‘YOU DON’T FIRE VOLUNTEERS’
Mrs. Richard E. Houck, of Union Bridge, Maryland, found herself
with a job as secretary that just sort of grew from nothing into
quite an occupation.
She’s the one with her address and telephone number in the
annual Stem gas Steam & Gas Show Directory, for the antique
engine and tractor show and crafts and flea market held each May by
the Johnsville Ruritan Club, Inc.
‘I take care of all the advertising and all the
mailings,’ she says. ‘All the correspondence comes back to
me .
‘Richard is a Ruritan member. When we started this, probably
9 or 10 years ago, we did it by word of mouth, and got no response.
So we started going to the different shows, talking to people and
getting their addresses and I got stuck with it.’
She smiles as she says that, since she obviously is glad to help
the project and keep it growing. When we suggested, in a telephone
interview that she must be doing so good a job that the group would
like her to keep it, she responded: ‘As one guy said, ‘You
don’t fire volunteers’.’
Mrs. Houck is also in charge of crafts and arrangements with
flea market dealers, and helps prepare the food that is sold.
Her husband has one engine, a Fairbanks Morse 1922, which he
bought near home, but has not yet fully restored it. The couple has
two sons, Jeff and Gregg.
Ruritan is the name of a civic club. Those displaying engines
come from the Maryland area, such as Westminster, as well as from
Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.