While I was out of town for those weeks, I had the great opportunity to visit the Hibulb Cultural Center, museum of the Tulalip people, near Arlington. Folks have done a really superb job with that museum and I learned so much about those early Washington peoples.

Two prominently displayed quotes caught my eye:

“The salmon, they are not really fish at all; they are salmon people and they live in a village under the sea and come home to our rivers year after year.”

And this really, really good one appropriate for all society presidents:

“A true leader is a slave to the needs of his people.”

This really hit home to me for at that conference in Arlington, both Ginny Majewski (WSGS president) and I presented Society Management talks. A major point of my talk was that if you accept being on your gene society board, then you accept that for a period of time you will be a “slave” to your members……… you will be constantly thinking and planning for the betterment of your society. Your duty to your society will be #1 on your mind all the time. Or so I do believe.