1981—The year to Re-member
With few exceptions over the first forty or so years, it was becoming quite apparent that our membership gains of the early years was beginning to dwindle; and, in fact, was holding even if not actually falling. In 1981, then-Society President Burt Huish had designated it to be a "Year to Re-member" with obvious emphasis on a Society-wide membership campaign with an established goal of 5 percent net membership increase for each chapter.
 Don Funk
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In keeping with this effort, the Pioneer District formulated a new committee, "Membership and Extension", chaired by Past President Don Funk, with the assignment of assisting our district chapter membership vice presidents with membership drives, utilizing the "Auditions for Admissions" and the "Open House" programs. As to the retention of members, it was felt that a lack of knowledge about the individual chapter, the Society and barbershopping in general, were part of the problem. Don was asked to come up with some sort of a new-member development kit which would incorporate this information. An area the committee was also concerned with was the development of new chapters, and information along this line would be sought from all chapters and members in the district.
In addition to the above, Rusty Ruegsegger, the Troubadour editor, had taken on the job of district communications officer. His job was to work with chapter bulletin editors and public relations men in the areas of all internal and external communications.
New slate of officers take hold in January 1981
 Fran Jones
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 Jim Gougeon
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At the past fall House of Delegates meeting, the slate was elected to be district officers for 1981: Fran Jones, president; Jim Gougeon, executive vice president; vice presidents—Bob McDermott, Division I, Ron Neff, Division II, Jim Horton, Division III, Dick Wheeler, Division IV, Nels Gregersen, Division V; Jack Schneider, treasurer; and John McClinchey, secretary.
The Jackson Chapter nominated Dan LaBumbard for the office of president. The nomination was seconded. A secret ballot was taken for the office of president. Executive Vice President Jones was elected to the office by a majority of one (1) vote.
Twelve quartets vie for right to represent district at the upcoming Detroit convention
 Center Stage
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 Saturday Nite Feature
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The fast upcoming Detroit international quartet contest spurred only a few extra district quartets into competing in the international preliminaries, as only 12 signed up to sing. The preliminaries were held in the beautiful resort city of Traverse City on April 24-26, 1981. The quartets who elected to compete and their scores are as follows: CENTER STAGE and the SATURDAY NITE FEATURE with 1801 and 1596 points, followed by the SOUNDS AROUND 1563 third, BLACK VELVET 1523 fourth, and the TUNESTERS UNION 1459 fifth, COUNTRY ESTATE 1363 sixth, 4 WHEEL DRIVE 1315 seventh, and the HARBOR HI-LITES 1115 eighth. Quartets not qualifying for the finals included the HARMONY HOUNDS, CADENCE COUNTS, A POSITIVE ENDEAVOR, and the CHEAP SUIT SERENADERS. As a result, the CENTER STAGE and the SATURDAY NITE FEATURE represented the district at the international convention.
 Motor City "81"
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In the Saturday District chorus contest, the MOTOR CITY Chorus from Detroit #1 under the direction of Bob Whitledge, staged 60 men and won the "beer bet" from Oakland County to become the 1981 Pioneer District chorus champions. Oakland County did win the new Gold Division Champion and Gratiot County won the new Silver Division Champion Award.
Detroit international convention runs as smooth as clock work
The 43rd international S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. convention was awarded to Detroit for the year 1981, and this was a "truly great event" for the city, which was scheduled for July 5-12, 1981. What made it truly "international" is that Windsor, Ontario, Canada is just across the Detroit River and, in fact, many conventioneers stayed at hotels and motels there while attending the convention. It was estimated that probably 30 percent of our rooms were taken up by members staying in Windsor. The headquarters hotel, the Plaza Hotel, one of the tallest in the world, has 1400 guest rooms, and was extremely well suited to this type of convention. The Hart Plaza, just outside the hotel, was used for the site of the massed sing with the contests being held in Cobo Arena, adjacent to Hart Plaza. As is true with most of our international conventions, the many scheduled events were held in this area.
 Bill Warner
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 Clay Jones
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 Bob Miquelon
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The general chairman of the 43rd International Convention Committee was Bill Warner, working with Co-Chairmen Clay Jones and Bob Miquelon ably assisting him. Serving as the convention secretary was Earl Berry and the Convention Treasurer Jim Swisher. Other members who became deeply involved in the committee and other work so necessarily needed (25 organized committees) included: John McClinchey, Don Stewart, Sully Mazur, Bob Mulligan, Glenn Van Tassell, Harold Kendall, Nell Warner (Bill's wonderful wife), Lisa Fanfalone, Bill Butler, Don Adams, Art Schulze, Bill Pascher, Larry King, Jim McLane, Sterling Berry, Don Givlin, Bill Hannula, Fran Durham, Tom Pollard, Lew Koppitch, Jim Lekander, Del Badgley, Roger Morris, Art Hackett, Judge Bill Giovan, Bob McDermott, Dick Barber and Rene LeBlanc.
In the quartet competitions, the CHICAGO NEWS reigned as the new quartet champions for 1981, while our own CENTER STAGE finished in fourth place and the SATURDAY NITE FEATURE finished in 25th place. In the chorus competition, the Louisville THOROUGHBREDS continued their winning ways. Our own Grand Rapids GREAT LAKES Chorus finished in 13th position of 16 competing.
All in all, it was a great point in history for the Pioneer District, and will be long remembered. Who could ever forget the Irish cop stopping traffic on Jefferson Avenue at the Windsor tunnel so he could hear an Irish song sung to him? Such thrills are few and far between.
MOTOR CITY Chorus to represent us at International
The fall convention was held in Kalamazoo Michigan on October 16-17, 1981, with the Detroit #1 MOTOR CITY Chorus under the direction of Carl Dahlke winning the right to represent the Pioneer District at the 1982 international convention the following year. In the quartet competition, the SATURDAY NIGHT FEATURE won the Pioneer District quartet championship for 1981-82. The VILLAGE RAMBLERS won the Pioneer District junior quartet championship for 1981-82 and the SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN ROADSHOW was the Pioneer District novice quartet champion.
In conjunction with the convention, Don Funk and John T. Gillespie were inducted into the Pioneer District Hall of Fame at the House of Delegates meeting. Both gentlemen were extremely deserving of this fine award.
Other business completed at the House of Delegates meeting included the selection of the district logo contest winner, which turned out to be John Morris's design. As a result he earned two all-events tickets to the next contest of Pioneer in the spring. Other business included the appointment of Marty Chrigwin as the new Division IV vice president replacing Dick Wheeler. The slate of officers for 1982 was elected at this meeting, with the only changes being the election of Bob McDermott from Division I vice president to Division 5, and Earl Berry elected to Division I. Jim Horton was elected to Division III replacing Ron Neff.
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