Meeting Minutes

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL

AND GENEAOLOGICAL SOCIETY

FEBRUARY 24^TH, 2014

President Jane Moore opened the meeting with us all reciting the Flag Salute.  Larry Clark led us in prayer. We had visitors from Oxford and Wellington. No health concerns were reported. The minutes from the January meeting were read by Helen White, Secretary. One correction was made and that was the name of the Grant Consultant, Mindy Tallent. A motion was made by Marjorie Utt with the second made by Carol Norris to accept the minutes as amended.

Margaret Agee, treasurer, gave the finical report, Balance in checking, January 27^th, 2014- is $740.48, and Total Disbursements were $922.16, leaving a Balance in Checking of $60.97.

There was a motion to accept the report as given. Motion carried. The auditing committee reported that the books were in order but needed to see more receipts.

The Center report was given by Jane due to the illness of Jared. Jane stated that several had been in to do research. The Center is still busy doing obits, and also some have been coming in to inquire about some of the older homes they are living in or know of here in Wellington.

Sherry Kline, Vice-President, introduced our speaker for the evening, Pam Robinett, former Math instructor at the High School and currently works with the High School diploma completion for the Sumner County Detention Center. Her program entitled “Where Did I Come From?” or Using DNA in the Search for Genealogy”.

Robinett states that she’s the type of genealogist who is not only interested in the names and dates of the individuals, but also the context or the setting that people lived in, she further said that she believes DNA is a tool that can put “flesh on the bones of a bigger scale”, and gives us the ability to track migration patterns over a period longer that recorded history can offer. 

Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, started the field of genetics and lived in the 1800’s. Mendel studied and observed characteristics of pea plants, like the color of the plant, and invented the terms dominant and recessive to describe how those characteristics were passed along to the next crop of peas. Since then, we have discovered that the same rules for passing characteristics to the next generation apply to people too. Millions of dollars are being spent to research various characteristics. We think of this in relation to the medical field and the likelihood of contracting various diseases, but it really got started during the World Wars when Medics were trying to figure out blood transfusions for the solders. Why were some blood types compatible and others weren’t? The type of DNA Pam talked about only became possible after microscopes allowed us to get a look at molecules. The structure of DNA wasn’t figured out until the 1950’s. “At first scientists didn’t thing DNA was important because it’s so simple. It’s only made up of 4 building blocks called bases. The four bases of DNA can come in various orders and various locations along the molecule and create the “words” that make up all the different people in the world today. Pam continued saying “the long skinny DNA molecule is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes, that’s only 46 chromosomes to make up the words that make up you. Half come from our Mothers and the other half comes from our Dads. One half of one pair (or 1 out of 46) determines gender. The other 45 determines everything else. The chromosome that determines gender is the Y chromosome. Generally speaking only men have the Y chromosomes. Everyone has mtDNA; that’s the name of the circular DNA that’s outside the nucleus. The Y chromosome is passed only from father to son. Anytime a father doesn’t have sons, the information on his Y chromosome is lost. mtDNA is the same. Anytime a mother has no daughters the information on her mtDNA  is lost and every woman alive today got her mtDNA from all the way back to “Mitochondrial Eve”.

Just what can a genealogist learn from DNA testing? Well remember, Pam continued that we’re talking about the Y chromosome test and mtDNA testing. This translates into DNA information that is available for the top and the bottom of the pedigree chart. The top line is where the surname is traced father to son through time and the bottom line is a direct line of mothers to daughters. Everyone in the middle of the pedigree chart also contributes to our own genetic makeup. It’s just not as easily traced as the top and bottom lines. In conclusion as more and more data becomes available, the whole picture has the potential to become clearer. DNA can/should only supplement other records/fields of study both at the genealogy level and the big picture (archaeology, climatology, linguistic ect.) level.

Book References Pam used for her program was the following:

   “Seven Daughters of Eve” by Bryan Sykes

   “The Journey of Man A Genetic Odyssey” by Spencer Wells

   “ Trace Your Roots” by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Tarner

Pam took time to answer questions from the group and also had maps and pictures displayed for further explanations. It was a very interesting program! It kind of questions getting our own DNA tested as another step in completing our genealogy travels.

