Elizabeth O'Neal and Kathy Watson at the DAR State Conference

California Genealogical Society members Elizabeth O’Neal and Kathy Watson attended the 103rd annual State Conference of the California State Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) held March 17-20, 2011 at the Irvine Marriott Hotel in Irvine, California.

Elizabeth sent this report:

The conference began on Thursday evening with the opening night festivities, at which many awards were presented. The DAR Medal of Honor was awarded to Mike Conklin, founder and head of the San Ramon-based Sentinels of Freedom Scholarship Foundation, which assists severely wounded members of the armed forces to find homes, return to college, find employment, and connect with community resources to ease their transition back to civilian life. Mr. Conklin was nominated by the Anne Loucks Chapter DAR, of which Kathy is the regent. The DAR Medal of Honor is the most prestigious honor given by the DAR.

Friday and Saturday were filled with meetings and reports. Every state officer, chairman, district director, and chapter regent gave a brief report of the year’s activities.

The DAR Celebration Dinner and Debutante Presentation was held on Saturday evening. Young ladies in white dresses from all over California were escorted by fathers, grandfathers, boyfriends, and friends, as their many accomplishments were read to the audience. Elizabeth, who currently serves as the Senior State President of the California State Society, Children of the American Revolution (CAR), was honored to be one of the dignitaries greeting each debutante as she was introduced on stage.

Elizabeth also coordinated social media for the conference. For the first time, members were able to follow conference activities on Twitter and Facebook, as well as view photos and news on the society’s web site.

The conference concluded after the final business session on Sunday afternoon, as members rushed to get on the road to avoid the impending rain storm.

Elizabeth joined the DAR as a “junior” in 1996, and is a member of the Captain Henry Sweetser Chapter in Santa Maria. She presently serves the state society as the State Chairman, Children of the American Revolution (C.A.R.), State Vice Chairman, Volunteer Information Specialists, Social Media, and has served as the organization’s webmaster for 11 years. She is a member of the DAR Speaker’s Staff, and is available for presentations to DAR chapters and genealogical societies.

Elizabeth O'Neal and Kathy Watson

Besides her work as regent of the Anne Loucks Chapter in Martinez, Kathy is a talented web site designer who has helped create dozens of web sites for California DAR chapters. Kathy generously serves as chairs of both the website and computer committees at the California Genealogical Society.


Copyright © 2011 by Kathryn M. Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library