1922 First Annual Convention
FRSA – 100 Years Strong Lisa Pate, FRSA Executive Director Throughout 2022, this column will recap some of FRSA’s rich history, through accounts from minutes and a published book called FRSA The First Half Century. Elmer Blank, B & F Supply Co., Daytona Beach, chaired the first Convention and became the fourth FRSA President. He was joined on the Executive Board by John Caldwell Jr., whose father had been President the previous year. John Jr. served the Association as Secretary for several years. Blank was active in civic affairs in his hometown and served many years as a Volusia County Commissioner. His experience in that role, coupled with his energy and enthusiasm, injected vitality into our young organization. Members were urged to be active in community affairs. It was said that participation in local civic affairs would widen a contractor’s circle of friends and business associates. “It is a known fact,” one said, “that most people would rather do business with someone they know than a stranger.”
Around 1926, contractors in the Tampa Bay area became active in the Association. It was also the year George Churchill of St. Petersburg was elected President. A sheet metal contractor, Churchill often talked of “doing a good, honest job at a reasonable price.” This thought was later incorporated into the Association’s motto “Price It Right, Then Do It Right.” Bob Moorhead of Lake Wales was SecretaryTreasurer in 1926. He reported over $100 in the treasury during a meeting in the ballroom of the New Indian River Hotel in Rockledge. The group in attendance voted to pay the Secretary’s expenses, not to exceed $25, to attend the next Convention in West Palm Beach. The minutes for the Rockledge meeting are the only surviving official records from the Association’s first decade. Some members have said the Association didn’t meet for two or three years during The Depression; others say there were meetings during that period. A meeting in Bradenton is mentioned by some; a 1924 FRSA Convention
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FLORIDA ROOFING | March 2022