PJ Blogger at Independence National Historical Park
On this date two-hundred and twenty-eight years ago, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention completed their arduous work and signed the document designed to restore liberty to the citizens of a new nation.
The American Republic was born out of a struggle against British tyranny and a monarchical system that our forefathers deemed incompatible with the rights of free men and women. Consistent with the principles espoused by the Spirit of ’76 and enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution was not imposed on the people. It was humbly submitted to the people for their approval.
A great national debate followed. If the people were to judge the Constitution, they were expected to understand the Constitution. The Federalist Papers, a series of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, responded to Antifederalist critics by serving as an invaluable guide to the Constitution’s provisions. Their arguments proved decisive and, eventually, the requisite number of states ratified the Constitution. Education was integral to the Constitution’s ratification.
At a time when the globe was dominated by kingdoms and empires, a skeptical world believed that a republic devoted to the ancient cause of liberty would inevitably fail. But the test of time has proven the wisdom, effectiveness, and durability of our great charter.
It has guaranteed our natural rights and preserved our cherished liberties.
It has inspired foreign peoples shackled by tyranny to seek to replicate what the Americans have accomplished.
It has resisted the waves of totalitarian ideologies that claimed human liberty to be a relic of antiquity.
On Constitution Day, Americans follow in the footsteps of the Founders, not only by recommitting ourselves to the Constitution’s enlightened provisions, but also by accepting the duty to provide the education necessary for the survival of a free people.
I commend all those that take the opportunity this day provides to promote the American ideals of human liberty and renew our commitment to the preservation of the Constitution of the United States.
Scott Garrett is the U.S. Representative for New Jersey’s 5th congressional district
SEPTEMBER 4, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
More insight is needed to address Schedler property
To the Editor:
I am in support of the Village Council votes regarding the Schedler property.
The heated debate at the Village Council meeting meant those who had an issue with the resolution gave up an opportunity to positively influence the development of the property. They could have tried to see if a high berm could be built to insulate the property from traffic on Route 17. The berm could be capped with a sound barrier and covered with dense plantings. This would serve as a safety, sound and pollution barrier.
The third of the property left to nature could be converted into an arboretum of native species and pollinator habitats. The walk around the perimeter could be made to appeal to “seenagers,” those of us who are chronologically seniors but mentally can’t outgrow their teen years. A foot bridge could be built over Route 17 to make it easier for pedestrians to walk over from the west side of the highway. I can’t but believe such a park would be a great improvement over a weed-choked lot with fallen trees and mounds of empty beer cans. I have walked around the property and find little salubrious about it.
Regarding the Schedler house, I am a conservationist and a reader of history. Destroying a historical site is an act of vandalism. I thus support giving the preservation committee another year to come up with a plan for the house. My recommendation to the committee would be to add several new members who would add depth to its considerations. For instance, I would add an engineer and an architect with experience in preserving historical homes. Also, perhaps, a realtor with experience in finding uses for such a property. A historian and a fundraiser would be helpful.
If I were a member of the committee, I would try to answer the following questions:
What is the age of the house? Supporters say it was built in the 1820’s. This may not be a true statement in its entirety. Some of it may have been built in the 1820s, but I have a feeling much of it was built much later. Is it truly a “nationally recognized historic home” as some claim?
How sound is the house structurally? With a broken roof and black mold, what else ails it? Rot? Termites? Lead paint? Asbestos?
What uses will there be for the house and thus what will it be restored to? Some mention a library for historical documents. That’s an interesting idea, but what would it take to reinforce the beams to carry the heavy weight of books, and what would it take to fireproof it to protect invaluable documents?
Depending on the use, what would it cost to restore the house and bring it up to code, especially for public use. If it is to be used for public purposes, who will underwrite the future operating costs?
A rational discussion of our options with less heat would be in everyone’s interests.
Freehold John Mitchell with residents several years ago
Local’ residents deserve a say on Schedler property
To the Editor:
“Go West, young man,” a phrase made famous by Horace Greeley, could have certainly been directed at families moving to the Village of Ridgewood. This young man decided to go east in this beautiful community and raise a family. He has stayed for over 30 years, and now after all this time is wondering whether west would have been the smarter and wiser choice for his family’s future.
