Club news: WCHS celebrates Arkansas statehood

Quilters

The Pieces N Patches quilt club will meet at 10 a.m. June 6 at Grace United Methodist Church in Rogers. This month's program will be presented by Donna Murray. The project will be constructing an apron. Bring sewing machine, notions and 13/8 yards of fabric.

Information: (501) 767-7704.

Rotary

The Rotary Club of Fayetteville will meet at 11:45 a.m. June 9 in person and via Zoom at Mermaids Restaurant in Fayetteville. Lunch is $15. The program will be given by Dr. Scott Cooper, president of Mercy Clinic Northwest Arkansas, on the health of Northwest Arkansas. Email the club for a link to the Zoom option.

Information: Email [email protected].

SAR

The General Lafayette Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, will meet at 11:30 a.m. June 11 at the Whole Hog Cafe, 3009 N. College Ave. in Fayetteville. Visitors are welcome.

Information: (479) 521-3194 or (479) 751-2489.

Hikers

The Ozark Hill Hikers, affiliated with the American Volkssport Association, invite all interested walkers to join them for a walk on June 11 in Bentonville. Registration is from 8:30 to 9 a.m. at Casey's Convenience Store at 100 S.E. J St. in Bentonville. There is a fee of $3 for credit and $2 for noncredit. There is a short drive to the start point where participants will choose either a 5K or 10K walk. Membership dues to the Ozark Hill Hikers are $12 a year prorated $1 for each month remaining in the calendar year.

Information: (479) 381-9366.

WCHS

Kelly Houston-Jones, assistant professor of history at Arkansas Tech University, will deliver the main address during the Washington County Historical Society's annual Statehood Day observance at 2 p.m. June 12 on the lawn of Headquarters House Museum at 118 E. Dickson St. in Fayetteville. Houston-Jones is the author of a groundbreaking book, "Slavery on the Ground in Arkansas," published by the University of Georgia Press and the first academic update on the topic since the 1960s.

A native of Clarksville, Houston-Jones obtained her bachelor's degree in history at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, her master's degree at the University of North Texas and her doctorate at the University of Arkansas.

The Washington County Historical Society is one of the only county historical groups in Arkansas continuing to observe Statehood Day with an annual address. The speech will be given off the front porch of the Headquarters House Museum with lawn chairs provided for those attending.

The actual date of Arkansas statehood is June 15, but WCHS observes the date on the Sunday before the actual date each year.

Information: (479) 521-4681 or [email protected].

Lions

The Fayetteville Lions Club has installed new officers for 2022-23. Dean Roland, incoming District 7-1 district governor, was the installing officer.

Installed officers are president, Rick McKinney; first vice president, Dr. John L. Colbert; second vice president, Travis Harbin; secretary, Rick Bailey; treasurer, Aaron Edwards; lion tamer, Milton Jones; tail twisters, Ruth Cohoon and Risa Robinson; and board of directors, David Parrish, Sydney Bailey, Bill Shackleford and Mary Tomlinson. Serving on the membership committee are Dr. Mike Scribner and Willy Mulimbi.

The 100th anniversary of Fayetteville Lions Club will occur May 10, 2023, and plans are now under way for an appropriate celebration.

Information: [email protected].

BCHS

Xyta Lucas will present the program "Dug Hill Through the Years" at the Benton County Historical Society meeting at 2:30 p.m. June 12 at 306 N.W. Second St. in Bentonville. An ice cream social will follow the program.

Dug Hill is a church at Town Center in Bella Vista, just south of the Goodwill building, with a cemetery up the hill behind it. The first church was built there in the late 1860s, and the cemetery is the resting place of some Civil War veterans. Lucas is a native of Kansas but has lived in Bella Vista since 1995 and has volunteered at the Bella Vista Historical Museum since 2012. She is now co-president with Dale Phillips and writes about history for The Weekly Vista.

Information: (479) 273-3561.

Fleet Reserve

Fleet Reserve will meet at noon June 18 at Wagon Wheel Country Cafe, 4080 N. Thompson St. in Springdale. This month, the organization will be presenting Emma Flager, a graduate of Rogers High School, with a certificate and check. Her essay titled "Why I am Proud to be an American" won the Fleet Reserve Association Branch 227 (Northwest Arkansas) and the South Central FRA Region (Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana) competition.

Information: (479) 841-4856 or email [email protected].

Radio Club

The Bella Vista Radio Club will participate in the annual Field Day event sponsored by the American Radio Relay League -- the national association for amateur radio. It will be held from 1 p.m. June 25 to 12:59 p.m. June 26 at Metfield Skills Park in Bella Vista.

Field Day is ham radio's open house. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach and technical skills in a single 24-hour event.

Members will be operating four stations: 1. Phone (voice); 2. CW (morse code); 3. Digital; 4. GOTA (Get on the Air) - where the unlicensed public can get on the air and make contacts with other amateurs around the world with the assistance (control) of an FCC licensed radio operator.

The general public is invited and encouraged to attend. This is a free event.

The Bella Vista Radio Club is the largest amateur radio group in the region.

Information: email [email protected].

  Rick McKinney    Kelly Houston-Jones    A recent announcement was made that a new school will be named for Superintendent of Fayetteville Schools (and Fayetteville Lions Club member) Dr. John L Colbert (right). Colbert follows in the footsteps of previous Fayetteville superintendents (also Lions Club members) F.S. Root and Harry Vandergriff to have the honor of a school named after him. Root was Lions president in 1924, and Vandergriff was president in 1965. Colbert will become Lions president in 2023, the 100th anniversary of the Fayetteville Lions Club. Colbert was invited to Lions Club membership in 2019 by Hugh Kincaid (left), himself a nearly 69-year Fayetteville Lions Club member. (Courtesy photo)    Elizabeth Smith was presented the Bravo Award for outstanding service to the Garden Club of Rogers and to the community. She is chairman for the Butterfly Garden Project in downtown Rogers. She was presented the award at the May meeting by President Laynette Riley. (Courtesy photo)  

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