November 15 – This past week, we observed Veterans' Day – a day set aside to honor our veterans, past, present, and future. We should never pass up an opportunity to thank those who serve in our armed forces.

Next week, we will observe Thanksgiving-a season of prayer and giving thanks. Our nation has a long, rich tradition of thanking God for his blessings:

In 1541, Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his men conducted a service of thanksgiving for the abundant food and water they found along the Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle.

In 1564 French Huguenot colonists settled in the area of Jacksonville, Florida, and “sang a psalm of Thanksgiving unto God.”

In 1607, when the Jamestown colonists arrived in Virginia, they immediately erected a wooden cross and gave thanks for their safe passage across the ocean.

In 1619, English colonists at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia decreed that the day of their arrival, Dec. 4, “shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God.”

In the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts, held a feast to celebrate the harvest and thank the Lord for his goodness.

In 1777, during the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress designated December 18 of that year a day “for solemn Thanksgiving and praise” for the Patriot army's victory at Saratoga-the first national day of thanksgiving.

In 1789, President George Washington proclaimed Nov. 26 to be a day of thanksgiving for God's blessings and for the new United States Constitution. He prayed that we “may all unite in rendering unto God our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge, and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.

It wasn't until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that the country got a regular national Thanksgiving Day. Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November “a day of thanksgiving and praise to out beneficent Father.”

Succeeding presidents followed Lincoln's example. In 1941, Congress passed a law officially declaring the fourth Thursday in November as America's Thanksgiving Day.

My sincere wishes to you and yours for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Friends And Neighbors

On Nov. 6, the Tuesday morning Prayer Group from Bethlehem Presbyterian Church took Violet Thackston to lunch at Mimmo's in Charlotte Court House to celebrate her 93rd birthday. Helping Violet to celebrate were Betty Jimenez, Catherine Garnett, Nancy Dodd, Bonnie Garnett, Margot Noble, Catherine Mylum, and Margaret Burroughs.

On Nov. 10, Jean and Shyrl Marston and Lois (Mylum) and Earl Pope motored to the Peaks of Otter to enjoy the beautiful fall colors in the trees. They enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Peaks of Otter Restaurant.

On Nov. 10, Violet Thackston and I attended the United Methodist Church Women's annual turkey dinner. It was very nice to sit down with so many friends and neighbors and enjoy a delicious dinner.

On Nov. 11, Dorothy Womack of Five Forks visited with Violet Thackston.

As part of the community outreach of the Abilene Homemakers Club, on Nov. 14, I delivered some baked goodies, made by Marolyn Lavra, to the children at the Piedmont Juvenile Detention Center.

Jimmy and Carol Nelson of Charlotte, NC., will be arriving Nov. 18 to spend a few days with his mother, Faye Nelson.

The Women of the United Methodist Church would like to thank everyone in the community for showing such overwhelming support of their Annual Turkey Dinner held at the Abilene Community Center Nov. 10.

If you have any news or announcements that you would like to share, please call me at 223-2271 or e-mail me at kz5ro@kinex.net.