Army civilians on Redstone who are descended from Revolutionary War patriots are also supporting the military and veterans through their volunteer efforts with an organization that’s dedicated to promoting patriotism and preserving American history.
Laura Lind joined the Fairfax County Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution in 2006 and transferred to the Maple Hill Chapter of the organization in Huntsville last year.
“I joined NSDAR to meet and serve with strong women who want to make a difference through volunteer work and service projects, better understand and learn from our past, and honor my ancestors’ vision and service,” said Lind, a management and program analyst for the Strategic Initiatives Group at Army Contracting Command.
She was inspired to join after hearing a speech at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
“That event had a big impact on me and made me want to look into the society more. I decided to join DAR after better understanding its contributions towards education, service and historic preservation,” she said.
Since joining the Huntsville chapter, Lind has helped with the National Defense Committee’s annual luncheon and supported parades, book signings, youth programs, awareness efforts and other service projects in support of the military.
The organization, founded in 1890, has about 190,000 members across 3,000 chapters in the U.S. and internationally, including seven in Limestone, Madison and Morgan counties.
Staci-Jill Burnley, public affairs chief with IMCOM Directorate-Sustainment at Redstone was “bitten by the genealogy bug” and started her research when her husband, Todd, a Soldier who’s now at Redstone, was deployed to Iraq.
“We got orders to move to D.C. and from that point, I was more interested in it because DAR headquarters are in D.C, and has an amazing resource library,” she said. After making an inquiry, the chapter regent for her area reached out to her about getting her DAR membership rolling.
She’s been a member of chapters since 2012, through moves to Utah and Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, and she’s now a member of the Maple Hill Chapter.
Among other involvement, Burnley is a national adviser to the DAR Project Patriot Committee, the official DAR committee that supports service members and their families, and she works with a network of military spouses to find out where the need is, from care packages to welcome home ceremonies.
“That affords everyone – no matter where they are in the world – an opportunity to be able to support service members and their families,” she said. “We try to provide the opportunity to all of our DAR chapters the opportunity to show their appreciation and be able to contribute to helping make the lives better of our service members and their families.”
Burnley’s Revolutionary War ancestor from her father’s line was identified in DAR records as a patriot from North Carolina who provided materiel aid in support of the war effort. “I probably have about 14 patriots in my family tree that I have not had the chance to document officially,” she said.
For Lind, “our family has served in the Revolutionary War, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and more.”
One of her grandfathers was a B-17 bomber pilot who was shot down and interned in Switzerland, her grandmother was a secretary in the Pentagon to aid in the war effort and the other grandfather was a medic and cook during World War II.
“My Revolutionary patriot ancestor furnished supplies, served as a colonel in a North Carolina regiment and, later, as a commissary general,” Lind said.
Priscilla Adams DuMont, a senior contract specialist with the ACC’s Aviation Directorate, whose father retired from the Navy and brothers served in the Army, has ancestors who served in the Spanish-American War, Civil War and the War of 1812.
“I come from a very supportive military family,” she said. “I always knew I would join DAR.
“DAR is a service organization focusing on patriotism, education, and historic preservation. I have always been a firm believer in needing to know the past, so you know where you are headed in the future,” said DuMont, who learned when she was 8 years old that the sixth U.S. president John Quincy Adams was her cousin. “We must preserve history.”
She and her daughter joined DAR in 2021 under a female patriot ancestor. Maple Hill is her regular membership chapter and she’s also an associate member at two other chapters.
With the Maple Hill chapter, she has served as Constitution Week co-chair and co-chair of the National Defense Committee and is a volunteer genealogist and assists with member applications.
“DAR does so much. We send care packages to our military. We clean up cemeteries. We pick up trash on the side of the road. We go into schools and tutor children. We hold programs with awards geared to almost every grade in elementary and secondary schools. We participate in the Veterans Day parade. We provide support to Kate Duncan Smith DAR school in Grant, Alabama. We provide American flags and a pamphlet on flag etiquette to new Habitat for Humanity homeowners. We prepare meal care packages for those school-aged children that would not otherwise have a meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” DuMont said.
Burnley said a DAR committee is also involved in supporting veterans, through Veterans Affairs centers and veterans’ retirement homes, by providing items from toiletries and socks to greeting cards.
“We just look for ways – no matter how small – to be able to say thank you, we appreciate all that you do and have done for us as American citizens to protect and defend our nation.”
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