victoriavm Activities & Events, Community, Griffith High School, Griffith Historical Society, History Notes

Liberty Trees Planted to Honor America’s 250th ๐ŸŒณ

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐–๐žโ€™๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐’๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ง๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ!

As part of our celebration and dedication to preserve and honor historical events, the Griffith Historical Society was proud to partner with local schools to plant “Liberty Trees” in honor of America’s 250th Anniversary.

Student volunteers and our America 250 Committee got to work to plant a serviceberry tree at Beiriger, a maple tree at Wadsworth, an oak tree at Griffith High School, and another oak tree at St. Mary School.

Soon, we’ll have plaques to commemorate the trees’ significance. We hope the trees will be a continuing symbol and memorial for this historic year!

Special thanks to John Chance, principal of Griffith High School, Georgia Smith, the Director of Maintenance at the Griffith Public Schools, and Rebecca Maskovich, principal of St. Mary School, as well as our Griffith Historical Society volunteers, Valerie & John Wotkun and Marthann Gatlin, for coordinating and planting the trees, and Ken Karlstedt for taking photos.

Beiriger – Serviceberry Tree

Wadsworth – Maple Tree

High School – Oak Tree

St. Mary School – Oak Tree

victoriavm Activities & Events, Griffith Historical Society, Volunteer

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธFlowers for 250 Years!

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ ๐–๐ž’๐ซ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐”๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ ๐’๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ง๐œ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ง๐ข๐š๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ!
โ€ฆโ€ฆโˆโ˜…โˆโ˜…โ€ฆโ€ฆ(๐˜๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ?)
โค๏ธ๐Ÿค๐Ÿ’™Griffith Historical Society’s America 250 Committee worked with Imagine Griffith and citizen volunteers to plant red, white and blue flowers throughout downtown Griffith. The flowers were provided courtesy of the Parks Department.
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธWe hope you enjoy them this summer as we continue to celebrate America’s 250th birthday!

victoriavm Griffith Historical Society

Get to Know Us: Nancy Fortner Stout

Nancy is the current President of the Griffith Historical Society.

Tell us a bit about yourself!
Iโ€™ve been married to Mike Stout for 47 years. Iโ€™ve got 3 children: Mike Jr, Angela, and Adam, and 9 grandchildren! I worked at the License Bureau, Griffith Senior High Schoolโ€™s Attendance Secretary, Strack & Van Til, and at American Trans Air (ATA) airports in FL and Midway. I have served on the Police Commission, as a UFCU Board Member, on the Griffith Educational Foundation, and as a Precinct Committeeperson.

What is your favorite memory about living in Griffith?
My favorite memory of Griffith is ice skating at Central Park, summer recreation St Maryโ€™s for grade school, and going to Griffith High School (I had a blast!)

What drew you to the GHS?
I have always loved Griffith, so when I saw they had a Historical Society, I knew it was for me.

What do you like most about being a GHS member and officer?
Finding out the history of Griffith. Barrel train at the Market with all the children. Elmer J Project with the 3rd graders. They get so excited when theyโ€™re learning about the history of Griffith. Santa in the Caboose โ€“ the children are so excited to see Santa.
I love working with the people of the Historical Society. Everyone supports each other.

Nancy Stout
victoriavm Activities & Events, Depot & Train Museums, Fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Santa in the Caboose, Sundays at the Depot, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam, Town History Museum at the Franklin Center, Volunteer

Thanks for a great Santa in Caboose!

๐ŸŽ„Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas from the Griffith Historical Society!
๐ŸŽ…Thank you to everyone who braved the cold and came out to Santa in the Caboose!! From our volunteers to those of you who visited and left a donation, we couldn’t do it without you!
๐Ÿš‚As a non-profit, volunteer-run organization, all of your donations go directly to the upkeep of the Train & Depot Museums and the Town History Museum at the Franklin Center. We appreciate you and your support!