2015 April Executive Director’s Blog
Friends, though slowly, spring is making itself apparent here in West-Central Pennsylvania. If we did not know this by these ever so slight improvements in the weather, we would know it by the fact that guests are making their way to the museum again, following our long winter and low visitation. We welcome you back and as always ask you to be our ambassadors for the museum. Please encourage your friends, neighbors and social groups to consider a visit to our tribute to an inspiring actor and citizen.
We are pleased to share with you that Wednesday May 20th is not only the birth anniversary of our beloved James Stewart; but it also marks the 20th Anniversary of the opening of the Jimmy Stewart Museum. Please check the website soon for plans on how we will celebrate both events.
We are please to acknowledge that over the past 20 years, through the efforts of board members, past and current, volunteers past and current, through donors great and small, through staff and especially all who have made a visit over these 20 years that we are still here. Despite some challenging times in the recent past, we are committed to continue our tribute to the singular personality and personhood of Jimmy Stewart.
I think we are all keenly aware, that regardless of the work and dedication of all those just mentioned, that it is the focus of our tribute that has ensured our continued operation. Tributes to other stars, elaborate and high tech and simple and homespun have come and gone during the twenty years of this institution’s operation. But our Hometown Hero, our Jimmy Stewart, continues to entertain and inspire old friends and new devotees. Folks, we owe all our success to James Maitland Stewart and are thankful for the opportunity this museum has to educate and share the story of his Wonderful Life.
We don’t need to look far to know that examples of integrity, honestly, commitment to the authentic and meaningful are lacking and becoming the very large exception rather than the rule. The opportunities for each and any person to attach themselves to these principals as the benchmarks of a life well lived are sometimes difficult to glean from the media overload we are all subject to. With the museum and this tribute, we hope to offer one example: That commitment to craft and great personal and professional success do not preclude a commitment to the regular and simple responsibilities that are part and parcel of a meaningful and wonderful life. Please work with us to ensure this opportunity continues.
As ever,
Thanks for listening.
Tim