The Connecticut Line - Connecticut Sons of the American Revolution

BUSINESS NAME
State Officers 2014-2015
National Trustee
Kenneth D. Roach
860-688-8091
[email protected]
President
Robert W. Rivard
860-537-1114
[email protected]
1st Vice-President
Ethan A. Stewart, Sr.
203-375-3087
[email protected]
2nd Vice-President
Christopher M. Nichols
203-758-3186
[email protected]
Secretary
Paul H. Selnau
860-651-4161
[email protected]
The
Connecticut Line
Volume XV, Issue 1
February 21, 2015
SAR State Flag Award to Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford, December 8, 2014
On December 8th, members of the Connecticut SAR presented the SAR Flag Certificate to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation at their headquarters in Stratford. Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
flies the American Flag outside their main entrance and it is visible from the Merritt Parkway.
With a desire to celebrate American patriotism, the Sons of the American Revolution honor
those who honor the Flag of the United States of America. The SAR Flag Certificate, authorized
in 1987, is presented to individuals, companies and government agencies that fly the Flag of the
United States of America for patriotic purposes only. It is a certificate of commendation presented in recognition of exemplary patriotism in the display of the Flag of the United States of
America. It is not given to commercial enterprises that obviously fly the Flag for advertising
purposes. Tyrone “Woody” Woodyard, Sikorsky’s Vice President of Communications, accepted the SAR Flag Certificate on behalf of Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. This honor was
especially meaningful to Woody as he is a veteran. Bob Rivard, State President, wore his Revolutionary War attire and led the presentation ceremony along with compatriot Ed Isaacs (far left
in photo). CTSSAR compatriots who also participated in the ceremony were: (L-R in photo)
Rich Forselius, John “Reg” Harrison and 1st VP, Ethan Stewart.
Treasurer
Daniel E. Benoit
203-323-8804
[email protected]
Chaplain
William J. Lane, Jr.
203-288-5863
[email protected]
Registrar
Timothy L. Jacobs
860-233-8414
[email protected]
Historian
Gary S. Pitcock
860-289-5331
[email protected]
Chancellor
William P.Fenn
203-421-5511
[email protected]
Real Property Steward
David H. Packard
860-848-0320
[email protected]
Color Guard Commander
Todd L. Gerlander
860-872-0438
[email protected]
Technology Manager
David J. Perkins
203-797-1967
[email protected]
Share your family history
Now that you are a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, you have all this research
on your family. You have seen copies of family histories - either from your own family or
from other compatriots. You may have even written one for your family. One of the aims of
SAR is to document and share the great history of our family Patriots and their ancestors.
If you have family story or pictures of an important event in your family history that you
would be willing to share on the CTSSAR website, please submit to the PR committee
([email protected]). Pictures should include where the picture was taken, the event, what
makes it significant, and who is on the picture.
Daniel E. Benoit, PR Committee Chair
Event Calendar
Page 2
February 21, 10am
BOM Meeting
The Villa
Sandy Hook, CT
February 22, 2pm
Branch Meeting
Rev. Baldwin Branch 9
Sandy Hook, CT
March 2, 7pm
Branch Meeting
Gov. Oliver Wolcott Br. 10
Litchfield, CT
March 9, 6pm
Caption describing
Branch Meeting
picture
or graphic.
Gen. David
Humphreys
Br. 1
April 6, 7pm
Branch Meeting
Gov. Oliver Wolcott Br.10
Litchfield, CT
“To catch the reader's attention, place
April 18, an10am
interesting sentence or quote from
Annual State Meeting
the story here.”
Lucky Lou’s
Wethersfield, CT
April 20
NSSAR Color Guard Event
Patriots’ Day Parade
Concord, MA
April 26
Color Guard Event
Minute Man Day Encampment
Westport, CT
May 4, 7pm
Branch Meeting
Gov. Oliver Wolcott Br.10
Litchfield, CT
May 9
Color Guard Event
Pvt. Elisha Benton
Patriot Grave Marking
Tolland, CT
May 11, 6pm
Branch Meeting
Gen. David Humphreys Br. 1
May 16
Color Guard Event
Bicentennial Parade
Town of Griswold
Caption describing
May 23 picture or graphic.
