ASHS Annual Meetings (now conferences) have evolved over the 60 years of my attendance. From the 1965 Annual Meeting in Urbana Illinois where I stayed in a tent on the University quadrangle, to the most recent conference in Honolulu, they have been professionally stimulating, exciting and memorable. The dogwood pin given to attendees of the 1966 meeting with ISHS in Maryland, the long drive from St. Paul to College Station, Texas in 1967 and the ISHS/ASHS meeting in Davis stimulated my involvement and commitment to attending these important conferences. Involvement with the ASHS infrastructure began when I became a Board member representing the Great Plains Section when attending the meeting in Manhattan Kansas. I was immersed into the ASHS system further as the Chair of Local Arrangements for the 1972 meeting in St Paul (remember the chicken fiasco?) The Guelph meeting in 1974 was memorable because I attended "on the way" to sabbatical at the University of Nottingham and was "on the way back" to the 1975 meeting in Honolulu (September meeting). It was an easier drive from St. Paul to Ames in 1982 where I took my grad students in a van to save them money (I have always encouraged my students to become ASHS members by paying for their first year's memberships). Past President Dermot Coyne sponsored me for ASHS Fellow, awarded at the meeting in East Lansing in 1988. My second meeting in Honolulu was of note because following inducements of pineapples, luau and more, I purchased a timeshare to make sure that I'd take a "real" vacation in addition to my usual tacking on a few days to ASHS conferences. Among the important changes with which I had the privilege to assist was the creation of the ASHS Endowment Fund, and now the "$125 for Five" campaign that will continue to help deserving students. Of course I am humbled to say that one of my greatest honors was election as President of ASHS. Following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, I was inundated with "where can we meet", "when can we meet" emails and calls. I was proud to respond that we will help New Orleans by following through with our commitment to meet there. I will mention many more important ASHS changes and insights as part of my presentation this year as we return to the site of my Presidential Address in the "Big Easy".
