Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:05:15 -0000
From: danceranger
To: DanceRanger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Thank you all for all your support of the dance and me at Glen Echo


There are so many things I have to be grateful for after more than 39 years of
government service (31 of which were in the National Park Service).

But one thing that I want to express now is my gratitude for all of you and
what you did, not just for me, but also for Glen Echo Park and its community,
of which each of you is an integral part.

Your letters and phone calls worked.  In March, after two months away from
Glen Echo, I was ordered back to the park. I want to thank you for that.
Unfortunately, because of certain circumstances, I decided to retire from the
Park Service in June rather than return to Glen Echo. (If any of you want to
hear the interesting story behind the scenes, I will share it with you in
person.)

But your efforts were not in vain.
 
One of the benefits of all the work you did was to substantially strengthen
the dance program at Glen Echo. You demonstrated to the Park Service and the
greater community the importance of dance culture at Glen Echo and our
country.  There has been dancing at Glen Echo since 1890. I have been involved
in dance at Glen Echo for more than 30 years. It is living history, and we are
part of it.

Now that I am retired, if anyone has any interesting stories about anything
that happened during the campaign to bring me back, I would love to hear them.
I'm sorry I couldn't get involved before, but I would love to find out more
now.
 
Some people have asked what the Dance Ranger did. I'm putting together a
website called http://www.danceranger.net user/name "dancer" Password
"angernet" , which will showcase articles, documents, photos and videos of my
years involved in dance at the park.
 
After the first 100 days of retirement, I'm happy to report that it isn't as
bad as I thought it would be.
 
I look forward to seeing you all, both on and off the dance floor. And I want
each of you to know that your efforts to bring me back to Glen Echo touched me
deeply and meant a lot to me and probably to the future of dance at the
Spanish Ballroom.