Veterans & Archives, My Letter to Governor Deal

10 October 2012

Governor Nathan Deal
Suite 203, State Capitol
206 Washington Street
Atlanta GA 30334

Dear  Governor Deal,

I have the deepest respect for anyone who puts on a uniform and is prepared to defend the rights and freedoms of the citizens of this great nation of ours. Your Georgian roots run deep, and you have a long history of service to your state and your country, via the military, the judicial system, and your long political career. You’ve been one of the lucky ones to live the American dream. An education, a beautiful family, and a fulfilling career have all found their way on to the timeline of your life.

Unfortunately, many of the men and women who place an American uniform on their backs do not end up living the American dream, their lives turn into the American nightmare. Veterans make up 11% of the adult population in our country and 25% of the homeless population. Many homeless veterans die alone and forgotten, and don’t receive the honor and military burial that they deserve. All too often their families never know what happened to them.

Across America the forgotten cremated remains of our veterans are sitting on the storage shelves of funeral homes. Some of them have been there for decades. Veterans organizations such as the Missing In America Project are researching the unclaimed cremains of funeral homes, identifying which ones are veterans and arranging military burials for them. Forensic genealogists at organizations such as Families For Forgotten Heroes go to work and identify the living next of kin of these veterans to notify them of the death and burial of their hero. The story of a veteran's life is not complete until they have received their military burial and their families have been found.

Deceased homeless veterans also end up in the morgues of Coroners and Medical Examiners. The issue of the unclaimed dead (civilian and veteran) is experiencing increasing numbers. This has caused a huge burden on tax payer dollars, as counties must take over the responsibility of the expense of burial when families can’t be found. A group of volunteer forensic genealogists at Unclaimed Persons assist coroners and medical examiners with finding the next of kin of unclaimed deceased people, so that families can be notified and make arrangements for the burial of their loved one.

Forensic Genealogists also assist JPAC - Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, with their mission of accounting for Americans lost during past U.S. conflicts. When the remains of our missing American heroes are found, the remains are sent to the JPAC lab in Hawaii. Forensic Genealogists assist JPAC by identifying living next of kin of these heroes, so that DNA samples may be taken to match families with the remains. It’s a very emotional experience, to see a widow or a child of our military from past conflicts finally receive the closure they have longed for!

Forensic Genealogists can not do the work they do without access to records and documents. I have been following the story of the closing of the Georgia State Archives with great interest. The closing of those archives will inhibit the ability to find the families of the above mentioned veterans, when they or their families have ties to Georgia.

On behalf of those veterans, I implore you to find the means to keep the Georgia State Archives open to the public for the rest of this year, and in January work with the leaders of your state to find additional funding to return the archives to being open at least 5 days per week.

Nathan Deal

Look into the eyes of yourself, the soldier from a few years ago. One nasty twist of fate, could have turned your life from the American Dream to the American Nightmare. You could have ended up as one of those unclaimed, unhonored, forgotten heroes. PLEASE help us keep access to the treasures in your state archives, so that forensic genealogists can continue their work to return each and every soldier of our country to their families!

Sincerely Yours,

Kim “Skip” Murray
Genealogy Team Leader (Retired), Research Volunteer - Families For Forgotten Heroes
Co-Director (Retired), Research Volunteer - Unclaimed Persons
8807 Gwynn Lane
Brainerd, MN 56401

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To those of you who are checking out my blog, if you wish to help in the efforts to save public access to the Georgia Archives, here are some resources you might find helpful:

Friends of Georgia Archives & History

Georgians Against Closing State Archives

Petition to save the archives

Occupy Genealogy

Need ideas on how to write a letter? Check out these examples!

What I'd Love for my Birthday!

My Birthday wish list………..

A hug from my Granddaughter, hubby, and son.

CAKE!

My genealogy friends to send a letter to or call the governor of Georgia (cc the Secretary of State) and tell them why the state archives should remain open.

RPAC, FGS, AGP, NGS, GAGP, ICAPgen, BCG, NIGS, CAFG, etc. to submit letters to the governor of Georgia (cc the Secretary of State) and tell them why the state archives should remain open. List of letter writers would include any genealogy / lineage societies, associations, or organizations. Hopefully, a portion of this wish is already done and I just don’t know about the letters. 

 A job. Would be nice to find full time with benefits at a place where I can put a smile on peoples’ faces, help others, make the world a better place. A job where I can be helpful and useful. Any job will do, but a rewarding job would be awesome!!!!

One last wish….and that’s for anyone reading this to do a Random Act of Kindness on Oct. 3. Be nice to someone, make their day better. It is as easy as sharing a smile, a hug, or opening the door for someone. Pay for someone’s coffee, donate to the food shelf, help a family with a sick child, the options are endless when it comes to being kind to others.

Thank-you for being a part of my day!

