Category: Clubs

Each October, members of the Rootseekers Genealogical Society have a chance to brag about the ancestors they have been researching. Whether they are Indian chiefs, beggar man, or thief, doesn’t matter. They are all interesting to us.

Charles Sanders led off talking about his grandparents. Harry Hogue was next talking about the first burial in the Payne Cemetery in 1878. Gaylon Patterson spoke of his seventh G. Grandfather who he found in Virginia. Jynelle Caffey was proud to announce that she had 15 G. Grandparents that she could take back to the 1700’s and that she was so proud of her parents. Glenda King spoke of her Cranville family that she found buried in a pasture. Carol Dwinnell spoke of old letters in a box and six books that she has written on her family and that was before computers and she is proud of her heritage. Nina Hendricks recently while on a trip to Georgia found some information on her Revolutionary War Great Grandmother. Her husband had been put in prison and he was cruelly treated and it made this grandmother so mad that she made a uniform for her 14 year old son and took him to the nearest Continental Army Camp and enlisted him saying he was more a man than any Tory, Margaret Ann’s Great Grandparents came from Sweden after a famine in their country, they landed in Illinois then came to Texas, Frank Stokes spoke of his research that he started 35 years ago, Mary Beth Haley spoke of her mother working in an aircraft factory where they made B-36 bombers

Tuesday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to noon some one will be in the library to help anyone who wishes to learn to do research. If anyone is interested in a beginners class to learn about family research please let someone in the library know. If we get enough for a class it will be announced in the paper.

CASA members gave a talk to the Sarah Maples Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution recently.

Sally and Darla from CASA, really gave an eye opening talk about what they love. They are volunteers from “Court Appointed Special Advocates.”

CASA is a national volunteer movement that began more than 30 years ago, when Judge David Soukup in Seattle decided he needed to know more about the children whose lives were in his hands. He asked community volunteers to act as a “voice in court” for abused and neglected children. CASA volunteers provide him with the detailed information he needed to protect the children’s best interests and ensure that they were placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. Today, the CASA movement has evolved into one of the largest volunteer organizations in the United States.

CASA is unique in that it empowers ordinary people to serve as officers of the court and work with and on behalf of foster children. Because of their important position in the court system, CASA volunteers can make a lifelong difference in the life of the child they represent. They can stop the cycle of abuse and neglect for generations to come.

A CASA volunteer gets to know the child and speaks to everyone involved in the child’s life, including family members, teachers, doctors, lawyers, social workers and others. Casa gathers information and makes recommendations to help the court make informed decisions, they commit to a child until the case is closed and the child is in a safe, permanent home.

Children without CASA volunteers spend a longer time in foster care and are less likely to get the help and services they need. You can be the difference! Consider volunteering or make a donation to support the important work of CASA. Contact CASA of Trinity Valley, 1104 E. Tyler St. Athens, 903-675-7070.

Pictured are Vice Regent Suzanne Fife, Sally Simon, Darla Costellow, and Regent Helen Preston.