Pam and Darrell Jackson
Jay Clayton Wilson
SaddleBrooke’s world class tennis venue has always been a highly valued asset for players and the entire community. How could anyone improve on such a good thing, one might ask? Why just not kick back, get some exercise now and then and let the club coast in comfort? We have all these courts, good coordinators and two fine ball machines. Shouldn’t we just chill out?
Not hardly. SaddleBrooke is an active adult community. The key word would be active. In keeping with that theme, the recent few years have witnessed spectacular innovations and enthusiasm at STC. It’s a direct result of the dedication, commitment and energy exhibited by the current Board and President TJ Duffy. Many had judged these achievements to be unattainable.
Now it is time for TJ to pass the helm to a new president. Anticipating the effects of term limits, the STC Nominating Committee began an in-depth search of our 400 plus members to find just the right person to continue the course of TJ’s accomplishments.
STC wanted a person who would continue to pursue the innovations that have brought the club together as a delightful gathering of friends who desired a healthy lifestyle built around exercise on the tennis court and fun at the club’s social parties. The search was on for a new president who would advance the Organized Play program, support Social Team Tennis, work smoothly with social director Debbie McGeehan, insure our close ties with the U of A tennis team, expand membership, contribute to the entire community’s healthy activities, insure pleasant surroundings at the Tennis Center and, well, this list could go on for many pages. Who would be capable of handling such massive responsibilities?
That question was on every mind at the annual membership meeting in early November. The resulting answer was unanimous.
STC elected Darrell Jackson as its president!
Darrell Jackson is a special guy. His resourcefulness was proved when he grew up in a family of eleven children where there was only one bathroom. We are not going to say whether some of those children were sisters. Darrell went on to excel in an IT career, but this story has a kicker. One day he was called in as a technical support engineer on a job where a pretty girl worked. He did a professional repair job and, oh yeah, married Pam, the pretty girl.
On the same job he met Mary Jo George and Glen George. They have been friends for the past 30 years. In fact, the two couples found SaddleBrooke together.
At the important November meeting, Glen George was elected to serve as vice president. Ginger Riffel will serve as secretary and Kay Sullivan will become the treasurer. TJ Duffy will assume the position of Member at Large where he will continue to publish STC Tennis Times, the club’s excellent online newsletter.
We welcome our new STC Board of Directors. Good luck in 2017!