Carol Norris won the drawing. Our next meeting is March 24^th at the Senior Center at 6:30 PM. Submitted by Helen White, Secretary

MARCH 25, 2013

President Jane Moore opened the meeting and led us in the Flag salute and Lawrence Norris led us in prayer. Jane asked for health concerns. Iris Burrows is ill as is Sherry and Jarrod Kline.

Helen White, Secretary, read the minutes of the January 28^th monthly meeting. They were approved with one correction, Carol Norris’ name.

Margaret Agee, Treasurer, gave her report: Balance in Checking, January 1, 2013 was $5,187.18. Total receipts were $276.00. Total Disbursements were $4,072.78. Ending balance in checking account as of March 25^th1013 was $1,390.29. Marjory Utt made the motion to accept the treasurer's report with Joyce seconding the motion. Motion passed. The Society put an ad in the program of semi-pro baseball team, the Wellington Heat, for $125.00.

Marjory Utt gave the Audit report. She and Carol Norris found the books to be in perfect order. We owe Margaret a Big Thank You for the excellent job she does as our Treasurer!  Another Big Thank You goes to Jared Scheel for all his work at the Center. The Center will be re-opened April 2^nd, 2013

Old Business:     None

New Business: A Board meeting has been called for April 4^th, 2013 at The Big Cheese. 5:30 for Dinner and 6:30 for the meeting.

Tulip Time at Belle Plaine will be April 14-15. The Book Sale at the Library will be April 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th

President Jane introduced our speaker for the evening, Delores Carr of Wellington. Carr  presented the “Women’s History Month “ program, "Who Was Mary Elizabeth Lease: Kansas Homesteader, Mission Teacher, or Political Activist?"

Mary E. Lease was the Mother of 4 children, tall, thin and passionate voiced. She set the Prairie on Fire  some said. Born in Pennsylvania, and raised in New York, her parents were upper-middle class Irish immigrants who were well educated. Their names were Joseph P. and Mary Elizabeth Clyens. Their daughter, Mary Elizabeth Lease was well educated before coming to teach in an Osage Mission. Her Father and two brothers  died fighting for the Union in the Civil War. Mary Elizabeth  washed clothes for the neighbors to make money for education and “read for the law”. After marrying  her husband, Charles Lease, moved to Kingman County, Kansas to homestead. They were not able to make a go of it and moved back to Wichita where Mary founded a club for women who wanted to improve their education. It was called the Hypatia Club. 

After a brief stay in Dennison Texas, they moved back to Wichita were Charles clerked  and Mary studied Law.

Homesteaders failed because of the Railroad and the Banks. Women could vote in local elections but not in state and national elections.

There were 1,776 Delegates for the Populist  Party Convention. Mary worked for the Populist Speakers Bureau. In 1896 the Populist joined the Democratic Party.

Mary’s oldest son lived in New York and she and the children went to live there. Charles refused to go. Later she and Charles divorced, causing “a little riffle”. Mary made sure that each of her children had a college education. In 1919 the women’s right to vote was achieved. By 1920 much of Mary’s work had come to fruition. 

And in 1931 Mary was giving free legal advice to the poor in New York, She was a woman ahead of her time.

Carol Norris won the drawing. Our next monthly meeting will be April 22^nd,2013 at the “Best of the Orient” restaurant in their meeting room. Buffet or order from the menu at 5:30 and meeting is at 6:30 PM. Program is to be announced.

Respectfully submitted,

Helen White, Secretary.

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL

AND GENEAOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The February 2013 meeting was cancelled

 due to a blizzard

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL AND

GENEALOGY SOCIETY

JANUARY, 28^TH 2013

Dennis Kramer - Native American Tools & Their Uses

The monthly meeting of Sumner County Historical and Genealogy Society was held in the South room of the Wellington Senior Center at 6:30 P.M..  President Jane led us in the flag salute and Hope Harrold gave the prayer. 

The January 21^st, 2013 Board meeting and the November meeting minutes were read by Secretary, Helen White. They were approved as read.

Margaret Agee, Treasurer, gave the treasurer’s report. Balance in checking as of November, 26^th 2012 was $3,157.87. Total receipts were $4,135.57. Total Disbursements was $2,105.69. Checking account balance for January 28^th was $5,187.75. The Treasurer’s report was approved as read.

President Jane gave a report on the calendar project. 100 calendars were printed. Expenses were $230.35 and we have 35 calendars left. All agreed that we need a different marketing approach before thinking about printing calendars for 2014.

