| E-Notice |
THIS IS SURRATTS FOUNDATION E-NOTICE 2012-4
OF APRIL 1, 2012
Hello Hornets:
Here are some items that might be of
interest:
1.
ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR CAREER EXPO
AT SCHOOL.
The School is hosting a Career Expo on Friday April 13, 2012 from
8:00 a.m. to noon. Alumni in all career fields are encouraged
to participate. Please contact Eddie Tyson at the School, at etyson@pgcps.org
or 301-599-2453 ext. 276, if you can lend your efforts to this very
worthy cause. (Naturally, it would be wonderful if a
significant number of alumni participated in this great event.)
2.
FOUNDATION'S ALMA MATER EFFORTS BEAR
IMMEDIATE MUSICAL FRUIT!
Our readers may recall that last year the Foundation "re-discovered"
for the School the music and lyrics to the Alma Mater and the Fight
Song. We received this exciting musical report from Kirsten
Simpkins at the School about the results of those efforts:
"Yes, the re-discovered alma mater is now performed regularly at the
School! It's been exciting! Members of the choir sing it on
the morning announcements on Mondays and it has been performed at
two choir concerts and the honor roll assembly. Our Choir
Director has really made an effort to make sure that it is a part of
every assembly we have now. Additionally, every choir student
was required to learn it and the band is learning it so they can
play it at every football game next school year. Thanks again
for your efforts. Our Choir Director has shared that he wants
to have several students record it so we can place it on the SHS
website, so when he does I'll make sure you are forwarded a copy."
Thanks again to our alumni volunteers who
helped re-create these two historical musical treasures!
3.
SURRATTSVILLE HISTORY CONTINUES TO BE A
TOPIC OF DISCUSSION.
We received this interesting email from Carol Tisdale Whitsell (64):
"Regarding the recent e-Notice item about the Mary Surratt question
on Jeopardy, it has been my experience that those who were not born
in one of the 13 original colonies seem to know little of the
history of Mary Surratt. So, sadly, I’m not at all surprised
by this Jeopardy news. They probably don’t know about the War
of 1812 either! On that note, many events are underway to
commemorate the 200th
anniversary of the War of 1812. I’m just finishing up a
three-year term as MD State President of the U.S. Daughters of 1812,
and am excited that Benedict, MD (in Charles County) will finally
get some well-deserved attention as that is where the British came
ashore in 1814 to burn Washington, D.C., the only time the United
States has been invaded on land by a foreign nation! Carol"
[Ed note: I recall form my SHS history
class with Dutch Anderson that Southern MD and the Baltimore area
had particular significance during the War of 1812, well beyond
Francis Scott Key's penning of "The Star Spangled Banner" during the
bombardment of Ft. McHenry.]
And we received this email from John
Jezisek (72): "Interesting item in the last e-Notice about
Mary Surratt. I am now amazed that there was not a required
course to educate and bring to our attention the importance of the
Surratt family, the community as it played out after the Lincoln
assassination, and more than the fact that John Wilkes Booth stopped
by one night. Mary Surratt: guilty or not guilty? I have
read many books and one can argue both sides of the issue but one
cannot dispute that her son John was involved as he knew well in
advance of the plan to kill Lincoln and members of his staff and was
in a position to inform authorities in an effort to stop Lincoln’s
assassination. But he chose to get out of the USA and live
aboard while his mother took the ultimate fall. There's a good
wikipedia article on John Surratt at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Surratt,
the book "Bloody Crimes" by James Swanson is a good one."
And, as noted in January, we have been
provided with some additional historical information about
Surrattsville and Clinton, and we'll feature it from time-to-time in
this year's e-Alerts. This month's item is the following
undated article from the Star News, from the 1975-6 era, by Lorrenzo
Middleton:
"The Name of Surratt Still Held in Esteem:
The local people in the Clinton area of southern Prince George's
County have been standing behind the good name of Mary E. Surratt
for a hundred years. The widow of a prominent land owner, Mrs.
Surratt was hanged on July 7, 1865, for conspiring to shoot
President Abraham Lincoln. Three weeks after her execution,
the federal government added insult to the protesting residents of
their little community – then called Surrattsville – by changing the
name of the town.
But the people of the area have maintained
her innocence throughout the years and continue to hold the Surratt
name in high esteem. In defiance of the federal government,
they refused to remove the Surrattsville name from the local
election district and have added the title to roads, schools,
housing developments and businesses in the region. The latest
effort to bring attention to the plight of what one resident calls
'the most maligned woman in American history' has been a long
struggle for the restoration of her house as a historic landmark.
