Delores Tomasek 1942-2026, long-time Historical League member

It is with great sadness we share that Delores Tomasek passed away May 27, 2026.  Delores has been a league member since 1993. She was a past president 2003-2004, a Past Historymakers co-chair 2008, and also co-chaired the Children's Holiday Party. She has been fighting cancer for more than a year. May her memory be a blessing to all who knew her. Her smile was infectious and we will miss her.

A funeral Mass celebrating Delores’s life was held on Saturday, May 30, 2026, at Church of the Ascension in Fountain Hills. Many Historical League members attended the beautiful service and lovely luncheon that followed. Cathy and Tom Shumard, Margaret and Larry Baker, Jolynn Clarke, Chris Hackett, Nancy and Stan Evans, Diane Smith, Carolyn Mendoza, Mary and Bill Parker, Susan Dale, Mary McMahon, Clede Gorrell, Jan Murray, Diane Linthicum, Joan Galloway, Bonnie Newhoff, Anne Lupica, Donna Esposito. 

Delores was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Francis Edward Tomasek with whom she shared 45 years of marriage.

WWII Papago Park POW huts

 Restoration and preservation of those surviving WWII Camp Papago POW Huts is an ongoing project at the Arizona Heritage Center at Papago Park.

One of the wildest forgotten stories in Arizona history happened right beneath what is now Papago Park in Phoenix.
During World War II, Camp Papago held mostly German naval prisoners captured during the war. But in December 1944, 25 German POWs pulled off the largest Axis prison escape ever from a U.S. camp.
Using homemade tools, they secretly dug a 176-foot tunnel beneath the camp and escaped into the Arizona desert under the cover of darkness. Their plan was to follow rivers south toward Mexico… except they didn’t realize most Arizona riverbeds were completely dry.
Lost, exhausted, and running out of supplies, the escapees were eventually captured one by one or turned themselves in. What started as a daring wartime breakout became one of the strangest stories in Arizona history.
Today, thousands visit Papago Park without realizing a WWII POW camp once stood beneath the desert landscape.

NHDAZ student Mateo researches Alice Cooper

 What an incredible National History Day Arizona success story!

Earlier this year, Mateo dedicated himself to researching Arizona music legend Alice Cooper for his National History Day project, writing a 12-page essay that showcased the power of student-driven historical research.

Thanks to the support of an outstanding educator, a determined school principal, and a community that believes in celebrating student achievement, Mateo’s project made its way to Alice Cooper himself!

Not only did Alice Cooper take the time to read Mateo’s work, but he also signed the essay with an “A+” and gifted Mateo an autographed album — creating a memory that will last a lifetime.

This is what National History Day is all about: inspiring students to explore the past, develop their research skills, and discover meaningful connections between history and the world around them.

Congratulations, Mateo! Your hard work, curiosity, and dedication truly paid off.

Sandra Day O'Connor, 1992 Arizona Historymaker, continues to make a difference

 Before the American Revolution became legend, it was lived.

 They were organizers, writers, soldiers, printers, petitioners, diplomats, and spies. Many were not famous. They argued, sacrificed, and acted without knowing whether the country they imagined would survive.

 Before It Became History, a new podcast series from the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute, tells those stories and others from America's founding era to the near present.

 Each episode asks not only what these Americans did, but what their choices demanded of them—and what citizenship demands of us. Justice O'Connor spent her post-retirement years making a similar argument: democracy depends on citizens who understand their history, their institutions, and their responsibilities. Start the series today! oconnorinstitute.org/before-it-became-history/

The Historical League honored her as Arizona Historymaker in 1992. She continues to inspire us through the Sandra Day O'Connor Institute.

Heroes of Cibecue Student Book Series at Heard Museum

Cathy Shumard visits with NHDAZ teachers 
Jeron Verasco and Simon Kibe from Cibecue

As part of the Memorial Day Celebration at the Heard Musuem, a noteworthy exhibit was presented by National History Day Arizona students from White Mountain Apache, showcasing exceptional research from the Dishchii’bikoh Community School in Cibecue, AZ.

Commemorating Heroes of Cibecue - the Heroes of Cibecue Student Book Series and Exhibit showcases children's literature, student artwork, and narratives paying tribute to Apache veterans and the students who helped preserve their stories. Student authors, illustrators, and narrators may also participate through live readings and reflections, creating a poignant experience that honors remembrance, service, and Indigenous heritage.

National History Day teachers Jeron Velasco and Simon Kibe explained the program at the Cibecue table. Jeron accompanied 2025 NHDAZ students to Washington D.C. Simon will go with the students this year.

More at https://www.azfamily.com/.../indigenous-service-members...

Historical League is very supportive of these students. 

Thanks to Katie Tovar and Cathy Shumard for the photos and descriptions.

Julia, Maxwell and Todd attend Career Day at Sunnyslope School

 Kids get inspired by AHS staff Maxwell Edwards-Abbot and Todd Bailey, with Historical League/Sunnyslope Historical Society volunteer Julia Taggart.

Sunnyslope School is a Kids at Hope School. May 12 was their final destination day – Education and Career Day. Special guests representing all different types of careers – firefighters, librarians, healthcare professionals, judges, municipal employees, teachers and more, were on campus inspiring students to set goals and dream big!

Thanks to Julie, Maxwell and Todd for talking to them about Arizona history!

Justice O'Connor Named Among 250 Americans Who Shaped the Nation

 

HISTORY.com has named Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to its list of 250 People Who Shaped America. She appears in a section titled "What Glass Ceiling?" as the woman who, in 1981, became the first to serve on the United States Supreme Court.

(The Historical League named her as 1992 Arizona Historymaker. We knew she was amazing!)

 The recognition is fitting. But for the O'Connor Institute, the fuller story is the legacy she left behind.

Justice O'Connor was an Arizonan, a rancher's daughter, a state legislator, a judge, and ultimately a justice of the nation's highest court. After retiring, she devoted the next chapter of her public life to civic education, warning that self-government cannot endure if citizens do not understand it.

She called the decline of civics education a crisis. She built programs to address it. That work continues through the O’Connor Institute today.

https://www.history.com/articles/250-people-who-shaped-america