 was presented to Col. Warren Sanders and the late Col. Erin Gunter for their work on Confederate Post Offices, Postmasters, and Postmarks of the Trans-Mississippi Department. As Warren was unable to attend, the award was presented to Gen. Jerry Palazolo who played a large part in getting this fine work to press.
• Immediate past president, James Monroe was elevated to the honorary rank of "General" which he accepted with gracious delight, surrounded by all Generals in attendance as is tradition at the Southern Supper with such promotions. Generals in attendance were (by year promoted) Generals Frank Crown, Trish Kaufmann, Jerry Palazolo, Conrad Bush, Tony Crumbley, Rick Calhoun, Roger Oswald and John Kimbrough

Col. Ed Joyce aced out Gen. Jim Monroe as the member in attendance with the earliest CSA number. Ed has been a continuous member for fifty-four years and Jim for fifty. The newest Alliance member in attendance was Vicar Warman, who joined two years ago and is often seen at trustee dad Phil Warman’s booth at shows. We welcomed Col. Steve Boyd who had never been to an Alliance meeting before. The members who traveled the farthest to be with us were our “California boys”, dealers Schuyler Rumsey, Jim Taff and Stanley Piller.

Auctioneer Schuyler Rumsey brought some delightful goodies from the late Bill Fox collection to tempt us with. They will be in his forthcoming winter auction - there will be one in between, you’ll just have to wait. Part of the Jack Molesworth stock will also be in that sale.

The trustees held two meetings during the show and the general membership meeting minutes may be found elsewhere in this issue. The annual meeting was immediately followed by an excellent presentation by CSA Authentication Service Chairman Gen. Jerry Palazolo and Recording Secretary Gen. Frank Crown. I missed that meeting as I was tending to my booth, but heard many good things about it and feedback from several members who were amazed at how much goes into researching “patients” submitted to the CSAAS. Your all volunteer team does not just say “looks good/bad to me”. As one on that team, I can assure you that a lot more goes into it than that.

The Hall Conference Center venue was spacious with superb lighting where you could actually see both exhibits and dealer stock. Dealers reported brisk sales and acquisitions. I again can’t stress what a debt of gratitude we owe Gen. Tony Crumbley for organizing this top notch event. He truly went above and beyond the call of duty and we are most grateful. Many do not realize that Tony, aka “Mr. Hospitality”, is also our Show Coordinator and helps those in other cities with all of our shows.

Our 2008 next meeting is in beautiful Charleston, SC November 14-16 and, from early feedback, I believe this may be one of our biggest mid-year gatherings ever. Details are elsewhere in the CP and in the past two newsletters. Your hosts will be Gen. Jim Monroe and Cols. Rich Murphy and Larry Baum. Make your plans now. You can’t imagine how much fun we have unless you’ve been to one before. Y’all come!