Dr Mary Love, Randy Bergstrom, Irv Osterer, Gregg Philipson
 
Mary Love is a member of ESPER (#323 since 2000), North Carolina ESPER Chapter, the American Philatelic Society, the American First Day Cover Society and Seniors in the Spotlight. Her major hobbies are philately and photography. She began collecting stamps as a child as she was intrigued by the stamps on her mother’s mail. Due to the lack of information and the availability of other stamp collectors, her first collection was destroyed. When Love entered Seminary, she met a professor who was an avid collector. This collector took Love under her wings, carried her to the postal museum in Washington, DC and this experience reignited the desire to collect stamps. Her renewed collecting interest began with world-wide stamps, animals, butterflies, love stamps, space, stamp pins, flowers, Christmas, and the Olympics. Her attention eventually turned to stamps that helped to explore the history and heritage of persons of African descent and their contributions to society. She has created a teaching packet, African American Teaching Resources Using Stamps.
Love passionately feels that collecting should not be limited to placing stamps in albums for safe keeping but should be displayed and used creatively to convey history and culture. With that perspective, Love is an educator, custom collage designer and frequently uses her collection to teach, especially the history and heritage of people of color. She currently teaches Christian Education courses at Hood Theological Seminary in Salisbury, NC. This provides a platform for the use of stamps and a means to help students explore creative ways to promote learning and engage all generations. During African American History Month and at other times, Love has displayed her African American Stamp collection on various platforms and provided presentations. In 2019, a display was placed at Hood Seminary and was featured in The Salisbury Post newspaper. The article reached a USPS employee in Washington, DC. This opened the door for a display and presentation to be shared with the Capitol Metro Area African American History Month Celebration for USPS workers at the Curseen-Morris P & DC Center.
She has witnessed the unveiling of the stamps honoring Romare Bearden, Robert Robinson Taylor and Gwen Ifill. When travel opportunities arrive, Love enjoys visiting sites connected to stamps and the photographic opportunities to support her collage creations. Her philatelic activities include ESPER, NC ESPER Chapter, CHARPEX, Southeastern Stamp Expo (Atlanta) and the Columbia, SC Winter Stamp and Postcard Show. Some of her philatelic presentations include the following:
African Americans on Stamps
African American Suffragists and the Vote (APS)
African American Women in Music
African American Women on Stamps
African Americans and the Vote
African Americans on U.S. Postage Stamps with North and South Carolina Connections
Black Methodists on Stamps
The Harlem Renaissance
Celebrating Our African American Heritage using United States Postage Stamps
 
Gregg S. Philipson lectures internationally on Jewish related subjects including the Holocaust, Propaganda Art and Jewish Military History. The “Gregg and Michelle Philipson Collection and Archive” is regularly exhibited at major museums, universities, colleges, schools as well as U.S. military installations.
He is a member of the American Philatelic Society, Judaic Thematic Society, Society of Israel Philatelists, The Austin, TX Stamp Club and American Topical Association.
Philipson was the winner of the 2020 APS Chatty Award in the Cultural Philately category.He is a regular contributor to the Israel Philatelist magazine.
 
Irv Osterer Austin, TX is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. He completed a BFA at the University of Ottawa, a B.Ed at the Faculty of Education at Queens University, and an M.Ed in Educational Administration from the University of Ottawa.
He is a member of the Society of Israel Philatelists and the 2021 recipient of their Reggel Memorial Award for Outstanding Service and Contribution to Holy Land and Israel Philately. He is a frequent contributor to the philatelic press and was honoured with an American Philatelic Society CHATTY Award in 2021. He is affiliated with the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Canada and is a past contributing Editor to Arts and Activities Magazine. He is the recipient of the National Capital Educator’s Award, the Marjorie Loughrey Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts, and a Director’s Citation from the Ottawa Carleton District School Board. Irv retired in 2020 after forty years as a secondary school fine arts administrator and teacher of applied design and visual art.
Irv lives in Ottawa, Canada with his wife Sheila (a proud Vassar grad!). They have four sons and daughters-in-law, two grandsons and a granddaughter. Until 2020, Irv was a game right winger in the Barrhaven Men’s Hockey Hockey.
Osterer’s cover was created and cancelled with a special Hanukkah postmark, in Disraeli, Quebec. He designed this postmark, which was approved by Canada Post in December 2021. It is signed by their Mâitre de Poste, Mme. Nathalie Fortier.
 
Randy Bergstrom is the current President of the Christmas Philatelic Club
Stamp collector for over 65 years, fourth generation working on (5th & 6th)
Current member of APS, CSSS,USSS, Omaha Philatelic Society, Lincoln Stamp Club, BSA-Merit Badge Consular
He has several stamp exhibits and have enjoyed sharing over the years
His current Christmas theme passion is the US-1939 Christmas Seal, and currently he has a 8 Frame exhibit showcasing that particular item and enjoys showing and working with Christmas topics

Bergstrom’s cover reflects our organizations commitment to our purpose, the philatelic celebration of Christmas, all year long. In 1969, we were pleased to have a designated FDC-official city for the US Christmas stamp and have continued our love of Christmas for the last 50 plus years.

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