OFFICERS AND REGIONAL DIRECTORS 2010-2011
President
Mike has been a member of the National Woodie Club since the early 1990's, and is currently the club's President. He just finished his second three-year term as an Eastern Director. He is a founding member of the Penn's Wood Chapter, which was formed in 2003, and a current member of the Southeast Woodies Chapter. Since his retirement to South Carolina in 2003 he has, with the help of many others, rekindled chapter activities associated with Southeast Woodies.
Mike and his wife, Roni, purchased their 1948 Oldsmobile wagon in 1998. They have made many friends all over the country since joining the National Woodie Club, attending events from Macungie , PA and Folly Beach , SC on the East Coast to Wavecrest and Woodies on the Wharf on the West Coast. One of their favorite events was a 2003 covered bridge tour through Chester and Lancaster Counties, in Pennsylvania.
Mike is looking forward to serving you as President of the National Woodie Club and asks if you have any questions or concerns to please contact him and he will assist you in any way he can.
Vice-President
Dave has been a member of the National Woodie Club since 1989. He is currently the club's Vice-president and is serving a second term as one of three Central Directors. He is also a founding member, and current president, of the NWC Midwest chapter; LOG RIDERS.
Dave finds the NWC to be an incredible melting pot of woodie enthusiasts, where owners of original cars, professionally restored cars, street rod and phantom woodies, and “eternal project cars” all share a common interest. He finds that the mutual respect and camaraderie amongst the membership is truly unique to this group.
Dave’s interest in woodie wagons was sparked at an early age. He was four or five years old when he saw his first woodie wagon . You may recall the movie classic “Flicka”, a story about a young boy, living on a Montana ranch in the ‘40’s, and his plight to have a horse he could call his very own. What vehicle would be more appropriate for a ranch family and related chores than a woodie wagon? Seeing that special car in the movie was the spark that lit the woodie wagon flame.
Forty-five years later the flame has become a prairie fire of sorts. He has three woodies in the stable. All Fords; 1946 and ‘48 stationwagons, and a 1947 Sportsman convertible.
Dave promotes interest in woodie wagons at every opportunity, and particularly focuses on the younger folks as they are the next generation of woodie enthusiasts.
President Emeritus
Secretary
George has been a member of the National Woodie Club since 2002 and is a founding member and first President of the Penns Wood Chapter. He has been serving as an Eastern Region Director and Secretary for the NWC since September 2006 and is amazed at the great people he has met and become friends with while being involved with this club. He fell in love with woodies while living in California during the late 80’s and early 90’s but did not become a woodie owner (1948 Plymouth) until after his daughter graduated from college (no more tuition payments!). He loves most old cars and has been cursed with an understanding wife who doesn’t get too upset when he brings home strays. They both realize that “metallic and wooden” mistresses are kind of cool. In addition to his elected duties with the NWC, George volunteered in 2008 to administer the NWC website Bulletin Board when Stephen Bishop suddenly passed away. George is married to Maureen, his high school sweetheart, and they have two grown children and four grandchildren (so far!). They recently (July, 2010) moved to Ponte Vedra Beach, FL after spending 19 years in Willistown, PA.
Treasurer
Bob has been a member of the National Woodie Club since 1980 and is currently completing his 18th year as the NWC Treasurer. He had previously served three terms as a NWC Eastern Director. Bob is also a founding member, and current Treasurer of the NWC Nor’eastern Chapter.
Bob, his wife Linda and their sons, Ben and Todd attended their first Woodies East at Stowe, VT in 1981. Todd was just a few weeks old that year and over the next several years the Stevens’ boys grew up riding in the back seat of the family’s 1939 Pontiac wagon. Over the last 27 years Bob, Linda and the boys have made scores of Woodie friends while travelling thousands of miles on Woodie tours.
Wood has run in Bob’s blood from an early age. He remembers a neighborhood ’49 Plymouth wagon from his childhood and from that time on always wanted to have a woodie, that early passion became reality in 1981 with the acquisition of the ’39 Pontiac.
Now the Pontiac is gone, in its place is a ’49 Chrysler Town and Country convertible and the next generation, a Stevens’ granddaughter will get to do some growing up the Woodie way.
