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

1^st Senior Vice-President, Jeannette Weaver

2^nd 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