{"id":4399,"date":"2024-06-22T16:08:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T21:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/?page_id=4399"},"modified":"2025-12-24T20:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T02:17:09","slug":"chapter-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/chapter-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter History"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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8\"\"The Wichita Prime Timers Chapter–Past to Present<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Sometime in 1998 or before, Dale Sneeringer and Jim Funk became aware of the Worldwide Prime Timers organization and it’s chapters and activities. They felt there might be a need in the Wichita area for such a chapter.\u00a0 Early in 1998 they publicized a meeting to see if there was any interest in forming a chapter.\u00a0 At that meeting, 5 or 6 guys showed up; and it was determined there was, indeed, sufficient interest to form a chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n

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At the April 1998 organizational meeting, Dale Sneeringer was elected president, Gary Hime Vice President, Bob Eberly Treasurer, and Gary Jones Secretary. They created and adopted a set of bylaws based on those of the Oklahoma City chapter. There were at least 3 other guys in attendance including Richard Evans.\u00a0 Early meetings were held at the home of Jim Funk and in Dale Sneeringer’s apartment.\u00a0 The topics of the meetings were generally how to increase membership and how to publicize the organization. An ad was placed in the Liberty Press, a local gay community publication; and a local phone number was established.<\/span><\/p>\n

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As the group grew it was found there was a need for the officers (Board of Directors) to meet prior to the regular chapter meetings to discuss topics and make decisions about the future of the chapter. Those meetings usually took place at local restaurants. The chapter activities increased to include covered dish dinners which were often held at the home of Clyde and Greg Mason’s. The first chapter bulletins were done by Clyde Mason.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Following the death of Clyde in 2002, David Luke became editor of the Bulletin.\u00a0 David continued in that job through 2006; and in 2007, Tom G. became the editor serving through the 2009 year.\u00a0 In 2010, Norm Gentry became the editor and is currently serving in that capacity.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The first activities director was Greg Fitzgerald\/Mason followed by Michael Lange and Martin Mendoza. Martin continues to serve in that capacity and has done so since 2002 with exception of 2007 when Jim Wildman stepped in to do the job that year.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sometime during 2010, an e-mail address was established, and a web page created. The first website was created by Norm Gentry. In 2011 Chuck Spady redesigned the web site; and recently with the help of the World Wide Prime Timers web master, a new website was created and is currently receiving lots of hits– www.wichitaprimetimer.org. Both the e-mail and web sites have been very helpful in recruiting members.\u00a0 In 2004 there were 85 members in the group.\u00a0 Currently the membership stays at somewhat steady number around 80+. A few members come from outside the Wichita area as far away as Nebraska and Oklahoma. Those members join mostly to get the Bulletin or, on rare occasions, drop in to attend an event when they happen to be in the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

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A variety of activities are scheduled each month.\u00a0 Some of the continuing activities include a Dinner celebrating the current month’s birthdays and anniversaries of members, one or two Bowling sessions, a monthly Guys Night Out at one of the local gay bars, Board of Directors meeting, one or two Pitch nights and a games night, a monthly potluck and business meeting, a mid-morning Coffee with the Guys at a local establishment, a Lunch with the Boys, a Video\/Movie Night, and a monthly Dining Out.\u00a0 Periodic events include pool parties, road trips to out of town events, and \u00a0joint activities with other area chapters. Each year in August members celebrate the chapter’s anniversary with a Founders Day dinner. Several members have attended regional and worldwide Prime Timer meetings. The chapter has helped prepare meals for the homeless several years and tries to support activities of local gay groups in the community.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

8The Wichita Prime Timers Chapter–Past to Present Sometime in 1998 or before, Dale Sneeringer and Jim Funk became aware of the Worldwide Prime Timers organization and it’s chapters and activities. They felt there might be… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4399","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4399"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5847,"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4399\/revisions\/5847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chapters.theprimetimersww.com\/wichita\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}