Broward Mensa spun off from Dade (Miami) Mensa in 1967. Former LocSec Carol Lee Vitale wrote the following piece in 1984:

Just FYI... The last four Broward Mensa Local Secretaries as of 2001 are Phil Hales, Jay Bertolet, Kay Klasen and John Brinkman (I hope we can get them in one place for a photo someday and do an update to Carol's article).

The photo shows the five most recent Broward Mensa Local Secretaries (l to r: Melvin Saunders, Sheldon Kurland, Richard Brasgalla, June Rice Brasgalla, Carol Lee Vitale) at the 1983 Christmas Party. These five cover a history of 14 years, but Broward Mensa existed before then.

In 1967 June Owen (member since 1963), Roy Tate, Enid & Ellliot Sokolow and a few others from Broward grew tired of traveling to Dade County for Mensa functions and formed a Broward County chapter. The first Local Secretary (originally Coördinator) of the small group was June Owen who led the group until 1968 when Maurice Dufficey became Local Secretary. He passed away before completing his term of office and Elliot Sokolow finished out that year. Mel became Local Secretary in early 1970 and began an aggressive campaign (according to June Owen) which saw our chapter grow from less than 20 at that date to over 200 in 1976. During his seven-year tenure Mel pushed, shoved, molded, in large part financed and generally dragged the group through its adolescence into a maturity of sorts. We even had our first R.G. (Regional Gathering) in 1972 complete with poolside beauty contest!

Shelly was elected Local Secretary in December, 1976 and served in that post through December, 1981. In that period we had our first FLoRanGe R.G.s, amended our by-laws to conform to the mandated national standards and continued our growth. Shelly also originated a program of personally contacting all new members to welcome them to our group.

1981 and '82 brought the laid-back, calm and efficient leadership of Richard Brasgalla who handled our unwieldy (sometimes) chapter so well that he has now gone on to national office as Region #5 Vice Chairman. Our most successful FLoRanGe to date was held in '82 under the co-chairmanship of June Brasgalla and Jean Snaith.

Dick's lovely and warm wife, June Brasgalla, served as LocSec last year, which saw the formation of the Broward Mensa-Francis Tingley Scholarship Fund and the continued growth of Broward Mensa. Our current membership is approximately 350.

Onward and upward -- Broward Mensa is alive and well!!

Here are the LocSecs who have served Broward Mensa:

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