Skip

Do We Have A Voice?

I am spending a busy day searching for blog posts about the Georgia Archives, the SSDI, and other records access issues that are of interest to the genealogy community. I came across this post Some good news for Georgia State Archives, but bad news (that’s not really news) in a larger sense and a comment by Steve Ammidown hit me in the gut with a large boulder. He said...

"Let me start by saying that I’m a first semester student in archives, and a newbie to SAA, so I’m sure these conversations have been had before.

Coming from an activist and non-profit background, I was surprised to learn that SAA does not include a 501(c)(4) component, and that there wasn’t generally a lot of organized advocacy around archives on a national level. Changing this seems like it should be a top priority for the community. But how do we sell it? How do we push a normally reticent profession out of the shadows?

There’s one clear answer- it’s about our jobs. Nobody is going to stand up for archivists, be they professionals or students, if we don’t stand up for ourselves. The recent discussion on the SNAP listserv about hiring data for new archivists got me thinking about this. While data is great and useful and essential, it is no substitute for raising our voices. Waiting for the people of Georgia or any other state to recognize the power and necessity of archives is only going to lead to more layoffs, or more jobs going unfilled when others retire.

Since all this Georgia stuff has started, I’ve found lots of great archivists rabblerousing for the profession through Twitter and Tumblr and other sources, and that fills me with hope. But without organization, and lobby days, and talking points, these will continue to be voices in the wilderness, and we will end up reacting to a crisis like Georgia instead of heading it off.

As I said, forgive me if I’m sounding a bit naive here. But I’ve really come to love the archives profession, and I see a place for it in the future, no matter how digital the world becomes. I just want to make sure that we can see that through."

Hmmmmmmmm, I wonder if anyone else is hearing bells? If you replace all the references above from archive / archivists to genealogy / genealogists, do you feel that maybe our community is also  "a normally reticent profession"? We have some cells out in our community that do an excellent job of making their members aware of legislative issues and giving people suggestions on how to take action. The MGC Sentinel is a fantastic example, and there are others. But have we as a community formed ourselves into a well oiled advocacy machine that functions efficiently on a national / international level? Is there anything in our community that fills the "fearless leader" shoes? Are we a team? Do we need to be? Do we want to be?

Judy G. Russell, our beloved Legal Genealogist wrote a post a while back about the SSDI where she encouraged us to get off our duffs. I'm thinking it was very good advice, and maybe all of us as a community should take it.

Our Tree Became A Forest: Am I In The Dark Or Are Genealogy Societies MIA?

Our Tree Became A Forest: Am I In The Dark Or Are Genealogy Societies MIA?

Am I In The Dark Or Are Genealogy Societies MIA? ~ Georgia Archives

I have to be honest with you.... every time I hear of the genealogy community losing access to records, my undies get in a huge bunch. I get riled! I believe in freedom of information. It seems in politics, one of 2 things happen - bills get passed when politicians make deals with each other to vote for each others bills, or the people of this country get fed up, turn into squeaky wheels, and demand their voices be heard. I think each time we are at risk of losing a resource, we need to make a deal to speak up for our whole community, even if that particular resource is one you think you'd never use. Only by putting together large enough numbers and making enough noise, will we succeed in keeping access to records.

By now thousands of us in genealogy land have heard the sad news that the Georgia State Archives will no longer have hours where they are open to the public. In a press release issued September 13th, the reason for the closing was given as a need to abide by a budget cut ordered by the governor of Georgia. There are many reasons why the closing of the archives is wrong, and it's not just because it affects our ability as genealogists to do our work. Those archives are used by citizens to monitor their government, it is used by attorneys, historians, teachers, students, journalists, writers, and movie producers. It boosts the economy of the area it is in.

It has been 11 days since the announcement of the archives closing. I am very impressed by the outpouring of support, and the indignant outcry by people from several vocations. Individuals (not just genealogists) have spread the word, signed the petition, and written letters. It is my hope that RPAC, the group that represents the genealogy community will soon have an action plan post and will submit a letter to the Governor and Secretary of State of Georgia. While genealogists wait for RPAC to have time to do so, the Friends of Georgia Archives and History are doing a great job with updates.

Honestly, it is my hope that HUNDREDS of genealogy societies and lineage organizations will submit letters to the powers that be of Georgia. There are several other organizations who have moved quickly and already have their letters submitted. They are very professional letters from some very impressive organizations. A few that I am aware of are: Society of American Archivists, American Historical Association, National Coalition for History (representing American Association for State & Local History, American Historical Association, Association for Documentary Editing,
Association of Centers for the Study of Congress, Council of State Archivists, History Associates, Inc., National Council on Public History, Organization of American Historians, Southern Historical Association, Society for Military History, Society of American Archivists), American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, and GAIT, GLA, and GLMA. It concerns me that NO genealogy societies are part of this list, and I hope it's because I'm just not aware of them!!!

