Our legacy members

This is the first opportunity I’ve had to write since our July Annual Meeting at McCutcheon High School. This year, we had another successful meeting with 764 memberships attending, well beyond our requisite 2% quorum of 459. Thank you to all who attended. 

I always enjoy the opportunity to visit with as many of you as possible, especially those of you who have been Tipmont members for many years. One such member this year was Warren Cole of Lafayette.

I met Warren when I offered to help him make his way from registration to the cafeteria for breakfast (kudos to The Outpost for the superb catering!). Warren grew up in Williamsport and moved onto Tipmont lines in 1962 when he built his home on the south side of Lafayette.

An Army veteran of the Korean era, retired letter carrier and self-described “divot-digger” on the golf course, Warren recalled past Annual Meetings that were held at the county fairgrounds, including one where he won a $50 prize.

“The crowds kept getting bigger and bigger as more members kept being added on”, he said. “I think they’ve been more informative in recent years. I really enjoyed learning about the portable substation this year.”

We also received a note from Kathryn Hunter of Linden who missed our Annual Meeting this year because she was feeling under the weather. One of our employees visited with Kathryn recently, and she shared a memory of winning a skillet at an Annual Meeting many years ago – a skillet she still uses to this day.

Kathryn has lived in her home in Linden since 1961, when her late husband farmed before working in maintenance at Purdue. He also nurtured her doll collection, which she estimates at nearly 500.

“My husband used to say, ‘she has 500 and one… including ME!’”, she laughed.

She also reflected on not having electricity in her home until she was eight years old and the marvel of being able to flip a switch and have light.

“We kept turning the switch on and off, and my mother kept telling us that we would wear the switch out,” she recalled.

That led her to note how much more reliable electric service is today.

“When we first moved here, our electricity used to go out quite a bit in the winter. We would burn the wood stove to keep warm. The service has gotten much better over the years.”

Our legacy members like Warren and Kathryn are a fundamental reason Tipmont is successful today. This honest and hard-working generation of Tipmont members paved the way for the innovations that provide the reliable service we now take for granted. They did so through involvement and engagement with their cooperative.

We need that same involvement and engagement as we move forward on a number of essential initiatives, including fiber broadband service. We’ll hold member meetings later this fall and again in the spring to share our progress and listen to your feedback. Watch Electric Consumer and Facebook for details.

I thank all of you who took the time to attend our Annual Meeting, and I look forward to engaging you at future events