Local DKG chapter recognized at state meeting
The Florida Delta Kappa Gamma Chapter Society of Key Women Educators held their annual convention in Lake Mary April 25-27 and the local chapter, Delta Kappa Chapter, received recognition in a couple areas, as well as two of their members being recognized.
Attending the three-day gathering were two officers of the local DKG chapter, Elinor Mount-Simmons, president, and the treasurer Missy Cumbie. Both Mount-Simmons and Cumbie also hold state-level positions, Mount-Simmons as chair of the communications and marketing committee and Cumbie, the emergency fund Chair.
Mount-Simmons said she was proud of her chapter’s gains at the convention, which celebrated two special events for the state, one being Florida DKG’s 90th birthday and the other celebrating Florida DKG’s 50th convention.
“Those two events were worth celebrating but even more than that, my chapter received special recognition, too,” she said. “During the current biennium, 2023-25, we earned an award for membership gains and also earned a Communication Excellence Award. Those are two great honors, and I am really thrilled for my chapter.”
More recognition was bestowed on Cumbie and Mount-Simmons at the convention. Cumbie, a DKG member for over 40 years and a founding member of the local chapter, was inducted into the DKG Hall of Fame. Cumbie has served in many roles on the local, district, regional and state level, and even with all of that stated, “I am not deserving of this and am shocked!”
Mount-Simmons refuted Cumbie’s remarks. “There is no one more deserving of this honor than Missy and I am glad my state DKG sisters acknowledge what our chapter has known for years,” she said.
Also honored was Mount-Simmons, who was inducted in the local chapter in 2018. She completes her term as state communication and marketing chair June 30 and at the convention, was confirmed as state recording secretary, a position she will hold for the next biennium, July 2025 through June 2027.
“I am so excited to become a state-level officer and appreciate the confidence my Society sisters have in me,” she said. “I am also quite anxious about fulfilling this new role, but my fellow officers are incredible women, as are all my DKG sisters, so I look forward to working closely with them the next two years.”
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.