Rather than presenting my year-end speech tomorrow morning to the usual 150 of you who will attend the annual meeting in person, I opted to email it to all 550 Y’s Men. I not only thought it best to keep my remarks short at the meeting but also wanted to make sure I cover all the bases in terms of thanking everyone who helped make 2025-26 a great year.
As some of you may remember, I was reluctant last year to be nominated as your president. To my surprise, because of the following individuals, these past 12 months have been immensely rewarding.
First, I want to thank Nabil Atweh, our incoming president, for taking on the mantle. I am confident he will do a great job!
Let me also thank every one of our living past presidents, most of whom are still active, for their encouragement and support this year: Bill Balch, Ed Bloch, Eddie B. Borner, John Brandt, Neil Coleman, Jay Dirnberger, Peter Donovan, Bob Fatherley, John Fox, Mike Guthman, Jeff Hare, Dewey Loselle, Roy McKay, Bob Mitchell, Mario SaCouto, Brian Strong, Baxter Urist, Marty Yellin, and our senior statesman Pete Wolgast.
I also could not have completed my tenure on such a high note without my wonderful Board of Directors. I love each and every one of you!
Secretary Maury Wind and his assistant Steve Kunkes, who record everything that happens in our meetings.
Treasurer Francois Auzerais and his assistant Jay Ludy, who have done a truly amazing job modernizing our financial systems and keeping us on track legally. Francois is a mensch and will be terribly missed when he steps down this week.
Membership Chair Harvey Luft, who continually goes above and beyond to recruit new members and keep the club thriving.
Community Services Chair Jim Marpe, who has arranged and led numerous events this year and even moderated some of our panel discussions. We are so fortunate to have Jim as an active member! With his history of service to the town and his personal connections, we have been able to get speakers we probably wouldn’t have been able to previously.
Technology Chair Eddie Borner, who has brought us into the 21st century with technology improvements and is currently working to improve our website and communications.
Every year we also add three Directors at Large to learn about our processes and, hopefully, consider stepping into management roles in the future. This year we welcomed Doug Robinson, Frank Wood and Charlie Haberstroh. Doug has moved up to Treasurer, Frank has led a number of trips and events and Charlie has promised to re-enter our Y’s Men management team when he retires.
In addition, I want to thank each and every one of you who led one of our 33 clubs or chaired one of our nine committees this year. You have played a large role in making the Y's Men the amazing organization it is. You can go on our website to see a list of all the wonderful men who lead each club.
Although I don’t want to take up the space here to mention all our wonderful and tireless club leaders by name (my editor wife is telling me this letter is already too long), I do want to single out a few:
Special thanks go to float builder Roy McKay and past builder Hal Foodman (it’s a lot of work to build our award-winning floats!), Chris Lewis, our long-serving Fiction Book Club leader, and the indefatigable Art Mann, who heads up our Travel Club.
Finally, on Thursday I am going to present four Owl Awards. Each year, the president presents an Owl to one or more Y’s Men in recognition of their outstanding achievement and/or special contribution in service of our organization. Honestly, I wanted to give an owl to every member of the board, but that seemed to defeat the purpose. At our meeting on Thursday, I will ask each of these four men to stand up and be recognized:
Bill Blaufuss, who has led an unbelievable array of trips and events this year. He is not only the longest-serving Board member but also the longest-serving chairperson of any activity. Year after year, he has served with amazing aplomb.
Dick Kalt and Ed Bloch, who have worked individually and together to publish our newsletters and assure that our meetings run smoothly and on-time. Dick has also been in charge of coordinating our events with The Westport Library. These are two men you would want on any team.
And finally, Allan Siegert, who with his team put together our weekly meetings from September to May. Allan has also helped me numerous times in drafting notes to various members. He is on his way to being president in 2027.
I could not have done what I did this year without the help of everyone listed in this letter--and especially without these four men.
If you are new to the Y’s Men, feel free to introduce yourself to any of us and ask how you might serve the club. It’s your involvement that makes the Y’s Men the great organization it is!
And finally, I don’t want to sign off without thanking Prill, my wife of 45 years. I neither could have nor would have done this job without her. She is not only my best friend but my sounding board and tireless editor.
Appreciatively yours,
Mike Boyle
Y's Men of Westport-Weston | Y's Men of Westport/Weston P.O. Box 167 | Westport, CT 06880 US
