Dear California Daughters,

To cap off the celebration of NSDAR’s 125th anniversary, many chapters participated by having a special day of service on October 11, 2015.  The National Board of Management observed our milestone a few days early in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  First was Ferry Farm, the boyhood home of George Washington.  Next was beautiful, historic Kenmore Plantation, home of George Washington’s sister, Betty Washington Lewis.  From there, we held a wreath ceremony at the grave of George’s mother, Mary Ball Washington.  Assisting in the completion of this monument was one of the first projects of our Society.  Lastly, we conducted a wreath ceremony at the grave of Eugenia Washington, one of our four founders and member #1.

After a rush to finish tax season, I attended Dedication Day at Kate Duncan Smith DAR School in Grant, Alabama, where it was a privilege to dedicate the gifts this year from California Daughters, including the purchase of, now, three classrooms of desks.  Thank you all for your generosity.

November is a time for thankfulness—first, thankfulness for our veterans on November 11.  Veterans Day came early for me when I attended the burial last month at Arlington National Cemetery of a long-time friend, a retired Major General in the Air Force.  He was described as “a servant among servants and a hero among heroes.”  In November 1863, Abraham Lincoln memorialized the thousands of Union soldiers who fell on the battlefields of Gettysburg where he called for the living to resolve that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”  Please take every opportunity to thank a veteran this month, particularly our Vietnam veterans.

Another time for thankfulness comes on Thanksgiving Day, the day set aside to give thanks for the boundless blessings we enjoy.  For my husband and me, it is truly a special day of celebration and praise because we married on Thanksgiving Day in 1977.  This year our 38th anniversary will be spent in Texas, celebrating with family.

In the words of W. J. Cameron, “Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.”  As we fly the flag on the 11th and enjoy Thanksgiving on the 26th, let’s make this November the month where we in all ways Celebrate America!  and Celebrate Service!…to God, Home, and Country.

Carol Oakley Jackson
California State Regent