After more than six years of research,
planning and delays, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning
Commission announced this week that construction finally is about to
begin and that restoration of the house should be completed by next
summer. The county and state governments have appropriated
about $140,000 to buy land around the house and to return it to its
19th
century appearance. Now boarded-up and unoccupied, the
crumbling two-story frame house stands just off a busy Clinton
intersection on Brandywine Road.
Thomas S. Gwynn, Jr., chairman of the
Committee for the Restoration of the Surratt House, says the
restored house will serve as an historical attraction for the area
and will 'help correct the bad name that has been given to Mary
Surratt.' Gwynn said the house was built in 1840, overlooking
a 1200 acre corn and tobacco farm. The house later was
converted into a country store and tavern which became the center of
community activity.
When John Surratt died in 1862, his widow
leased the tavern and moved with two children to the District, where
she operated a boarding house near Ford's Theater. John Wilkes
Booth, one of her roomers, was said to have conspired with others in
the rooming house to assassinate Lincoln. On April 14, 1865,
the night of the shooting, Mrs. Surratt was roused from her bed by
federal troops at 11:30 p.m. and charged in the conspiracy.
She maintained her innocence until she was hanged three months
later. She had been further linked to the assassination,
however, by the tavern operator who claimed she had left guns,
ammunition and supplies for Booth, who stopped at the tavern on his
escape route.
Mrs. Surratt admitted being at the tavern on
the afternoon of the shooting, but she said it was only to collect
rent. She was convicted and sentenced to death by a military
tribunal. Partly because of the public outcry over the case,
the government later halted military trials of civilians."
[Ed. note: The continuing scholarship
on this matter certainly has gotten more "nuanced" since 1975!]
4.
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENT PLAYS
PRINCIPAL.
A new movie just opening, "Detachment,"
stars Achievement Award recipient and Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden
(76) as a high school principal. Marcia's performance has been
hailed by critics (as have been all of her performances!), and the
film has been described as an unflinching, hard-hitting and
effective tale about a failing school. Of course, that bears
no similarity to her experiences while at Surrattsville, so Marcia
had to draw on her extraordinary dramatic talents!
5.
SEEKING 49-50 CLASS PHOTOS.
Tom Satterfield (52) is seeking Boomerang photos of the sophomore
class from September 1949 to June 1950. Please email Tom at
bigtomsatterfield@yahoo.com
if you might be able to help.
6.
CLASS OF 82 PLANS REUNION.
The
Class of 82 is beginning work on its 30 Year Reunion. Please
contact Scott Gavel at
scott.gavel@att.net
if you have any contact information on members of the Class of 82 or
on members of their families.
7.
CLASS OF 76 TAKES LEAD AGAIN ON
"SURRATTSVILLE BLUE CRABS NIGHT."
We received the following from
Class of 76 ORC Evan Vutsinas: "Happy March Hornets!
Here are details for this years' 3rd Annual Surrattsville Night at
Blue Crabs Stadium. For the amazing price of $20.00 per
person, attendees will receive parking, game admission into the left
field party pavilion, and a two hour Texas Roadhouse
all-you-care-to-eat buffet dinner including dessert and soft drinks.
Besides some pretty good baseball, don't miss the awesome fireworks
display after the game as well! This invitation is for Hornets
from every era. Last year the 50s through the 2010s were
represented.
Here's the link to sign-up:
http://mb1.glitnirticketing.com/mbticket/web/gp_list.php?refresh=1330538310.
First, click on the link. This will take you to a security page
where you will be asked to type the letters that you see - this is
case sensitive. Once you pass that
test, you'll be sent to the page where you will enter our secret
code, which is SHS. Again, this is case sensitive. Finally you
will be asked to enter the number of tickets you are purchasing and
you'll be led through the traditional payment process. We hope
to see many of you at Regency Furniture Field in Waldorf on
Saturday, June 23rd!
Evan,
EVTiger@comcast.net"
8.
REQUEST FOR FOUNDATION BOARD MEMBERS.
The Foundation is seeking individuals willing to serve on the
Foundation's Board. If you might be willing to lend your
talents to this very worthy cause, please send an email to
hsmith@smithdowney.com.
9.
CLASS OF 97 PLANS REUNION.
