Treasure Coast Chapter NSDAR Founding Members
Seated from left:
Vera Dixon McEwen, Madalen Dingley Leetch
Standing from left:
Elizabeth Kersey Throckmorton, Esther Bryant Bailey
Mildred Farry Hallock, Sue Bull Barkett, Mary McGonigle Hawley
Elizabeth L. Dingley Walker, Augusta Holmes Vinson
On June 2, 1967, a group of four women gathered for a tea, held in anticipation of forming a Vero Beach chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution. Five months later, on October 18, 1967, their dream was realized. A luncheon meeting held at the historic Ocean Grill provided the backdrop as thirty-five charter members joined together with a common purpose: to promote education, history, and patriotism.
Organizing Regent Madalen Leetch, who also served our national organization as Chairman of the Resolutions Committee, provided capable leadership for the fledgling chapter. By 1976, the year of our nation's bicentennial celebration, the chapter had grown to a membership of eighty and was actively involved with projects ranging from Constitution Week to JAC and American History Month essay contests as well as the DAR Good Citizens Award. In addition, chapter members researched two historic sites and subsequently dedicated historic markers, one at McLarty Museum to commemorate the campsite of the survivors of the 1715 wreck of the Spanish Fleet, the other to memorialize Fort Vinton, a supply post during the Seminole Wars.
In 1981 the chapter held its first annual luncheon/fashion show/bridge party and the event has been sponsored every year since. The annual fund raiser has generated thousands of dollars which have benefited both DAR-supported schools and local high school scholarship programs. The prestigious Golden Apple Award, given for “dedication to leadership in teaching American citizenship values” has been awarded four times, twice to individual members and twice to the chapter as a whole.
As we turn the page to this new millennium, our chapter membership continues its steady growth, today boasting a membership of one hundred eighty three Daughters. We are ever mindful of our rich thirty-four year history and the hard work and dedication of the Daughters who have gone before us. We look forward with eager anticipation to the challenges that lie ahead as we enter the twenty-first century.
Written 2001 by
Denise Haight
Historian 2001-2003
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