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The Spirit of '76 Spring 2021.Pdf THE SPIRIT OF ’76 PUBLISHED BY THE DESCENDANTS OF THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE VOLUME 55 NO. 2 SPRING 2021 DSDI visits “The Promised Land” In a virtual excursion, DSDI members gathered March 13, 2021 for a Zoom visit to the West, following the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Oregon Trail, as well as paying tribute to two brothers who have served the Society for many years. First Vice President-General Marianne Brinker delighted us with a slide presentation on the explorers’ expedition, the Native Americans in the region and life in those early days of our country. Assistant Secretary-General Shelley Cruz provided a video tour of the region (https://youtu.be/U_Y3moLmiOc) and a second video (https://youtu. be/CPdztOS5lFM) featuring Jim and Johnny Alexander, who have performed so many services for DSDI. The brothers Alexander will retire from their positions at the Annual Congress in July and DSDI is so grateful for their work. They joined the Society in 2003. Jim has served as webmaster since 2003 and as Registrar-General since 2007. Johnny has served as Treasurer-General since 2014 and previously served as Assistant Registrar, Historian and Editor of The Spirit of ’76. Johnny lives in Salem and Jim owns a Jim and Johnny Alexander, honored by DSDI for service to the organization vineyard producing pinot noir near Portland. Thirty-seven members of the Alexander family have become members of DSDI. s IN THIS ISSUE From the President-General Scholarship thank-you note Gifts and Contributions page 2 page 6 2020-2021 page 12-13 Annual Congress 2021 Treasurer-General’s Report page 3 page 7 DSDI Registrar-General’s report page 14-15 In Memoriam A farewell note from the page 4 Treasurer-General DSDI Spring Meeting in Indiana page 7 Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous Fall meeting in Princeton page 16 page 5 Looking sharp page 8-9 Livingston family page 5 DSDI Officer and Governor Nominations Scholarship report page 10 page 6 DSDI merchandise page 10-11 Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence From the President-General DSDI Officers, 2020-21 Moving Ahead Through Safest Choices President-General Treasurer-General Lucy Duke Tonacci Johnny D. Alexander Hello DSDI Members! [email protected] [email protected] First Vice President-General Assistant Treasurer-General As we make plans to meet each Annual Congress Nancy McBride Wark Sally G. Fridy other in Philadelphia for the Fourth of July, we realize that our Signers Acting Second Vice Secretary-General in Philadelphia President-General Donald Crosset Ward Jr. must have felt many of the same Shirley Hunter Smith, Ph.D. concerns facing a pandemic. s Assistant Secretary The Society is planning to return to Philadelphia July 3-4, 2021 for the Annual Congress. As decisions Registrar-General Shelley Horsely Cruz Our Scholarship Committee drew are made by the host hotel, the city and Independence National Historic Park concerning COVID-19 James Herbert Alexander, Jr. protocols, we understand that our plans may be altered. [email protected] Chancellor-General attention to this topic when Chair James S. Bainbridge Esq Jill Haimes shared the essay Assistant Registrar-General question at our Virtual Oregon General Meeting March 13 by Zoom: All events will be the same as planned for 2020, including the visit to the Museum of the American Wendy Davis-Bushey Chaplain-General “Looking back at the smallpox epidemic of 1775 to 1782, how might Revolution and the Bell Tapping ceremony. Dr. Shirley Smith, Chair of the Signers Wives Project, will The Rev. W.P. Daphne Hawkes Historian-General your ancestor have been affected by this epidemic?” The Signers, be our speaker at the dinner. All the Tappers scheduled for 2020 are invited to be with us in 2021. Leroy Anderson Keller Immediate Past too, needed to find food and shelter in the safe places, avoiding President-General: the rampant smallpox while they met in Philadelphia. How did they When event details are determined, DSDI will post a notice on our website (www.dsdi1776.com). Assistant Historian-General R. Bruce W. Laubach feel when they gathered at Independence Hall? How did they send Thomas Page Nelson Members who have provided DSDI with their email addresses will be notified via email. If you have messages to each other through the safest circumstances? not provided your email address to the Society, we ask that you send it immediately to Registrar Jim Alexander at [email protected]. Board of Governors We learned a lot about these situations during a long winter and hesitant spring, staying home, missing family, friends and co- Because of the timing for some decisions, we will not be able to prepare and mail the usual printed New Hampshire