Camp Wheeler's Next Membership Meeting is on Tuesday, May 8th, at 7:30pm.
Camp Wheeler's May 2012 Newsletter
is now available online!
If you have not received your copy, it is now available here on the Camp web site from the Newsletter section web page.
March Cemetery Clean-up
On March 24th, Compatriots of Camp Wheeler returned to the Middlebrooks Family Cemetery in Newton County to perform the first clean-up session of the year. Of note, the cemetery's boundary wall was worke don and looks great! The new entry gate will be very useful. Thanks to the work on the wall, it will be a lot easer to keep the growth off of the wall.
After our clean-up detail at the Middlebrooks Family Cemetery, Commander Joe Underwood and 2nd Lt. Jerry New traveled to the Old Zion Cemetery in Rockdale County, Located off of State Highway 20 near the South River, to place a headstone on the grave of Jerry's Confederate Ancestor, Nathaniel Bell. Private Bell was a member of Company E, 27th Battalion, Georgia Infantry of Newton County. Nathaniel survived The War and died on May 22, 1914.
March Membership Meeting
The March membership meeting of
After the meeting was called to order and all the
pleasantries were carried out, Commander Underwood introduced our guest
speaker, Mr. Jack E. Marlar, SCV Field Representative who gave us a very
interesting talk about canon projectiles and their fuses. Mr. Marlar is a
bombastic speaker and everyone was enthralled by his presentation.
After his talk,
Returning from our break, we got down to the rest of the
camp business at hand. Commander Underwood reported that we have scheduled a cemetery
work day on March 24th to tend to the
In related news, Commander Underwood reports that we have so
far raised approximately $600 for our Middlebrooks Cemetery Mapping Project.
Jack Marlar took the podium to speak about camp growth and
retention. The one item he spoke very passionately about was the use of name
badges as a tool to help us make people feel welcome so we could address them
by name. He urged us all to become active in recruiting our friends and
relatives and even suggested we go pick them up in order to get them to attend.
He also spoke using the term "Historical Honor
Society" after telling people we represent Sons of Confederate Veterans
because it seems to defuse any falsely held negative connotation many people
have with the Confederate Cause.
Madelyn Stark extended an invitation to all for the UDC's
Confederate Memorial Day Commemoration on April 21st. It will take place at the
Commander Jeff Bailey also invited us to attend Stone
Mountain Memorial Camp's Confederate Day Observation on Thursday, April 26h at
6pm at the
Camp Chaplin John Maxey spoke about the observation of Confederate
Memorial Day at the
Next month is our camp's annual Show 'N Tell meeting. Members are encouraged to bring any and all Confederate relics or Southern items of interest. This is the annual meeting where we really encourage people to bring friends and relatives that might be interested in our organization to come out and meet us. We might even have one or two members to welcome into the fold too! You never know!!!
Shirley Middlebrooks McKinney Goes Home
Commander Underwood reports he received an email from Debbie Autry
announcing the death of her Cousin and our friend Ms. Shirley
Middlebrooks McKinney. Although she only touched our lives
briefly she will be fondly remembered forever. Commander
Underwood has sent sympathy cards on behalf of the Camp to Debbie and
to Shirley’s son Bill.
Debbie Autry wrote us;
"I am so very thankful to you and
your guys for making her feel like a queen last summer! It was her wish
to go back home to Porterdale one more time and I will be eternally
thankful to y'all for helping to make her visit home so special."
The following is is her obituary that appeared in her local newspaper.
Shirley
Middlebrooks Buchanan McKinney of Lexington Park Assisted Living Center
in Lady Lake, Fl, died peacefully in her sleep on 11 March 2012
following a short, courageous battle against cancer. She was born June
25, 1923 in Newton County, Georgia and was the only child of William
Louden Middlebrooks and his wife Viola Welch.
She was a graduate of Pike County High School, Zebulon, GA.
