Happy New Year!

Our Spring lunch meeting will arrive early this year, Saturday, March 26^th at the Desmond Hotel. We are excited to announce our guest speaker is Governor General Jane Hurt who is flying in from Kansas. She has provided dynamic leadership at the General Society modernizing the physical building in Plymouth and updating the systems that membership needs to promote our mission of education while honoring our ancestors. Details for sign up will be announced shortly.

Our members and committees remain busy with many accomplishments under their belt detailed below.

• We recently hosted a virtual event with Plymouth Patuxet, “Fact or Fiction.” Dr. Heather Horton negotiated and created this event based on the writings in “Mourt’s Relation” believed to be written by Edward Winslow and William Bradford. Hilary Goodnow decoded the language and events in an interesting and informative way revealing new insights. She fielded questions from the 30+ attendees.
• Speaking of Dr. Horton, a big hit in our store is her new booklet, The Woman and Girls of the First Thanksgiving. It is available in our on-line store for $3 including shipping. All proceeds are donated to the education fund and 200 copies have sold so far. Purchases have been from all over the country!
• I attended the Western Colony Fall event featuring noted author Caleb Johnson at Oakmont Country Club Saturday, November 20^th with over 50 in attendance. Caleb reviewed his past and some recent discoveries. The traditional Thanksgiving food and fellowship were on display. Did you know the Western Colony is over 75 years old?
• A group of members responded to my request for ideas and events and created a variety of interesting ideas that will be presented tour BOA in February for review and approval, you can expect some fresh thinking for events, both virtual and in person.
• Pam Palchowski created a Juniors’ Event featuring the Pirates and Phillies at PNC Park July 31^st at 1:05 pm. We reserved 45 seats and will offer them at a discount. The tickets include “tailgating” and $10 worth of food. Each child will receive a deck of cards as this is “Kids Day”. Stay tuned for more details but plan to bring your children or grand children for a fun time!
• Our historians have been hard at work adding over 70 new members last year, with over 100 more in the application process! We think we will have our 3,000^th SMDPA member ID number in 2022!

Deb Yingst and I attended the General Society Board meeting in Plymouth a few months ago. The new website was one of the accomplishments. This took a great deal of time and money to develop as I participated first hand on the Tech committee that produced. Take the time to sign in on the “members only” side and explore the many benefits it has to offer.

Your annual due notices have arrived. Thank you in advance for your payments! SMDPA’s financial state is solid as our strategy to keep a percentage of resources in the stock market has grown to an all time high. Our dues increase was less as we transition the higher costs from the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. There have been several donations from our membership that are greatly appreciated and will be put to work on our activities. Thank you for your dues and membership!

And….  We have new contest: Trivia, how well do you know your Mayflower history?

1. Who taught the Pilgrims how to fish for eel using their bare feet?
2. What is the third tallest monument to an individual in the USA?

If you can answer both questions correctly and reply by January 31st, you will be eligible for a drawing that will include some first-rate prizes from my personal collection. Junior members will be given preferential treatment in this contest. Submit your answers by mail to: Kneale/SMDPA 929 S. High Street, Suite #135, West Chester, PA 19382 or email [email protected].

May God bless you and your family, keeping all healthy and in faith during this very unique time!