Lt. Col. Erin P. Hayde, USAF workers. Many of our members worked together in committees by invitation, agenda and registration form. All of that information will be provided on our website, and Massachusetts Ellen Brinker Zoom. We’ve become quite capable of having meetings, church you will be able to register and make your DSDI payment on the website. If you prefer to print and Rhode Island Henry Duke Beecher services and cocktail parties via Zoom. It’s been remarkable for all of mail the registration form, information will be provided on the website. Connecticut Henry Duke Beecher us to learn to use our computers and phones to reach out to others New York Elaine Livingston in new ways. New Jersey Philip Robert Livingston The Annual Congress has always been a special occasion for DSDI and we look forward to resuming Pennsylvania Donald Crosset Ward, Sr. that event this year. Please consider joining us. I thank all of our governors, committee members and board Delaware Constance Wahlig members who have supported each other in our many decisions Maryland Madelyn Sturgeon Gene and Carol Mayhew and I invite all of our members to be involved. It has been a pleasure Virginia Andy Keller Annual Congress Host Committee to visit each other through Virtual Trips. But honestly, I’d rather see North Carolina Nancy McBride Wark you in person. South Carolina Robin Leigh Rawl Georgia P. Randolph Taylor We are waiting patiently as we plan our Annual Congress in District of Columbia Laura Belman Philadelphia for the Fourth of July weekend. We do not know DSDI WEB SITE: www.dsdi1776.com whether we will be tapping the Liberty Bell and sharing time together. The announcements will be made close to the meeting dates. We will be reaching out to you through our private DSDI DSDI dues notices for 2022 were mailed April 1, 2021. We hope Facebook page, in our DSDI website/Members Only, and by email , they arrive without too much delay from USPS. Your prompt , to spread our news. I am confident that we will find a way to meet! payment (by check or PayPal) is appreciated. We welcome submissions Meanwhile, join me in taking Covid shots so that we can shake Dues notices When paying by check use the enclosed self-addressed return hands together during a healthy, happy Fourth of July! If you have information you’d like to submit in mail envelope. Please remember to share your current email address for publication in The Spirit of ’76, send it to: with your payment as we transition to electronic correspondence. Hunter George Sally G. Fridy, Assistant Treasurer-General Editor, The Spirit of ‘76 [email protected] Lucy Duke Tonacci DSDI President-General [email protected] 2 SPIRIT OF ‘76 SPIRIT OF ‘76 3 In Memoriam Fall meeting in Melvin Phillip Livingston Melvin Phillip Livingston, New York Governor for DSDI, died Jan. 30, 2021 at age 88. Mel Princeton was born in Binghamton, N.Y. and served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict. He attended Syracuse University on the GI Bill, receiving a BS in electrical engineering in 1959 s The Fall meeting is scheduled for Oct. 8-10, and an MS in engineering administration in 1965. He was involved in many programs for 2021 in Princeton and Hopewell, N.J. IBM, including the Apollo Project, in which he designed the ground test equipment for the IBM guidance computers in the Saturn V Instrument Unit. He also was project manager for the Our headquarters hotel will be the Nassau Inn U.S. Air Force F-15 computer guidance system. He was chairman of the board for the Central in Princeton, ideally located at Palmer Square. United Methodist Church for 24 years and created a library of all the ministers’ sermons and You will have the Princeton campus, shopping, special music from the 1960s on. He also was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He and restaurants all within walking distance of is survived by his wife Norma, to whom he was married almost 68 years, daughters Elaine Livingston, who recently began serving as co-governor for DSDI, and Cindy Scordino, three our hotel. grandchildren and one great-grandchild. DSDI members can book their reservations by calling the Nassau Inn Reservation Department Truxtun Brodhead at 800 862-7728 or going to the Inn’s website Truxtun Brodhead, 85, former Connecticut Governor of DSDI, died Feb. 17, 2021 in New using the following link: https://reservations. London, Conn. He was born in Bryn Mar, Pa., and served in the U.S. Navy as a submariner travelclick.com/13522?groupID=3183356. Due from 1954 until his discharge in 1957. He went to work for Electric Boat as an electrician to COVID the best method is using the link above and retired after 25 years in 1983. Besides his wife Mary he is survived by one son Paul since the hotel is currently not fully staffed.
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