The Forgotten Few

Reva Tisdale, CPM
Reva.Tisdale@tax.idaho.gov

The questions that come up among and to the Academy Board are always interesting and seldom have definitive answers. Recently, Linda Jefferson, your Member at Large – Member Affairs was updating the membership directory. She inquired about how and where the Academy’s honorary member, Kenneth Henning, should be included. Of course, that raised more questions – what about the societies’ honorary members? For those of you who know me, I can’t let a question go unanswered. Recently, I asked my state society board if they knew who their honorary members were. The answers ranged from “we have honorary members?” to being able to state our honorary member’s name.

With Linda’s help, I went searching for answers. Linda informally polled members of the Member Affairs Committee and I searched each state society’s website. Our results show that almost every society has a mechanism in their bylaws for extending honorary memberships. Do they actually have honorary members? Most do, but these members were not recognized on their websites. One state responded to the poll with two different answers. Boards change and as we move from one year to the next, it appears that people and things get lost in the process.

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