No Old Business was reported.

New Business:

  President Jane appointed an audit committee and they are Marjory Utt and Carol Lawrence. Jarrod Kline gave a demonstration of U-Tube. He currently has two meeting of the Society on it.

In the absence of Sherry Kline, Jane introduced our speaker for the evening. His name is Dennis Kramer of Winfield. He spoke on “Native American Tools and Their Uses”. Mr. Kramer said he started collecting artifacts at the age of 8 years. He had taken his Uncle, who was plowing in the field, some water. He sat down and discovered an arrowhead at his feet. After all these years of collecting, he has a vast array of artifacts consisting of arrowheads, stone hammers, scrapers, and other tools and is experienced at finding Native American campsites.

Mr. Kramer said most of his collection has come from near Manhattan, Grainfield, Kansas which is in Gove County, Cowley County, and one artifact from Sumner County. It was a great program of “show and tell”. Mr. Kramer would hold up the piece, tell what it was used for, then passed around for all to hold and feel. Dennis said about five thousand years ago there were about 1 million American Indians around the Kansas City area. Several tables were set up to hold all the artifacts. Also shown were fossilized plants, shells, and “poop”.  As an aside to the last artifact, we, in the medical field, would not call this specimen “poop”. It would be called excrement.

Also Mr. Kramer did not specify if this specimen was from man or animal. Questions were asked from the audience. It was a very entertaining and interesting program.

Elaine Clark won the drawing.

Our next meeting will be held at a different location. It will be at the “The Best of The Orient” It will begin at 5:30 PM for the meal and 6:30 P.M. for the meeting. It will be in the restaurant’s Meeting Room.

Respectfully submitted,

Helen White, Secretary

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL

AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

NOVEMBER 26^TH 2012

The November meeting of the Society was held at the Rock restaurant  meeting room.  Jared Scheel conducted the meeting in the absence of Jane Moore, President.  Jared  led us in the Flag salute. Hope Harrold gave the prayer. 

Minutes from the October meeting were read by Secretary, Helen White. A motion by Margaret Agee was made to accept the minutes as read with the second given by Hope Harrold.  Motion carried. 

Treasurer’s report was given by Margaret Agee.  Beginning balance of November 15^th was $ 3,045.85 and the ending balance of November 26^th was $3,157.87. Motion was made and seconded to approve the report as given.

Old Business: Motion was made and approved to accept the slate of officers.  New officers that were present were installed by Larry Clark.

New Business: Elaine Clark announced that she had copies of the new book on” Tornadoes “ by Jay Price our last month’s speaker, available if you would like to purchase one. There will be no handling or shipping fees if you order by midnight tonight.

Jared Scheel said that the new computer is still in the future with a possible hard drive feature on it. Larry Clark made the motion  that Jared have the authority to buy the new computer with Hope Harrold making the second.  Motion carried.

There were no committee reports tonight. Jared said that the January speaker would be J.P.Bullesfeld talking on Wellington’s Government.

Tonight’s speaker is Frank Korte, lawyer, and Vietnam veteran, talking on “The Normandy Invasion”. 

The invasion was on June 6^th, 1944, D Day. Mr. Korte had a large map of Normandy Beach 1944 era, on an easel and also on the wall. That showed the beach and told what divisions hit what areas. The assault was called “Overlord”

On December 7^th, 1943 combined chiefs of the Armed Forces were formed  They were as follows:

Chief of Staff-----------------Supreme Commander------------------------Deputy Support Commander

Lt. General Bedell- Smith----General Eisenhower---------------------Air Chief Marshall Tedder

                                                        Commander of Allied Ground Forces

                                                             General  Montgomery

American Area 1^st Army                                                                       British Area 2^nd Army

    General Omar Bradley                                                                 General Dempsey

U.S.Inf. 4^th Division                   U.S. Inf. 1^st and 29thDivision       Inf.50^th Div. 8^th British, armored  Div.

UTAH BEACH                               OMAHA BEACH                                 GOLD BEACH

    Canadian Inf,. 9^th Division                                                          British 9^th Div.

      2^nd Canadian, Armored  Brig.                                                  27^th British Armored Brigade

             JUNO BEACH                                                                          SWORD BEACH

The Germans thought General Patton would be leading the attack (but he didn’t). The Germans also flooded the area behind Utah Beach making it difficult to fight. Mr. Korte showed photo’s he and his wife had taken when they were in that area. It was a very interesting and informative evening.

