Point Vicente Chapter member, Pattie Mendez, discovered that the NSDAR marks soldiers’ and patriots’ graves as part of its ongoing Historic Preservation efforts.  She had always been intrigued by a story her mom told of when she was a girl in the 1940’s. Once when visiting her grandmother on Long Island—mostly undeveloped at the time—Pattie and her mother took a walk in the woods stumbling upon a crumbling and long-forgotten graveyard filled with Revolutionary War soldiers’ graves.

Intrigued, Pattie began her preliminary research, then asked her chapter to sponsor the marking of one of her own ancestor’s graves. She then learned about the NSDAR process to mark a patriot’s grave. Following, our chapter gave her the approval to apply for a DAR Patriot Grave Marker for her 5-time great-grandfather John Alderson, Jr.

In order to submit the application to National, she secured written permission from the Old Greenbrier Baptist Church Cemetery in Alderson, West Virginia, location of the gravesite. The chapter lineage committee located the actual proof of patriotic service while Pattie inquired about bronze marker prices before receiving final approval to submit the application. All documents were then sent off to NSDAR with official letter and approval received!

Pattie then contacted the General Andrew Lewis Chapter in Lewisburg, West Virginia and asked if they would be willing to co-sponsor the project—which they agreed. Located near Alderson, their help will be invaluable during the Patriot Grave Marker Dedication Ceremony scheduled for June 18, 2017.