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NOTE:
Bruce Church, who served as NTSHF President
from 1997 through October 22, 2002, resigned
the position to accept an LDS mission assignment
in Bolivia. Bruce remains a member of the
Board of Directors and continues to be active
in Foundation activities until his departure
for Bolivia. In Bruce's absence, the NTSHF
Board of Directors elected Troy Wade as
President of the Foundation. The following
text is excerpted from Troy's 2002 annual
letter to the membership.
Dear
Members:
Last
year I began my annual report by saying
that we had just had an incredible year.
Let me tell you, this past year has been
even more incredible.
Probably
the best way to begin this report is ask
you to drive by the Desert Research Institute
building on East Flamingo Road in Las Vegas.
You will, I hope, be absolutely astounded
by the amount of construction that has been
completed. It has not been easy to get here,
but we are here.
Groundbreaking
took place on June 29. For those of you
who could not be there, it was a marvelous
ceremony. The principals included Senator
Harry Reid; the Honorable Larry Small, Secretary
of the Smithsonian Institution; Brigadier
General Ron Haeckel from the National Nuclear
Security Administration; Doug Seastrand
representing the UNLV Board of Regents;
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and many other
local dignitaries.
At
the groundbreaking, we honored two special
people. One was Senator Harry Reid who,
through the U.S. Senate, has provided $1,000,000
for the design and installation of museum
exhibits. In addition, we were particularly
pleased to honor Dorothy Grier, the widow
of Herb Grier, one of the founders of EG&G.
Dorothy pledged $500,000 to the new museum
in honor of Herb. At the groundbreaking,
we announced the naming of the Herbert E.
Grier Scientific Discovery and Innovation
Gallery, one of the major galleries in the
museum.
Let
me summarize our current schedule for you.
The building will be available for "user
occupancy" in June of 2003, at which
time we will start the installation of exhibits,
which will take 8 to 10 months. We are planning
the opening events and, let me tell you,
they will be something to behold. We will
have exhibits from the Smithsonian and some
very special people scheduled for presentations.
We
are on line to provide to the NTS people,
to the State of Nevada, and to the Nation,
a world-class facility. We are even closer
now.
Thanks
to all for your continued help and support.
Troy
E. Wade
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