Returning from the ERC National Relocation Conference in Disney’s Dolphin Resort in Orlando, I was pleased to find a letter from the Florida Veterinary Medical Association (FVMA): here’s the opening paragraph:

Dear Dr Woolf … We congratulate you on your lifetime of dedication to the veterinary profession and for your many years of sustained membership in the FVMA. You are among the select few that have qualified for Life Membership. In fact only 51 of our more than 3,000 members have currently acheived this level of recognition. Enclosed you will find your 2010 membership certificate suitable for framing and displaying in your home or practice.

The letter from Jerry P Shank, D.V.M, the president of the FVMA and Philip J. Hinkle, its Executive Director closes with the following paragraph:

We thank you for being a part of our successful effort to be of service to the profession for such a long part of the FVMA’s history.

The drive on I-4 to Orlando on Wednesday past, 19 May was uneventful with heavy traffic eastbound.

The Dolphin Resort was our destination for the 2010 ERC (Employee Relocation Council) and the National Relocation Conference.

With attendance up 35% over last year’s San Diego national conference, we were kept busy introducing our 33 year old “pet moving made easy” services to a wide audience of relocation managers, HR directors, corporate representatives, GSA staffers, and military relocation staffers from both the United States and the world.

The exhibit hall was busy from the opening reception of Wednesday evening to the Thursday afternoon session and the closing Friday session.

Dinner Thursday night at the “BlueZoo” in the Dolphin resort was fabulous with seafood selections on the menu were beyond belief, the likes of which we had not seen before.

Summary: ERC’s National Relocation Conference at Disney’s Dolphin resort not only met our expectations, they were exceeded with great reception by the visitors to exhibit booth #223.

Fifty years ago this month, 39 veterinarians graduated from the School of Veterinary Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania.

We gathered this weekend, 11 strong, to return to New Bolton Center, adjacent to Kennett Square, PA to refresh with old friends, and make new memories. Indeed we did.

On Friday we toured the expanding campus of New Bolton Center, with previews of new facilities for intensive care and orthopedic procedures on pleasure horses and livestock. To describe the soon to open facilities as “state of the art” is simply an understatement.

An end of the tiring day walking about New Bolton Center, brought us to the alumni reception at Allam House, our dormitory of years past, now an alumni center.

Presentation of 50 year certificates by Dean Joan Hendricks ensued, cameras flashed incessantly.

We retired to Centerdale, Delaware for a most delightful dinner in a quaint restaurant, recalling the innocent days of our education along with our adventures over the years of veterinary practice.

Rain fell during most of the evening with an outstanding array of lightning in the distant horizon.

Sleep came easily, with the tour bus ready for us at 10:15 a.m. for the ride to the West Philadelphia and the city campus of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; now simply referred to as “Penn Vet”.

Dedication of the courtyard within the original building of the Veterinary School, a gift of the classes of 1958, ’59 and ’60, took place promptly at 12 noon with a most delightful lunch being served out of doors shortly thereafter.

In the days of yore, the courtyard was simply referred to as “fecal field”.  My oh my how times have changed.

The touring of the clinics at city campus of Penn Vet continued during the afternoon with extensive walking until the tour bus and its driver, Stanley, returned to bring us back to Glen Mills for afternoon relaxation.

Fifty years passes by quicker than you realize.  The 11 of who gathered reminisced about 50+ years ago and we each brought each other up to date on our lives, both personal and professional.

We parted company late this afternoon to meet again in five years or sooner as time and events take place in our personal and professional lives.

The gavel of the presidency of the Animal Transportation Association was passed on today at 1:00 p.m. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida as Lisa Schoppa, Continental Airlines PetSafe Manager, became a past president of ATA, the Animal Transportation Association.

Job well done, Lisa.  Congratulations!

IPATA’s Long Range Planning Group (LRPG) is meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Friday and today. As a founding USA member of IPATA from its beginnings in Chicago in the blizzard of February, 1979, the non-profit trade association of independent pet and animal shippers has grown from 6 starting members to 325 global members. The LRPG is looking at IPATA’s mission statement, vision statement and goals as it seeks to recruit responsible pet & animal shippers to its uniquely diverse membership.