Parker County Today December 2016 | Page 79

and the country said , ‘ Hey , that has been 50 years . These guys never really got a good welcome home . Why don ’ t we welcome them home ?’ We are one of the sponsors of those kind of organizations . What do we do ? There ’ s the youth programs and working with veterans .”
For the SAR , history is the baseline for the organization . One of the many reasons that the SAR works with kids is because of the acceptance and curiosity they can offer . Both Connelley and Vaughn have been involved with reenactments their organization puts on and they have found that though adults may enjoy the display , it ’ s the kids that are more inquisitive . “ I ’ ve been to Williamson County , not as a re-enactor but part of the program ,” Connelley said as he gave an example . “ Kids will come up to you and ask you things . Adults kind of just stand there . That ’ s why the programs are more directed at kids , because they ask .”
So , by engaging that curiosity early the SAR can encourage a lifelong interest and even connections in families . To them , having kids interested in history keeps history alive . But they don ’ t just leave it at honoring veterans . Each meeting is typically dedicated to a certain topic that changes but has something of a general interest to the organization . They honor a police officer , a firefighter , and an EMT through the months of January , February and March , respectively . And this last month they participated in various ceremonies for Veteran ’ s Day .
Getting involved in the SAR generally takes a little bit of research before admittance is approved . “ Normally , someone comes to us that has the interest ,” Oliver said . “ In my case , I had three ancestors that I didn ’ t know about until I was 40 or 50 years old . In all honesty , I was more focused on my career and I didn ’ t much care . But , I ’ ve always had an interest in history . It ’ s something that a lot of people can start to track that down , they trace it down to someone who fought in the Revolutionary War , then all of a sudden that peaks the interest in that particular person . First of all , they will be reaching out when they first find out about the SAR just like anything else . They generally reach out to us . They come to us and we are joined by that sort of common history interest , specifically the interest in the Revolutionary War period . The connection of history brings a certain group of people together .”
“ We understand the tedious hours of going through page after page after page , line after line and you start to realize that you came from somewhere . You came from somewhere . It ’ s a part of you and all of a sudden it becomes important . We have meetings that bring in 20 to 30 . Sometimes a little more , sometimes a little less , and so you can understand that we don ’ t have a hundred at every meeting , that ’ s the way it is . It affects people differently but it is important , and I think that most of us can look back and say that it ’ s important for the youngsters to understand . It is more important today than it has ever been and maybe if they can look at grandpa and say ,
‘ What ?’ It ’ s our country ; it ’ s what started us . That is us ,” Connelley said . “ You hear people talk about it and you think , ‘ wait a minute , I found this over here and if my great , great , great-grandpa was there and so was his [ Oliver ’ s ], there is a fair chance that they knew each other .”
And with so many greats having crisscrossed all over Parker County , it ’ s no wonder the SAR are so important . The preservation of history is something that seems to connect us no matter how far apart the distance . At a more recent meeting it was asked how many people are related to someone who fought at a certain battle . “ So we had 20 or so guys put their hands up and a handful of them were in Fort Worth ,” Oliver said . “ And they can go back into their line five , six and seven generations that all fought at a particular battle . It ’ s this collective sharing , all connected in the Revolution .”
“ The thing we lose track of is the smallness of things in 1876 compared to today ,” Connelley said . “ Those men who started our country and where their descendants fanned out to is important . You find the same kind of paths and history connections in New Mexico , Oklahoma , Alabama , Iowa — people organized the same way . I always wonder , I always ask people : ‘ How did you get here ? Why in the world did you pick Weatherford to come and live ?’ And it ’ s interesting because everybody ’ s kind of got a different answer yet they ’ re all here .”
DECEMBER 2016 PARKER COUNTY TODAY
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