Sons of the American Revolution

Texas Society

Tom Lawrence's Address to the 2009 State Conference

Thank you.  One of the best aspects of being state president is that you get to travel around the state and award medals, which is a lot of fun.  Will Former State President Harry Fife please step forward because I want to start having fun right now.  Harry this is the Past State Presidents pin to be worn on your neck ribbon.  This symbolizes your hard work and all of the things you accomplished over the past year.  Wear it with pride because you have the thanks and appreciation of the entire Texas Society.

     I am proud to have many of my family members here tonight and I ask that you briefly stand when I introduce you.  First and most importantly is the matriarch of the family, my aunt Sheila Peel, who is in the DAR in Alabama.  I am honored to have three of my cousins here, retired Air Force Colonel David Peel and his wife Maggie also from Alabama, Dan Fekety and his wife Jan from Jacksonville, Florida, and Steve Fekety and his wife Kaye from Dallas.

     My daughter Bridgitt is here from New York where she is a consultant to many Fortune 500 companies.  She lives there with her husband Rob, who could not be here tonight and their two daughters Lizzie and Grace who are dressed for the occasion.  My other daughter Francisca is here.  Francisca raised 4 kids and when her kids got involved in FFA she also helped raise a steer, a pig, a lamb and several chickens.  Fran is one of the kindest and sweetest people you will ever meet.  My wife Mickey Jo, many of you know, is an oil and gas attorney with Apache Corporation.  Something you may not know about the newest First Lady of the Texas Society is that when then Gov George Bush was about to resign to be sworn in as President, one of his last appointments was to name Mickey to the Texas Ethics Commission.  A few years ago a non-profit volunteer ambulance service in an unincorporated area of north Houston was on the verge of declaring bankruptcy and having their ambulances repossessed.  Over 250,000 people would have lost their emergency ambulance service.  Mickey was asked to take over as president of the organization and against great odds she saved it.  Now those 250,000 people dial 911 and an ambulance will still come.  That is a legacy anyone would be proud to leave.  She recently became a member of the DAR thanks to Marty Cox and Barbara Stevens.  My cousin Col. Peel often says that I married way above myself.

     Thank you to all of my family for taking the trouble to be here tonight.  I once said much of what I have become and who I am I credit to the influence of my family.  My Aunt Sheila heard me say that last night and said it was not fair to blame that on the family.

     One of the reasons I like the Texas Society is that we are like a big family.  We have Dick Robinett, who is the uncle with all of the great stories you would sit around and listen to after Thanksgiving dinner, and then you have Tom Whitelock, who is the uncle no one talks about.  It is fun to come to these meetings and we recognize that the social aspects draw us back every year.  One of the things that has made it more fun is the Ladies Auxiliary, having our wives here supporting us and working to help us accomplish our goals has been important to our success over the past few years.

     I appreciate PG David Appleby being here tonight particularly with all of the demands on his time.  Thank you to PG Nathan White and his talented wife Wanda, who even after being PG still actively participates in the affairs of the Texas Society and who has agreed to take on the demanding challenge of chairing our Perpetual Fund Trustees for next year.  Thanks also to Judge Ed Butler, who has worked hard for the Texas Society for years and who with his beautiful wife Robin will be working even harder when in another 3 ½ months he will become the 8th Texas compatriot to become PG of the national society.

     We join organizations such as this one to do something significant, to make a difference, and to help people.  We join the SAR in particular because we admire the men and women who fought in the American Revolution and because we share in their ideas and values.  We still believe in the same dream that our ancestors dreamed when they first heard the Declaration of Independence read aloud, and when they first began to understand that their new country could give them freedoms and opportunities no other country afforded their inhabitants.

     As we get older we also increasingly think of what we have accomplished in our life and what legacy we will leave for our descendents.  When you were doing research on your patriot ancestor what made you proudest?  Was it when you found out how much land he owned, or was it when you found out how much he had sacrificed to leave his farm and family behind to join the militia to fight to establish this country?  You only have so many opportunities to leave your mark in this life but being in the SAR provides us with an opportunity if we will only take advantage of it.

