Neal Naranjo presenting the Certificate of Appreciaton to Ben Pyle. Secretary Preston on right.
Lt.
Nathan Gann Chapter
SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
CHAPTER 28 LUFKIN, TEXAS
Minutes April 24, 2012
A meeting of the Lt. Nathan Gann Chapter, S.A.R., was held at 6 PM Tuesday April 24, 2012 at the Golden Corral Restaurant in Lufkin. Members and guests started arriving after 5:30 PM to enjoy a Dutch Treat dinner before the meeting
1st Vice President Bob Ham called the meeting to order. Ben Pyle gave the invocation. Naranjo then led the assemblage in the pledge to the American Flag.
Preston then recognized the guests. Preston then recognized the guests: These were Betty Preston, Glenn Landry (prospective member) and his wife, Richard Rosenberg (prospective member), speaker Ben Pyle and his wife Ellen.. Members present were: Bob Ham, Martin Netherland, Fred Preston, Secretary and Neal Naranjo, President. In all there were 6 guests and 4 members
Naranjo announced that the Poster Contest awards would be made at Pineywoods Academy on May 30. Neal and Fred will be there in uniform, other members are invited to attend also. It was a very close contest this year with only one vote separating the contestants. The contest this year was on "The Battle of Guilford's Courthouse". 49 5th grade students participated from Pineywoods Academy. 1st place went to Tristan Fajardo, 2nd place to Angelica Santander and 3rd place to Tydaisha Powell.
The meeting this evening was an experiment, meeting earlier than usual and also on Tuesday instead of Thursday and April instead of March or May. There was much discussion about the schedule and it was decided to have our next meeting on September 27th (4th Thursday), at 6 PM at the Lufkin BBQ in the room to the right as you come into the parking lot. We will gather shortly before 6 PM, order from the menu and the meeting will start when most have finished eating. Program undecided at this time.
There will not be any Eagle Scout awards again this year. All members need to let children, grand children or friends know of this program. We have money to award Eagles that is just burning a hole in our pocket. All that is required it the Eagle must not become 19 years of age in the current year, in other words if they are 18 on December 31st this year, they are eligible to enter our program. They fill out a 4 generation chart, a 500 word essay on some historic event and fill out a form on their Eagle accomplishments. The Essay is about 80% of the grade. Most of the time we have only had one entry so winning would be easy --- however, we reserve the right to evaluate the contestant regarding his demeanor. If he enters all of the forms, even if not totally complete (except the essay), comes to our meeting in the following Spring wearing his Eagle uniform and reads his Essay, he is probably going to walk off with $300, of $150 if second place. If his entry wins State he can win more money. Go to our website for more information, http://www.go-lufkin.com/SAR .
At this time, Preston introduced the Speaker, Benjamin Pyle of Apple Springs. Benjamin 'Ben' M. Pyle was born in Apple Springs, TX, the 9th of 13 children of Malrey and Nora Pyle. He served in the United States Marine Corps in WWII and the Korean Conflict. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Banking and Finance from the University of Houston, Graduate School of Banking, SMU, Master of Science Degree in Economics, USC and a Master of Arts Degree in Religion, Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. He is an Ordained Minister, has two sons and one granddaughter. Married to the same woman for 61 years (Ellen).
Ben talked about the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, which was started by FDR (Roosevelt) in 1933 and lasted until 1942. Maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. It was for unemployed, unmarried men from 17 to 23 years of age. The men were paid $30 a month, of which, they sent $25 back home. The age range was later expanded. They build road, bridges, erosion control and flood control projects, planting trees, fire prevention firefighting, elimination of predatory animals, stocking fish and other similar work. It was a very good talk and well received by all.
Neal Naranjo presenting the Certificate of Appreciaton to Ben Pyle.
Secretary Preston on
right.
President Neal Naranjo led the assemblage in the Closing Admonition. Meeting adjourned about 7:30 PM
Fred Preston, Secretary.