My wife, Michele, and I have spent most of our adult lives bringing up two children, supporting the excellent school system, participating in community events, and the excellent sports programs. Living on the east side of Ridgewood came with some issues that we have accepted and lived with over these 30-plus years: No local grammar school for our children to attend, no local park for our children to play in, and being treated at times by this town as the forgotten community but always being told by the Village Council that this was not true but a figment of our imagination.
Finally, we are given the chance to have something that could prove very positive for this east side community, the purchase of the Schedler property. My wife and I were very active early in getting the local community and Village of Ridgewood interested in securing this property. We expected and were led to believe by the Village Council that we, the local residents, would have a major and important say on how this property was developed, similar to the way the Habernickel property on the west side was developed.
Now, we were told at the Aug. 5 meeting of the Mayor and Council that they are submitting a recommendation to approve the Open Space Committee October 2012 recommendations, which includes the most controversial issue, a 90-foot baseball field on the Schedler site. The same 90-foot baseball field other Ridgewood communities did not want. It was considered for Pleasant Park but that idea appears to have been killed, and it was not built on the larger, 10-acre Habernickel property on the west side of Ridgewood because the local community preferred a smaller Little League field.
Because of this lack of concern by members of the Village Council toward the east side, this is where they have decided to definitely build this 90-foot field. It appears the plan all along was to destroy the historic Schedler house to make room for this field.
This comes, even after our east side community secured $45,000 (50 percent) of the funds necessary to save this historic house. We have always been willing to compromise except for the issue of destroying the Schedler house and building a 90-foot field. Everything else was on the table, and we were led to believe by the current administration that our proposals were being seriously considered and open to further debate and discussion.
We were misled and will soon know if the east side Ridgewood community will again be treated as second class citizens and not heard from again.
AUGUST 9, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2015, 9:50 AM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD – The future of the village-owned Schedler property – a crumbling 200-year-old house on seven wooded acres abutting Route 17 – was suddenly back on the council’s agenda last week because of an impending deadline.
Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said time was running out to apply for a matching grant from the Bergen County Historic Trust Fund that would be used to stabilize the building.
In 2009, Ridgewood purchased the thickly wooded property, believed to have been the site of a Revolutionary War encampment or battle, with $2.7 million in open space grant money specified for active recreation. The move preempted any commercial development of the site.
Resident Isabella Altano – representing Ridgewood Eastside Development, a grass-roots citizens group – pleaded with the council Wednesday night to meet the grant’s deadline next month.
The house, which was occupied by Florence Schedler until she died in 2007 at age 104, “is in dire need of help,” Altano said. She said the “roof is falling and mold is present.”
Altano said an anonymous donor had placed $45,000 in an escrow account, earmarking the funds for the structure, but village officials said the fact that the source of the money is unknown is an issue.
Ridgewood NJ, With the expected Village Council “majority” approval of a resolution endorsing an Open Space Committee plan to build a 90 foot baseball field, including a concession stand, on the Schedler property, and demolish the existing historic house to facilitate same, this taxpayer predicts that Village Engineer Christopher Rutishauser will soon be ordering a demolition excavator to accomplish the dirty task.
I wonder if the police department will be ordered to completely close off West Saddle River Road so no one can get photos or videos of the destruction in progress? What time of day do you think they’ll start the engines? Under the cover of darkness maybe?
AUGUST 7, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A looming grant deadline has stirred the mostly dormant discussion on the future of the Schedler property, specifically the east side estate’s historic, 200-year-old house, and an upcoming vote might determine how the conversation moves forward.
The Ridgewood Council is expected to vote next week on two resolutions directly related to the 7-acre, wooded tract of land and home.
The first resolution calls for the governing body to endorse the Ridgewood Open Space Committee’s 2010 recommendation to consider the property for “passive and active recreational development.” The committee’s recommendation has already been supported by several Ridgewood civic organizations.
A second resolution, as discussed at this week’s council work session, would permit Ridgewood to apply for a Bergen County Historic Trust Fund matching grant. The grant would be used to stabilize the Schedler house, which has fallen into disrepair following years of weathering and neglect.
“The house is in dire need of help. The roof is failing, and mold is present inside the house,” said Isabella Altano, a member of residents’ group Ridgewood Eastside Development (RED). The grassroots organization has been petitioning for the preservation of the historic home for several years.