Membership & Woodie Times Editor
John has been an automotive journalist for 50 years, (Yeah, he started young!) writing and photographing for antique, street rod and custom car magazines, and occasionally other topics, too. He took over the Woodie Times in 1995, only the third editor in the publication's 39-year history. Will O'Neil, founder of the NWC, was himself an automotive journalist who edited the Woodie Times for its first ten years. Bob Hicks took over from Will and headed the publication through 1994.
With John as editor the Woodie Times has doubled in size and circulation, introduced color printing and expanded advertising. It has won 15 consecutive Golden Quill awards from Old Cars Weekly.
In addition to free-lance journalism, John has worked as a daily newspaper reporter, public relations account executive, Nebraska state agency director, high school teacher, advertising salesman, city map publisher and trade show floor manager. He has written three books on the auto hobby, two of which were actually published. A devout station wagon enthusiast, he also edits the Nomad Post, monthly magazine of the Chevrolet Nomad Assn. He owns several old cars which he stores – says its cheaper and less time-consuming than restoring them! John played trombone in high school, college and National Guard bands and for more than 20 years has sung in a community choir, Lincoln Choral Artists.
ohn and his wife, Martha Gadberry, live in Lincoln, Nebraska. They have a combined family of three adult children and four grandchildren.
Woodie Times Back Issues
Robert Stevens
P.O. Box 11-501
Loudonville, NY 12211-0501
518-785-1349
FDPIX9@nycap.rr.com
Library & Video
Bill Bergstrom
#6 Old Church Street
Yarmouth Port, MA 02675-1916
508-362-7875
carwrench41@comcast.net
Eastern Directors
George Beebe
P.O. Box 3334
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004
904-400-2005
jrbb@comcast.net
Jeff Yeagle has been a member of the NWC since 2003, Jeff Resides in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two daughters. Jeff is a founding member of the Penns Woods Chapter of the National Woodie Club and currently owns a 1940 Ford Woodie known as the Recycled 40 Ford Woodie and has recently completed a 1948 Oldsmobile Woodie Dubbed "sticks" by friends and family.
By day Jeff is a Technology Education teacher, his teaching assignment includes classes in Computer Aided Drawing and Design, Product Design and Manufacturing, Three Dimensional Animation, Robotics and Pre-engineering. In addition to his teaching duties, he also co sponsors a F.I.R.S.T robotics team.
Zach joined the national Woodie Club in 2006 after chancing upon the website following his entry of “woody” into the Google search box. The search engine’s helpful suggestion of “Did you mean woodie” was an eye opener. Not only did he discover the preferred spelling, but it also led him to find a place among the wider woodie community where like-minded people share your joy when the sun shines on varnished lumber and feel your pain during those inevitable unsheltered periods of liquid sunshine. It’s all good though!
Zach and his wife Libby reside in Greenville, South Carolina where Zach works as a field engineer for a major tire company, and his very understanding wife works as a pharmacist. Zach is a lifelong auto-hobbyist and veteran restorer with a head full of automotive knowledge and trivia, an insatiable automotive curiosity, and an obvious soft-spot for the underdog. Zach has demonstrated that even a humble Morris Minor can find gracious acceptance among woodie lovers. The Merrills’ little black 1955 Morris Minor Traveller has logged over 29000 miles in the past five years running errands, taking the couple on family vacations, and transporting them to various outings and events. In the Merrill household, it requires no special occasion or event to get their woodie out of the garage; any excuse will do. Says Zach, “A woodie in the garage is a fine thing, and the thought of it probably brings a smile to the owner’s face, but a woodie on the road, now that is another matter entirely; a woodie on the road brings a smile to everybody’s face.”
Central Directors
Western Directors
I first got on the "Woodie Highway" in 1998 when I purchased my "surfer-style"1948 Ford modified woodie on the Central Coast of California and drove it 5 hours home along the coastline, enjoying the fresh air and playing the Beach Boys; I'vebeen cruising along the "Woodie Highway" ever since. My first Wavecrest was in 1997, and one year later I was there with my woodie "FORDY8" and haven't missed any since.
