Ten members and three guests attended our January 17, 2015 winter meeting at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Governor Donna Derrick announced that the next Jamestowne Society meeting will be held in Williamsburg, May 15-16. There will be a riverboat luncheon cruise on May 15, followed by the Governors’ Dinner. The Membership Luncheon will be on May 16 at the Williamsburg Lodge. Mrs. Derrick and Past Governor Ginny Gotlieb plan to attend. Our 2015 Annual Meeting will be on May 30, at the University of San Diego.
Jim McCall reported that Dominion Power’s proposed project to build several 300- foot power transmission towers across the James River in the Jamestown environs appears to have been slowed. As a part of its permit consideration process, the US Army Corps of Engineers received over 10,000 comments at the close of the public comment period on December 9. We also submitted our First California Company comments as among about 17 groups that have been recognized as Consulting Parties for this process. They include Preservation Virginia, Save the James Alliance, National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, National Parks Conservation Association and Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
Jamestowne Rediscovery, the group that manages the archeological dig at Historic Jamestowne, was spun off from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and is being reorganized as a special fund by Preservation Virginia. First California will consider our continued support in the future.
The 2015 Southern California Genealogical Society’s Genealogy Jamboree will be held June 5-7 at the Burbank Airport Marriott. Historian Scarlett Stahl has arranged for a table for us. Scarlett, Donna, Julie Plemmons and George Horn have volunteered to man the table. More volunteers would be appreciated.
First California Company members then joined other heritage societies for a luncheon and program hosted by the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of California. The speaker was Governor General Gerald Gettys Tyrrell of The General Society of Colonial Wars. His talk was titled The Purpose of Purpose, and a summary follows:
“Why does our Society and others have a purpose statement? What does it accomplish for organizations such as ours? Most Societies have a stated purpose in their organizational documents. Adherence to this statement of purpose focuses the group’s efforts and activities. By doing this, the group obtains superior operational results when compared to organizations that either ignore their stated purpose or do not have one.
“Successful organizations must have a purpose. All successful organizations have a larger purpose that should be kept in mind in addition to their stated purpose. And that is keeping their membership’s needs and interest in focus as they achieve their respective stated purpose. Finally, while focusing on their purpose they should try to have a “jolly good time” in those activities. Use your Society’s purpose as an anchor. Without purpose the organization and its objectives are greatly weakened.”
