By Rebecca Hold, Vice-Regent, and Publicity Chairman
Mary June Cashman was the hostess of the first Okemah Chapter meeting of the year for the Daughters of the American Revolution Sept. 20 at Pepinos Restaurant in Okemah.  After the opening ritual and flag salute, chapter Regent, Velda Jo Bradley, gave a report on the Continental Congress that she, Sherri Case, and Kay Cook attended  this summer in Washington, D. C. 
Chaplain and Veteran’s Committee Chairperson, Susan Barnett, was honored and presented with a Viet Nam War lapel pin signifying her service in Viet Nam.  
DAR is always proud to honor and recognize our veterans and will be hosting a reception for all veterans at 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Okemah American Legion. 
A very interesting and informative program was given by member Judith Drennan titled, “Four Women Revolutionary War Era Heroes Your Class Forgot to Mention.” 
The first lady patriot was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, being one of the first women to fight for women’s suffrage. When the troops near Boston ran out of bullets, she collected all the silver and steel she could find in her house and melted it down for the soldiers to use for ammunition. 
The second lady patriot was Sybil Ludington, the” Whistleblower” who at 16 years of age rode 40 miles on horseback to warn her father’s troops that the British had invaded Danbury, CT, looting and burning everything in their way.  The head’s up gave American troops time to prepare and gather their troops to fight back. 
The third lady patriot was Mercy Otis Warren, known as the Conscience of the American Revolution.  Her intellect was so valued that men like Samuel and John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and General Henry Knox asked for her opinion on political matters.  She wrote political satire for local Massachusetts newspapers anonymously so she as a woman could be published.  She finally wrote, under her own name, the first ever published history of the American Revolution, “The History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution.” 
The fourth lady patriot was Deborah Sampson, the fighter, and the Revolutionary War’s Joan of Arc.  She was so passionate for the cause of the Revolution that at 18 years of age she, disguised as a man, and fought more than two years until she was too sick to fight.  When her plight was discovered, George Washington personally paid for her safe homecoming, and she was granted a pension and a land bounty for serving in the war, a reward previously granted to only male soldiers.   She later married and had three children living the life of a farmer’s wife.
Members attending were Sheldon Starr, Rebecca Hold, Velda Jo Bradley, Sherri Case, Norma White, Theo Crawley, Geneva Bertges, Linda Hampton, Carolyn McDaniel, Virginia Sharpe, Judith Drennan, Judy Williams, Margaret Parks, Thelma Shields, Gene Merideth, Dorothy Burden, Martha Hutton, Susan Barnett, and guests Donna Barnes, June Yahola, Pam Ferrell, and Glen Sharpe.