Dorothy Lawless won the drawing.  January 28^th,2013 is the date of our next meeting.  The meeting place is to be announced.

Respectfully Submitted,

Helen White, Secretary  

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL

AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY MEETING

October 29, 2012

Jay Price - Wichita State University

Jane Moore, President, called the meeting to order at 6:40 PM in the Rock, restaurant,  meeting room.  Jane led us in the Flag salute and Hope Harrold gave the prayer. President Jane announced that the Center is closed while the reconstruction is going on in Memorial Auditorium and will remain closed until further notice.  

The minutes of the September 24^th meeting was read by Secretary, Helen White, and they were approved as read. 

Margaret Agee, Treasurer, gave her report and it is as follows: 

Beginning Balance,  September 22^nd, 2012 was $3,095.37. Balance as of October 22^nd was $2,960.37. Larry Clark made the motion to accept the Treasurer’s report with Wanda Jeffries making the second. Motion carried.

Jared Scheel gave a short report on the Center. He and other volunteers have been packing for our move to the South end room in Memorial Auditorium. The previous Women’s Rest Room is being renovated to provide more room for storage and the “Ticket Booth” is being remodeled for a small office.

Old Business:    None

New Business:

   Larry Clark, Nominations Chairman presented the slate of officers for 2013. Hearing no further nominations from the floor, Larry made the motion that we accept the slate of Officers as presented. Irene Kohlman made the second and the motion carried. The members will vote on the officers in November and installation will follow. Other announcements made were Dues are Due.  Single membership is $10.00 and a family is $15.00.  The Art Show at the Chisholm Trail Museum has been well attended and will end on Sunday, October, 28^th2012.

Sherry Kline, Vice-President , stated that our program speaker for November,26^th will be Frank Korte. Frank is a local lawyer and he and his wife, Jan, have traveled to several Battle Sites in Europe. That will be the title of his program, Battle Grounds of World War II.

Sherry then announced our speaker for this evening. His name is Jay Price and he is an Associate Professor of History at Wichita State University. Jay’s topic for the evening was “Tornadoes”.  Professor Price has written many books , his latest is “In the Heart of Tornado Alley: History and Myths of Tornadoes in Kansas”.  He also shared many pictures from his book, for example ; one of the pictures is from the tornado of Anderson County in 1884. Between 1953-1968 Kansas had 1,019 tornadoes and Oklahoma had 1,141. There is a lot of Folklore  associated with tornadoes and many say a Cyclone is anything that whirls.

L. Frank Baum , playwrite, mythmaker and author was the writer of “The Wizard of Oz” and Jay presented a possible  connection to the book and a tornado that occurred in Irving Kansas on May 30^th,1879 and killed 66 people including a young girl named Dorothy Gail. The news of the tornado gained national attention.

After the Greensburg Kansas tornado of 2007, which was an EF5 tornado, Mr. Price began doing a case study on tornadoes, attending storm spotting meetings and trying to answer the question; what is it about Kansas that has out-of-state folks immediately thinking “Tornado Alley” when they think of Kansas. 

Sherry Kline in her press release wrote, “Price thinks the actual center of tornado activity maybe shifting eastward, as some of the most vicious tornadoes in recent years has  been in the upper South, he said out- of – state people still tend to think of Kansas as being in the center of “Tornado Alley”. 

Price made some suggestions to become more familiar with tornadoes and that is to attend storm spotting meetings. Pay attention  to the weather. Prepare in advance items you might need if a storm occurs, and that it should be done in a rational and organized way.  “If you hear the sirens, it’s too late”. 

Jay Price answered questions from the audience and some shared their tornado experiences. It was a very enjoyable program and made one to be more aware of “Tornado Season”.

 Respectfully submitted,

Helen White, Secretary

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL
and GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY MINUTES
 September 24th, 2012

President Jane Moore called the meeting to order at 6:40 PM in the Rock restaurant meeting room. Jane led us in the Flag Salute and Lawrence Norris gave the prayer.

President Jane announced that member, Lora Topinka, was in respite care part time at Golden Living Center while her husband is working. Carol Norris is recuperating from her fall and is with us this evening. Iris Burrows is back at her home in Belle Plaine.

