april 5, 2024 - ABBIES, DOLLEYS AND JACKIES PROGRAM BUS TRIP: hOPSEWEE PLANTATION AND OLD GEORGETOWN

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 January 2023

So wonderful to see the rain coming down this past weekend to nourish our grasses and soon-to-be-blooming Spring Flowers! 🌷

I hope you all are enjoying your Vintage Ladies yearbooks that our Webmaster Extraordinaire, Brenda Wityk, distributed at our January meeting!  It certainly is a wealth of information!  Please email Jeannie Schneider at: schneiderjandj@gmail.com to pick up your copy if you didn't receive yours at the January meeting.  

Many thanks to our program committee member, Teresa Miller, for setting up our January program with the fascinating and informative speaker Rev. Sean H. Palmer who spoke to us about the Gullah Geechee People, past and present.  It was wonderful to have the Abbeys and Jackies with us! Many thanks to Abbeys member, Cindi Neumann, for baking the traditional Benne wafers which we all enjoyed!

This email  is a reminder that you don’t want to miss our next meeting on Friday, February 3rd from 10-12pm in the SJ Community Center!  We will be in Multi Purpose Room B which is the FIRST ROOM on the LEFT when entering the building. The Abbeys group will be across the hall from us, so be sure to come to the correct location for our Dolleys meeting.  We will not be serving refreshments at this February meeting, so please feel free to bring your own beverage or snack. Refreshments will be served only at our next group meeting in May.

Jan Brown, of our Program Committee, will be introducing our guest speaker, Ben Ulevich, from Orton Plantation who will talk about the historic grounds and gardens of Orton Plantation.  He will explain how the gardens begin blooming in late winter and reach their height in Spring when they burst into color!  If you are planning to attend this meeting, please RSVP to Jan at: janbingemanbrown@gmail.com . (Do not reply to this email.) 

Co-chair Phyllis Amori is enjoying her 6 month term as Assistant Principal at Henrick Hudson high school in Montrose, NY and hopes to see us all in June!  She is greatly missed but Helen Whittaker has graciously agreed to be a stand-in with Barb for extra help when needed.

We look forward to seeing everyone at our February meeting!  And we wish you all a Happy Valentines Day ❤️ and a Healthy and Happy February.

Barb Acton, co-chair
Phyllis Amori, co-chair

January 2023

December 2023

Greetings Dolleys,

We are very much into the holiday spirit, especially after enjoying our fabulous trip on December 2nd to Brookgreen Gardens.  Here's what some of our members had to say:

“It was magical!”  “Lights were spectacular!”  “Loved the tree  lighting and Christmas Carols around the Tree!”

This is a reminder that you don't want to miss our next meeting on January 6th in the SJ Community Center at 10 a.m.  This will be a joint meeting with the other chapters and will feature The Rev. Sean Palmer on the Gullah – Geechee Culture.  Here’s a link to a related article you may find interesting:

https://uncw.edu/news/2022/11/upperman-center-receives-center-of-the-year-award.html

It's important you RSVP teresawmiller19@gmail.com for the January meeting. We hope you can be there.  We'd also like to continue the new practice of sharing some personal anecdotes with one another at the end of our Dolleys' meetings; come prepared to share some tidbits with the group!  

You may recall that the Dolleys provided snacks for the September joint meeting. This time around, we were asked to provide paper goods. Hertha Essman has kindly offered to do that on our behalf. Thank you Hertha!

Here’s a quick reminder:  Our very own Brenda Wityk, Vintage Ladies’ webmaster, will be providing all members with a print copy of our yearbook that will help you utilize the website.

On a personal note, Phyllis would like to share that she has accepted a six-month employment assignment in NY, beginning in January. She will work remotely during that time and remain co-chair with Barb.  Phyllis looks forward to seeing you all again soon! 

We wish you the healthiest, merriest and most enjoyable holiday season. May the blessings and goodwill of all our shared holiday traditions come to you and yours now and in the coming year.

Most warmly,

Barb Acton and Phyllis Amori

 August 2022
We share this newsletter with you as the new season approaches. Our member list stands at 40 strong; we truly hope you will remain with our chapter for the coming year as we have many exciting events planned. 

First, please mark your calendar for our kickoff general membership meeting on September 9th, 10:00 am, at the St. James Community Center. Each chapter will present an overview of their respective First Lady. We’ve learned a lot about Dolley Madison in preparation and can’t wait to share this information with you on that day. Our group will be providing the snacks. This is the usual time we collect membership dues for the year; please bring along your checkbook.  Annual dues remain at $25.00. Checks are payable to Vintage Ladies.

Our talented planning committee members –Jan Brown, Teresa Miller and Debby Smith–have put together an exciting and informative program for the year.  Here’s an overview of our first three events following the September meeting:

October 7th - Featured speaker Arthur Hill: History of the Homer Wright book

November 4th - La Polena Bed & Breakfast History and Tour

December 2nd - Dinner and Christmas Lights at Brookgreen Gardens, Trips by Patty.

More details about these exciting events will be shared in the near future.

On a very sad note, we remember long standing Vintage Ladies member Gail Gregory, who passed away on July 16, 2022.  The Dolleys will be sending a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Gail’s memory.  A Memorial Mass will be held on August 26, 2022 at 12 noon at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 5269 Dosher Cutoff SE, Southport.

During our recent executive board planning meeting a few “housekeeping details” were ironed out. Each chapter will take turns sharing the $25 cleanup fee for use of the SJCC.  Honorariums for speakers will be uniformly set at $100 and each chapter will decide separately on name tags. Ours are getting a bit worn so we are open to suggestions!

We also are very pleased to share that one of our newest Dolleys-Brenda Wityk-has agreed to be the Vintage Ladies website manager.  Hooray and thanks to Brenda. We look forward to an informative, easy to navigate site. Brenda will be providing members with a Yearbook to help utilize the website.

We close by sharing how delighted we are to be your new co-chairs of the Dolleys.  Never hesitate to reach out with suggestions and feedback.

Warmly,

Phyllis Amori, Co-Chair -  phyllisamori@gmail.com

Barbara Acton, Co-Chair - frednbarb@atmc.net