Today's DAR
It was the great pleasure of the Executive Officers to welcome the National Board of Management and the 2022-2025 National Chairs to our House Beautiful for the third “Sparkle in Service” Leadership event of the Wright Administration. It is tradition for our National Society’s leaders to come together in October of each year for training and fellowship, and this year was no different.
Sparkling in Service with the National Board of Management and National Chairs
A special thanks to my dear friend (and fellow Lady Washington Chapter member) Jan Hargrave for again sharing her incredible insights on leadership qualities useful in all areas of life. Following this leadership training, we took a very special field trip honoring the unique and lasting ties between the United States and France. First, we enjoyed a private tour of the Anderson House, which is the headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati, the oldest patriotic organization in our nation. This fantastic Beaux Arts home was designed by architects Arthur Little and Herbert Brown in the early 1900s for Larz Anderson and his wife Isabel Weld Perkins Anderson, who served as NSDAR Librarian General. (An unexpected highlight of the tour was seeing Mrs. Anderson’s DAR scrapbook!) The Society of the Cincinnati is currently hosting the fabulous exhibit Fete Lafayette: A French Hero’s Tour of the American Republic, which celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s tour of the United States. George Washington himself charged Lafayette with organizing membership in the Society for the French and other European officials! We extend our gratitude to Society of the Cincinnati and the staff of the Anderson House for their hospitality.
Following the tour, we traveled to Meridian Hill Park for a special wreath-laying ceremony at the statue of Joan of Arc, at which we were honored by the presence of the French Consul General, Caroline Monvoison. This statue, sculpted by Paul Dubois, is 10 feet long and 9 feet high and depicts Joan of Arc on horseback, sword drawn. It is a copy of a statue that stands in front of Reims Cathedral in France. This is the only female equestrian statue in D.C., and it was unveiled on Jan. 6, 1922, with NSDAR President General Anne Belle Rogers Minor in attendance. The statue was a gift to the women of America from the women of France, presented by the Le Lyceum Société des Femmes de France. Mrs. Minor was chosen to accept this gift on behalf of American women, and in her address, she said this statue “speaks for the women of the past who gave their husbands and sons for liberty, who welcomed as their comrades in arms the renowned Lafayette and Rochambeau of France. It speaks to the women of the present, the women of American birth and the women of foreign birth who likewise gave their husbands and sons to die for the same liberty on the battlefield of France.” A special thanks to Mme. Voison; Virginia Grace Lingelbach, Chaplain General; Rebecca Grawl, National Chair, DAR Tours and Events Committee; and Dr. Patricia Maclay, National Chair, Franco-American Memorial Committee, for their contributions to this meaningful occasion.
Friday coincided with Founders Day and the National DAR Day of Service, and the DAR Tours and Events Committee and Service to America Committee (Jamie Burchfield, National Chair), partnered together to coordinate a service project. Our generous Daughters donated more than $2,100 in Amazon gift cards to the National Military Family Association. Gift cards will be used to purchase supplies for Operation Purple Camp, which provides a free weeklong summer camp opportunity to over 1,300 children of military families across the United States to allow them to build connections, develop leadership skills and take advantage of support resources.
Our Sparkle in Service event closed with a fantastic evening in the O’Byrne Galley at Memorial Continental Hall. Anita B. McBride, director of the First Ladies Initiative at the American University School of Public Affairs, joined us for dinner and a “fireside chat” about the book Remember the First Ladies: The Legacies of America’s History-Making Women, which she co-wrote with Diane Carlin and Nancy Keagna Smith. Ms. McBride previously served as chief of staff to First Lady Laura Bush, as well as worked in three presidential administrations. Remember the First Ladies examines the evolution of the role of First Lady and its impact on the presidency. We were all excited to have Ms. McBride sign copies of our book, which happens to be for sale in the DAR Store!
Our group photo—taken in honor of America 250!—captures the ties of DAR service and friendship, which were truly in abundance during this special event. Thank you to our Sparkle Week attendees for sharing in this with me.
