Chief Senachwine NSDAR installs new officers

At the May 3 meeting of the Chief Senachwine Chapter NSDAR, new officers were installed for the 2025-27 term.

The installing officer was Carolyn Kraft, Peoria, who has served the Illinois State Organization of the Daughters of the American Revolution as Past State Treasurer and currently State Chairman of Auditing and Accounting Procedures.

Kraft has also held numerous state chairmanships and is an Honorary Chapter Regent of Peoria Chapter. Officers installed were Jean Galetti, Chapter Regent; Sandy Miller, Vice Regent; Carol Byrd, Recording Secretary; Barb Peterson, Corresponding Secretary; Adelaide Flanigan, Treasurer; Sharon Bittner, Registrar; and Paula Briggs, Historian/Librarian. Chaplain Florence Finfgeld was unable to attend.

Before the installation and the exchange of the gavel and the Regent’s pin between outgoing regent, Nancy Gillfillan, and incoming regent, Jean Galetti, the regular business meeting was held.

A thank you was read from the La Salle Veterans Home for the 180-plus items donated by the members.

Reports were shared on the military service of Ernest Hemingway, and the DAR Museum in Washington, D.C., boasting 31 rooms decorated in styles from 1690 to the 1940s with a total of 20,000 items available for display. The American History chairman shared “Her-Story” on Hedy Lamarr, a beautiful movie star and an inventor. Reports were also shared on local Indians; on Ronald Reagan, the only U.S. President born in Illinois; on the U.S. Flag; on Fort Ticonderoga, which played an important role in the Revolutionary War; and on Women’s Issues and the social determinants of health.

The Franco-American chairman covered the Marquis de Lafayette’s travels in Kentucky and Illinois. This year celebrates Lafayette’s 1825 trip to the U.S. to celebrate Lafayette as the last surviving general of the Revolutionary War.

The program was presented by Nancy Gillfillan who gave a fan to each member and a handout on the meanings of fan “language,” asking them, “Would You Have Flirted?”

The handout explained what the different fan hand-held positions meant, from begging for a kiss to “Sorry, I’m taken.” Regent Galetti outlined various activities to be shared with the Henry American Legion, the first to occur on Memorial Day, May 26.

Any woman 18 years and older who can prove lineage to a Revolutionary War Patriot is eligible to join the Daughters of the American Revolution. For information, call 815-303-1034. Assistance is available.