Dear CES Members and Friends,

Well, things have an odd way of happening! In spite of my protestations of last month, no one volunteered as newsletter editor (and I thought we had an exceptionally pushy bunch of gals in this chapter!). So, WYSIWYG!

What we are looking for now is a volunteer who can be an understudy. Grace has asked if I would continue as the Editor (Editoress?) ...whatever... anyway, I agreed to do so. There is what I gruesomely refer to as the "Eighteen Wheeler" event...what happens if I get picked off by a eighteen wheeler on the Baltimore or DC beltway?

So, any volunteers out there who would be an understudy?

Pay is nothing, but the rewards are great (or at least Grace has me convinced!).

I can be reached at: <beckyxd@hotmail.com>

Becky

We are now Chartered with Tri-Ess. National came through with one or two small suggestions to our By-laws which were adopted (basically these suggestions involved some legal wordings that we had used that did not pertain to us but were relevant to National).

So as of July 1, 1998, we are a formal chapter of Tri-Ess International.

Unfortunately, though, that also means that our dear Treasurer, Joan, has a reason for being now...collecting dues and all that sort of stuff...but still the same...

Congratulations to all!

It is with sincere sorrow that we announce the death of one of our Charter members, Diane Johnson.

Diane died of a sudden heart attack while vacationing with family at Rehobeth Beach the weekend of June 6th.

Grace wrote a touching and fitting obituary and history of the impact that Diane had on our existence as a Chapter. This notice was distributed with June's newsletter.

We will sorely miss Diane and her sense of humor. Our thoughts and our prayers go out for her, Ann, and family at this time.

I must tell you all how gratifying it is for me seeing how this group has grown and developed. I'm also very pleased that we have such an agreeable group of people with everyone willing to pitch in and do her share.

Although we are only four months old, look how much we have accomplished. We have a beautiful web site thanks to Lucy. Joan has organized us financially. Becky's newsletter is getting rave reviews

Emily's minutes provide a nice historical record that I'm sure future generations will find most interesting.

Vicky is doing a wonderful job organizing our photo album and planning interesting as well as educational monthly programs.

Sue and Terri Avalon have agreed to be our special events planners and they'll be pretty busy with back-to-back events for Halloween and the Holiday party.

With Yvonne volunteering for vice- chair, we now have a full cabinet of officers.

As far as I know, we have more wives involved than any other Chapter in Tri-Ess and I've gotten very positive feed back about the discussions that Robin has facilitated.

So where do we go from here. Based on the feedback at the last meeting it's clear that our top two priorities are to present educational pro- grams at monthly meetings and to organize outside activities such as dinners.

At our July meeting let's figure out how we can turn these plans into reality.

Grace

Just in case you were wondering how do you get in contact with Grace, well, here is the official US Postal Service address for "snail -mail:"

MD Tri-Ess

PO Box 505

Brooklynville, MD 21022-0505

And for those of us with modems and computers and all of that new electronic jazz, Grace is at:

Tri_ess@hotmail.com

And we have a web-page, thanks to Lucy and June, at the following address:

http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/

Stonewall/3432

So we have you covered! If you write or call (electronically), we will hear you and someone will be back in touch with you as soon as we can!

Promises, nothing but promises! The check's in the mail and there will be a list for everyone at the June meeting ...any other unfulfilled promises you can think of?

I let you down. But I have attached an annotated bibliography of the books that are available through the Chapter.

[Editor's comment: the annotated bibliography is not available through the website version of these minutes.]

Contributions (i.e. making your own collection available) are always welcome.

Contact Becky for details.

18 members and 2 guests attended the first regular meeting of CES as an "official chapter" of Tri-Ess on June 27. 3 new members-Rachel, Beth, and spouse Maggie were introduced.

Grace announced that we had received a congratulatory e- mail from Jane Frances extending a warm welcome to us and complimenting us on our by-laws.

Yvonne accepted the position of Vice-Chair. (She will be Chair next year and Director the following year for sake of continuity.)

Joan presented the Treasurer's Report and noted that dues ($36 per year/$48 per couple) are now due and may be mailed to: PO Box 1728, Herndon, VA 20176. Joan also asked that your Tri-Ess membership number be included with your payment.

