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Communications
Workers of America Maryland/West Virginia |
2 West Potomac
Parkway, Williamsport, MD 21795 Phone: 301-582-2105 Fax: 301-223-7160
       
  
Good afternoon, CWA Local
2105 Retirees!
Happy
New Year! We hope you had a pleasant holiday season. This is your
reminder that our Retired Members Chapter will hold our quarterly
meeting on Tuesday, January 15 at the American Legion Post 42 at 405
Northern Avenue. As always, our group will meet in the back dining
room.
The
business meeting will begin at 1:00. For those of you who wish to
order lunch before the meeting , we would ask that you arrive
between 11:30 and noon to give the waitress plenty of time to take
your order.
The speaker this
month will be Jenny Sylvester, District President of CWA Retired
Members. New officers will be sworn in at this meeting.
Remember that
membership dues are now payable for the year 2019 : $10 per member
and $5 per associate member.
Following are the
dates for the group's 2019 meetings, so be sure to mark your
calendars!
Tuesday, January
15, 2019
Tuesday, April 16,
2019
Tuesday, July 16,
2019
Tuesday, October
15, 2019
We determined last
year that in the event of bad weather, we will go by the Washington
County School schedule - if schools are delayed or closed that day,
our meeting will be cancelled and rescheduled.
Questions can be
directed to Roger Grimes at 301 223-7982 or Vickie Layton at 301
223-1486.
To our callers -
please call the people on your list and remind them of this meeting.
Thanks!!! |
New HCBC for Frontier Active and Retired
Members
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Frontier Health Care
Benefits
Coordinator |
TAC Coordinator and ACFC Coordinator |
Christy Hayhurst-
Toll Free 855-351-4856
SPOC for All Members
Office 304-424-9586
Fax 304-424-9567
Christina.d.hayhurst@FTR.com |
As the CWA Health Care Benefits Coordinator, Christy will be
available to assist Frontier employees and
retirees within the CWA2105 bargaining unit with questions
and/or problems regarding the Company’s health care plans,
including, but not limited to, Medical, Dental, Vision, and
Sickness Disability. Frontier CWA2105
bargaining unit members (active and retired) are encouraged to
contact Christy for assistance related to benefits, Family
Medical Leave Act, Care of Newborn Child/Gradual Return to Work,
etc.
As the CWA Training Liaison, Christy will chair the Training
Advisory Council (TAC) and facilitate the programs of the
Council. The TAC is a joint Frontier-CWA committee responsible
for developing programs in the areas of employment security
training and continuing education.
As the CWA Advisory Council on Family Care Coordinator, Christy
will chair the Advisory Council on Family Care (ACFC) and
facilitate the programs of the Council. The ACFC will be a joint
Frontier-CWA Committee focusing on family care assistance and
education for represented employees. |
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Verizon
Health Care
Benefits
Coordinators |
Ines Millard-
1-888-571-7218
MD/DC/VA/WV-Actives
Medical, Dental, Vision,
Disability and Enrollment Issues
ines.l.millard@verizon.com |
Jodi Grant-
1-888-324-4969
NJ/PA/DE-Actives
Medical, Dental, Vision,
Disability and Enrollment Issues
jodi.l.grant@verizon.com |
Cynthia (Cindy) Ebner-
1-866-248-4449
Mid Atlantic Retirees
Medical, Dental and
Enrollment Issues
cynthia.x.ebner@verizon.com |
The HCBC's can handle issues from
any active or retired Mid-Atlantic CWA (NJ,
PA,DE,MD,DC,VA,WV) represented members, regardless of their home
state. |
2016 Bell Ringers


CWA Local 2105 has played a part in making the holidays
happier for the less fortunate for many years. This Christmas
season, the local's Retirees rang the bell for the Salvation Army
Kettle Drive on December 7 at Hagerstown's Valley Mall.
Local
Member Craig Lewis and his son, Dustin, also helped out, as they
have done for a number of years. The retiree ringers included
Becky Huffer, Bob & Jean Bollinger, Michael Lushbaugh, Pat Pulieri,
Merrill & VIckie Layton, Kathy Geer, Roger Grimes, Monte Gordon,
Garth Martin & Grandson Keegan, Bill Morrison and Skip Ware.
The Salvation Army advised us that we raised a total of $322.86 this
year.
Thanks to all who helped make someone's Christmas
merrier! |