People from around the world have signed the PETITION to save the archives. If you haven't done so yet, I hope you will add your name to the over 15,000 supporters who have signed it so far. And then, I hope you help spread the word by using e-mail and all your favorite social media sites. If you're a blogger, we'd all love to see what you have to say. The most important thing you can do is send a good old fashioned letter to the Governor and Secretary of State of Georgia. If you need examples of letters to give you ideas on how to write one, Occupy Genealogy has compiled a list of sample letters.

If you'd like to help fight to save the archives click here for a list of actions you can take. Everyone's voice is important, you don't have to be from Georgia!

Please show your support by liking the facebook page Georgians Against Closing the State Archives.


Whether your genealogy is a hobby, a profession, or a tool you use to give back to mankind, please speak up and let your voice be heard. If Georgia succeeds in taking the archives away from the public as an easy fix to a budget problem (even though they have money for a new stadium and to spend oodles of money on a well for a private resort owned by a contributor to the Governor), we can expect that other states will follow suit!!!!!

If you'd like to read more blogs with this theme, check out Tell 'em Tuesday where a list is being compiled of known blogs about this subject. I'm sure you could also use your favorite search engine to locate blogs that didn't get added to the list. This event is hosted by Genealogy Calendar of Events

 

Thriller Thursday - Clara Ober - Murder or Suicide? Part 2

Aug 8, 1895
Blue Earth Post
Faribault Co., MN, USA

Brother and Wife Visit Freund

On Sunday forenoon, a brother of Mr. Jacob FREUND, who is confined in the jail at this place on the charge of being implicated in the murder of Clara OBER, was visited by a brother whom he had not seen for ten years and also by his wife.

At first the deputy sheriff did not know whether to admit them, but Attorney CRAY being present they were admitted to talk to the prisoner.

When the brothers first met and greeted each other by shaking hands through the bars, Mr. FREUND said, "I suppose you did not expect ever to see me in such a place?" He replied that he did not and both were visibly affected
-- Mankato Review

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Aug. 8 1895
Blue Earth Post
Faribault Co., MN, USA

In an interview with the Mankato Review Jacob FREUND lays the charge of his arrest to the feeling between the saloon and anti-saloon element in Blue Earth City. The saloon question was not thought of in connection with the affair. Both the license and anti-license people were united in suspicioning his complicity with the death of Clara OBER, by reason of the long-continued circumstances that culminated on that fatal night, while not a few of both sides were in doubt as to which horn of the dilemma to choose - suicide or murder. The question of license or no-license for the present year was settled at the polls in April. What interests the entire community now is, was Clara OBER murdered, and if so, by whom? The people are asking, who but one could have any motive for the cruel deed, and did he do it? It is very shrewd in Jacob FREUND to attempt to gain the sympathy and partisanship of the local saloon or license party in his favor. That element would hang him just as quick as the other if there can be found evidence enough to convict him. If he is not guilty the no-license people would not hang him. But guilty or not guilty it is the united sentiment of the citizens of Blue Earth City, to speak ironically, that his usefulness here is ended.

Wedding Wednesday - The Tom Boy Becomes A Mrs.

I've been a tomboy most of my life. As a child, most of my friends were boys. Girls did boring stuff like play with Barbies. Boys did fun stuff like climb trees and play with cars. I spent my teenage years as "one of the guys". I could fix cars and ride motorcycles. Many girls hated me during those years, because I was with the guys more than them. Little did they know, that while they were going on dates, I very rarely was on a real date, because the guys never thought of me that way. They just had me hang out with them like any of the other guys.

When I finally got around to dating in my late teen's and early 20's, I turned into a loser magnet. If there was a bad guy out there to date, I found them. I don't know how my mother managed to survive those years! During those years, I found out I can't have children. Then I got in a really bad relationship that proved to be dangerous to my survival. To get in the last word, I took my boyfriends motorcycle and parked in the motorcycle parking lot at a police station, put pictures of my bruised body in an envelope with a letter saying this bike belonged to a woman beater. I packed my bags and disappeared. I moved to Pillager, MN and for a while lived with my grandparents at their lake place. I transferred from my waitress job at Perkins to the Brainerd Perkins and I started my life over. I ended up working 3 jobs at one time, and drinking way too much. And my pattern of choosing bad boys continued.

I made some really good friends amongst my customers and co-workers at Perkins. One of them was Cynthia. For the first time in my life, I really felt bonded to a female friend. She was so cool. I idolized her. She was beautiful with the most amazing eyes. She had her own style of dressing and she was such a free spirit. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind or tell anyone the truth. At that time in my life, the truth was what I needed to hear. She helped me come out of my shell and find myself. She made me feel like I was a good person.

