EE-DAH-HOW Chapter DAR

Since there are nine DAR Chap-ters in Idaho, it has once again been our honor to host the Idaho State DAR’s an-­nual conference, the last being held here in 2003. For two days, the Nampa Civic Center was abuzz with activities, one of them being the Arbor Day planting of a young tree in the parking lot landscape in honor of Annie Laurie Bird, renowned Nampa historian and once Regent of our beloved EE-DAH-HOW Chapter. Here we see Idaho State Regent Liz Jones tossing nine shovels full of dirt around the tree, one for each Chapter.

In Rhonda Kren’s Conference report on EE-DAH-HOW Chapter, she said, “If you aimed your camera at our Chapter, you would see one full of life, enthu-­siasm and growth. Our focus this year has been “Enhancing the Present” through recruitment and being more visible, outreaching into our community. A float in Pa-rade America, 160 flags at a naturalization ceremony, and service at two Nampa cemeteries are examples of what we’ve done. Our theme ‘Shine Out Loud’ is meant to expose the public to our purpose, and promote patriotism. We created patriotic displays in the Civic Center, honored fallen Pentagon veteran Lt. Ronald Vauk, and visited schools in vintage revolution-ary clothing. We also scrubbed headstones of deceased Daughters, laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, collected socks for vets, and saved a ton of alumi-num from the landfill. A final photo features six new members with four pending.”

Women’‛s Issues..Grandparent Caregivers Concerning women’s issues, the April program was presented by Dr. Glena An-drews who studied at NNU, and has a private practice in counseling, especially with care-givers of children who suffer from brain damage. Many of these special needs children are being raised by grandparents.

She also said that in the general population, one in ten American children is now being taken care of by grandpar-ents. With her education and experience, she pointed out that her image of grandmothers has changed, and that a large amount of credit should be given to women who take on this kind

of responsibility when they might otherwise be enjoying their retirement. She doesn’t think our local agencies are doing enough to help families with these kinds of living cir-cumstances. She said that addictions of one kind or another are largely at the root of our society’s sad but true condition.

DAR State Conference in Nampa

Shine Out Loud! Spring, 2012 Volume 7 Issue 25

What was the name of “The Mother of Idaho’‛s DAR” ?

(see p. 3)

This setting was created for the memorial serviced Saturday morning, conducted by State Chaplain, Ramona Higer.

Martha Washington

At April meeting, Jeny Ran-som, chapter chairman of National De-fense presented NNU cadet John Gib-son with a special award. Also attend-ing was John’s father, and Major Rod-ney Nelson, NNU instructor on the left.

was disappointed to learn that his ancestor was actually a German Hessian, hired by the British to fight the American colonists. BUT, something wonderful happened….he went to Germany and, to learn the rest of the story you must go on your computer to NBC.com and watch it from beginning to end.

At Conference on Friday evening while we were enjoying a lovely banquet at the Civic Center, some of us talked about our favor-ite TV show, “Who Do You Think You Are?” Little did we know that as we spoke, movie star Rob Lowe’s search actually took him first of all, to the DAR building in Washington D. C. How familiar that wonderful library looked! He

National Defense: ROTC Presentation

Rob Lowe goes to DAR

Page 2 Shi

Next year’s DAR Conference will take place “up north” in beautiful Coeur d'Alene April 23-26, 2013. Idaho members will be honored to entertain Mary Ann T. Wright, President General of National DAR from Washington D. C.

This will be Idaho State DAR’s 100th birthday, a centennial event not to be for-­gotten. The invitation says, “Look for more information coming soon!”

Lt. George Farragut Chapter’‛s Invitation To You

Jewett House—Coeur d’Alene

Elegant centerpieces created for the Friday evening banquet.

Nampa Mayor Tom Dale toots his horn

EE-DAH-HOW Regent Rhonda Kren does a fantastic job!

The mother of Idaho’s DAR was Anna Purcell . Buried next to her is her husband Charles. At the memorial, Susan Applegate of Pioneer Chapter recited a humorous monologue, speaking as Anna herself. “Charlie,” she said, “I knew those ‘girls’ would finally get around to remembering me.”

The DAR Insignia at left was found in an antique shop. What a find! More than 20 ladies attended, decked out in their vintage dresses. The sun was shining, which made it a happy event.

