By Laura Lawrence, Alternate Delegate for Aleli Parlor No.
102
Last week, I attended the 127th Grand Parlor Annual Meeting of the Native Daughters of the Golden West in Pleasanton with approximately 200 Sisters, including about 100 delegates from parlors around the state.
This was my first time attending the Grand Parlor Annual Meeting. One of things that I love about Native Daughters is their love of tradition.
This organization founded on the
principles of love of home, devotion to the flag, veneration of the pioneers,
and faith in the existence of God.
Our annual meeting reflects these principles. Each day for four days, the meeting opened
with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the singing of the National
Anthem. A prayer was said at the opening
and closing of each meeting, as well as before each meal.
While the focus of the meeting’s work was consideration of recommendations
and resolutions submitted to the Grand Parlor, the nomination and election of
Grand Officers for the coming year, and to hear reports from all of the
organizations various committees, the daily meetings were not all
business. The day’s activities were
peppered with presentations of gifts, skits by the Grand Officers and other
parlors, and luncheons in support of our non-profit foundations.
Every year, a very moving Memorial Service is held for all
of our Sisters who passed away during the year.
It is annual tradition to remember those Sisters who have given so much
to this organization.
The Gold Dust Girls hold a fundraising dinner every year as
well. The Gold Dust Girls raise money for the
incoming Grand President and any special projects within the organization that
need a boost. This year’s dinner had a 60s
theme. I got into the spirit by wearing
a costume reminiscent of Tippi Hedren’s character in the 1963 movie The Birds. Look for a picture of me in my costume in a future issue of the California Star.
Native Daughters also gives awards to
businesses and organizations that support the image of California. This year, one of the Image Awards was given
to the Chrysler Corporation for their Jeep commercial that brought our state
song, “I Love You, California”, back to life.
We were also delighted by two inspiring and enthusiastic
speakers. Victoria Kastner, historian
for Hearst Castle in San Simeon and author of books on the same subject,
presented a slide show and talk on Phoebe Apperson Hearst, architect Julia
Morgan and William Randolph Hearst. The
talk was informative and gave me the “itch” to visit La Cuesta Encantada
again. The new Director of California
State Parks, Major General Anthony Jackson, USMC, (ret.) spoke. His enthusiasm for our state parks was infectious!
Our final day of meetings concluded
with the installation of our Grand Officers for the coming term.
Native Daughters is an aging organization that is embedded
with tradition. As time goes on, we are
losing members more often than we are gaining new ones. As was stated in the nomination speech for Dawn
Dunlap, Grand Inside Sentinel, progress and tradition are not mutually
exclusive, but interdependent. We need
to keep this mind as we move forward as an Order. To some, the decorum, the formal gowns, and other old-fashioned traditions may seem like they
belong in another era. Our challenge as Sisters is
to find a way to portray the value in these traditions and, at the same
time, stay current with needs of a younger generation of Californians.
