Berks Barrister Winter 2018 - 5

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President's Message

Pride in Our History
as We Move Forward
Joan E. London, 2018 President

T

his is my first President's Message, and I hope as you
read this that 2018 is off to a good start, and that the
year will be a healthy, successful, and productive one for

all of us.
As I write this column on my first official day as President,
my first thoughts go back to October 26, and the gavel-passing
ceremony in the Berkshire Country Club Ballroom. I saw so
much symbolism in that ceremony and in that ceremonial gavel,
and thought of the incredible history of this organization, and
the people who have comprised it, since its
founding.
I have always believed that ceremonies
and symbols were important, but this idea was
driven home to me in the days leading up to
the installation ceremony. As many of you
know, Walt and I recently moved from our
20-year home in St. Lawrence to a house in
Wyomissing (thankfully far closer to my office
at Kozloff Stoudt!). There is nothing like a
move, even just across town, to show you how
much you have accumulated without realizing
it. As I was going through boxes from the
1990s, I found my first associate assignment
from Rhoda Stoudt & Bradley, which was the assignment which
started my career in November of 1992, and which I had with me
as I accepted the gavel from Kurt Althouse, and which I described
in my remarks.
Those events of twenty-five years ago are a part of my personal
history, symbolized by those papers. Every organization, and
everyone's life, has these symbols. About a year and a half ago,

I was a part of another house move, as a member of the Board
of Directors of the Pennsylvania Federation of Republican
Women. The organization "downsized" from an old and high
maintenance headquarters house on North Second Street in
Harrisburg to rented office space on State Street. As the ladies
were packing to move out of the headquarters house, which had
been purchased by our foremothers in the 1950s, when it was
not common for women to own real estate, they found the usual
tea sets, photographs with past state officials, and programs from
past conventions, which are all an important
part of the history of the organization. Among
the memorabilia, however, they found a true
relic: a yellow parasol carried by suffragettes in
rallies seeking women's right to vote in the years
leading up to the ratification of the Nineteenth
Amendment in 1920. I had the privilege of
being able to hold and be photographed with this
treasure before it was sent by the organization to
be properly preserved.
Our organization is also entrusted with a
preservation of history. This magazine will often
feature an article or cover story highlighting a
time, an event, or important person(s) in the
history of our Berks County Bar Association. In recent years,
The Berks Barrister has published articles on Judge Gustav Endlich
and his legal and academic career and orations ("The Judge Who
Inspired a Dinner Club" - Fall 2016); Judge and Congressman
Robert Grey Bushong as the builder of 544 Court Street, the
building which has been our Bar Association headquarters since
1961 ("Lawyer, Judge, and Principled Politician - But Builder
Continued on page 6
Winter 2018 | 5
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Berks Barrister Winter 2018

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