After an exciting and busy 125th Continental Congress, your newly installed executive officers took little time off before beginning our Executive Committee meetings at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, June 20, the very next day after the Installation Ceremony. We jumped right into informal discussions and formal reports and had lots of great dialog on plans for the future. We toured the DAR Headquarters Building top to bottom, from the roof to the storage area beyond the Yochim Gallery (where the DAR Museum staff is preparing its next exhibit and one you won’t want to miss!). The faithful members of the Property Beautification and Hospitality Committee welcomed us for lunch each day and we all agreed it was a treat we could easily get used to. We had a great time with a photo session on the South Portico and enjoyed getting better acquainted and better informed.
I hope that through the Today’s DAR Blog during this administration you will all get to feel better acquainted with me as well as better informed about our Society. Having served as Colorado’s State Regent while Mrs. Kemper was President General, many of you have known me through the years. I also had the pleasure of meeting so many more of you during my time as Registrar General during the Watkins Administration and as First Vice President General during the Young Administration. But on a personal note, I was raised outside Dallas, Texas in the community of Irving where I met and married my husband, Bill. He was a Navy pilot and was stationed at Alameda, California during his service. He then flew for Continental Airlines until his retirement in 1997, the year I was elected Vice President General.
As a child, a family friend took me for a flight in his small plane and I was determined to learn to fly. I settled for marrying a pilot until I turned the magical age of 50 and decided I needed adventure, so I took flying lessons and actually earned a single-engine rating. It challenged me in ways I never imagined and was far outside my box. Though I no longer fly my own plane, I cherish the accomplishment. I feel much the same way about becoming your President General. Never would I have dreamed of this exciting position. The schedule and responsibilities can stagger me if I let my mind try to grasp everything all at once.
Chapters are where the work of this National Society happens and I want to see them strong and stable. Our members are our most valuable asset and yet many do not understand the scope and the history of who we are and what we do. My goal is for us to further impact our communities with service and patriotism, to see new members understand their membership and to train leaders in our chapters so we no longer hear, “We can’t find anyone willing to take the job.”
To learn a little bit more about what I envision for our organization, you may view my installation remarks go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fohBFgUb0I4&feature=youtu.be.
This is the most incredible organization of women I know. There is a place for everyone to serve and we can do so much more when we focus on working together for the greater good. Let’s make a difference in this nation and be a reminder of all that is good about America.
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