The Class of 97 is busy
planning its 15 year reunion for mid-summer 2012. The Class has a
web page at
http://shs1997reunion.blogspot.com/2011/05/shs-class-of-1997-2012-15yr-reunion.html.
Please contact Monica Crown at
monicacrown@gmail.com if you
would like information on the event or if you have any contact info
for members of the Class of 97 or their families.
10.
CLASS OF 71 PLANS REUNION.
The Class of 71 is holding a
reunion event near Annapolis on Saturday June 23, 2012. For
information, please join the "Surrattsville 1971" Group on Facebook
(which is about to be one of the first Surrattsville Class Groups on
Facebook to crest 100 members!), or contact Darlene Monaco (71) at
darmonaco@gmail.com,
cell: 443-831-1643 or home: 410-544-1471.
11.
CLASS OF 62 PLANS 50 YEAR REUNION.
The Class of
62 is planning its 50 Year Reunion. Here are the details from
the Reunion Committee: "Crystal City Marriott, Crystal City, VA,
June 22, 23 and 24, 2012, Dinner on Saturday Night June 23.
Party like you're 18 again! Party like it's 1962!
Reunion Committee: Terry Buckley Osman (terryosman@yahoo.com)
410-320-2668 or 410-586-3911, Kathy Dorsey Larrabee (kklarrabee@verizon.net)
410-353-3432 or 410-897-0332, Jerry Spence (jnsspence@comcast.net)
240-216-0189 or 240-419-2661, Len Owens (lowens15@nc.rr.com)
443-206-2567. Please join us on Facebook if you are a member.
12.
REQUEST FOR HISTORICAL PHOTOS AND
ARTIFACTS.
Thanks to our readers, there are a number of new historical, and
recent, photos on the "Photos" page
on the web site at
www.surrattsville.org that
might be of interest to many of our readers. If you have any
photos that you think might be of interest to our readers and web
site visitors please send them to me at
hsmith@smithdowney.com.
13.
SEARCH THE WEB AND SUPPORT THE FOUNDATION.
Some of our readers use the goodsearch.com web search function to do
their web searching, and by doing so generate automatic
contributions by goodsearch.com to the Foundation. To use
goodsearch.com as your search engine and to designate the Foundation
as the beneficiary of donations by goodsearch.com, simply by going
to goodsearch.com and, at the "Choose Your Cause" button enter
"Surrattsville Foundation" (and that will take you to a page that
says "Surrattsville High School Foundation (Baltimore – MD)" (the
mailing address for the Foundation).
Thanks for considering this painless, and
free, way to support the Foundation every time you search the web!
14.
REQUEST FOR PRINCIPALS'
PHOTOS FOR LEGACY WALL.
As noted in the last e-Notice, the Foundation is seeking photos of
all of Surrattsville's Principals (since 1907!) to include on the
new, Foundation-sponsored "Legacy Hall" at the School. If you
have any paper copies of photos of Principals that you would be
willing to snail mail to us for scanning and a prompt return to you,
please mail them to Henry Smith, 1 W. Pennsylvania Avenue, Suite
950, Towson, MD 21204. If you have the ability to scan a digital
copy of a Principal's photo – perhaps from your yearbook – please
send me an email at
hsmith@smithdowney.com
so I can tell you if we already have that particular photo. If
we don't, and you could kindly scan the photo and email it to us
that would be great. (Especially if the scan is "high
resolution," which is better for enlarging to 8 x 10 size for
framing.)
Thanks in advance for any assistance you can
provide with this latest Foundation project.
15.
COLLECTED SCHOLARSHIP AND ACHIEVEMENT
AWARD PHOTOS NOW ON WEB SITE.
As previously reported, we're delighted to note that the collected
photos of all of the Foundation's Scholarship recipients and
Achievement Award recipients (since 2000) are now accessible on one
page on the web site by clicking the "Photos" button on the home
page (at
www.surrattsville.org).
Larger photos, and full bios, of those outstanding members of the
Surrattsville community may be found by clicking the Scholarship and
Achievement Award buttons on the web site. And those great
photos can be seen "live" in the great new, Foundation-sponsored
"Legacy Hall" in the main hallway at the School.
16.
FOUNDATION FACEBOOK PRESENCE CONTINUES TO
GROW.
The Foundation's Facebook Group – called
"Surrattsville Alumni" – continues to grow, and is now approaching
1300 members. This is a great, and free, way for folks to stay
in touch. Similarly, the Class-specific Facebook Groups – that
have names like "Surrattsville 1973" and the like -- continue to
grow. Please consider joining the Surrattsville Alumni Group,
and your own Class-specific Group, to get the latest news on alumni
events.