WILLIAMSPORT — White beard? Check. White hair? Check. Round
belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly? Not quite.
Roger
Grimes embraces his striking resemblance to Santa Claus.
“I
have a beard, but I’m not as fat as I used to be,” said Grimes, 79,
of Pinesburg, which is west of Williamsport.
He doesn’t just
look like the jolly old elf — he IS Santa for his native
Williamsport.
Since 2010, Grimes has taken a seat on the
stage at the back of the Barn at Springfield Farm during Charlie
Brown Christmas and listened to thousands of wishes from young and
old.
He’s on his second red suit, to which his wife added
white trim along the cuffs of the sleeves and pants.
“They
sort of get rough a little bit,” Grimes said of his costumes.
For about three years before playing Santa in the barn, he
portrayed the bearded merrymaker every night at Williamsport’s Town
Hall for about two weeks during Christmas season.
He also
climbs to the top of a firetruck at 7 a.m. Christmas Day to ride
through the town’s streets shouting best wishes to bystanders.
“It gets pretty cold on top,” where he is perched in a seat he
uses for hunting, he said.
“It’s been a tradition in
Williamsport forever,” Grimes said of Santa’s Dec. 25 ride, which he
can remember watching as a child of 4 or 5 years old.
A
popular pair
Grimes is also part of the annual Williamsport
Christmas parade, which this year was Dec. 2. Last year, for the
first time, he was joined in the parade by Mrs. Claus.
Beverly Knode didn’t want to steal Santa’s thunder, but “the kids
were insisting I be there,” she said.
For the last five or
six years, Knode has been playing Santa’s spouse at Charlie Brown
Christmas. She started out as a helper who kept the bearded elf’s
visitors organized.
“I’ve got kind of a loudy voice and I
kept everybody in line,” said Knode, 53, of State Line, Pa.
Now she dons a red crushed-velvet dress with fur around the neck,
cuffs of the sleeves and hem. She puts an apron around her waist and
sports a hat, under which she tucks her hair, which she sprays with
white and gray coloring for her role.
Knode’s Mrs. Claus
persona is modeled after her grandmother Ethel Hull, who died 21
years ago.
“She’s who I am (as Mrs. Claus), basically,” Knode
said of Hull, who lived in Cumberland, Md. “I always thought of Mrs.
Claus as a grandma — cookies and cakes and pies,” she said, adding
with a hearty laugh that she doesn’t cook.
Like Grimes, who
also visits schools and reunions dressed as Santa, Knode takes her
Mrs. Santa on the road.
She plays the notable Christmas
spouse during the holiday season at Hagerstown Regional Airport. Her
“spouse” there is Rick Rowe of Hancock.
Knode and Rowe will
listen to wish lists from all ages from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19;
4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 21; 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 23;
and 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 24, at the airport. She said
bikes, toys, coloring books and candy are distributed there, as
well.
I wish ...
With people tiny and not so tiny
perched on their laps, Grimes and Knode have listened to plenty of
lists being recited.
Adults have asked for “money, cars,
four-wheelers, guns for the guys,” said Knode, a customer-service
agent for Southern Airways. “World peace, a new body, I’ve had ’em
all.”
Grimes said visitors from nursing homes often request
better health, but “happiness, that’s the big thing.”
Some
children’s wishes warm their hearts.
A girl about 7 years old
stands out in Grimes’ memory.
“She wanted world peace. She
wanted good health for everybody,” said Grimes, who retired from
Western Electric Co. after 32 1/2 years of service.
Knode is
touched by kids’ kindheartedness, particularly “the little ones that
ask for things for other kids,” or want their grandmothers to be
happy.
What is Grimes’ wish this year?
“I just wish
things would get straightened out ... here in our own country,” he
said. “There’s so much unnecessary poverty in the United States.”
Christmas celebrities
Grimes doesn’t need his red suit to
be acknowledged as Santa.
He said he was at a crab feed in
Williamsport this summer and was approached by a woman who
recognized him. He recalled that she sat on his lap last year, and
she assured him she would do it again this year during Charlie Brown
Christmas. The event was held this year on select days from
Saturday, Dec. 3, to Sunday, Dec. 11.
Throughout the year,
Grimes said children approach him when he’s out and about and pull
on his sleeves to get his attention.
Knode, on the other
hand, has some fun with her anonymity because people don’t envision
her as Mrs. Claus when she’s not in costume. When children she knows
visit her and Santa, she calls them by name.
“It freaks them
out,” she said.
As Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Grimes and Knode help
create the magic of Christmas, but they also receive it.
“That’s my Christmas present to me,” Knode said. “It’s just giving
back ... keeping the spirit of Christmas alive.”
“You get the
feeling that they have hope,” Grimes said of those he meets while
portraying Santa. “It’s a good feeling.”
“It just gives you
such joy in your heart,” Knode said. “They say there’s no such thing
as Santa. Yes, there is.” |
Thanks to the 2015 Bell Ringers!
Local 2105 Retired Members Vickie Layton, Roger
Grimes and Denise Stroup participated in the Western Maryland ALS Walk
on Sunday, November 4, 2012 at Baker Park in Frederick. This is
the 6th year a team representing our Local has participated in the
walk. "Our little team of three raised over $1,000 dollars!
Thanks to everyone who supported us!"
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CWA Local 2105's Retired Members Chapter held their annual picnic
at the "Top of the Mountain" at the McClellan Gun Club
outside of Keedysville on October 23, 2012.
Members were treated to hot dogs, grilled steaks, scalloped
potatoes, green beans, cole slaw and cake.
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Items discussed at the business meeting prior to lunch were the
new agreements between CWA and Verizon and CWA and AT&T.
The club voted to donate $100 to the ALS walk, and Helen
Troxell won the 50/50 drawing and generously donated her winnings. |

