New chair of PEF Veterans’ Committee from Region 5

By SHERRY HALBROOK
It was a changing of the guard for the PEF Veterans’ Committee at its annual PEF Convention luncheon last month in Lake Placid.

After years of joint leadership by Richard Collins of Region 9 and David Krobe of Region 1, who have both retired from state service, PEF President Ken Brynien handed over the reins of the statewide Veterans’ Committee to Richard Fletcher, the Chair of the Region 5 Veterans’ Committee.

Fletcher told the group, “I personally benefited from the work of the PEF Veterans’ Committee.

“We have to be active,” he said. “We need to come together to work on veterans’ issues.”

PEF Legislative Director Brian Curran reported on how various bills on veterans’ issues fared in the 2006 legislative session.

The committee presented a plaque and gave a standing ovation to Rosemary Rossi-Williams who is retiring in June, thanking her for her many years of dedicated service.

And Debbie Egel, former co-chair of the PEF Nurses Committee thanked Krobe for his years of “inspiration and support to nurses.”

Collins moved out of state after his retirement in 2005, and Krobe will continue as chair of the Region 1 Veterans’ Committee.

Brynien told the large gathering of veterans and their guests, that he has a long family history of military service and “My one regret is that I’m not a veteran.

“You have a very strong committee,” he said, “because you’ve had strong leaders. Dave Krobe has been an inspirational leader and has raised our level of understanding of what it means to be a veteran in PEF.

“I believe the best education for being a leader is to put you in the position of being a leader,” Brynien said and added that he wanted to build a broader base of experienced leadership for the future by bringing in a new leader to the committee now while some of the more experienced leaders are still active.

“PEF will support our vets getting everything they need during active service and afterward because every one of us owes you our thanks,” Brynien said.