17.
BOOMERANGS/ALUMNI-FACULTY-STAFF
DIRECTORIES/AND WINDOW STICKERS AVAILABLE.
The Foundation has a limited
supply of yearbooks from 1991, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.
If you'd like one of these yearbooks (which are available for $15
including shipping and handling), please send an email to
hsmith@smithdowney.com.
Thanks to the herculean work of Pat Becker
Oles (71), the Foundation's 2000 Alumni/Faculty/Staff Directory has
been updated for 2010, and now includes fascinating "what I'm up to"
paragraphs from those who submitted directory information. If
you would like a copy of the Directory, send a $20 check payable to
the Foundation to: Henry Smith, One W. Pennsylvania Avenue,
Suite 950, Towson, MD 21204.
Pat Becker Oles (71) also kindly
handles the Foundation's "Surrattsville Alumni" window stickers
project. Pat notes that the stickers are
not
the "static cling type," that stick to the inside of a window.
Instead, they are the "stick to the outside type," that can stick on
a window or bumper, and use "repositional adhesive" (meaning no
sticky residue). Information about purchasing the stickers can
be found on the web site at surrattsville.org.
Here's hoping many of you are experiencing a
gorgeous Spring! Henry Smith (71)
In Memoriam
PAUL ANDREW GWYNN (49) died on February 10
after a long, tough battle with cancer. Born January 3, 1931,
he was the son of the late Thomas S. Gwynn Sr. and the late Avis
Mary Middleton Gwynn. Paul was the single graduate of Surrattsville
High School in 1949 and attended Duke University. He was a school
bus driver while working at the family business, and then became
manager and eventual owner of Clinton Motor Company, a Ford
dealership established by his father. He enjoyed his family,
friends, farming, hunting, fishing, crabbing and spending countless
days at the beach house at Broome Island. He was a member of the
Aylor Hunt Club in Madison County. He was never one to shy away
from a good days work and passed that trait onto his children.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife,
Bertha Mary in 2001 and a son, Thomas Mark in 1972. He is
survived by his brother, David Gwynn, a sister, Christina Evald and
his children : Paula Boundy (69), Sandra Martin (72), Russell (73),
James (78), Bernard (79), Mary Charlotte (79), Alan (81), Wayne (82)
and Jeffrey (88), many grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and
many nieces and nephews.
JACK GILBERT (69) died on March 26 from
complications of pneumonia. A memorial service will be held on
Saturday, May 12, at 11:00 a.m., with reception following. The
service will be held at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, Jack's home
church for over 30 years. Bel Air is at 16221 Mulholland Drive, Los
Angeles, CA 90049. Here is a link to directions to the church: http://www.belairpres.org/default.aspx?page=500173.
No RSVP is needed. There is another way in which Jack is
being memorialized. In accordance with his family's wishes,
The Jack Gilbert Memorial Scholarship has been set up in at Azusa
Pacific University, the college where Jack was a screenwriting
professor. Donations can be made to Azusa Pacific University, with
"Gilbert Memorial Scholarship" on the check memo line, and mailed to
Azusa Pacific University, University Advancement, 901 E. Alosta
Avenue, Azusa, CA 91702.
MANY THANKS TO THESE EARLY DONORS TO THE
2012 CAMPAIGN!
Patricia Becker Oles (71)
Steve Profilet
(71)
Nancy Miller (67)
Bob Marr (71)
Debbie Cox Marr (72)
Elizabeth Lee Gleisberg May (78), In memory of loving parents Ray
and Dorothy Gleisberg
Sandra Smith Simmons (70)
Donna Rae
Sturtevant Smith (70), In memory of Lt. Col. Benjamin Norcia (USAF,
Ret), long-time Surrattsville substitute teacher, and Mary A. Norcia
Henry Smith (71), In memory of Lt. Col. Benjamin Norcia (USAF, Ret),
long-time Surrattsville substitute teacher, and Mary A. Norcia
Tom Shultz (71), In memory of Earl and Charlotte Shultz
Duke
Coleman (53), In memory of Donald England (53)
Kurt Actug
Linda Dorsey Blum (66)
Coach Lew Jenkins (former faculty)
Lawrence Romjue, In memory of Lois Marie Osgood (57), "Rubber ball,"
"bouncy bouncy, "bouncy-bouncy," "Bobby Vee"