Color Guard Event
Meeting of Washington and
Rochambeau
1 Day Encampment
The Connecticut Line
Wreaths Across America — Saturday, December 14 — Bantam, CT
The Gov. Oliver Wolcott Sr. branch along with members of the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter
of the DAR were part of a national tribute on that Saturday when it held a local version of the
Wreaths Across America ceremony at the All Wars Memorial in Bantam. During a sunny but
brisk noontime service, the branch color guard paid tribute to soldiers who have died in war,
prisoners of war, the missing in action, veterans, and the men and women of the U.S. armed
forces. "We are gathered here today at this memorial and at memorial sites across America to
remember that we are one nation with one flag," said Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter member
Susan Harrison of Morris, the master of ceremonies. "We are all proud to be Americans who live
in a free society made up of many people, many races, from many walks of life." Harrison went
on talk about the price of freedom and those who gave their lives to protect it. Without their
sacrifice, she said, Americans wouldn't be allowed to worship as they see fit, to travel freely, to
vote, and to have the right to succeed and fail at whatever endeavor they choose. The highlight
of the ceremony was the placement of seven wreaths at the All Wars Memorial by seven veterans
representing the six branches of the military: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and
Merchant Marines. The ceremony was one of more than 800 held across the country on Saturday, including one at the Veterans Memorial in Kent. A
total of more than 400,000
wreaths were placed at war
memorials during those ceremonies. Color Guard members present were Ken Buckbee, Russ Cashman, Paul Selnau, Martin Spring, Jonathan
King, Dave Perkins and Chris
Elliott. Also present, was Reg
Harrison, Air Force Veteran
and wreath presenter. WAA is
a National Event for all Color
Guardsmen.
Photo/Source:
Register Citizen & Republican
American
Center for Advancing America’s Heritage—Donor Update
Dear Fellow Compatriots,
As of December 31, 2014 the Connecticut Society has achieved the national goal of 20% participation by its membership. Back in September at our BOM meeting in Torrington I made a
plea to all those present on behalf of this national fund raising campaign. Like true Minutemen
from our past you didn’t hesitate stand up and be counted. We went from 18% to 21% in those
3 months. We had 26 members make pledges or payments, along with another 16 who gave
once again to this campaign for a total of $2,515. Overall 128 donors for a total $37,125.
Donors since September 2014 are: Ken Roach, Brett Wood, Paul Andrews, Dave Packard,
Virgil Huntley, Richard Anderson, Jr., James Cooke, Peter Johnson, James Kerr, Bill Robbins,
Ethan Stewart, Sr., Ethan Stewart, Jr., Tim Wilkins, Ken Buckbee, Robert Seymour, Lee Steele,
Dan Benoit, Tom Gorin, Steven Stearns, Robert Rivard, Rev. Robert Carroon, Bruce Lyon,
William Carter, Dean Gaugler, Robert Haviland, Roger Smith, Burton Chapman, Jonathan
Dodd, Joseph Hart, Jonathan Johnson, Jr., Brett Wiseman, Gregg Carrara, Robert Carrara, John
Cutler, Ken Duncan, William Gills, Jay Jackson, Esq, Thomas Varney, Grady Jensen, and
James Perkins.
David J. Perkins, CTSSAR Alt. Trustee
Volume XV, Issue 1
Page 3
Real Property Committee Report — February 12, 2015
As you know everything at the Museums is at a standstill, including the War Office, which is buried in knee deep snow. The
last report, from the contractors tells me that the mason is ready to start work on rebuilding the chimney. Steve Marshall is
beginning to gather materials.
The Property Committee met at the Russell Library in Middletown on January 10th. The first order of business was to elect
Daniel Benoit as our Treasurer, replacing Emmitt Lyman. Emmitt has served us well and deserves our utmost gratitude. He
has volunteered to be our Postman in East Haddam. We also, voted to make signature corrections on the Liberty Bank account. Daniel Benoit will be the first signature and Robert Rivard will be the secondary. This item has already taken effect.
Further discussions included, budget requests, projects, grants, and docent schedule. I was asked to compile, visitor numbers, docent hours and wages for the purpose of setting next seasons schedule. I can report that we had 5,263 visitors, with
2,707 being greeted by our volunteers and 2,556 being greeted by our paid docents. A complete report is available upon
request.
We are continuing our requests for grant monies to help with special projects. To date the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund has
not been approved for the HVAC unit at Nathan Hale, New London. The grant from DAR for the 3 picnic tables at East
Haddam was denied. We had requested $2,000 to hire someone to develop new educational curricula for the East Haddam
School House, from the Community Foundation of Middlesex County. That request was denied.
The Committee met briefly on February 7th to review the above mentioned report. The main topic of discussion concerned
ways to cut payroll by reducing hours. Closing the Museums on Wednesdays and Thursdays would save about $3,500. Ending the visitor season at the end of September would be another savings. No matter what day, we would find a way to be
there for school groups.