Helen White, Secretary, read the minutes from the August meeting. Marjorie Utt moved and Margaret Agee seconded to accept the minutes with one correction and that was the money we received from the City was not for Tourism.

Margaret Agee, Treasurer, gave her report. Hope Harrold made the motion to accept the treasurer’s report with Sherry Kline making the second. Motion carried.

Jared Scheel is busy working at the Center this evening to install our new shelving. They are heavy duty and on rollers making them easier to move to our new room. Jane reported that the Center has been busy with inquiries from people to do research on family members.

We had no old business. For new business, Jane said we need an election of Officers. Larry Clark was appointed as chairman of the nomination committee with Dorothy Hunt and Hope Harrold assisting.

Sherry Kline, Vice President, introduced our speaker for the evening. Jim Bales. Bales' program was “The Creation of the Sellers Park and the Wellington Park System.” 

Jim has spent two years volunteering at the Chishom Trail Museum and is now Vice-President of the Board of Trustees for the museum. Bales, who likes the study of History and Genealogy and has studied the history of his own family, said the museum is about how our ancestors lived and how they accomplished what they did. 

Going through the museum’s files and archives is a favorite thing for Jim to do while volunteering and he became interested in a book written by Marie Sellers Van Deventer called “Sellers Park” dedicated to her Mother, Lulu Sellers.

Wellington had a Water Works by the dam in 1884. In 1886 it was called Wellington Power and Light. The gas vapors were from coal, then they added Naphtha Oil to coal vapors to provide light and brightness. The odor from the coal vapors created a very unpleasant smell over town and by 1913 the plant was abandoned.

“Cary Circle” was a very enterprising group named after Alice and Stephen Cary. It was progressive and had many cultural ideas so they went to the City Council with the idea of establishing a Park for their growing city. Cary Circle was established in 1895 and lasted 90 years. The circle volunteered by having a “cleaning day” once a month for two years to fill the pit left by the plant. In 1913 the plan was completed and they had a park. The park was called the “Community Park” and Mrs. Lulu Sellers was named Commissioner of Parks. Mrs. Sellers worked without pay and drew up the rules and regulations for the Park. The number one rule of
the Park was to not have any political rallies there.

On April 14th,1915 the whole park flooded. In 1917 work was begun to straighten the creek that ran through the park. Teams of mules and wagons got the work accomplished at a cost of $154.00. In 1921 Lulu Sellers resigned and in 1938, Community Park was renamed Sellers Park. 

Bales continued to give some data on when the baseball stadium was built and some other items of interest. Jim also shared some of the pictures that are in the book.  It was a very informative and enjoyable program. 

Jim also announced that the museum would be holding an “Artist Exhibit” that will run October 2nd to October 28th during regular museum hours and featuring fifteen local artists, including Letha Rinehart, Elvie McDonald, and Sue Jean Covacevich. 

Our speaker for next month will be Assistant Professor, Jay Price, Wichita State University, speaking on the subject, "Tornadoes."

Respectfully submitted,

Helen White, Secretary

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL

AND GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY MINUTES  AUGUST 27th 2012

The Monthly meeting of the Historical and Genealogical Society was held at the "Rock" Restaurant.  President Jane Moore called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.  Jane led us in the flag salute and Hope Harrold gave the prayer. Jane Moore announced that Carol Norris had fallen over the weekend and broke her right arm.  She is recovering at home.  also Dorothy Hunt reported that past member, Iris Burrows, of Belle Plaine, was in a nursing home in Winfield.

Helen White, Secretary, read the minutes of the May 21st meeting. The minutes were approved as read. The Board minutes of August 7th, were also read and approved. Treasurer's report was given by Margaret Agee. Dorothy Hunt made a motion to accept the treasurer's report with Marjorie Utt seconded, motion carried. 

Jarrod Kline went to the City Council meeting recently to thank them for the Grant given to us for Tourism.

Jared Scheel gave his report on the Center saying they had many volunteers through the summer and had 106 visitors since our last meeting in May. Volunteers at the center are working on Book #20 of obituaries.  The center has compiled approximately 12,500 obituaries since opening. Marjorie Utt has given a book to the center that contains residents of the "old poor farm" of Wellington and what the cause of death was in many cases.  Of course, many of them would say "died of old age". In November, the Center should be moving into the South room of the Memorial Auditorium. We will also have more storage area in the old Women's Rest Room and the old "ticket booth".  The city will be helping us make the move.

