Volume 9, Issue 5 November 2018

The Long Rifleman Louisville-Thruston Chapter

Gen. George Rogers Clark Founder of Louisville

Kentucky Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

2017 - 2019 Officers

President: James W. Jackson, Sr. 1st Vice-President: Michael Phelps

2nd Vice-President: William G. Cook

3rd Vice-President: (Vacant)

Secretary: Jon E. Huffman

Treasurer: J. B. Hitt

Registrar: Christopher Johnson Historian: Douglas T. Collins Webmaster: Howard L. Roberson

Chancellor: James H. Barr III Chaplain: Rev. Paul W. Smith Past President: Drake W. Rinesmith Color Guard Cmdr.: Christopher Johnson

President’s Message

Well, it appears the fall season has finally arrived bringing with it the customary changes in temperature and leaf color, as well as the events of fall and the holidays. But our Louis-ville Thruston Chapter has its own changes and events. One major change is that our secretary, Jon Huffman, has an-nounced that he will soon be moving his family to the Pensacola area of Florida. Jon has served our chapter faith-fully as a member of the Color Guard, as Editor of the chap-ter’s newsletter, and as Chapter Secretary. His knowledge, enthusiasm and devotion to the SAR will be greatly missed.

When Jon’s departure was made known, Dan Klinck stepped forward and volun-teered to edit the newsletter, and Chris Johnson, currently the chapter’s Registrar, agreed to replace Jon as Secretary. This will leave vacant the position of Registrar, but we are working on identifying a candidate to fill that slot. Now to upcoming events. We want to build on the momentum from last year’s Christmas Dinner, so we have a great celebration planned for this year. It will be held at the Louisville Boat Club on Friday, December 14, so mark your calendars. Our special guest and speaker this year will be the author, historian and Baptist preacher, Compatriot Geoff Baggett from Trigg County, Kentucky. Geoff is also the current president of the Kentucky State SAR. Some of you may remember his entertaining talk at our Annual Meeting in 2017. You won’t want to miss him this year. A meeting announcement with more details will go out to everyone shortly. I also want to mention that new member activity has picked up. I have especially noticed increased activity within family groups with sons and grandsons following in family footsteps. I want to encourage all members to talk to eligible family members about joining SAR. It’s simple to do when Dad is already a member, or when Mom is a member of DAR - then all that’s required is a birth certificate! In closing, I again want to extend a great thanks to Jon Huffman for his service to our chapter and to SAR. He will still be a member, just in a warmer climate. Have a great Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you at our Christmas Dinner. Jim Jackson, President

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The Constitution Day Meeting

The Corn Island Chapter, DAR, was host for the annual SAR/DAR/CAR Constitution Day Meeting held at Audubon Country Club on September 29, 2018. This year’s event was attended by 110 members and guests. Members of the Dr. V. Edward Masters Memorial Color Guard opened the meeting by presenting the Colors. Corn Island Regent Carrie Bowman presided over the program, which included a talk by histor ian, Dr. John Kleber, who spoke on “Kentucky’s Five Constitutions.” Julian Icher from France attended the meeting as a special guest of Kentucky State DAR Regent Leslie Miller. Mr. Icher was in the U.S. tracing the trail of Marquis de Lafayette, the French general who commanded American troops in several battles during the Revolutionary War.

Louisville Thruston Color Guard members (L to R) Mike Phelps, Chris Johnson and John Harris.

Julian Icher with Corn Island Regent Carrie Bowman.

KYSDAR Regent Leslie Miller (left) and Laura Jones of the John Marshal Chapter, DAR.

Regent Carrie Bowman with the speaker, Dr. John Kleber.

The Constitution Day Meeting (cont.)

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Dr. John Kleber addressed the audience of 110 members and guests at the 2018 Constitution Day Meeting.