I joined the NWC and the So Cal Woodies where I have previously served on the Board of Directors and still plan various activities and events for the club members, some of which have been chronicled in Woodie Times. As a member of all the California woodie clubs and even the South West Woodies for a few years ,I have traveled to all of their woodie shows, met the best people on the planet ,and made countless friendships. During many years of serious kidney disease and other illnesses, I have greatly benefited from the support, friendship and encouragement of these special friends in my life - it is for that reason that I want to serve on the NWC Board of Directors.
Growing up in Southern California in the 60's ,I'm certainly a part of the surf culture; back in high school in 1964 the coolest cars at my high school were the woodies and ,of course, my 1957 Nomad. I consider myself a "car guy", having owned a 1966 Olds Tornado , my daily driver since 1973 is a 73 911 Porsche Targa, and until recently (when it was stolen!), another 1957 Nomad,"2NDTYME", and of course my 1948 Ford Woodie.
I'm now retired after working as a Recreation Therapy Supervisor with the physically disabled at a rehab hospital for 33 years, volunteer at my old hospital, with the LA Co. Sheriff's Dept. here in Cerritos, and with the two support groups for the Marines at Camp Pendleton.
Most important to me are my family: wife of 40 years Jo Ann (donor for my 2nd kidney transplant in 2006), daughter Michelle, son Eric (another Porsche guy), and granddaughter Jaiden, age 6.
I believe in Aloha and my Heavenly Father.
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Jim Vickery
920 Park Pacifica Ave.
Pacifica CA 94044
650-355-8397
jsvick@aol.com |
Jim has been a member of the National Woodie Club since the early 90’s. This will be Jim’s first term as a Western Director. Jim has served as both vice-president and president of the Santa Cruz Woodies Chapter; the first to hold those positions while living outside the immediate Santa Cruz area. “While president, the Santa Cruz Woodies celebrated their 10th anniversary as a chapter, and one year later, the 10th anniversary of Woodies on the Wharf. It was an honor I will never forget.”
Like Jerry Witt, current National Woodie Club president, Jim is a retired firefighter. Including his four years in the U.S. Air Force as a firefighter, Jim was on an engine for 38 years. Jim notes, “My last shift as a Daly City, CA. firefighter was December 3rd, 2006. While there are some things about the job I do not miss, the excitement of running calls and the brother and sister hood of the fire service is greatly missed.”
Jim has always been a car guy. When not at the firehouse, Jim has worked his off days at Roy Brizio Street Rods of South San Francisco, CA. “We have built hundreds of rods in the 30+ years I have worked for Roy, including my own 1946 Ford woodie.”
Jim and Sue, his wife of 39 years, have attended all of the woodie events in California numerous times. Jim feels the woodie family is an incredible mix of people and commented, “The stocker guys, the modified guys, and the just plain woodie fans, all make the National Woodie Club a one-of-a-kind organization.” Jim looks forward to serving as a Western Rep and promoting the Aloha Spirit that is in all of us.
Bill has been a member of the National Woodie Club since 2002 and currently serves on the NWC board as one of three Western Directors. He is also the current president of the Santa Barbara Woodie Club, his “home” club. He is also a founding member of the Central Valley and the Up the Hill Woodie Clubs and enjoys his memberships in the Southern California, Santa Cruz and San Diego Woodie Clubs as well. He is currently the NWC liaison for the Central Valley and Santa Cruz.chapters. He proudly embarrasses himself at surf contests at the clubs’ shows.
Bill and his wife Rosemary have had more fun than the law allows as a result of their participation in this wonderful hobby. Their fellow woodie owners and enthusiasts have become family to them. The trips up and down the California coast – and to the Central Valley - in their 1948 Mercury wagon have become highlights of the year as well as a good excuse for a surf safari to see their daughter in Santa Cruz.
Bill and Rosemary truly believe that they have received far more than they have given in their relationships with the woodie clubs and the members. We encourage all of the members to participate and enjoy the wonderful people in this group. You’ll be as grateful as we for the friends you make.
Discussion Board Administrator
George Beebe
P.O. Box 3334
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004
904-400-2005
jrbb@comcast.net
Jeff Yeagle
Phoenixville, PA 19460
610-209-3399
sawzallshop@fotki.com
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