The annual meeting of the Pontius Family Association (PFA) was
held this year at Salt Lake City. The meeting had moments of
great drama as tradition was over-ruled by an adherence to
published By-Laws. The meeting was attended by 44 persons, of
whom 23 were members of the PFA.
The Board of Directors for the next year was approved and
secret ballot elections for four of the Executive Offices were
held. The positions of Secretary and Treasurer were left in the
hands of the people who have done a capable and good job in
those positions over the past years.
The Executive Officers of the Pontius Family Association for
the next year are:
President, Phil Pontius
1st Senior Vice-President, Jeannette Weaver
2nd Senior Vice-President, Barbara Remy
Vice-President, Don Jule Pontious
Secretary, Jan Pontius
Treasurer, Roberta Bongorno
The Pontius Family lineage books will be forthcoming as
pre-order reservations will be taken in the next couple of
months. There will two books, one each for the Johannes and
Nicholas lines, in a slipcase cover.
This member set-up a presentation on the Pontius Family DNA
Project. It was the first time a presentation was set-up at a
PFA annual meeting. It was well received by most and disparaged
by a few. The association Board issued a disclaimer, saying that
the presentation was not an approved presentation nor was DNA
testing approved by the PFA. The project has received serious
queries about joining it and one person has subsequently joined
the project; that person being a descendant of Johannes Pontius
1717-1792. We will shortly know if Johannes and Nicholas were
brothers.
The newsletters in the next year will be carrying proposed
changes to the by-laws, to be voted upon at the 2007 annual
meeting to be held in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, July 12, 13 and
14, 2007.
Members of the PFA should mail any suggestions for changes to
the by-laws or any other documents or materials to Pontius
Family Association, c/o Philip Pontius, President, 126 Maplewood
Est., Scott Depot, West Virginia 25560-9744, for inclusion in
the PFA newsletters and the Bridge Builder magazine.
Articles written for the Bridge Builder may be mailed
directly to the publisher, William Porter, 336 E. 1864 So.
Street, Orem, Utah 84058-8126.
The meeting pointed up to this author how a large national
organization is under the control of a very few members. As
stated above, 23 members were present out of a total
international membership of 412. That means that 6% of the
membership is setting policy for the other 94% of the members.
The only way to increase the representation to more accurately
reflect the true desires of the membership is for more members
to make it to the annual meetings and to make motions,
nominations and to vote.
The following pictures show most of those attending the
meeting in Utah and the DNA Project presentation.
James E. Punches July 24, 2006

