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New '07 Discovery
October 2005 Utah Rally
IN THE BEGINNING: The Discovery International Chapter is for owners of one of Fleetwood's best-selling diesel motor homes, the Discovery. The chapter received it's Charter on March 22, 1999 following the Winter International Convention held in Perry, GA. The Internet played a large role in our chapter's origins. Owners of Discovery coaches began logging onto the Internet to exchange information about all aspects of Discovery ownership, including coach modifications and technical matters. When FMCA activities began to be mentioned in e-mails, it became obvious to several people, among them Jim Campbell, F221103, and Ron Hyslop, F175527, that starting a chapter within FMCA might be useful. These two men, from Indiana and Massachusetts, respectively, gathered support for a chapter when the on-line group held a rally in Florida in April 1998. More interest in a chapter surfaced at FMCA's Northeast Area rally in Springfield, MA, in July of that year. Pat Malloy, F1681, Southeast Area vice president and a Discovery owner herself, attended the Springfield rally and provided ideas and organizational strategies. After a meeting of interested Discovery owners in Ogden, Utah, during FMCA's 1998 summer convention, we discovered the existence of another Discovery club that had recently formed. However, the group, the Discover Owners Association, based in Livingston, Texas, is not affiliated with FMCA. Our chapter and the Discovery Club of California are the only Discovery groups associated with FMCA. The Discovery International's first chapter officers, selected in Perry, were: Jim Campbell, president; John Jailor, F198424, vice president; Lois Campbell (Jim's wife), secretary; William Scheerer, F134683, treasurer; Ron Hyslop, F175527, national director; and Marilyn Souder, F188629, alternate national director. New officers were selected at the summer convention in Ames, Iowa. Our chapter bylaws provide for organizing branches in each geographical area of FMCA, in order to hold local rallies and facilitate dealing with local issues of concern to FMCA members who own Discovery coaches. Three local area vice presidents were selected to lead respective Discovery International branches: Ken Adams, F230839, Southwest; Hank Primeau, F243024, Florida; and Ron Hyslop, Northeast. Any one interested in heading up a region should contact Jim Campbell. Interest and membership in the Discovery International chapter has grown through "campground evangelism"--chapter members meet other Discovery owners in campgrounds or at fuel stops or rest areas along the road and tell them about the group. The first official rally of the Discovery International chapter was held in Middle Amana, Iowa, July 22 to 25, preceding the summer convention in Ames. See Events for other planned rallies. The purpose of this FMCA chapter is to promote social, recreational, and information exchange for owners of Discovery motor homes, who are members of the Family Motor Coach Association. The membership as of Dec 2007 is 104 coaches. 47 coaches have joined our YAHOO website at http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/difmca/ . The present chapter officers are:
John Wittenberg, Jr. Mertz, John & Karen Didich and Bob Foerster
To apply for membership, please forward the membership application to Linda Miller (address at the bottom of the form). Note, you must be a member in good standing with FMCA in order to join this chapter. This site was last updated on December 06, 2007
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