A Great Evening

[L Verge]

I want to acknowledge the wonderful work that my staff at Surratt House Museum did in producing a 40th Anniversary banquet and program last night (September 11, 2015) to celebrate the service of The Surratt Society, which was formally initiated in September of 1975. From balloons and decorations to favors and place cards - and doing the final set-up - the ladies managed to transform a ballroom into a colorful birthday bash.

The founder of the Society, Orva Heissenbuttel (now 88), was honored with a token of appreciation, and four original members of the Class of 1975 were on hand to be recognized. They now range in age from the 90+, 80+, and 70+ categories. I was the baby at 71.

After a delicious dinner, 107 attendees were privileged to hear international journalist and political commentator, Cokie Roberts, talk about researching her current book on Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868. Cokie is a wonderful speaker, who teases you with the content and is able to make history fun with details from letters, diaries, and news reports of the time. And, she talks to her audience; she doesn't read from her paper!

I'm happy to report that Kathy Canavan was at the event with good news also. Her book on Lincoln's Final Hours was released yesterday, almost a month ahead of schedule. This is another great entry into the field of Lincoln assassination studies -- and written by a woman!

I'll wind up with saying that Cokie's opinion on the fate of Mary Surratt (who is one of the women in her book) is that "She was framed." I kept my opinion to myself...