Frank Korte, local attorney, will be giving the program in November. It will be on World War II.

The programs for September and October are to be announced later. No new business was heard.

Jane Moore introduced herself as the program speaker for the evening. This is the Bicentennial of the "War of 1812". So she said being a "history buff" she decided to speak on this subject.

On July 18th, 1812, James Madison, our fourth President of the United States, signed a proclamation of War against Great Britain. It is quoted in the War of 1812 publication saying. "The young nation was not prepared to fight and early on our forces were beaten. Invasions of Canada were repulsed and the British forces ravaged the Chesapeake, defeated the martial forces and entered Washington, burning the Executive Mansion, the Capital, and several other buildings."

Jane said Dolly, wife, of President Madison, managed to get several items, documents and a painting of President George Washington. 

Quoting again from the publication, "however, several notable naval and military victories by the United States, namely the HMS Guerriere, Frolic and Macedonian were captured.  The battle of Lake Erie, Horse Shoe Bend, Baltimore, Plattsburg, Thames, and with General Andrew Jackson triumph of New Orleans won peace with honor. 

President Madison was the first President to serve as Commander-in-Chief". The Battle of Lake Ontario in 1813 was instrumental in the United States not obtaining Canada. 

The beginning was the shots fired on Ft. McHenry. Francis Scott Keys was observing the firing and wrote the poem The Star Spangled Banner, which was later set to music. The huge flag that flew over the Fort is located in the Smithsonian. Jane said it is huge and is unfurled on different occasions. Jane gave a most interesting program with overhead pictures of maps and pictures. 

She also had some photos of the cannons that are on the Fort and a replica of the flag.

Our next meeting will be September 24th, in the Rock restaurant. We Begin eating at 5:30 p.m. and the business meeting and program begins at 6:30 p.m.. Margaret Agee won the door prize.

President Jane adjourned the meeting at 7:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Helen White, Secretary

SUMNER COUNTY HISTORICAL & GENEALOGY SOCIETY

MINUTES OF MAY 21st, 2012

President Jane Moore called the meeting to order at 6:40 p.m. in the Rock Restaurant meeting room. 

Jane led us in the flag salute and Hope Harrold gave the prayer.

Helen White, Secretary, read the minutes from the April meeting. the minutes were approved as read.  Margaret Agee, Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's report.  Treasurer's report was approved as given.

Jane gave a report on the center, saying the volunteers have been very busy. They have had several people come to the Center looking for records and information.  They also keep bus with cutting and pasting the latest obituaries out of the newspapers.  Having no new or old business to be brought up, Sherry Kline, Vice-President, introduced our guest speaker for the evening, Mr. Arthur Dunn, of Belle Plaine, Kansas.  Mr. Dunn is a survivor of the December 7th, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Mr. Dunn was born in Yale, Oklahoma in 1923. His parents farmed until the drought came, then they sold out and moved to town. Arthur went to school until the 10th grade.  He and his brother joined the Navy when Arthur was 17 years old, and the date was January 8th, 1941.  He had his basic training in San Diego, California. 

He wanted to be stationed on the USS Oklahoma but was put on the USS Pennsylvania at Hunter's Point, San Francisco, California for two weeks, the went back to Pearl Harbor and the USS Oklahoma.

On December 7th, 1941, he was topside when he received word that the Japanese were bombing the island.  It was 7:55 a.m. when the Japanese started bombing the harbor.  Dunn went to his battle station when 7 - 9 torpedoes hit the ship.  He was n the water for about two hours, he said.  The water was full of oil from the sinking ships.

Someone shouted "get rid of your white Navy caps" because they made a perfect target for the Japanese planes.

The next day, December 8th, was spent securing the ammunition depots and also was the day that President Roosevelt declared war on Japan.  

The USS Oklahoma lost 439 men, USS Arizona lost 1,134 men and the USS Nevada was abandoned.

Arthur Dunn was a most interesting speaker and we were blessed to hear his story.  He also had newspaper articles and pictures to share with us. 

Our next meeting will be August 27th, 2012, at the Rock Restaurant's meeting room.  The meal is at 5:30 a.m. and the meeting begins at 6:30 p.m..  The speaker is to be announced.

Joyce Tencleve was the winner of the drawing.

Respectfully submitted,

Helen White