In a 2009 booklet on the Centennial History of the State DAR, the story of Mary Gridley Tarr is told. Mary came to Idaho from New York, and upon going back east to conference, met National Regent Mrs. Charles Fairbanks, wife of the United States Vice President, who learned that there was not a DAR chapter in Idaho. Not much is known about what happened next, but Mrs. Tarr obviously came back to

Boise and planted a seed. Four years later, in 1908, Anna Ford Purcell became Boise’s Organizing Regent, and the Pioneer Chapter came to be. By 1909, Idaho Pocahontas Chapter in Caldwell had formed, at which time Mrs. Tarr reported on her attendance at Continental Congress. When Mary retired from office, Anna was elected to succeed her as State Regent, an office she filled with graciousness and efficiency for eight years. The first State Conference with delegates from Boise, Nampa and Gooding convened at 11:00 on the morning of December 3, 1911 at the Owyhee Hotel in Boise. That is why Pioneer Chapter still holds its meetings there, a historic spot of respect and affection.

Mrs. Wayne Cook was the first President General to visit Idaho in 1924. After a luncheon in Boise, everyone drove to a spot near Middleton to dedicate the Ward Massacre Monument. Then to Caldwell where the Oregon Trail marker erected by Idaho Pocahontas was dedicated. In Nampa, a banquet was provided by EE-DAH-HOW Chapter. This happened only 88 years ago!

This from another book published by the State DAR in 1934: Anna was a descendant of Mary Chilton, the first woman to step on Plymouth Rock, and who became known as “The Pilgrim Orphan”. Anna married Mr.Purcell in 1880, in Ohio, and they had three children. During World War I, she was instrumental in having 6,000 knitted garments sent from the Red Cross to the battleship Idaho. She super-vised knitting done by prisoners at the Idaho State Penitentiary. She even adopted a French war orphan.

Other organizations she belonged to were Colonial Dames, Mayflower Descendants (11 lines traced to Mayflower passengers), the Methodist Church, and the Children’s Home Finding Society.

Janis McClung Dunn and Martha Hop-kins presented a community award to “Ti”,

who is proud to be a direct descendant of Sitting Bull.

A caretaker at Kohlerlawn Ceme-tery, Ticona Winkler is not only beautiful, but talented in many aspects as well. She has worked tirelessly with Martha Hopkins tabulating and finding obituaries for every person who is buried there, if humanly possi-ble. The results are posted on the internet so that genealogical researchers can have access to priceless information about their relatives. The URL is http://www.cityofnampa.us/interment/ The editor tried it and found a lovely photo of the stone placed for late par-ents of her son-in-law.

In addition, “Ti” can run and maintain the heavy equipment used to dig

and cover graves, mow lawns, and whatever else needs to be done at the cemetery.

Many Gather at Morris Hill Cemetery

Sitting Bull Was Her Ancestor

Volume 7 Issue 25 Page 3

Skip Yates Howard and Lorraine Jewell at

Conference

Rhonda Kren, Chapter Regent 2823 So. Island Dr.

My mother remarried to Lee F. “Cotton” Michael. I went to 7th grade at Central Jr. High for three years, then on to be with the first class to graduate from the brand new Nampa High School. During my 9th grade, I went to work at the Majestic Theater, and

World War II was the domi-nating factor in the early years of my childhood. I was born August 1, 1937 in McCook, Nebraska. My parents were Pauline (King) and Leonard Gage Bell. He was employed by Un-ion Pacific Railroad as a fireman. Mother taught five-year-olds in the Nebraska school system. One of my earliest childhood memories was standing on our street corner waving at trucks filled with German soldiers. They were being transported to a prisoner-of-war camp in the next town. In 1941, my parents divorced. Mother moved to Nampa where her family, Jack and Clara King, had moved several years earlier. Jack was employed by Lone Star Dairies, whose owner was John Brandt at that time. I attended Lakeview Grade School.

worked there until I graduated in 1956. In 1955, I was chosen as “Miss Nampa” and enjoyed doing the duties of my crown. After graduation, I moved to Los Angeles, California, becoming an airline stewardess for Southwest. A short time later I returned to Nampa and married a lawyer, Dale Clement, who I had met in LA. We moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1959 where I lived until 1961. My two children, Tammy and Dennis were born several years later, in Hollis, Oklahoma. I left there and came back to Idaho in 2008, after the death of my husband. I then married my current husband Roy Cordell, who I had dated in high school. In 1979, I was named to the National Register for Outstanding Women in America. In 1989, I carried the Olympic Torch in Oklahoma.

Phone: 208-463-4871

E-mail: rrkren@aol.com

My Life by Deanne Bell Clement Cordell

EE-DAH-HOW

Chapter Daughters of the American

Revolution

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Ann Tomlinson

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