One nice thing about my relationship with Cynthia is that we had total opposite taste in men, so there was never any competition between us over guys. We were never attracted to the same ones. I remember telling her about this dream that I had been having over and over. It was about this guy, and he made me very happy. He made me feel safe. He made me feel loved. In my dream, I ended up spending my life with him. Cynthia used to call him my "Fantasy Man" and she'd laugh and tell me I should look for a real man.

One night, Cynthia and I were having coffee at Perkins. We'd been out socializing and it was very late - more like early in the morning! I looked across the restaurant and almost had a heart attack! I became very excited and I told Cynthia that my Fantasy Man was there! There was a guy sitting a few booths down that looked just like the man in my dreams. She turned around and looked, and was appalled! She said "Oh yuck, that is Mark! I dated him once and went to a Charley Daniels concert. He kisses like a fish and all he can talk about is cars." I knew right then and there that if Cynthia didn't like him, he might be a match for me!

I told my friend, Brian, about Mark. Brian ended up getting a job where Mark works. On March 14, 1984 Brian and Mark came into Perkins for coffee when they got off work. When I was done working, Brian invited me to join them. We all talked for a while and then Brian went home. Mark and I sat there drinking coffee and talking until 6 a.m. We have been together ever since. I knew, he was the one for me.

Mark liked all the things I liked, motorcycles, hotrods, and racing. He had a dark side, a sadness you could see in his eyes. A distrust for anything that smacked of love. I learned he was married for the first time as a teenager. They had a beautiful little girl that died from SIDS. They divorced and Mark married again. This time to a lady who had 2 children. Mark and her had a daughter. He came home from work one day and his wife and kids were gone. He wife left him for another man. He made it very clear to me that he never wanted kids again and he would never marry again. People change the day you get married and he was never going through it again.

I was "safe" because I couldn't have kids. I told him I didn't care what the doctors said I told Mark I firmly believed that if I ever got my life together and ended up with the right man, God would give me 1 child. It would be a boy and he'd have blond hair, blue eyes, and freckles. In 1985, God blessed Mark and I with that boy. And yes, he had blond hair and blue eyes - the freckles didn't come until later. Our son is our only child. And I'm grateful for him everyday.

Mark held on to his idea of never marrying again. We lived together, we were happy together, and most people assumed we were married. After a few years, it started to make me very sad that we weren't married. One day, we were watching TV and they showed these people going through the drive-thru chapel on motorcycles getting married in Las Vegas. I bust out laughing! I told Mark if we ever get married, that is what we should do, it was so "us". He thought it was funny too.

Fast forward to 2004. Mark and I had now been together for 20 years. In October, Mark got us a very nice suite at a hotel with a big jacuzzi in the room. It was my birthday gift. It was so relaxing! We were sitting on the couch watching TV and I looked at him and noticed a tear rolling down his cheek. He was staring at me. All of a sudden, he took my hand and told me he needed to ask me something. He then asked me the oddest question........ He asked me if I'd go through the drive-thru with him. I was confused and my mind raced. Drive-thru? He doesn't like McDonald's, we don't use the drive-thru cleaners and we didn't have any prescriptions that could be picked up at the drive-thru pharmacy. Drive-thru? He just sat there and stared at me. OMG! A light went off in my head and I began to cry. "That Drive-thru?" I said. "YES, that Drive-thru!" he said. He was asking me to marry him!!!!! He told me to pick the date and we'd go to Vegas and get married.

Well, after waiting 20 years to be his wife, I wasn't going to wait around and give him time to change his mind! I knew there was an NHRA National Event drag race at the end of them month in Vegas, so I picked going there then. That way, we could go to the races on our honeymoon. We were married Oct. 26, 2004. It's kind of cool, because I celebrate 2 anniversaries every year. March 14, the anniversary of our 1st day together and Oct., 26, our wedding anniversary. At 21 years together, it was 1 year anniversary. Makes it very easy to keep track of the years. I have to let you in on a little secret, Mark remembers our wedding anniversary every year... well sort of. He has it in his head we married on the 27th. So he always wishes me Happy Anniversary on the 27th. I just let him remember it that way, at least he remembers! It's kinda funny, and I'm hoping all of you keep my secret!

In many ways, the way we got married was sad for family and friends. They couldn't be with us to share our special day. Mark hates being the center of attention, so I asked everyone not to through us a reception or party when we came home. I didn't want to start out with him going through something he didn't like. I know everyone was with us in spirit and I know everyone was happy for us.

Mark was right about people changing the day they get married. He has changed. He treats me even more like a queen than he did before we got married. He still kisses me everyday. He still has a glow in his eyes when he looks at me. He just seems like his love grows and changes everyday. I am happy. I feel loved.

If I ever lecture you and tell you that anything worth having is worth waiting for, I speak the truth. I waited 20 long years and ended up with the man of my dreams!