This week, she appealed to the council for its support of the grant application and detailed the group’s work thus far. According to Altano, the residents have opened an escrow account at a local bank and already secured $45,000 or “50 percent of the $90,000 needed to stabilize the house” under the name “Friends of the Historic Zabriskie-Schedler House.”
The $45,000, she said, has been procured through an anonymous donation.
“Once the application is submitted by the village and approved by the county, [the group] will organize a 501(c)(3) in order to receive tax-deductible donations,” Altano said.
The county has established a Sept. 3 deadline for grant application submission.
Ridgewood NJ, During what could only be described as one of the most bizarre Village Council meetings I’ve attended in quite some time, Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck publicly accused the “Friends of the Schedler House” organization of turning down a $45k donation from an unnamed individual.
However, according to an officer of “Friends of the Schedler House,” no $45k donation was ever offered by the “unnamed individual.” What did happen was during a recent meeting between members of the organization and selected Village officials, Councilwoman Hauck merely suggested that a particular individual might be willing to donate the sum.
As you might expect, even though she was publicly corrected, Councilwoman Hauck offered no public apology for her erroneous accusation.
UPDATE: Village Council predicted to vote 3-2 on 8/12 to demolish Schedler House to facilitate construction of a 90 foot baseball field with concession stand.
Despite voting in support of spending up to $500k in “preliminary costs” for the design of a parking garage with a currently unknown shape, size, and final cost, Aronsohn and Hauck object to spending $45k to save the Schedler House. Pucciarelli is on his honeymoon, so he wasn’t there to make a fool of himself too.
So there you have it folks. The Three Stooges will have one of the most historic buildings in Northwest Bergen County demolished just to secure the Sports Council votes next year.
The Ridgewood Public Library, 125 N Maple Ave, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Graydon Through the Years: The Ridgewood Public Library invites you to share memories of Graydon Pool through stories and photographs. We will be hosting a program on Graydon Pool on Thursday, July 23rd at 7pm and are looking to include your memories along with historical background on the park. If you have a memory or photograph to share, please email [email protected] or call 201-670-5600 ext. 135 to talk to our Local History Librarian Sarah Kiefer. Please send stories and photographs by July 15th so that they may be included in the program.
Graydon Pool Memberships and Aquatic Programs
Please visit the Graydon Pool homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net/graydon to learn about membership rates, program offerings and pool amenities. Be sure to bookmark our Graydon homepage on your computer for future special events and program offerings. Opening day for Graydon Pool was Saturday, June 6th.
2015 season memberships may now be purchased online via Community Pass at www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass. Be sure to refer to your online confirmation when purchase is complete for detailed information on how to obtain your photo identification badge.
Aquatic programs, including the Graydon Swim Team and instructional and recreational swim, are also available online at Community Pass, or you may review levels and print program registration forms from our Graydon homepage referenced above. Meet the Aquatic Staff and learn more on the following dates at the pool.
American Red Cross Waterfront Lifeguard Training (recertification/bridging and new) is available through Ridgewood Parks and Recreation. Details/registration are also available on the Graydon Pool homepage.
On July 19, 1910, the governor of the U.S. state of Washington proclaimed the nation’s first “Father’s Day.” However, it was not until 1972, 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official, that the day became a nationwide holiday in the United States…..
ORIGINS OF FATHER’S DAY
The campaign to celebrate the nation’s fathers did not meet with the same enthusiasm–perhaps because, as one florist explained, “fathers haven’t the same sentimental appeal that mothers have.” On July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Company mines in Monongah, but it was a one-time commemoration and not an annual holiday. The next year, a Spokane,Washington woman named Sonora Smart Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful: Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on July 19, 1910. Slowly, the holiday spread. In 1916, President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, D.C.In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Father’s Day. However, many men continued to disdain the day. As one historian writes, they “scoffed at the holiday’s sentimental attempts to domesticate manliness with flowers and gift-giving, or they derided the proliferation of such holidays as a commercial gimmick to sell more products–often paid for by the father himself.”
Ridgewood Nj , Happy Mothers day to all the moms . before the all the flowers , chocolate and brunch ;Mother’s Day as it’s known today in the United States dates back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It started in 1868 to allow mothers of Union and Confederate soldiers to get together .
Here re five interesting facts about “Mothers day” :
1. Mother’s Day probably started as a way for mourning women to honor fallen soldiers. “Mother’s Friendship Day” was organized in 1868 to allow mothers of Union and Confederate soldiers to get together.