President General’s Color Guard Award Plaque

The award for Best Chapter Color Guard was started in 1994 by SAR National Headquarters for the purpose of promoting color guards among the various chapters. Each year, the winning chapter got to keep the plaque until the following year. Louisville Thruston’s Dr. V. Edward Masters Memorial Color Guard won the award in 2000, 2001 & 2003. (There was no award in 2002.) By 2004, many chapters throughout the U.S. had established their own color guard organizations, and National HQ decided that the purpose of the award had been accomplished, so it was discontinued. By virtue of having won the plaque the last three times the award was given, Louisville Thruston retained the plaque in their chapter archives. In October, former color guard commander Dan Klinck presented the plaque to NSSAR Executive Director Don Shaw, where it will hang on the wall at National HQ. In addition to Dan, Terry Brown and Norb Rawert were among the charter members of our color guard, and they were soon followed by Les Black, Bill Carrell, J.B. Hitt, and David Sympson.

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Color Guard Activities

This photograph of Louisville Thruston’s Color Guard marching in the 2017 Veterans Day Parade is featured in “Around Lou, One city, Endless Events,” an email from Louisville Metro Government promoting upcoming events in the community. Great publicity for our chapter! We will be marching again in this year’s parade scheduled for November 9th.

Naturalization Ceremony at the Muhammad Ali Center

The U.S. District Court of the Western District of Kentucky holds approximately 18 Naturalization Ceremonies each year. In addi-tion to the U.S. Courthouse, other venues include the Muhammad Ali Center, the main branch of LFPL, SAR Headquarters, and the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. These proceedings are all open to the public.

All photos by Paul Schellenberger

Muhammad Ali Center (cont.)

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A Warm Welcome to New Members

The following applications for membership in SAR and the Louisville Thruston Chapter were recently approved: Compatriot John Richard Clausen (#208933), Compatriot Edward K. Grantz (#207480), Compatriot Lee Thomas Hamilton, Jr. (#209112), Compatriot Christopher Lee Coleman (#207584), Compatriot Peter Taylor Kirsch, Sr. (#209113), and Compatriot Peter Taylor Kirsch, Jr. (#209114). We want to encourage all new members to take an active role in our society. If you haven’t done so already, a good way to start is by attending one of our chapter meetings. All members are notified at least 30 days in advance of each event with details and reservation forms. And don’t forget to check our website at: http://louthrustonsar.org. There you will find lots of useful information about the chapter including the Consti-tution and By-Laws, newsletter archives, our color guard organization, and a calendar of upcoming events. The Louisville Thruston Chapter is the largest SAR chapter in Kentucky with currently 332 members. We hold four luncheon meetings throughout the year starting with the Washington’s Birthday Meeting in February, followed by the Annual Meeting in April, the Flag Day Meeting in June, and the Constitution Day Meeting in September. We always strive to feature excellent speakers, and the food is always very good. There is also a Christmas Dinner event in December to kick off the holidays. Wives are cordially invited to all meetings, and the dress code is business casual except for the Christmas Dinner, which is black tie optional.

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Geoff Baggett Returns to Speak at the Christmas Dinner

Author, historian and Baptist preacher, Compatriot Geoff Baggett is a resident of Trigg County, KY and a native of Brownsville, TN. He holds diplomas and de-grees from the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences in Ft. Sam Houston, TX, Union University in Jackson, TN, Luther Rice Seminary in Lithonia, GA and the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, KY. He has also completed thirty hours of doctoral studies at Western Seminary in Portland, OR. Geoff has served as Senior Pastor of the Crossroads Fellowship (Southern Baptist Convention) in Cadiz, KY since 2002.

Though his formal education has been in chemistry, biology and Christian theology, his hobbies and obses-sions are genealogy and Revolutionary War history. He is an active member of SAR, having served as President of the Stephen Trigg Chapter in Cadiz (2013-2016). He is currently President and Chaplain of the Kentucky Society, SAR. He also serves as the current Chaplain of the Central District of SAR (Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia). Through his personal research, Geoff has discovered and proven twenty Patriot Ancestors in his family tree from the states of Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia. He has written and published four historical novels. His first novel, Brothers and Warriors, received the 2016 Gold Award for Best Historical Fiction from the National Literary Habitat. Geoff is an avid living historian, appearing regularly in period uniform in classrooms, reenactments and other Revolutionary War commemorative events throughout the southeastern U.S. Many of you will recall his delightful talk entitled “Revolutionary War in a Trunk” given at our 2017 Annual Meeting. His topic for the Christmas Dinner Meeting is entitled, A Tale of Two “Revolutionary” Christmases - the juxtaposition of Christmas 1776 with that of Christmas 1777. Don’t miss this event!

