Saying Goodbye

Word is out of the coming retirement of one of the associations longest serving members.

Skip Rich (Cole) will serve his final day in office October 2nd. Skip is one of just two collector's to hold office in Cole County since WWII. A Past President of our association Skip has lended his talents to countless causes and after serving the better part of three decades has played a role in getting most if not all legislation passed that effects those of us in office today (i.e. CERF, Tax Maintenance Fund and others).

Skip's most recent accomplishment was serving his country during the current conflict in Iraq. Skip missed over a year of a recent term as he was stationed in Texas preparing our service men and women for deployment to the middle east.

I doubt you ever sat and wondered how Skip felt about a particular issue and whether you agreed or not with his take on a given subject. There is no way you could think Skip wanted anything more than to make things better for all of us who serve in office.

Skip will definitely leave the association in better shape than he found it and like the troops he prepared to fight overseas, he can't control how we as collector's perform in the future. He can only reflect on a legacy of knowing he instilled in us the importance of making the sacrifice to leave things better than when we arrived.

A retirement reception is planned to honor Skip. The event is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., September 25, in the Cole County Courthouse Annex. The annex is located at 311 E. High Street in Jefferson City.

Hope to see you there on the 25th.

If you would like to leave Skip a send-off message click "comments" at the bottom of this story and I will post your response as soon as I receive it.