She was married to the Rev. Samuel Sidney Buchanan, Sr. who predeceased her in 1980. She was next married to Joseph Malcolm McKinney who predeceased her in 2003. She is survived by four children and their spouses: Samuel Sidney Buchanan, Jr. and his wife Pauline of the The Villages, FL; William Emory Buchanan and his wife Mary of Clarion, PA; Rebecca Leigh Sims and her husband Gary of DeSoto, TX; and Iris Naomi Schachte and her husband Robert of Tucson, AZ. She is also survived by several members of her second husband’s family, including his daughter Agnes McKinney of Rochelle, GA; his stepson Dillard Gibbs (and wife Carolyn) of Rochelle, GA; his sisters Geraldine McKay of Warner Robbins, GA and Maxine McKinney (and husband David Rash) of Woodstock, VA, and his brothers, Edward (and wife Betty) of Warner Robbins, GA, and Raymond (and wife Mary Jean) of Hoover, AL. She is also survived by twelve grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She is also survived by numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, step-grandchildren, step-great-grandchildren, and step-great-great-grandchildren.
Shirley was a devoted mother, wife, grandmother, aunt, cousin, and friend to her large and loving family and network of friends. Until the onset of her recent illness she was a dedicated and caring correspondent, regularly sending cards and letters of support, birthday greetings, condolences, and “thinking of you” messages.
Shirley was an active partner in her first husband’s ministry to various United Methodist Church (UMC) congregations across the South Georgia Conference: the Rochelle Charge (including Rochelle UMC, Liberty Hill UMC, Kramer UMC, Pitts UMC, and Seville UMC), Remerton UMC in Valdosta; Tyson Memorial UMC in Moultrie; Palmyra UMC in Albany; Soperton UMC in Soperton; the Vienna Charge (including Vienna UMC and Shiloh UMC); Alma UMC in Alma; and Peavy UMC in Cordele. Following the death of her first husband she worked as the secretary to the Hawkinsville UMC in Hawkinsville for many years. She was an active member and officer in local and regional units of the United Methodist Women.
Funeral services will be Saturday,
17 March 2012 at 11 am at the Rochelle United Methodist Church; the
Rev. James Jensen, retired UMC minister, and the Rev. Debbie Cone,
pastor of the Abbeville/Liberty Hill UMC charge, will lead the service.
Frazier and Sons Funeral Home in Rochelle is in charge of arrangements.
There will be no public viewing, though the family will receive friends
at the funeral home Friday, March 16, from 6-8 pm. In lieu of flowers
the family requests donations to Cornerstone Hospice Emerald Team, 2445
Lane Park Road, Tavares, FL 32778 or to a charity of one’s
choice.
February Membership Meeting
Our February Membership Meeting was well attended, however
Commander Underwood and Camp Adjutant Steve Camp was not able to be with us. In
our Commander's place, 1st. Lt. Commander Tommy Cook presided over our meeting.
After everyone was settled in, Tommy reported the status of
the camp. We had 64 guests attend our Lee-Jackson Dinner. Through our meager
profit margin on each plate of food served, along with donations that were
given to us, we were able to take in a considerable amount of income from the
event, most of which will be targeted for our Middlebrooks Cemetery mapping project.
Tommy read thank you cards from Madelyn Stark and Donna Cloud which were
extremely gracious.
Tommy acknowledged a $200 donation from Cmdr. Jerry Gibby
for our continuing care of the grounds at the
Tommy pointed out that with Spring, comes new plant growth
and the need for us to inspect and perform landscaping maintenance on the
cemeteries we look after, particularly the
We had been hoping to swear in our new compatriot, Scott
Long, but he was not able to join us at the meeting, We look forward to doing
this in the near future. Hal Doby (yours truly) announced his nephew, Dean
Garrett Doby, has turned in his application for membership in the SCV and
Tommy announced that at our March Meeting, we will be joined
by SCV Field Representative Jack Marlar. He will give a presentation of
Artillery Projectiles & Fuse Systems used during the Civil War. He will
display several shells and fuses from the era and explain their complexities
and functions. Mr. Marlar is an extremely
knowledgeable expert on the Civil War and had presented talks to the group in
the past. At the February meeting, our compatriots recalled his presentation on
the C.S. Hunley and told everyone what a great guest speaker Mr. Marlar is.
