This is the day the Mayflower ship set sail for England from Plymouth in its return voyage over 400 years ago.
Our Spring lunch meeting Saturday, March 26th at the Desmond Hotel was fun and well attended. Governor General Jane Hurt flew in from Plymouth. She has provided dynamic leadership at the General Society modernizing the Ed Winslow residence in Plymouth and updating the systems that membership needs to promote our mission of education while honoring our ancestors. We had attendance from members all over the state and several guests from Delaware and New Jersey.
Our new Board of Assistants was elected and sworn in. We are fortunate to have very talented, educated and generous officers dedicated to the mission of our society! My role has changed to acting Governor until Co-Deputy Governor James Campbell takes the reigns. James brings an experienced historical volunteer resume and is meeting with our team to better understand their challenges.
Our members and committees remain busy with many accomplishments under their belt detailed below.
- We recently hosted a virtual event with Plimoth 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.
- This was followed up by another virtual event by Plimoth Patuxet, "Never-the-less, She Persisted". Pilgrim life through the eyes of Elizabeth Tilley Howland was presented in March to honor Women's History month.
- Don’t miss out on your free copy of “Stephano” by Andrew Buckley. Andrew’s video characterizes Stephen Hopkins many adventures and is very entertaining. It is available during the month of May for download, a $15 value. A discussion with the author and director will be held May 14th. Please see our website under “Events” for details.
- 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 more than 200 copies have sold so far. Purchases have been from all over the country! She has now followed up “The Women and Girls of the Mayflower: Pilgrims of Sandwich and Henlow" $4 (including shipping). Keep an eye out for more books in this series.
- Did you know the Western Colony is over 75 years old? Their Spring meeting is scheduled for May 21stat Edgewood Country Club. They have been selecting interesting topics and speakers.
- A group of members responded to my request for ideas and events and created a variety of interesting ideas. 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 31st 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 grandchildren for a fun time!
- Active Membership is at 819 and going up! Our historians have been hard at work adding 64 new members last year, with over 100 more in the application process! We think we will have our 3000th SMDPA member ID number in 2022!
Your annual due notices have arrived and many have responded with 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!
May God bless you and your family, keeping all healthy and in faith during this very unique time!
Respectfully,
Reed Kneale
Acting Governor SMDPA, [email protected]
