July 30, 2009

Rotary Club

of Temple

Thursdays at Noon

Wildflower Country Club

www.templerotary.org

2009-2010 Board & Officers

President's Message

Hello fellow Rotarians. I hope you have had a great weekend.

Last week we had a very important presentation. We presented a $10,000 Paul Harris Major Donor Pin to David Yeilding. What an accomplishment! For those that have not been in Rotary very long, almost every Rotarian in our club pays $25 every quarter, this amount totals $100/year and goes toward the Paul Harris fund. This fund is used to pay for many projects including world projects like Polio Plus, the elimination of Polio off the face of the earth. After 10 years of paying into the Paul Harris fund you will have given $1,000 to the fund and earned your Paul Harris Pin. David has given ten times that amount. He has sped up the process by taking advantage of our club matching programs that we have, roughly, twice a year. There are many Rotarians that are going to earn their Paul Harris pins in the upcoming weeks so look out. Also, look for those matching campaigns coming in the future. 

Don't forget the challenge to bring ONE NEW MEMBER into the club this year, and to make sure they become active in club activities. If you want to nominate a new member into the club, there will be nomination forms on the piano for your use.

Last week I announced that we are going to be taking pictures of all the Temple Rotary Club Members and placing those photos on the website. This will allow members to go to the website and match a face with a name. We already have about a half dozen folks on the web now with their photos. Kat Johanns is taking the photos before and after the regular Thursday meetings. The website is a very powerful tool we should all utilize. www.templerotary.org CHECK IT OUT!

Last Weeks Message

Richard Schneider, Rotarian of the Day, presented Dr. Rebecca D. Larson, who spoke about “Nurses, Spies and the Civil War.”  For the past ten years Dr. Larson has taught Economics at Temple High School.   In addition, she has written three books on the subject of spies and nurses during the Civil War,  Blue and Gray, Roses of Intrigue, White Roses, Stories of Civil War Nurses and When a Rose is Not a Rose. 

Appearing in period dress, Dr. Larson regaled the Rotary Club with stories of intrigue, including a story about her distant relative, General Jubal A. Early, General Early is described as an irascible officer.   As if to prove the point, Dr. Larson shared some of his escapades such as cutting Union soldier saddles and then running through camp shouting an alarm.  Of course, when the soldiers mounted their steeds, the saddles failed and the outcome was as General Early had planned!

Dr. Larson introduced us to Belle Boyd, one of the most notorious Southern spies.  Union soldiers occupied the store of Ms. Boyd’s father.  After drilling holes in floors and walls of the store, she would listen to Union plans and send messages to the Confederate soldiers.  Most notably, she warned General Stonewall Jackson of Union battle plans which eventually led to her arrest.  Incarcerating Ms. Boyd never caused her commitment to help the Confederacy to flag. 

According to Dr. Larson, messages to the Confederacy were written in wax on hard boiled eggs.  The messages were revealed once the eggs were held up to coal fired lamps.  Another popular technique was to remove the pit of a peach and replace it with a message.

On a trip to England in 1864, Ms. Boyd met and married a Union naval officer, Samuel Wilde Hardinge.  He died shortly after the war.  Ms. Boyd married twice more before becoming a touring actress and dying of a heart attack while in Wisconsin.  She is buried in Wisconsin.

Rose Greenhow was the next female Confederate spy of note.  Dr. Larson said that Ms. Greenhow was a Southern sympathizer who transferred messages in balls of yarn.  Ms. Greenhow sent a message to General Pierre Beauregard which caused him to win the Battle of Bull Run!  She suffered an ignominious end when she drowned due to the weight of gold coins sewn into the hem of her dress.

Lottie and Ginnie Moon were the last two spies we met.  The Moon sisters called the Civil War, the War of Aggression against the South.  Dr. Larson said that Ginnie Moon was engaged to General Burnside, but at the wedding altar declared that she would not wed him.  Ginnie Moon became an actress who appeared with such famous artists as Douglas Fairbanks.  The sisters never gave up their Southern sympathies to the day each died, Ginnie at 81 and Lottie at 89.

Dr, Larson told us about three women who were vital to the care of soldiers during the Civil War.  Prior to the Civil War women could not practice in the field of medicine.  Ignoring this convention, Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton were two women who went to areas of combat to tend to the wounded.  Clara Barton, in particular, would bring supplies, food and clothing to aid the wounded.

Mother Bickerdyke nursed Northern soldiers.  She made sure that injured soldiers were bathed and had a clean place to sleep.  Most notably, she improved the sanitation of surgical areas at the encampments.

To learn more about this subject, Dr. Larson’s books are available at Border Express, Amazon.com and Thomas Publications. 

100% Dinner

The 100% Dinner is scheduled for August 21st, 2009, at Sammons.

Scheduled Programs for July, August, September

Please let me know if you have a program you would like to share and we will book them.

ITEMS OF INTEREST

Click here to view the March/April 2009 District Newsletter.