What will YOU be this year?

FSEA President Como's Visit to the South District

We were honored to welcome FSEA President, Vincent Como, his wife Lisa, VPAL James Hurst, his wife Julia and the entire Presidential Entourage last Friday. Since the Saturday morning activity was a visit to Jungle Island, we had a Welcome to the Jungle banquet Friday night. The event, I'm sorry to say, was not without issues. The worst thing that happened was that people did not wait until the dignitaries were allowed to go first before getting in line for food. I will take responsibility for this unfortunate gaffe because I did not anticipate having to tell the servers to hold off until the Presidential party went first. I really thought that since the Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance are always done first at Elk functions, it would be a given that no one would line up for food until after that. We also had problems with the amount of food and several people complained about the set up.

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Please know this - any event I am involved in planning in the future will be a seated dinner. It is just too problematic to have the serving stations and it was very unfortunate timing that our experiment with a new format happened at the President's Visitation. That said, the Presidential Party was extremely gracious about the whole thing. Both Vince and Lisa sloughed off my apology and told me they didn't care a bit about standing in line. (Although I felt terrible - and still do.) All we can do is make sure it runs more smoothly next time.

On a happier note, I want to thank everyone who came to help transform the Crystal Room into a jungle: Jane Walker, Jack & Lina Lopez, Jeff Muehlfeld, Glenn Tekerman and Scott Albert. Everyone worked really hard to make it happen and I appreciate their efforts.

And now, for your entertainment, here are the State President Trivia Questions that appeared in the program, along with the answers.

1. Vince was born in Manhattan. How many of the boroughs did he work in?

Answer: All five

2. Lisa’s first name is actually what?

Answer: Liselda

3. In high school, which two sports did Vince letter in?

Answer: Baseball and Basketball

4. Name the city where Lisa was born. (Hint: it’s not in the USA.)

Answer: Mexico City

5. What language (besides English) does Vince speak fluently?

Answer: Italian (preferably Sicilian)

6. Vince has completed coursework for a Doctorate in EducationalLeadership and holds a Masters degree in what?

Answer: Criminal Justice Administration

7. Vince and Lisa have three children. Can you name them?

Answer: Andria, Vincent & Michael

8. What Lodge did Vince belong to right before the Comos moved to Florida in 1994?

Answer: New York #1

See you at the lodge!

- Janis