The following committees were formed: Halloween Party--Sue and Terri; Christmas--vacant; Social--Victoria.

Victoria circulated a list of 19 possible social activities and members were asked to comment and to provide their personal choices.

Grace proposed collecting photos of members en femme to be used to show hotels and facilities management that members, when dressed en femme, are respectable in appearance. Any members who wish to include a photo in the album please send to Victoria Frost, 14200 F Centereville Square, #13, Centerville, VA 20121- 2300. Grace also announced that we are now listed in Tapestry.

Other topics discussed included: new member screening; library project; liaison with TGEA (it was decided that we would included 2 TGEA members to attend our meeting with the purpose of establishing liaison with TGEA); an extension of an invite to Ann to stay involved with CES; collection of dues; Chapter archives; web- site report; and wives' Caucus.

Heather Anne of MyLady's Mirror offered a 30 minute presentation on wig styles and compatibility with facial shapes.

Next meeting will be in July and attire can be either en femme or en homme.

Emily

I visited with Jane Ellen and Mary Frances while I was in Houston on June 17. We had a most interesting that lasted well over two hours. They were both most gracious and interesting people to talk with.

We exchanged a good number of personal experiences which I will not go into in this note but rest assured I will be glad to share them with you personally or in a social gathering. I believe it would be most beneficial and interesting to relay on to the Chapter what I learned that afternoon.

They were both very complimentary about our by-laws. Jane said they were the best effort she has ever seen and asked if she could get permission to share them with other forming chapters. Jane also spoke of Diane Johnson and Ann and their efforts to found a Maryland chapter. And Jane brought with her some recent e-mail to illustrate the demand and the need for a local Chesapeake chapter.

They both suggested SPICE and CDSO as excellent resources and forums for wives working through the issues and problems associated with crossdressing. (SPICE will be in Minneapolis this coming year.)

It was a very interesting and worth- while afternoon and I feel very privileged at meeting Jane Ellen and Mary Frances and to be able to convey their good words and encouragement back here to our Chapter.

Emily

[Editor comment: This is a column that is designed to bring a person's perspective into print...everyone might not agree with what is said or with the view points that are presented...but what ever is said will always be in good taste and germane to our "second selves."]

What is it about "shopping?" My wife has remarked several times that since she became aware of "Becky," that I am more fun to shop with...at all times!

Where she literally had to drag me kicking and screaming (well, maybe I was just whimpering) into a store to buy a simple thing like a shirt or a pair of socks, I'm now ready to "shop till I drop," either en femme or en homme.

When told that "Gee, you are fun to shop with!" I started to think and wonder why. Finally came up with the possibility that having suppressed "Becky" for so long as well as constantly "fighting against" even admitting that I had anything else other than "macho" ideas, once "out" to first myself and then to her, the dam broke and all of the many opportunities I had wanted to explore but didn't were now available again! Does that make sense?

Then there's the other side that men's clothes are really so "cut and dried" that it doesn't take much imagination to know what "Bob" would look like in a blue suit, a gray suit, or a brown suit...shirt of one's own choice as long as it was white! But now "Becky" can imagine what she'd look like in this outfit, or that outfit, or this "mix-and-match" ensemble ... get the drift?

What do you think...? Let me know...

Becky

___________________

Our Executive

Committee

Director: Grace

Vice-Dir: Yvonne

Treasurer: Joan

Secretary: Emily

Past Dir: Becky

Adjuncts

Web Site: Lucy and June

Events: Vickie

Location: Ann

Newsletter: Becky

Volunteers are always welcome! It's our Chapter, girls!

__________________

Treasurer's Report

Would like to remind everyone that while we are holding our own with the donations on meeting nights, we are not showing much financial progress. 7 couples and 3 individuals...approximately 50% of the member- ship...have paid. So your dues are very important ...both to demonstrate your support as well as to provide us--as a chapter --with operating funds!

Joan

___________________

Charter Members

Grace, Robyn and Linda, Vanessa and Marion, Vera Rae and Ann, Diane and Ann, Sherri and Joan, Yvonne and Linda, Lucy and Joan, Linda, June and Lizz, Paula and Shirley, Joan and Robin, Emily and Laurie, Lee, Claire, Terri, Victoria and Sheri, Becky and Anne, Terri, Kim.