2. The earliest iterations of Mother’s Day in the U.S. were organized for several reasons, but celebrating mothers wasn’t among them. U.S. women’s groups in the late 1800s came together in West Virginia to tackle everything from infant mortality to disease and milk contamination. In 1870, a composer by the name of Julia Ward Howe issued a “Mother’s Day Proclamation,” urging women to become politically active and to promote peace following the U.S. Civil War, according to National Geographic.
3. The official holiday’s founder Anna Jarvis boycotted the holiday. Jarvis, a native of West Virginia, organized the first Mother’s Day celebration at a church in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 in memory of her own mother, who died three years earlier. She successfully campaigned to have the day adopted nationally, but by the time of her death in 1948, Jarvis had spent most of her personal wealth fighting the holiday she helped conceive. She apparently found the commercialization of Mother’s Day deplorable and sued groups that used the name “Mother’s Day” name to promote consumerism. She even lobbied the government to remove it from the U.S.’ official calendar.
4. Jarvis never married and was childless. In many ways, Jarvis’ unwavering devotion to preserving what she thought was the true origin of the holiday was more about her ego than anything else. “Everything she signed was Anna Jarvis, Founder of Mother’s Day. It was who she was,” historian Katharine Antolini, author of “Memorializing Motherhood: Anna Jarvis and the Struggle for Control of Mother’s Day,” told National Geographic.
5. The carnation was the original Mother’s Day flower. Some groups sold carnations every year to fundraise for their causes, something Jarvis vehemently opposed.
Proclamation of Thanksgiving Washington, D.C. October 3, 1863
This is the proclamation which set the precedent for America’s national day of Thanksgiving. During his administration, President Lincoln issued many orders similar to this. For example, on November 28, 1861, he ordered government departments closed for a local day of thanksgiving.
Sarah Josepha Hale, a 74-year-old magazine editor, wrote a letter to Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the “day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.” She explained, “You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution.”
Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states. President Lincoln responded to Mrs. Hale’s request immediately, unlike several of his predecessors, whoignored her petitions altogether. In her letter to Lincoln she mentioned that she had been advocating a national thanksgiving date for 15 years as the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book. George Washington was the first president to proclaim a day of thanksgiving, issuing his request on October 3, 1789, exactly 74 years before Lincoln’s.
The document below sets apart the last Thursday of November “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise.” According to an April 1, 1864, letter from John Nicolay, one of President Lincoln’s secretaries, this document was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. On October 3, 1863, fellow Cabinet member Gideon Welles recorded in his diary how he complimented Seward on his work. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.
By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.
The Great Thanksgiving Hoax or the Real Story of Thanksgiving
Each year at this time school children all over America are taught the official Thanksgiving story, and newspapers, radio, TV, and magazines devote vast amounts of time and space to it. It is all very colorful and fascinating.
It is also very deceiving. This official story is nothing like what really happened. It is a fairy tale, a whitewashed and sanitized collection of half-truths which divert attention away from Thanksgiving’s real meaning.
The official story has the pilgrims boarding the Mayflower, coming to America and establishing the Plymouth colony in the winter of 1620-21. This first winter is hard, and half the colonists die. But the survivors are hard working and tenacious, and they learn new farming techniques from the Indians. The harvest of 1621 is bountiful. The Pilgrims hold a celebration, and give thanks to God. They are grateful for the wonderful new abundant land He has given them.
The official story then has the Pilgrims living more or less happily ever after, each year repeating the first Thanksgiving. Other early colonies also have hard times at first, but they soon prosper and adopt the annual tradition of giving thanks for this prosperous new land called America.
The problem with this official story is that the harvest of 1621 was not bountiful, nor were the colonists hardworking or tenacious. 1621 was a famine year and many of the colonists were lazy thieves.
In his ‘History of Plymouth Plantation,’ the governor of the colony, William Bradford, reported that the colonists went hungry for years, because they refused to work in the fields. They preferred instead to steal food. He says the colony was riddled with “corruption,” and with “confusion and discontent.” The crops were small because “much was stolen both by night and day, before it became scarce eatable.”
