At the November 27,1982 meeting, Mrs. Laurie Musso, the colony's
first governor spoke on the three volume set she had published, "Tales of
Mother Earth and Her Children". This was a collection of stories Mrs. Musso's
grandmother had told her. At the April 23,1983 meeting,
member and future governor Gene Nelson spoke to the Orange County Colony on Women of
the Mayflower. This was very well received and her talk was put into booklet form
and copies were put on sale for $2.00 each. Copies were donated to the State and National
Society Libraries as well as the local Genealogical Society(OCCGS). At the 1995 State
Meeting in Monterey, Pat Stanford, Junior Chairman, asked our Gift Table Chairman, Blauer,
if he could get her some copies. He had 100 copies made and donated them to her for the
juniors.
On May 19,1984, the colony hosted its first State Meeting. The
following month at the June Picnic, Jim Blauer presented a calligraphic rendition of the
Mayflower Compact. It was approved that $5.00 be charged to sign the name of
one's ancestor or to be a proxy for those without descendants. By the April 1996 meeting
the last signatures were obtained. This completed project raised $205.00 for the colony
treasury. It is now displayed at all General Meetings and copies on parchment have been
made and are for sale at the Gift Table.
The official presentation was made by Mr. Blauer at the September
27,1986 colony meeting. He pointed out he had noted on the back of the framed compact who
had signed for each Mayflower Signer. It was later entered in the State's Cushman Contest
by the Colony Nominating Committee. Jim was awarded for this work the book Stepping
Stones.
Over the years the Education Committee has seen hundreds of dollars
spent on books on Pilgrim History and donated them to selected High Schools in Orange
County. This has been supplemented by the donations of Education Packets by individual
members to their local schools. Finally is the donation of books by the colony to the
Orange County California Genealogical Society Library in Huntington Beach. These donations
are usually made upon the retirement of the colony governor or the passing of active
members.
At the colony picnic in 1989 a plaque was started for the winner of
the best dish brought by members. The first year it was won by Marion De Vol and Earl Cole
who tied in the balloting. Since then either Earl or his wife Donna has won every year
through 1996. With his win in 1996 the plaque was given to the Coles. A new one was
started in 1997 and Steve Ruffino won with his Oxtail Soup.