This is one meeting we would love not only all our compatriots to attend, but
we also ask for our men to bring a guest with them so we have a large group to
hear Mr. Marlar's talk.
Tommy also reminded us that our April Membership Meeting is
our annual "Show & Tell" event. He challenged us to bring any
memorabilia or War relics we might have to present to our compatriots to
examine.
In attendance of our Meeting was Cmdr. Jerry Gibby, Commander
of Stone Mountain Memorial Camp. He informed us that their camp is having its
annual Confederate Remembrance Month Observation on Confederate Memorial Day,
Thursday, April 26th. It will be held at 6pm at the
If you are planning to travel up to
Cmdr. Gibby also told me that the Military Order of the
Stars & Bars (M.O.S.&B.) will be observing Confederate Memorial Day on
April 14th inside
That's the news for February, I hope to see everyone in March!
Camp Wheeler's Lee-Jackson Dinner
Our Annual Lee-Jackson Dinner was once again a great success. We had 64 compatriots, friends, and honored guests attend. The event was catered by Shane's Rib Shack for a second year and everyone was in agreement the food was wonderful.
Prior
to the event, Commander Joe
Underwood took the podium and made a few introductions and
announcements. He was followed by 1st Lieutenant Tommy Cook who
welcomed everyone with a few remarks. Once Commander Underwood retook
the podium, he presented the annual awards for the Camp's Person of
the year to Madelyn Stark and Compatriot of the year to 2nd Lieutenant
Nathan Gerald "Jerry" New. Both awards recieved a very warm round of
applause from those in attendence.
After dinner, our guest speaker was the
Comannder of Stone Mountain Memorial Camp, Jeff Bailey, who spoke of
Mr. Thomas Maguire, owner of The Promised Land plantation during the
Civil War period. He read several passages from Mr. Maguire's personal
diary and related the on-going events both local and national that
effected life on this local plantation. His presentation was very well
recieved.
It was a great time for everyone in attendance. When the two hour event concluded, I saw everyone with big smiles on their faces.
Compatriots and friends of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler Camp #863;
Thanks to you our 24th annual Lee-Jackson Dinner which was held on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 was a great success.
In addition to many of our own members there were many guests in
attendance. There were three (3) people representing the Rockdale
County Historical Society, two (2) from the James M. Gresham Chapter of
the United Daughters of the Confederacy, one (1) from the Maj. Wm. E.
Simpson Camp #96 in Lawrenceville, one (1) from Gen. George
“Tig” Anderson Camp #2038 in Mansfield, the 13 Brigade
Commander Philip Autrey and Commander Jeff Bailey with five (5) of his
compatriots from the Confederate Memorial Camp #1432.
We also had eleven guest of honor. In attendance were the
owner/caretakers of “The Promised Land” Mr. Thomas Livsey
and his son Thomas Livsey Jr., three great-great-great nephews of
Thomas Maguire, the Reverend Jim Harrison, Mr. Charles Harrison and Mr.
and Mrs. Pegram Harrison. Representing the grandchildren of
Thomas Maguire were the 4th great grandson Mr. Charles Milton Lee, the
4th great granddaughter Ms. Linda Lee Duckett and two great-great-great
granddaughters Ms. Marilyn Mauldin Lee and Mrs. Donna Cloud and her
husband Bud.
I want to thank you, the members of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler Camp #863,
and all these special guests for making our 24th Lee-Jackson Dinner
such a great success.
J. H. Underwood
Commander
Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler Camp #863
Sons of Confederate Veterans