In the harvest feasts of 1621 and 1622, “all had their hungry bellies filled,” but only briefly. The prevailing condition during those years was not the abundance the official story claims, it was famine and death. The first “Thanksgiving” was not so much a celebration as it was the last meal of condemned men.
But in subsequent years something changes. The harvest of 1623 was different. Suddenly, “instead of famine now God gave them plenty,” Bradford wrote, “and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God.” Thereafter, he wrote, “any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.” In fact, in 1624, so much food was produced that the colonists were able to begin exporting corn.
What happened?
After the poor harvest of 1622, writes Bradford, “they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better crop.” They began to question their form of economic organization.
This had required that “all profits & benefits that are got by trade, working, fishing, or any other means” were to be placed in the common stock of the colony, and that, “all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provisions out of the common stock.” A person was to put into the common stock all he could, and take out only what he needed.
This “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” was an early form of socialism, and it is why the Pilgrims were starving. Bradford writes that “young men that are most able and fit for labor and service” complained about being forced to “spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children.” Also, “the strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes, than he that was weak.” So the young and strong refused to work and the total amount of food produced was never adequate.
To rectify this situation, in 1623 Bradford abolished socialism. He gave each household a parcel of land and told them they could keep what they produced, or trade it away as they saw fit. In other words, he replaced socialism with a free market, and that was the end of famines.
Many early groups of colonists set up socialist states, all with the same terrible results. At Jamestown, established in 1607, out of every shipload of settlers that arrived, less than half would survive their first twelve months in America. Most of the work was being done by only one-fifth of the men, the other four-fifths choosing to be parasites. In the winter of 1609-10, called “The Starving Time,” the population fell from five-hundred to sixty.
Then the Jamestown colony was converted to a free market, and the results were every bit as dramatic as those at Plymouth. In 1614, Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote that after the switch there was “plenty of food, which every man by his own industry may easily and doth procure.” He said that when the socialist system had prevailed, “we reaped not so much corn from the labors of thirty men as three men have done for themselves now.”
Before these free markets were established, the colonists had nothing for which to be thankful. They were in the same situation as Ethiopians are today, and for the same reasons. But after free markets were established, the resulting abundance was so dramatic that the annual Thanksgiving celebrations became common throughout the colonies, and in 1863, Thanksgiving became a national holiday.
Thus the real reason for Thanksgiving, deleted from the official story, is: Socialism does not work; the one and only source of abundance is free markets, and we thank God we live in a country where we can have them.
* * * * *
Mr. Maybury writes on investments.
This article originally appeared in The Free Market, November 1985.
Rep Garrett with two vets at the Glen Rock street fair
Dear Friend, Today, our nation pauses to remember the sacrifices that have been made by our veterans—every man and woman who proudly defended our country. To a brave few, duty and service are more than words, they are a way of life. As Americans, our freedoms and liberties have been secured because of our veterans. From the Continental Armies of the American Revolution to those returning home today from places abroad, our veterans have proven, time and again, to be among our greatest national treasures.
As President John F. Kennedy—himself an American war hero—once said, “A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.” Today, and every day, please join me in remembering and honoring our veterans.
On Sunday, September 28, 2014 our Nation honors our Gold Star Mothers and families.
The Presidential Proclamation in 2011 commemorating this day pronounces, “As members of a grateful Nation, we owe a debt we can never repay, but hold this sacred obligation forever in our hearts, minds, and actions. We honor their sacrifice, and stand with our service members, military families, and Gold Star families as they have stood for us.” The
American Legion Post 53 and Ridgewood NJ’s Blue Star Families are committed to bringing awareness to our community and to commemorate the sacrifices these mothers and their families have made for our Country.
In the aftermath of World War I, Washington D.C. resident Grace Darling Seibold formed an organization called Gold Star Mothers to support the moms who had lost sons and daughters to the war. Grace’s son, First Lieutenant George Vaughn Seibold, was an aviator killed in combat over France in 1918. In 1928, the small D.C.-based group decided to nationalize its efforts. In 1936, a joint congressional resolution established the last Sunday in September as
Gold Star Mother’s Day. The Gold Star Mothers grew from a support group of 60 women to today’s extensive nationwide network with tens of thousands of members and hundreds of local chapters.
In Ridgewood, NJ the Gold Star Mother’s Day Committee will sponsor our fourth annual event commemorating Gold Star Mother’s Day on Sunday, September 28, at Van Neste Park.
