FBINAA Sept/Oct Magazine.2018

THE HISTORIAN'S SPOTLIGHT

Pat Davis

George Graves / 81st Session

P rior tomy assuming the role of Historian three years ago Terry Lucas , historian at the time, advised me that little of the As- sociation’s written history had been located. Since that time I have been on a quest to assemble and uncover as much as I could of our Association’s beginnings. Thanks to the generosity of many, I have received several boxes of items; however, much of that documen- tation contains duplication of what Terry had already assembled. After weeding through the boxes, I took documentation to Quan- tico for permanent storage and to assist with the compilation of the “History Wall” outside of the Association Office. There is also some documentation in storage in the archives at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland and I’d be willing to make a wager that there is muchmore stored away in basements, garages, etc. of some of our long-time members. The search for information has provided me with the oppor- tunity to correspond and speak with a couple of the Association’s “elder statesmen”, Billy Gibson and George Graves , who have retained much of the history in memory. Documenting their oral history is helping to fill in the gaps leading up to our twenty-five years of becoming incorporated. The Association’s Incorporation is officially listed as occurring in August of 1993. Much of the information that follows was provided by George Graves. George is a graduate of the 81st Session in 1968, and was involved in the Illinois Chapter and National “Board” prior to the Incorporation. The training program, when George attended, was twelve weeks and class members resided in apartments or rooming houses. Classes were held on the fifth floor of the Justice Department at 9th and Pennsylvania Avenue. Attendees would spend two weeks at Quantico; half the class on the range and the other in classroom. Then, the classes switched from classroom to the range - range to the classroom. In 1977 George became Secretary-Treasurer of the Illinois Chapter. He also took on the role of Finance person as the Illinois Chapter moved forward with planning for the 1980 National Re- training Conference. Chief Dan Linza of Kirkwood Missouri would be the 1980 National President; and Hugh Groves , of the National Park Police, was the Secretary-Treasurer of the NAA operating in Washington D.C. With the announcement of Hugh’s retirement a new person was needed to fill that National position. George Graves became that person based on his work with the Illinois Chapter and what he had accomplished on the planning commit- tee with the re-trainer held in Chicago. There was considerable discussion and a decision to move the office from Washington, DC to Illinois, George’s home, so that he could full-fill the duties of the Secretary-Treasurer position and stay in his home. With George’s new responsibility came the opportunity to attend the sectional re-trainers, Board Officers meetings and Ses- sion graduations. As a matter of convenience, the Board often met during the week of graduations. It was at one of those Board

meetings in the then conference room, over the stage at Quantico, that discussions on future efforts of the Association came about. The discussions included the recommendation that we formover- seas Chapters and that each of these Chapters be assigned to a Section. The proposal included the formation of the European, Asia Pacific, Mid-East/Africa and Mexico-South America Chapters. Canada was already aligned with New York. From 1980 to the end of George Graves’ service, the Secre- tary-Treasurers office stayed in Illinois. It was located in George’s home for fifteen years, with no rent charged or paid, and no salary for the Secretary- Treasurer. The Board did allow for a stipend of ten dollars per hour for Georges wife, Shirley , who acted as an administrative assistant. George remembers that shortly after he assumed the office, the former Secretary-Treasurer forwarded two cardboard boxes to him; they contained the records of the Association. He looked through the boxes and created files for each Chapter and Section. Then, after a quick audit, worked on organizing the Dues structure – Four Dollars a year was collected from eachmember; three were retained by the Chapter and a single dollar per member went off to the National Office. As we all know, over the years the cost of membership has increased, but so too have member benefits! Sale of Association Products and the shipping of items to Chapters were all handled from this Illinois location. Additional responsibilities included the coordination and collection of dues, oversite and distribution of operational expenses such as Board Officers travel expenses, and the distribution of Re-training ses- sion funds to host Chapters. It was the practice that Host Chapters were granted funds for planning the sessions no sooner than the year preceding the ses- sion. The Funds would come from the Section Account. The Sec- tion Account money came from dues forwarded since the previ- ous Section-sponsored re-trainer. After Georges’ tenure, the funding process was changed. It was decided to provide $140K to the Chapters to use for planning and operation of the training conference. Money advanced for re- training was to be placed in interest bearing account and interest earned during the planning and conducting of the re-trainers was to be reimbursed to the National Account. As funds were expend- ed, the Chapter would provide an accounting to National on how

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