Recent Blog Posts

I would like to tell you a story, partially recorded in silk and wool threads stitched long ago. In 2007 the DAR Museum purchased a rare Iowa sampler – rare because samplers made west of the Mississippi seldom appear on the market. The accompanying packet of information from Amy Finkel...

Today is National Aviation Day, a national observation that celebrates the development of aviation! Established in 1939 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on the anniversary of Orville Wright’s birthday, this day encourages us to celebrate the achievements made by both men and women in the field of aviation. For our inaugural...

I’m often asked how or why I became a parliamentarian. My elevator speech/answer is that after I was elected and installed as state regent ten years ago I realized I didn’t really know as much as I needed to know about running a meeting using proper parliamentary procedure. I also...

What an exciting time for the National Society, as we embrace Moving Forward in Service to America! I am thrilled to serve with the Dillon Administration, as we have been challenged to participate in each of our communities sharing our talents to promote our objectives. The responsibilities of the Reporter...

Serving as Curator General for the National Society is truly an honor for this life-long native of West Virginia! My responsibility as Curator General will be to oversee the working of the DAR Museum and the thirty-one period rooms. I am “Barby,” with a “Y”! Why, because my Mother wanted...

I am incredibly honored to be Moving Forward in Service to America with the Dillon Administration as the National Vice Chair, Commemorative Events Committee, for the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War. There was a great deal of unrest in our country during the years of the Vietnam War. As...

The thread that binds one generation to the next is in the stories families tell. That is why I love libraries. Libraries hold the books that tell the stories. The collective memory of families is passed down in books when the oral history is flawed or has been altered over...

“A Town Too Big for One State”, the motto of Delmar, with one half of the town in Maryland and the other half in Delaware. Growing up in this small town on the Delaware side, we played outside from sun up to sun down. As a middle child with a...

My mother was adopted. It bothered her all her life that she did not know who her people were. My paternal grandmother, on the other hand, knew a lot about her family and often talked about the DAR and her patriot ancestors. When my mother died in 1995, I called...

Born and reared in Indiana, I graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis with a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in accounting and played string bass in the University Symphony. Accounting was a natural choice. My mother attended Butler as an accounting major before World War II. After the...