TIAA would like to take this opportunity to wish all TIAA members and former TIers a happy holiday season. We are especially appreciative of all the work done by many volunteers to make TIAA the active and energetic organization that it has become. We wish all of you a happy and healthy New Year.

Lots and Lots of Socks 

Attendees at the annual TI Retiree Luncheon on Nov. 11 at the Mesquite Convention Center donated 1051 pairs of socks to Shoes for Orphan Souls, a ministry of Buckner International. These socks will be sent worldwide to orphans in 69 countries. For many of these orphans, the socks and the shoes that will also be provided will be the first they have ever had. 

December TIAA Breakfast 

This month we will meet at The House Cafe at 801 Alpha Dr. at Bowser Rd. in Richardson on Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 9:30 a.m.  All members are invited to this informal get together for fellowship and good food. Feel free to bring a friend. We welcome suggestions for where we might hold future breakfasts. No RSVP needed. 

In Memoriam 

TIAA has learned of the recent deaths of the following former TIers and/or TIAA members: Robert Armstrong, Thelma Ballew, Kathleen L. Banks, Earline Beard, Melvin Lee Brewer, Paul Brown, Robert Brown Jr., Edwin Brundage, Stuart T. Bynum, Ben D. Conger, Stephen Dailey, Margaret Jean Davis, Frances Lavinia "Bisy" Fogle, Karol Kay Ford, Joseph William Gambrell, Robert Gilmore, Edmundo Gonzalez-Correa, Sandra Kaye Hardeman, Glenda R. Harden, Tom Wesley Heitman Sr., Barbara Ann Hogue, Billie Hollowell, Gerald Hook, David Huckaby, Katherine Huntsman, Betty Jean Lancaster, Ruth B. Laughlin, Joyce Marrone, Kenneth "Mac" McPeak, Charles Neff, Eugene Pedigo, Jimmie Dwain Roberts, Roberto Schisano, Roy S. Smith, Richard Conner Stripling, Raymond H. Tittle, Louise Todd Hunt Wagoner, Florene Waters and Jackie Lee Woods. We have added their names to our online In Memoriam list.

Community Involvement Slide Show 

Greet the Troops at DFW Airport - Military personnel passing through DFW Airport on their way to visit families for much-needed R&R on Nov. 18 were welcomed and thanked by 18 TIAA members. They met at Texins Activity Center at 7 a.m., rode a TI-supplied bus to DFW to meet the troops and purchased breakfast at IHOP on the way back. Take a look at the slide show and consider joining one of the similar outings planned next year on Feb. 22, May 17, Aug. 16 and Nov. 15, 2011. 

New Lifetime Members 

Doug Hyde and Alice Stroh recently became Lifetime Members of TIAA. Over a quarter of TIAA members now hold lifetime memberships. 

Travel Event Slide Show 

ICE! at Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine - Twenty-eight TIAA members and guests journeyed to Gaylord Texan on Nov. 29 for ICE! featuring A Charlie Brown Christmas. Next they admired the magnificently decorated atriums featuring over 1.5 million holiday lights, electric train displays, a life-size Gingerbread House, and 12,000 sparkling holiday ornaments. On the way back, they stopped at Mimi's Café for brunch. Click here to view a slide show of the visit and plan to come along on one of the travel events planned for next year. 

January TIAA Travel Events 

U.S. Bureau of Engraving & Printing, Fort Worth - Tuesday, Jan. 11 - Depart from Texins at 9:30 a.m. We will take a 45-minute guided tour of the facility featuring displays and exhibits showing history of U.S. paper currency, the production process and its technology. We'll see a 15-minute film of the production process; walk a quarter-mile elevated walkway tour overlooking the currency production floor; visit the Money Factory gift shop; and see three live demonstration exhibits: a turn-of-the-century spider press, a mutilated currency redemption desk and an engraver's bench showing engravers using tools utilized for more than 125 years to print paper currency. Our tour is at 11 a.m. and there will be a security check-in. After the tour, we will have lunch at Joe T. Garcia's at our own expense and return to Texins about 3:30 p.m. Cost is $27 for members and $30 for nonmembers. Please register by Jan. 4.  

Dallas Morning News Printing Plant, Plano - Thursday, Jan. 27 - Would you like know more about how your morning paper is produced? Come along as we visit the Dallas Morning News printing site for a personalized tour and watch those mighty presses roll. All visitors must be at least ten years old and must wear closed-toed shoes. We will leave Texins on a TI bus at 9 a.m., begin the tour at 9:30 and complete it about 11:30. Our next stop will be lunch at Poor Richard's Cafe at our own expense and return to Texins about 2 p.m. Cost is $8 for members and $9 for nonmembers. Please register by Jan. 20. 

Tentatively Planned Events - Subject to Change

General Motors Plant, Arlington - Monday, Feb. 28