     We have such a great product to sell, we are selling Americanism and patriotism and that is why the SAR has survived and prospered for 120 years.  I have never been prouder to be a member of any organization than I am to be a Son of the American Revolution.  We have done, and continue to do, remarkable things for our country.  But we cannot become complacent because our freedoms are not guaranteed.  We cannot just hope our freedoms will be preserved.  Benjamin Franklin said “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”

     The most important work of the SAR takes place in our chapters.  It is the chapters that conduct Youth Programs that teach our young men and women about the American Revolution, and it is the chapters that award Public Service medals and present Flag Certificates.  The work of the chapters gives us visibility in the community, and more importantly it is the chapters that accomplish the goals of our society.  Thomas Jefferson had it right when he wrote a letter to Samuel Knox on February 12, 1810 and said, “The boys of the rising generation are to be the men of the next, and the sole guardians of the principles we deliver over to them.”  Delivering those principles is our most important job.

     What has the Texas Society been doing to deliver these principles?  One way to measure is to look at the number of awards presented to citizens last year.  I am focusing on the programs involving the public because the Youth Contests, Public Service awards, Flag Certificates, and Citizenship awards are aimed at who we want to reach and educate.  Although these awards may not measure all that a chapter does it will give us an idea.

     In totaling those awards from last year, I found we touched the lives of 2019 people. They either entered our contests or were presented with medals or awards.  That is the real business of the SAR, to bring the ideals and principles of our Founding Fathers and Mothers to our fellow citizens.  This doesn’t even count the Color Guard activities or Immigration Ceremonies we participated in, nor does it count the presentations to civic groups and schools.  I think those are very important but we have no way to easily quantify how many people those activities touched.  With these contests we have a way to keep score.  2019 people is impressive and each person had family and friends who were also exposed to our organization, but we can do even better.  We are promoting patriotism and we can’t do that unless we make contact with people, and the more contact the better.  The more we expose people to the SAR the better it is for our country and for the future of our descendants. 

     Chapters who only meet and eat will not help us hold onto the principles that built this country.  Chapters who have no visible impact on the community will not teach our children and new immigrants about the American Dream.  The work of the chapters is critical to achieving our goals so I am asking all chapters to do more this year.  If we work a little harder we can increase the impact we have in Texas.  Benjamin Franklin said “We can make these times better, if we bestir ourselves.”  When I told Mickey I had learned a new word from Benjamin Franklin that meant get up and go to work, she was immediately able to use it in a sentence.  She said “why don’t you bestir yourself out of your recliner and take out the garbage”.

     If you do more it will help your chapter.  More activity means renewed enthusiasm among your members because you will be helping your community.  It will generate publicity and attention from people who don’t even know you exist today, and some may see what you are doing and want to join your chapter.  But the most important thing is that you will be helping to preserve this country in the way Washington and Jefferson envisioned it.  Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of our Philadelphia founders who understood the importance of education, wrote “Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge.  Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights.”  It is not enough to go to meetings and recite the SAR Pledge and think we have helped preserve our freedoms; we must go to schools to accomplish that.

We may not be experiencing the times that try men’s souls like Thomas Paine wrote about in 1776, but we are facing some serious challenges to our American heritage today and true patriots must step forward.  How do we do that?  One way the SAR can help is to touch more lives.  We do it by expanding our programs to more schools, scout troops and JROTC units, by recognizing more firemen and police officers and by giving more certificates and medals to ordinary citizens who exhibit the spirit of those who founded this country or who just fly the American flag.  We should do it because that is why we joined the SAR, to encourage young people, to tell our public servants and veterans that we appreciate the sacrifices they are making for us, and especially because we want to tell people why the sacrifices our patriot ancestors made for them were important.

     And if you really want to leave your legacy for the next generation then inspire a young person.  Five of our most important programs are the Poster Contest, Knight Essay, Eagle Scout Essay, JROTC Essay and the Oration Contest because those contests require a student to actually learn about the American Revolution and write an essay, give a speech or draw a poster about it.  If you put on one of these programs and talk to a student about the American Revolution and encourage them to learn about George Washington and the Minutemen, and help them to understand why it is important, you may introduce them to something that will make a difference in their lives.  They will remember your encouragement and support for years.  When you do that you will feel a little better about yourself and you will make this country a little better.  Isn’t that is why we are in the SAR?

     There will be no bailout or stimulus package for the Texas Society this year.  If we want to inspire and strengthen our succeeding generations to defend our freedoms we are going to have to do it the same way our founding fathers and mothers did, with sacrifice and hard work.  We are going to have to bestir ourselves.

Compatriots and ladies, thank you for electing me to be your president this year.  I look forward to a year filled with good friends, hard work and a little fun along the way.  Thank you.