Dakota--I'm just a new person here but if I were you, judging what I have read in this thread, I would not cut off all ties with this board. You should do what John Wayne himself did in many movies, from "How The West Was Won" and "Cast A Giant Shadow" to things like "I Married A Woman" and "Cancel My Reservation" -- make a 'cameo appearance' here now and then.
I am a huge fan of Laurel and Hardy ('Babe' Hardy, Duke's co-star in "The Fighting Kentuckian") and of Sharon Tate (her life, not her death) and I pipe in, here and there, on all the official message boards: I know a lot about them and others and if someone needs correct information or suggestions and I know the facts, I let them know. Remember, we are members of a 'fan community' -- if somebody told me 20 years ago I would be exchanging information that I would have never have dreamed being asked in my normal, everyday life, I would have told them them they'd had one too many tequila mockingbirds. But now it's common and routine to many online these days--I never lost that awe, I feel many here haven't either and would welcome and keep welcoming anyone and everyone who is a true fan, like yourself.
To be asked by the Wayne family is a great honour and I don't know the logistics of all this but suffice to say, keep mooching in here--you're a fan, right? --and I for one will be in here and 'over there' in the Official territories (God knows, John Wayne himself used to freelance between studios during his film career!) and keep in touch. You may be hanging up your 'sheriff' badge in this county but you'll always be welcome in these here parts.
