1997 - 2004

The 1997 Summer Social at King’s Dominion was a big hit with 67 members and families attending and enjoying a day of perfect weather.

With a change in the Chapter officers a decision was made to change the location of the General meetings to the Anchor Inn in Wheaton, Maryland.  A change in format was suggested by the Board of Governors to have a 20 minute technical session follow the social hour.  A 20 minute table top review and a 20 minute fundamentals review followed the technical session, with dinner and the business meeting at the conclusion of the night.

The Annual Awards Social was a departure from the usual as we took a lunch cruise on the Potomac River on the Odyssey.

In March 1998 the Chapter organized a tour of the Blue Plains Sewer Treatment Plant.  The tour was well attended by interested members who had a chance to learn about the filtration process of storm and sanitary disposal systems.

In April our VPL, David Bailey, continued to volunteer his efforts to conduct a training session for all who were interested in taking the CIPE exam.  In May we had a guided tour of the Rock Bottom Brewery, in downtown Bethesda.

The 1998 Chapter Product Show was organized, and chaired, by Tom Yendall and boasted technical sessions taught by Jim Olsztynski, Editor of PM Engineer; Pat Higgins, President of P.J. Higgins and Associates; and Tom Klemens, Editor of Plumbing Engineering.  The Product Show was held at the Tyson’s Corner Westpark hotel on May 13 and generated a good response from the engineering community.

The standing officers of the Board of Director’s were unanimously re-elected to the respective offices at the May meeting.  Chapter President, Donald Keith, announced the appointment of Ron Payne as Chapter Historian.  The Chapter membership stood at 187 members as of May 1998.

On June 6, 1998 the Chapter hosted the Region 1 meeting.  The meeting was attended by the Executive Director of ASPE, Stan Wolfson, and the Region 1 Affiliate Liaison, Don Greenawalt.  On June 8 we held our annual Golf Outing at the Holly Hills Country Club with 64 members and guests supporting the event.                                           

At the 1998 ASPE Convention our Chapter was a recipient of the Chapter Award of Merit by the Society.  We sent 6 delegates to Indianapolis for the Convention and Business Meetings.  The entire group was impressed at the show and the efforts of the host committee.

The Chapter membership was at 185 as of November 1998.  The Chapter Directory Book was updated in fall 1998 and was made available to all members for free and to non-members for a small fee.  March 4, 1999 marked the Chapter’s 30^th Anniversary.  The Chapter web site began construction in the spring of 1999 by Donald Keith.

The May 1999 General Meeting featured the election of a new Board of Directors.  David Bailey was elected President after serving three terms as VPL and he was joined by four new officers and two former officers.  The monthly meetings remained at the Anchor Inn in Wheaton.

On June 7, 1999 the Chapter held its annual Golf Outing at the Holly Hills Country Club.  The money raised by the Golf Outing allowed the Chapter to fund two academic scholarships for the upcoming year.  Later in the summer the Chapter had a joint social with the Baltimore Chapter by getting group tickets to a Bowie BaySox game.

In October 1999 several Chapter members traveled up to Philadelphia for the Technical Symposium.  The local Product Show and the technical classes were well worth the trip.

The Chapter celebrated its 30^th Anniversary on December 8 with an Awards Banquet at the Evans Farm Inn, in McLean Virginia.  Part of the awards were the presentation of ASPE 30 year pins to Don Carter, William Davis, Robert Manfredi, Mac McQuilkin, Water Richardson, Cleve Vetter, and Dick Whyte.  Donald Keith, representing Society, presented the Chapter with a Certificate of Accomplishment for its 30^th Anniversary.  Because the actual date of the anniversary was March 4^th, the award was presented to Donald Keith, Chapter President at that time.  Donald pulled off the act of both presenting and receiving with great aplomb.  The fact that the Social was held at the Evans Farm Inn was nostalgic in that this location was a meeting location for the Chapter in the 1980's and was due for complete demolition in a few months (to make way for more houses).

In March 2000 the Chapter held a joint Product Show with Plumbing & Mechanical Professionals of Virginia (PMPVA) at the Fairview Park Marriott.  ASPE’s Chairman for the event was Craig Johnson.

On April 8, 2000 David Bailey again taught a CIPE review class to prepare candidates for the CIPE exam offered at the end of April.  At the May General Meeting the existing Board of Directors was unanimously reelected to another term in office.

