Page 14 - WBG June 2023

President Emeritus
FEATURE President Emeritus, the highest distinction in our association. A well-deserved recognition for his commitment,

40 Years in WAD

At the Mid-Term Meeting in Prague, the Board voted and appointed our Executive Director Bob Heales as

dedication and contribution to WAD. Here is his journey and the many whom walked the journey with him.

When Siti asked me to share my I was also unable to attend the 2004 there was some instability at the time
experiences in WAD over the past Midterm in Italy as I was involved and our funds were nearly depleted.
40 years I wasn’t sure where to start. in organizing searches for a friend’s I recall WAD going through a period
I guess the best place to start is at the daughter who had been abducted of stability and growth over the next
beginning. I applied for membership and murdered. The winter snow had decade.
a short time before the September melted and this was the first search
1983 Annual Conference in Honolulu, coordinated by local law enforcement Due to some significant losses by
and that’s where I was approved in months. We had been searching for conference hosts in 1985 and 1989,
by the Board. In those days and for 5 months over the winter and it was a new Conference and Midterm Site
many years after, members were only the weekend that I would have been Recommendation and Management
approved twice a year at our meetings. in Italy that we found Dru’s remains. Committee was added to the Bylaws
I was only 29, so it was fascinating to Then in 2006 I was unable to attend in 1990. I have chaired that committee
meet so many wonderful people from the Annual Conference in Japan as most years since, and it has helped
all over the world. It was very inspiring. Dru’s murder trial was taking place in
Fargo.
J.D. Vinson was one of the first to
greet me. He was sitting at the pool Midterm Board Meetings were limited
bar and to this day I remember our to Board Members in the early days,
conversation and how he made so I didn’t attend my first until 1986
me feel welcomed to the group. His in Lisbon. I was allowed to attend as
father, Joe Vinson Sr., was President I was seeking the Board’s support to
that year. I also met Norman Sloan hold the 1988 Annual Conference in
who served as our Executive Director my hometown of Denver. So, other
for 10 years until 1986 when he than the 3 meetings I listed above,
retired. Before Norman, WAD did not and the first 2 Board Meetings in
have an Executive Director. The list 1984 and 1985, I have been blessed
of people I met at that conference is to attend every other Midterm and
long, and many remain close friends Annual Conference since September
today. Sadly, the list of those who 1983. All this is why I call members of
have passed is also long. And gets WAD my WAD family.
longer as I get older. It’s a part of life,
but a part that none of us like. It was in 1987 that I was elected to the
Board of Directors at the Jerusalem
I am grateful for all the friends I have Annual Conference, and just a year
met from so many countries around later that I was elected 3rd Vice
the world, and for being able to visit President at the 1988 Denver Annual
over 40 countries as a member of Conference that I hosted. I was sworn
WAD. in by Stanley Smith, our first President
Emeritus. It was the largest attendance
It’s easier to list the conferences or WAD had ever experienced and we
meetings I did not attend, than to list had to contract for 25 additional
all the places I have been to. I found rooms at a nearby hotel. We made
India in 1984 to be a bit beyond my a healthy profit of $7,500 which
means as a new member just turning was much needed after moving the
30. I had yet to travel outside North WAD Executive Director’s office from
America by this time. Little did I know Cincinnati to New York in 1986, to San
the adventures that would await over Francisco in 1987, and back east to
the next 40 years. Baltimore in 1988. Needless to say,
12 W.A.D Beyond Global