Hoosier Heritage Celebration in New Albany, IN

For the third straight year the Louisville Thruston Chapter’s color guard was invited to appear at the Hoosier Heritage and First Families of Indiana Celebration held on October 4th in New Albany, IN. In addition to posting and retiring the Colors, color guardsman Will Schrader gave an interesting and enjoyable talk on the typical life of a soldier during the Revolutionary War.

All photos by Paul Schellenberger

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Hoosier Heritage (cont.)

In Memoriam

Christian, Michael Allison, age 71, passed away on October 22, 2018 at Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville, IN. He was born on October 6, 1947 in Glas-gow, Barren Co., KY. Michael was head librarian at the National Headquarters of SAR for 28 years, retiring recently due to declining health. He was an avid reader and enjoyed researching his family genealogy. He was a member of several lineage societies including First Families of Kentucky, the Society of 1812, Descendants of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge, and Sons of the American Revolution. Michael had been a member of SAR and the Louisville Thruston Chapter since 1994. He will be fondly remembered for his knowledge, professionalism and graciousness.

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Board of Governors is Seeking Volunteers

The chapter’s Board of Governors seeking candidates interested in filling officer positions on the Board starting in April 2019. The two positions are 2nd Vice-President and Registrar, and the term of service is two years. Interested members should contact 1st Vice-President Mike Phelps: . The Board meets five times a year on Saturday mornings. Duties of the officers can be found on the chapter’s website under Constitution & By-Laws: http:www.louthrustonsar@org.com. This is a great opportunity for members to serve the chapter and at the same time meet and work with a great group of compatriots.

More Color Guard Activities

Above: Compatriot Will Schrader congratulated new American citizens at the U.S. Naturalization Ceremony on October 1st at the federal courthouse in downtown Louisville. Right: Compatriot Randy Lane presented the Louisville Thruston Chapter wreath at the SAR Wreath Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Patriot at Fort Laurens, Ohio on July 28th.

Difficult to Say Goodbye

Compatriots, Sadly for me, this will be my final newsletter as Editor. As you may have already heard, Laura and I are moving from Kentucky and relocating to the Florida panhandle. This will also mean that effective the end of November, I will be leaving my position as Secretary on the chapter’s Board of Governors. I wanted to take a moment to let you know how much I’ve enjoyed serving you and this great chapter. I’ve been a member of SAR and Louisville Thruston since 2009, and many of you have become my personal friends. Plans are already underway for Chris Johnson to step in as Secretary on the Board, and for Dan Klinck to take over as newsletter editor. Both will do an excellent job, so the chapter won’t miss a beat going forward. I wish you all the best, and thank you for making my involvement with Louisville Thruston such a memora-ble one. Warm regards, Jon

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Annual Christmas Dinner

Volume 9, Issue 5 Page Ten

National Society Sons of the American

Revolution

http://www.sar.org

“The Long Rifleman” is Published Five Times

Annually

Jon E. Huffman, Editor 116 Creel Ln.

Bardstown, KY 40004 jonehuffman@gmail.com

(502) 348-8510

Visit our website at: http://louthrustonsar.org

Upcoming Events

Friday, November 9, 2018 - Veterans Day Parade, Seventh & Jefferson Street, Louisville, Parade starts at 11:11 a.m.; Participants meet at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, November 17, 2018 - KYSSAR Fall Meeting and Luncheon; SAR Headquarters, 809 W. Main Street, Louisville; 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sunday, December 2, 2018 - Christmas Open House and Tea, Tour of the 1814 Schribner House, New Albany’s oldest home, 1 to 5 p.m., State & Main Streets, New Albany, IN. No charge, sponsored by the Piankeshaw Chapter, DAR. Friday, December 14, 2018 - Christmas Holiday Dinner at the Louisville Boat Club, 4200 River Road, Louisville. Saturday, December 15, 2018 - Wreaths Across America, Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Louisville, KY 12:00 p.m. (noon), muster at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 12, 2018 - BOG Meeting, St. Andrews United Church of Christ, 2608 Browns Lane, Louisville, 10:00 a.m.