Please note: I created and maintained this page while I was chairman of the Honorary Board of Directors, but it has not been maintained recently. Hopefully there will be someone in the future to take over this task. In the meantime I have left the page on the web since it is one of the few sources of information about the Honorary Board. Please contact me if you have questions about the Honorary Board ...or, better yet, please contact the current chairman, Glenn Gray. (Click on his name or mine to send an email.)
-Rodger Randle
This page is maintained for the benefit of the members of the Honorary Board of Directors of Sister Cities International, the world´s largest program of citizen diplomacy. Members of the Honorary Board are elected by the Sister Cities International governing board in recognition of past service to the organization. To learn more about Sister Cities International, click here.
A Few Honorary Board Memoriesfrom Spokane...
Thelma Press chaired the Honorary Board's program for international delegates
Dick Nueheisel was the longest serving SCI president
Dick's wife, Jane, received the SCI "2005 Volunteer of the Year Award" in Spokane from President Sherman Banks
Paula West hollered with delight as Phoenix again was the big winner in the annual national awards
Elena Lu brought elegance to the Saturday Gala
Ray Schultz, long time leader of Sister Cities, was prominent in Spokane activities.
Nancy Eidam was full of energy and smiles. Henry Cole, Indianapolis, was prominent in conference activities
José Luís García, Protocol Officer for San Antonio, attended his first Annual Conference as a member of the Honorary Board

Report from Spokane….

The Spokane conference was considered a great success by the participants, and the turnout of Honorary Board members was the largest at any national conference. Everyone at the conference was impressed by the hard work and detailed preparation by the Spokane organization.

Dinner for Newly Elected Board Members

The annual dinner honoring newly elected members of the Sister Cities International governing board was held Friday night of the conference in the Palm Court restaurant of Spokane’s elegant and historic Davenport Hotel. Thanks to the skill and good humor of the restaurant’s serving staff, the unexpectedly large turnout was successfully accommodated. Following brief advice and counsels from all the Honorary Board members attending the dinner, Mike Hyatt and Mimi Barker responded on behalf of the newly elected members of the governing board.

The dinner will be held in 2006 during the spring meeting in Washington, D.C. Details for the spring dinner will be sent to Honorary Board members and other guests once a date and location has been selected.

Annual Meeting for Business

The Honorary Board has decided to request being granted overall responsibility for hosting international delegates at the national conferences. This is the major recommendation coming out of the 2005 business meeting. We would like to (1) staff a welcome desk for international delegates that is clearly marked so that it can be easily identified by the international delegates, and this desk should function as the first point of contact for international delegate services; (2) operate a message board for international delegates to facilitate contact with delegates from American sister cities, and among the international delegates themselves; (3) provide a brochure with accurate translations in the languages of international delegates attending the conference (not the inaccurate machine prepared translations used up till now); (4) organize a bank of delegates with language skills who will be willing to assist international delegates with limited English; (5) insure that there are “hosts” assigned to all international delegates or delegations to insure that they are truly welcomed to the conference and have access to any special assistance that may be needed.

Given the large number of international delegates who attend the conference, this will be a great responsibility for the relatively small number that make up the Honorary Board. However, it is felt that the continued division of responsibility for looking after international delegates (now divided between the Sister Cities staff in Washington, the local host committee, and others, including the work the Honorary Board has been doing) has produced an unsatisfactory result. Responsibility needs to be centrally assigned, and duties should be distributed from a central point to each group that will be working with the international delegates.
And Memories from Meetings
in Washington, D.C....

Ruth Hashimoto, the senior member of the Honorary Board, and Tim Honey, SCI Executive Director, at a party at he Ukrainian residence
Ambassador Claudia Fritsche, the Honorary Board's luncheon guest at the spring 2005 meeting in Washington, DC
LaUna Kowalski.
..smiling, as always!
Bob Swart at a diplomatic reception at the spring 2005 meeting
Past President Chuck Stokke and wife Luella at the home of the Afghan ambassador
Past President Jim Amato at luncheon with Ambassador Fritsche in DC
Immediate past SCI President, Glenn Gray, and current SCI President Sherman Banks at the Bulgarian national day party at the Organizaciòn de los Estados Americanos, 2005
Mae Ferguson will take office as the new President of Sister Cities International at the end of the July 2006 50th anniversary annual meeting next July in Washington., D.C.
...and we hope you attended the spring 2006 meeting on March 9, 10, and 11 in Washington, D.C. !
For a full current list of members of the Sister Cities Honorary Board of Directors, click here.
This page was created by the Center for Studies in Democracy and Culture of the University of Oklahoma Tulsa as a service for the SCI Honorary Board. To visit the Center's website and learn more about international activities at OU-Tulsa, click on the logo below.