Valley DAR Reads to Fourth Graders

Photo contributed by Joyce Major: DAR Gila Valley Chapter completes 2022 service project by sharing stories about George Washington to fourth graders in local area schools.

By Paula Price/DAR Member

GRAHAM COUNTY – October was DAR Service to America month. By the end of that month, as their project, the Gila Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution went to fourth-grade classrooms to read a book about George Washington’s teeth and to tell about their own American Revolutionary heroes.

Children learned that George lost tooth after tooth and was down to one by the time he was president. George finally got a set of false teeth that allowed him to smile, but teeth carved from walrus tusk stained and looked dark like wood. So, the myth that George had wooden teeth probably began 230 years ago!

Photo contributed by Paulette LeBlanc: DAR members Ruby Cochran, left, and Bonnie Briscoe read to Melody Hillman’s fourth-grade class at Discovery Plus Academy.

The DAR members read the fun book George Washington’s Teeth at Fort Thomas, Bonita, Discovery Plus, Solomon, and Triumphant Learning Center. The chapter members involved in this service project were: Vicki Foote and Paula Price, service project chair and co-chairs, along with Helen Masten, Mollie Carlin, Joyce Major, Linda Curtis, Brenda Kempton, Ruby Cochran, Bonnie Briscoe, Talana Hooper, and Carolyn Whitmore. The chapter appreciated the help of Paulette LeBlanc, who works closely with these schools, in contacting the principals about this project.

This service project was also an opportunity for DAR members to celebrate the anniversary of the founding of DAR on October 11th in 1890.