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Many thanks to Roger Grimes for getting all of the food to
the club, to Dick Forrest for helping us make arrangements for
having the picnic at the club, to Merrill Layton and Elmer
Gibney for grilling the steaks, to Judy Peiffer for helping to set
up and serve, to Teresa Schafer for picking up the cake, to
Betty Reeder, Judy Peiffer, Roger Grimes, and Penny Bryant for
helping to clean up. We hope we didn't forget anyone.
The folks in this club do a great job of pitching in and working
together and everyone's participation is really appreciated.
Thanks also to Carole Gibney for taking notes at the last minute!
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We will be ringing the Salvation Army bell on Wednesday,
December 12 in front of J C Penney's in Hagerstown's Valley Mall.
Please contact Vickie Layton at 301 791-1486 if you can help in the
afternoon or evening.
Our next meeting will be January 15, 2013 at the Northern Avenue
Legion in Hagerstown.
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The Salvation Army - Doing the Most Good
Helen Troxell, Bill Morrison, and Vickie Layton
attended the Salvation Army's annual banquet on April 17, 2012,
representing Local 2105's Retired Members Chapter.
CWA Local 2105 has been a supporter of the
Salvation Army for many years.
This past Christmas the organization provided
assistance to 12,672 families in the Hagerstown area, giving away
nearly 20,000 toys, almost 17,000 food items, and nearly 20,000
gifts to individuals in nursing homes.
Although many people associate the Salvation Army
with the Christmas Kettle Drive, the Hagerstown "Army"
does a lot more than that. Throughout the past year it
assisted over 65,000 people.
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Their Women and Children's Shelter provided 9,522
days of lodging to 448 people. Their "Midday
Manna" feeding program served 32,952 people lunch. The
organization also sponsors social development sessions, camps
for children, comprehensive assistance, group worship and other
visitations.
Local 2105's Retirees are proud to volunteer to
serve this worthy organization.
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Retired Member John
Estes is our local "Dinosaur Man.!
Over the past several years, John has been an
ambassador of good will to elementary schools all over the tri-state
area. He announced at the January 2012 Retired Members Meeting
that 159 elementary schools have now received his hand made dinosaurs.
Roger Grimes has accompanied him on a number of visits to the schools.
We thank John for being such a fine representative of our CWA Local
2105 Retired Members Chapter and we congratulate him on sharing
his time and talents with thousands of youngsters. CWA has long
been known as the "Community Minded
Union" and John is a shining example.
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Local 2105 Retirees Chapter Officers are:
President : Roger Grimes 301 223-7982
Vice-President : Vickie Layton 301
223-1486
Treasurer : Terry Schildt 301 824-6354
Secretary : Denise Stroup 301 739-6049

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