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May 18, 2014
WOLF CREEK HERITAGE MUSEUM NOTES by Virginia Scott MUSEUM HAPPENINGS We are busy planning and gathering items for the new area. As usual when you get new space, it feels us quickly and you need more space. I hope this does not happen too soon but as we plan and receive offer from our donors it seems that way. As I mentioned last week, we are also redoing spaces in the present museum. One is our gift shop. We are going to redo the area as a regular shop nor the usual museum gift shop. Stay tuned as it develops and plan on a shopping spree in our new "shop". The County Commissioners has received good news from the Texas Historical Commission. We have at last received funding for the restoration of the courthouse. The next step is the approval of the commissioners court to fund our part. Look for more information from the county. Memorial Day will be busy in Lipscomb. Starting at 2:30 pm on the courthouse lawn, Anna Lee Barton will host the dedication of a founders memorial (look for her press release). Then following the courthouse event we will travel to the Lipscomb School where Dorothy Schoenhals will host the dedication of the Texas State Historical Marker for the school. Following both ceremonies we will have refreshments in the school. HISTORICAL MUSINGS The first memorial day ceremony occurred in 1866 in Waterloo, New York. A store owner, Henry Welles heard that stories of returning soldiers from the Civil War and suggested that all the shops close for a day to honor the the soldiers who were killed. On the morning of May 5, the townspeople placed followers, etc. on the graves of the soldiers. At about the same time, Retired Major General Jonathan A. Logan planned another ceremony, to lead the veterans through town to the cemetery to decorate their comrades graves with flags. The towns people called it Decoration Day. The General offered the following proclamation: "The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country and during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit." In 1882, the name was changed to Memorial Day. In 1971, along with the other holidays, President Richard Nixon declared Memorial Day a federal holiday on the last Monday in May. Our VFW continues this traditions with our cemeteries to this day assisted by the individual caretakers of the each cemetery. Our own Dorothy Schoenhals and her husband Vernon have been very involved with the cemetery project. LaVaun Kraft has also assisted. I apologize if I have overlooked mentioning some one involved with these important remembrances. See you on Memorial Day. |
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