Establishment of the MCDA

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 Thought it might be nice to know a little about your association.  I will try to answer the questions as to who founded the disbursing  reunion, when it started, and how it became an association. I noticed after reviewing our membership roster that I could only  identify two plank holders, although one of the originators of the  reunion has returned as a member. The plank holders are Clayton  Stokley and Michael Thiry. The returning founder is William Taylor. The reunion became a topic of discussion at a local ”Tun Tavern” at  lunch one day. Attendees were Cecil and Carol Delarosa, John and  Debbie Clark, Clayton and Shelly (Pawloski) Stokley, and William  Taylor. These are the association founders. This all occurred  sometime in the year 2000. These folks planned, organized and held  our first reunion in Branson, Missouri in 2002. An estimated 200+  folks turned out for that gathering. Cecil Delarosa presided over the  reunion and conducted a meeting of attendees. It was decided to  gather again the following year, again in Branson, Missouri. Cecil  Delarosa again presided over the reunion. Attendance at the second  reunion was about half of the previous year. It was becoming apparent that the reunion should be something more  than just a reunion. The third reunion, 2005, became a turning point,  attendees decided that we should become a formal entity, that  membership should be open to not only disbursers but also those that  provided direct support to disbursing. Cecil Delarosa stepped down  from presiding over the reunion and Shelly (Pawloski) Stokley was  elected President of the Association. Shelly is considered the first  president of our Association. We developed our Articles of Association and registered with the State  of Missouri. Registration with the IRS took quite a while longer, but  we finally succeeded in 2007 when we were recognized officially as an  IRS 501(c)(19) veterans organization. The attendees also determined  that an annual gathering may be too often. It was decided that we  only meet every other year, which turns out to be every odd numbered  year. Since then we have tried to meet in various locations  throughout the continental United States. We try to plan our  reunion/meeting equally divided between East Coast, West Coast and  Mid-Section of the country. This facilitates travel for Marines in  each of these locations and provides an opportunity for local nonmembers to join in our gathering. You can check our website,  usmcdisbursers.com, for all our previous reunions/meetings. 

Author:  Mike Thiry