From Fargo to Fredericksburg for Fun, Friendship and Function

My weekend brought me to/from North Dakota and then all the way to Virginia to take part in the very best part of DAR, i.e. meeting with women who share my passion for the purpose of our vibrant service organization. I’m delighted to summarize through brief highlights the outstanding hospitality and accomplishments of these dedicated Daughters.

North Dakota 113th State Conference, May 13-15

Although there are little more than 200 members in this active State Society, they are a group of engaged and purpose-driven Daughters in service to promoting historic preservation, education and patriotism. I was impressed by their reports and their spirit of unity. I was also impressed by their commitment to welcoming 22 new members in the last year – a 10-percent growth. Huzzah, ladies!

Saturday afternoon’s highlight featured the dedication of a Never Forget Garden in West Fargo. Members of the Dacotah Chapter, official hostesses of the State Conference, dedicated the garden with the help of a local Eagle Scout in commemoration of the centennial of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is located at the Bonanzaville Historic Site, a collection of 41 historic, relocated structures near the county fairgrounds. The garden will be viewed by tens of thousands of visitors who tour these structures annually to learn more about North Dakota history.

The five chapters of North Dakota also support a vast array of DAR service work, including quilts for veterans, Meals on Wheels, their DAR State Forest, a veterans’ clinic, food drives for homeless veterans, Constitution Week displays and gifts for first responders. They also actively support those deployed at the Grand Forks Airforce Base. I was inspired by their reports. I was also privileged to provide keynote remarks to the Saturday evening formal banquet, which attracted more than 100 people, including several outstanding honorees (e.g. essay winners, Good Citizens, an Americanism Medal recipient and their Outstanding Veteran Volunteer award recipient).

Thank you, Madam State Regent, and all of your outstanding North Dakota Daughters for allowing me to be a small part of your “Denim to Diamonds” weekend.

Although the chapter requested that the National Society purchase the home, they ultimately raised the $30,000 themselves (in large part due to a letter-writing campaign to individual DAR members and chapter across the country). They wisely formed the separate Kenmore Association in order to process donations and manage the property. They financed the daunting task of restoration and maintenance through good old-fashioned ingenuity and entrepreneurship: when a cookbook was discovered that included the recipe that Washington’s mother had used to prepare gingerbread for the Marquis de Lafayette (on his visit to Fredericksburg in April 1781), they sold it to the Dromedary Gingerbread Mix company, which earned the chapter $38,000 in the early 1930s. DAR resourcefulness at its best!

Centennial Chapter Regent Lynda Baer envisioned and executed a superb program for more than 100 guests on what turned out to be a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon. Her committee, officers and members are to be commended. As she summarized her letter within the official program, “May we continue to emulate the fierce example of our founders as Washington-Lewis moves into our second century.” Congratulations to this thriving chapter — which happens to share my birthday. What a special way to celebrate, indeed!

(Enjoy additional photos from this weekend’s events on my DAR President General’s Facebook page.)