President's Message

HERMANN SONS LIFE

USPS 242200 Periodicals Postage Paid at San Antonio, Texas Published Monthly by HERMANN SONS LIFE 515 S. St. Mary’s St. San Antonio, Texas 78205 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Hermann Sons Life, P.O. Box 1941w San Antonio, TX 78297-1941

DIRECTORS Kimberly Krueger, Chair David Wolf, Vice Chair David R. Noak Stan Steiger Laura Tiffin Gerald Ziemnicki

OFFICERS President and CEO Robin Czarnek Vice President of Operations and COO Samantha Schulmeier Kelley Vice President of Finance and CFO Mary Pruitt Vice President of Member Benefits Cecily Kelly Vice President of Sales Teresa Saathoff

We are a community of friendship, love and loyalty

By ROBIN CZARNEK President and CEO

We all need community and what a wonderful community we have here at Hermann Sons Life!

What started out as an idea from our founding fathers is now a part of communities throughout Texas. One need only visit a lodge meeting, take a tour of the Camp or go to a dance recital to see the number of lives Hermann Sons Life impacts. Whether you are celebrating an event with your fellow members, helping serve a member in their time of need or gathering in fellowship, it’s all needed and certainly never more so than in our post-pandemic world.

Recently, I had a member inquire about the change in the German heritage requirement at Hermann Sons Life. Upon answering this question, I realized that many of our members may have the same question.

As you may know, Hermann Sons Life was founded by German immigrants. In the early years of Hermann Sons Life’s history, you had to be of German descent to become a member. Over the years, we have recognized the need to be more inclusive and open membership to everyone.

Does this mean we’ve abandoned our German roots? Absolutely not! What it does mean is that we’re sharing those German roots with the rest of Texas and advancing the fraternal movement at the same time. With most of us being an amalgamation of many ancestries anyway, it’s a lovely opportunity to share German traditions and history while honoring the varying traditions of all our members.

Speaking of German roots… if you haven’t had a chance to attend Beethoven Mannerchor in downtown San Antonio, it’s a great time to do so. Beethoven Mannerchor is a community devoted to preserving German heritage and culture and is a wonderful ambassador for Hermann Sons Life and our members as well.

If you haven’t had a chance to connect with your lodge members recently, I encourage you to do so. It’s a special blessing to be able to break bread with your fellow members. We have so much fun together… picnics, convention, bingo, community service and most recently our annual bowling tournament just to name a few. Now that I have had the opportunity to get to know the members of my own lodge, when we attend, it feels like we’re visiting our family.

I am so filled with gratitude to be a member and to be able to serve you. Hermann Sons Life is such an amazing organization made up of the best people on the planet! I am thrilled that we are able to share Hermann Sons Life with all of Texas and from all walks of life. Hermann Sons Life is where friendship love and loyalty abound, but so do faith, patriotism and community service.

You, our members, are what makes Hermann Sons Life special. Here’s to many, many more years of our Hermann Sons Life community! Prost!

Robin Czarnek

Attention lodge reporters:

Lodge reporters, with the retirement of Kathie Ninneman, all lodge meeting reports, photos and any information to be included in the Hermann Sons Life newspaper should now be sent to Communications Director Elaine Hernandez Soto. Her email address is elaines@hermannsonslife.org. She can be reached by phone at 210226-9261, ext. 279. Please give her a call if you have any questions.

Lodges are encouraged to send in their news and photos! A reminder, the deadline to submit reports and photos is the 10th of each month. Please make sure reports are typed or printed legibly. Include first and last names. Photos should be of good quality and size. (Small photos do not reproduce well.) Provide details and identify every person in the photo with first and last name.

Lodge Reports

Anton Wenzel ................... 17 Austin........................... 15 Boerne .......................... 16 Brenham ........................ 12 Cameron ........................ 13 Cat Spring....................... 11 Cibolo........................... 14 Columbus ....................... 14 Corpus Christi ................... 14 Dallas ........................... 13 Fort Worth ...................... 15 Fredericksburg .................. 11 Hochheim-Prairie................ 16 Helotes ......................... 15 Hondo .......................... 15 Hondo Victory................... 13 Houston ........................ 16 Kirby ............................ 18 Kypfer-Salge .................... 15 Laubach......................... 11 Louise Schuetze ................. 15 Mission-Alamo .................. 17 Moulton ......................... 5 New Braunfels................... 16 Niederwald ..................... 11 Pershing ........................ 11 Poth ............................ 15 Prinz Solms...................... 18 Rutersville....................... 17 Rosenberg-Richmond ........... 11 Round Top ...................... 15 San Marcos...................... 18 Schulenburg .................... 12 Spring Branch ................... 13 Vineta........................... 11

Monthly Features

3 Calendar of Events 5 In Memoriam 5 Memorial Donations 6-7 Pioneer Members

New This Month

2 President's Message 3 New regional sales manager 10 Statewide Bowling Tournament 8-9 Director reviews Camp season

Sales News

4 Life Insurance Awareness Month 4 Agent training 4 Recommenders 19 Agent listing

Youth in Action

1 Dance registration opens 8-9 Camp 20 Shining Stars

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