The Lease for Nathan Hale Schoolhouse with the City of New London is a piece of old business that needs to be finished. I
am hoping to meet with Mayor Finizio or Laura Natusch in the near future to be updated in order to move forward. April
2014 correspondence shows that we were at the final details.
Another matter of unfinished business is the Thames River Heritage Park. Briefly, this a collection of independent heritage
institutions, sites, and historic districts. I believe this is similar to the Lebanon Consortium, but on a bigger scale. Maybe we
should consider some involvement in this project. In a few years the National Coast Guard Museum will be at our front
door, what a shame if we miss out. As of right now there are no fees involved that would stop us from belonging. I am trying to make contact with Penny Parsekian, Development, Communications & Special Projects, Avery-Copp House, to be
briefed on where we stand. They made contact with us on July 24, 2014 asking for a letter of support, somehow this fell
through the cracks. We are possibly beyond that phase.
Last item; The Committee feels that there should be more participation from the Membership by volunteering as Docents.
This would allow us to lower our expenses and put our money to better use. The plan to pay your dues for volunteering at
least four times is still in effect. Last year only 8 SAR members took advantage of this, while there were 14 DAR ladies that
helped out.
Respectfully submitted,
David Packard
CTSSAR Real Property Steward
Update emails!
With the continuing increase in the cost of postage and mailing supplies, we are starting to depend more and more on
emailing our compatriots. If we don't have your email, please send an email to [email protected] with your name and
NSSAR number. If you move, change your phone numbers, etc you can send those updates to [email protected] also.
The Connecticut Line
Annual Meeting of the Connecticut Line - Plainville, CT - February 7
Called to Eternal Rest
- 2014 Ralph J. Andrews
Jean P. Berard
Livingston V. Crowell
William H. James
Ralph H. Learned
Richard M. Mills
Lawrence A. Neumann
Donald G. Rowland
- 2015 Timothy F. Beard
The Connecticut Line had its annual meeting, “In honor and remembrance of General George Washington's
Birthday” at J. Timothy's Taverne, Plainville on Saturday February 7, 2015. Invocation was given by Lee
Gerlander and the Pledge of Allegiance by State President, Robert Rivard. In attendance was Douglas
Wood, NSSAR Vice-President General, New England District. There were 25 color guardsmen and camp
followers present for the meeting, including members of the Putnam, Hale, and Wolcott detachments. For
2015, the following officers were elected, Colonel - Todd Gerlander (Putnam), Lieutenant-Colonel - David
Perkins (Wolcott), Major - Bruce Cunard (Hale), and Adjutant - Russell Wirtalla (Putnam)
For 2015, the Connecticut Line CTSSAR Campaign Calendar includes currently 21 events running through
to December. Five of these dates are considered National Color Guard events, and three of these will be in
Connecticut with “Let Freedom Ring” on July 4th in Litchfield, “Battle of Groton Heights” on September
6th in Groton and New London, and lastly “Wreaths Across America” on December 12 in Bantam and other
sites across the state.
President’s Corner
Dear Compatriots,
Let me start by asking you to remember the birthday of General George Washington on February 22, 2015.
I would like to update you on the activities of the CTSSAR since I sent you my letter on October 15, 2014.
At the November 15, 2014 meeting the Board of Managers (BOM) filled all officer vacancies created as a
result of several resignations and the resultant shifting of officers to fill those positions. See the list of officers elsewhere in this newsletter. The BOM also filled many vacant positions on committees, including several chair positions. They approved the creation of two new ad hoc committees, one on real property oversight and another on insurance.
Editor
David J. Perkins
Submitters
Robert Rivard
Dave Packard
Ken Buckbee
Ethan Stewart
David Perkins
Todd Gerlander
Connecticut SAR
PO Box 411
East Haddam, 06423
ConnecticutSAR.org
Since that meeting, I have been working with several committee chairs to continue to fill positions on committees. We are always looking for committee volunteers. If you would like to obtain lists of the committee
members and descriptions or have an interest in serving on a committee please contact me or any Board
member.
In this continuing period of transition for the CTSSAR, we continue to move forward in many areas such as
color guard events, real property operation and maintenance, youth awards, and the capital campaign. (I
apologize to those I have not listed here.) I thank you all for your continued support.
Finally, I was privileged to help present the CTSSAR Flag Award to Sikorsky in December. There is an
article on the ceremony in this issue.
Patriotically,
Robert W. Rivard, President
CTSSAR