|
   
Please send
e-mail to
Charlee
with questions, comments,
or corrections for this web site.
Last modified:
11/09/07
| |
A Brief History of Our Club
contributed by Beverly G. LaCore
A woman by the name of Carol Hapke (we don't have a bio on Carol as yet- but we got her
picture
at one of the specialties!) & her friend Merle Marsh had an idea and on January
10th 1988, & the PUGET SOUND SHIH TZU FANCIERS held their first meeting at
Merle Marsh's home in Bellevue, WA. These two ladies were both Poodle
people but, also, they both had Shih Tzu's & felt the Seattle Shih Tzu
people needed their own club. At
the time, the nearest Shih Tzu Club was in Portland, Ore. They set a date,
placed an ad in Ranny Green's Column in the Seattle Times as to the time,
place, and a phone number to call for more info and waited for January 11 to
come.
I remember that first
night quite well. There were about fifteen or sixteen very
enthusiastic Shih Tzu owners who showed up to talk about their beloved dogs. We
all agreed we were there to form a club, so we set a regular meeting day for
our monthly. Carol had a rough draft of by laws which we approved with a
few brief minus's and plus's and we were formed.
The meetings were to
be held on the first Tuesday of each month for the time being and until we could
settle on a permanent meeting place. We met a Merle Marsh's for about six
or seven months then moved from Merle's to the downtown Issaquah, WA, Fire
Station. (Carol lived in Issaquah, so, we could were able to meet there for
free!) After about a year or so, we alternated between a couple two or
three of the members’ homes from the north end to the south end. Our
membership grew and we outgrew home meetings, so we went to having "dinner
meetings" at local restaurants- which we still do.
Our first AKC
- A-OA Match was held at the Manhattan Center in Burien, WA, on January 30,
1993. The second A-OA Match was held at the King County Fairgrounds
in conjunction with the Olympic Kennel Club’s Dog Show on August 21,
1993. Our first Annual Specialty Show was held at the King County
Fairgrounds on August 19th, 1994, again, in conjunction with OKC Dog Show.
We now host our Specialty on an annual basis, and always on the Friday
preceding the back-to-back Olympic Kennel Club shows.
We had
sixteen charter members at that first meeting in 1988 and of those we still have
nine charter members paying dues. Carol Hapke was President of the
Club from 1988 to 1992, Beverly LaCore from 1992 to 1999 and
Carole Delaney from 1999 till now
2003.
Beverly G LaCore
|
