A meeting of the Lt. Nathan Gann Chapter, S. A. R., was held at 7 PM Thursday, January 18, 2007 at the Golden Corral Restaurant in Lufkin, Texas. Members and guests arrived after 6 PM to eat prior to the meeting.

President Fred Preston called the meeting to order.   Prior to the invocation, Preston said a few words about Thornton Savage. Thornton transferred from the Fredonia Chapter in Nacogdoches to the Lt. Nathan Gann Chapter sometime in the summer of 2006.  Thornton and his wife were living at Pine Crest and both were in poor health.   Preston said when he found that Thornton was on the roster of the Fredonia chapter with a Lufkin address, he contacted Thornton who was in the hospital at that time.   He kept in touch by phone and email but Thornton couldn't attend any meetings.   Thornton did submit his autobiography and intended to come to the January meeting, however, he had a relapse and died January 14th.  Even though he never became active in the chapter, he will be missed.

At this time Preston called upon Chaplain Lester Sparks to give the invocation.   After the invocation, Neal Naranjo led the assemblage in the pledges to the American Flag and the SAR Flag.

Preston then recognized the guests.  Members present were:  Fred Preston, Neal Naranjo, Fred Jacobs, Woody Gann, Tom Gann, Lester Sparks, Ray Spivey, Buddy Zeagler, Martin Netherland and John Windham.. Guests were introduced which included  Betty Preston, Honora Jacobs, Fred C. Jacobs, Sam (prospective member) and Mary Griffin,  Bessie* Spivey, Mildred Sparks*, Vicki Gann, Bob Inselmann (prospective member) and Sonny Hall (speakers wife),.   In all there were 10 members and 10 guests. The weather probably resulted in the low attendance. (* denotes DAR)

Fred Jacobs made a motion to accept the minutes as mailed out and posted on the web page, Neal Naranjo seconded. Motion carried.

No treasurer's report but Preston indicated there was almost $7,000 in the CD account but the checking account was empty.

Old business: First order of business was the election of officers.  The nominating committee recommended leaving the current slate of officers in tact.   Woody Gann made a motion to this effect, Tom seconded and the motion carried.   A list of officers was given to all members at the end of the meeting.

Preston reported he received one poster from St Cyprians school and 5 from Piney Woods Academy.  He asked Woody, Tom, Neal and Buddy to remain after the meeting to judge posters and review the Eagle Scout applications.  Results of the Poster Contest are shown here.  Preston also made another appeal to get the autobiographies in and explained the purpose was to get to know each other better.   There was no other old business.

New Business: New members. Two members have transferred from the Fredonia Chapter to our chapter. These are Jerry Coffman who lives in Arkansas and John Windham, mayor of Center.  John was present and Preston asked him to come forward and presented him with a rosette (lapel pin).

John Windham, new member transferred from Fredonia Chapter.

Preston then asked Ray Spivey to come forward and presented him with his certificate and rosette.  Ray is from Nacogdoches.

Ray Spivey, new member from Nacogdoches.

 
Buddy Zeagler was also asked to come forward and he was presented with his certificate and rosette.  It was also mentioned that Jasper Lee was accepted on Dec. 20th, 2006.  This means we had 5 new members and 2 transfers in 2006.

Buddy Zeagler, new member from Lufkin.

The subject of forming a color guard was discussed.  The plan was that members would volunteer, purchase their own uniform and participate in local parades, flag retirement ceremonies etc.  Preston asked for a motion for the chapter to try to form a color guard.  Fred Jacobs made the motion and Neal Naranjo seconded.  Naranjo was wearing a  partial  uniform at the meeting.  Volunteers so far are Neal Naranjo, Tom Gann, Woody Gann and maybe Fred Preston. (check the link to color guards on the main page of our web site, http://go-lufkin.com/SAR    ) Uniforms can be brown, green, blue or whatever.

Naranjo in partial uniform, beginning of a color guard!

Next subject was Money.  Preston asked Woody Gann, Lester Sparks and Tom Gann to come up with suggestions for what to do with the money in our CD account.  Some will need to be transferred to checking but we have plenty to contribute to someone.  Also on the subject of money, Preston asked Naranjo to talk about his idea.  He feels we can do flag retirement ceremonies for local businesses and also sell them flags which we purchase wholesale.  Naranjo thinks we could raise $200 to $300 a year doing this.

The last item was meeting day of the week and week of the month.  Out of 10 members only 4 were received.  Will follow up via email.

At this time Art Hall was introduced.  Art is from the Athens Chapter and he talked about "The Revolutionary War in the South".  Art used a large map and marking pens to show the movement of troops during the war.  It was very a very interesting and educational talk.  After a question and answer period, Preston presented Art with a Certificate of Appreciation. 

Our speaker, Art Hall and wife Sonny.

Art showing troop movements during Revolutionary War in the South.

 
Members were reminded that the next meeting will be Wednesday March 28th and the speaker will be the TXSSAR President, George West.  George is from west TX and the only way we could have him visit our chapter is to go with Wednesday.  He is meeting with Tyler and Athens on Monday and Tuesday and then us.  Want to get as many members and guests to attend as possible.  Come and invite your friends, DAR's or whatever.   Also, Naranjo had talked with West and found out that he likes to ask each member present to stand up, give their name, their ancestors name and something about their ancestors.

Preston asked each of the members to come up and get a handout which was a complete list of chapter members, six autobiographies and a list of chapter officers.

Additional Pictures Here

The meeting was adjourned about 8:15 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Fred Preston