The Region 1 meeting was held in Ottawa, Canada and the Chapter was represented by David Bailey and John Puchala.  The Chapter was presented with one of two Chairman’s Awards for the efforts to involve and enroll student members from the University of Maryland’s Fire protection Engineering program.

The Chapter repeated it’s successful social outing to King’s Dominion on June 24^th with over 60 members and family enjoying a hot Summer day at the water park and the rides.

On July 17^th the Chapter again went out to the Holly Hills Country Club for our Annual Golf Outing.  Chairman Dick Whyte picked a perfect day for the event with temperatures in the 80's and the golf course in peak condition.  84 members and guests enjoyed a great day for golf, even if the scores weren’t “great”.        

The September 2000 General meeting featured a panel of code officials for the technical session and was very well received.  Bill Hines, formerly of Fairfax County, and Tom Buckley, of WSSC, led the panel and fielded many questions from the engineers present.

In October 2000 the chapter sent 6 delegates to the ASPE Convention in Nashville.  The Product Expo was amazing and the Opryland Hotel was a beautiful maze.  Most of the delegates were found in time to make their return trip to Washington.  The technical sessions were, as always, informative and innovative.  One of our affiliate members, Bay Associates, organized a group of engineers and paid for 30 engineers to come out to Nashville to see the Expo and get the benefit of some of the technical classes.  This was not the first Convention trip sponsored by Bay Associates.  Society and the Washington, D.C. Chapter are very grateful for Bay’s continued support for the engineers in Washington, Baltimore and Virginia Beach and we salute them for their efforts.  The Washington, D.C. Chapter was presented with a Chapter Award of Merit during the Society’s business meeting.

On December 6^th the Chapter held its Annual Awards Banquet at Kelly’s Ellis Island Inn.  There were 36 members and guests on hand to cheer for the award recipients and retired officers.  The chapter was able to help the Richmond ASPE chapter’s fund raising efforts by donating $100 to their annual Children’s Hospital fund drive.

As of January 2001 the Chapter membership stood at 197 with 23 applications pending.

On February 16, 2001 a special technical/demonstration seminar was offered to the members of the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore Chapters by AMES, Inc., one of the chapter’s strongest supporting affiliate members.  Two 3 and ½ hour training sessions were offered on pumping equipment and enabled attending engineers to earn REU’s for recertification of their CPD designations.  On February 23 the Chapter sponsored a tour of Bergmann’s Laundry facilities and the engineers who attended were given a first class tour of the behind the scene operations.  It was interesting that this facility is the area’s second largest water consumer behind the Pentagon.

The May General Meeting was the time for the chapter elections.  The new Board of Director’s had a very similar look to the old Board with only one new member.

On July 9^th the Annual Golf Outing was held at Holly Hills Country Club, our usual venue.  As always Dick Whyte organized ideal weather and beautiful course condition for our bunch of hackers.

In September 2001 the Chapter announced the awarding of an Alfred Steele Engineering Scholarship to one of our Chapter’s student members, Sean P. Jankiewicz.  Sean was a Fire Protection Engineering student at the University of Maryland at the time of the award.

In October several Board of Directors and other chapter members traveled to St. Louis for the 2001 Technical Symposium.  Society did an outstanding job with the technical sessions that were offered and everyone in attendance came away impressed.

The Chapter held its Annual Awards Social at Kelly’s Ellis Island Inn on December 5, 2001.  The event was attended by 30 members and guests and the food and festivities were well worth the effort.

The Chapter membership stood at 202 as of January 2002.  The Chapter has a large percentage of the Society’s student membership and due to the fact that most of our student members are Fire Protection Engineering students there is not a high number of student membership renewals once these young engineers graduate.  After the final purging of memberships that were not renewed the Chapter membership dropped to 188.

The Chapter held a CIPE/CPD review class on April 6, 2002.  The six class attendees were thoroughly educated (or was it confused?) by our Chapter President, Dave Bailey.  Dave has done a remarkable job donating his time and efforts to teaching this review course for the exam for longer than we should expect him to.  The Chapter is very grateful for members like Dave who are willing to volunteer so much for their Society.

