Estling Lake

Thank You Madame Secretary

Ruth,

We had hoped to have you at an Estling gathering to give you a proper send-off as you leave the job as secretary. If it worked out, I would have said something like this:

“The job of secretary of the Estling Lake Corp. has had some very long-serving incumbents. The first, Gene C., and the second, Carl L., both served for a long time. I don’t know that anybody knows why but it’s true. Now we can add the name of Ruth M. to that list.

“Ruth retired this year after serving 10 years as our secretary. That’s a lot of years, and a lot of meetings. And it’s harder than you might think. Think about how people talk at meetings: it’s not all in sentences and paragraphs. People use parts of sentences, there are interruptions, the conversation can go wildly off track or repeat again and again. Some things people say make no sense whatever. The secretary must not only record what is happening, but also be trying to figure out a way to make sense of it. For 10 years Ruth did just that, making the board of directors seem much better in minutes than we may have been in person.

“The other part of the job, of course, is keeping track of sales and rentals with all the forms and documents and contact with the town. Ruth also excelled at this, becoming a familiar face in the Denville town offices.

“For all your work over these years, the board and the stockholders thank you very much. Thank you Ruth.”

This would have been followed by sustained applause.

After that Bob and I would have presented you with a couple of gifts (left inside your door this morning). The book is considered a classic in the field of advanced goat cheese making. If you have already passed that stage, we hope you can enjoy it as reminder of your journey. We imagine you eating the cheese on your deck at the lake, or your living room in Hoboken, or on the veranda in Jamaica. We thought you might enjoy a little something to go with it.

Thanks from all of us.
Dave