The Chapter held its biennial Product Show on June 6, 2002 at the Rosecroft Raceway.  The Show was chaired by Steve Mayer and Kathleen Fox, and although turnout was less than hoped for it was a first class turnout by our Affiliate members.  The booths were very well stocked with all of the latest innovative plumbing technology.

On July 8^th the Chapter again went out to the Holly Hills Country Club for our Annual Golf Outing.  Chairmen Dick Whyte and Cleve Vetter picked a wonderful day for the event with temperatures in the 90's and the golf course in great condition.

The May General Meeting was the time for the chapter elections.  The new Board of Director’s included a new President as Dave Bailey stepped down and John Puchala was elected.

In September 2002 the new Board of Directors decided it was time to move the General Meetings back to the Virginia side of the Potomac.  Meetings were held at the Tyson’s Corner Olive Garden restaurant.  Attendance at the meeting was buoyed by the attendance of certain Virginia members who are reluctant to cross the Potomac, as well as a strong showing of the “regular” attendees.

In October the Chapter sent six delegates out to the ASPE Convention in Fort Worth, Texas.  Bay Associates again sponsored a trip for 30 local engineers to attend parts of the Convention and Product Show.  Once again hats off to Don Greenawalt and Bay Associates for their strong support of ASPE and the Washington, D.C. Chapter.  The Society put together an outstanding Product Expo and the technical sessions were very informative.   The Washington, D.C. Chapter was presented with a Chapter Award of Merit during the Society’s business meeting.

The Chapter’s Annual Awards Social was held at Squire Rockwell’s in Fairfax, Virginia.  The weather was not cooperative and with an ice storm that day the turnout was less than hoped for, but very cozy.

On March 21, 2003 the Chapter arranged for another tour of John J. Kirlin’s Fabricating Shop.  The tour was amazing and the turnout for this event was more than double the attendance at last year’s tour.

The May General Meeting was the Chapter’s election night and the newly elected officers were almost all previous officers, with one exception.

On July 7^th the Annual Golf Outing was held at Holly Hills Country Club, in Ijamsville Maryland.  As always Dick Whyte and Cleve Vetter organized a wonderful outing.  The weather cooperated for about 12 holes and the Mother Nature opened up the skies and deluged our faithful golfers.  No one was able to complete the round because of the rain, but prizes were still awarded.   

The first General Meeting of the 2003-2004 year was held at JR’s Stockyards, in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia.  The meeting location had to be changed at the last minute due to renovations at the Olive Garden, our previous meeting place.  Attendance at the first meeting was understandably low because of the late change, but the food and atmosphere were wonderful.                                                                                                      

In October several Board of Directors and other chapter members traveled to San Antonio, Texas for the 2003 Technical Symposium.  The technical sessions that were offered were extremely informative and all attendees enjoyed the city, in particular the Riverwalk.

The Annual Awards Social Was scheduled for December but the weather again caused havoc with our plans and the event was cancelled.  The Board decided to postpone the awards until the Chapter’s 35^th Anniversary celebration.

The Chapter did celebrate its 35^th Anniversary on March 13, 2004 at the P. B. Dye Golf Course and Country Club.  The Society’s Executive Director, Stan Wolfson, was present to present a Certificate of Achievement to current President John Puchala.  The Chapter honored all of it’s Past-Presidents with a specially engraved letter opener noting their terms of service.  The Chapter and our affiliate members provided an abundance of door prizes and the evening was very enjoyable for everyone.

As of April 2004 the Chapter membership stood at 155 with 8 applications pending disposition by Society.

In April David Bailey again taught a CPD review class to prepare candidates for the CPD exam offered at the end of April.  At the May General Meeting nearly all of the existing Board of Directors were reelected to another term in office, with David Bailey stepping up to volunteer as VP Legislative.

The Region 1 meeting was held in Providence, Rhode Island and the Chapter was ably represented by John Puchala and Mark Wilson.  The Boston Chapter did a wonderful job hosting the Regional Meeting.

On July 19^th the Annual Golf Outing was held at Holly Hills Country Club, our usual venue.  Dick Whyte and Bob Gladden handled the arrangements and were able to deliver ideal weather and beautiful course condition for our intrepid bunch.

The Chapter sponsored a fishing trip on the Chesapeake Bay in August.  The lucky people who were able to attend were treated to a grand day on the water and some good fishing (if not catching!).

Robert Evans