Historymaker Adam Diaz and Luhrs Tower

Arizona Historymaker Adam Diaz had much to do with the Luhrs Tower. He was thirteen when he left school to support his family after his father’s death. Later, he enrolled in night business school to learn communication skills. Upon meeting George Luhrs, Jr. in the 1920s, Adam was hired as an elevator operator in the Luhrs Building, eventually becoming a building manager for the Luhrs Properties. Adam attributes his many civic accomplishments to the support he received from Mr. Luhrs, who encouraged him to join community organizations and allowed him time off from his job to do so. More at https://www.historicalleague.org/historymakers/adam-diaz

Thanks to Arizona History/ Jimi Giannati for following text/photo. "Sitting on the corner of First Ave and Jefferson and looking like a wedding cake made for a princess with a tower that reaches a height of 185 ft.; the Luhrs Tower is an iconic art-deco skyscraper that was built in 1929 by George Luhrs Jr., a prominent local Phoenix native, It was Phoenix’s first 10-story high-rise when it opened to great fanfare on April 1, 1924 built at a cost of $553,000. Since then it has been added to the Phoenix Historic Property Register. If it looks familiar, it might be because you spotted it in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho.”

December Guest Speaker for Holiday Celebration: Pat McMahon

 If you have been in the Valley awhile you know Pat McMahon and how influential he has been. We are delighted to welcome him as the speaker for our Dec. holiday celebration. Over the course of his career, he’s won multiple honors and is an AZ Historymaker. But most of us know him as Gerald, Aunt Maud, Captain Super, Hub Kapp, and a host of other characters from the Wallace & Ladmo Show. To this day, the show remains one of the longest running locally produced children’s shows in America.

Dec. 2, 2024 at AZ Heritage Center, 1300 N. College Ave, Tempe, AZ 85288.

10:00am Historical League business meeting (not open to public)

11:00am Pat McMahon

Noon Lunch- $40.00 http://www.historicalleague.org/event-inside.aspx...

If you, or others in your party, prefer not to stay for lunch, but want to attend Pat’s presentation, please RSVP to Jolynn Clarke, Jolynn@leaders-view.com with your name, email, and the number in your party. Limited seating.

Pat McMahon's background: Over the course of his career, he's won seven Emmys, is an inductee into several halls of fame, and is a 1993 Arizona Historymaker™. He is the winner of both an International Broadcasting Gold Medal and an Edward R. Murrow Award.

Pat is a longstanding fixture of the Phoenix broadcasting scene, serving as a program director, a disc jockey, and a talk-show host, among other positions. But most of us know him as Gerald, the over-privileged brat; Aunt Maud, the elderly storyteller of dark tales; Captain Super, the phony superhero; Hub Kapp, the rock and roll star; and a host of other characters from the Wallace and Ladmo Show. That show was one of the longest running locally produced children's shows in America. He's proud of that, and we are too.

Pat was born to life-long vaudeville performers Jack and Adelaide McMahon, who performed a variety-dance act that took the three McMahons worldwide. He was home schooled on the road but later attended a private high school and college in the Midwest. After a stint in the Army, Pat made his way to Arizona in May 1960, where he's lived ever since.

Oh, the stories he's able to tell, and we're looking forward to hearing them all. Pat will tell us about his life and how the Wallace and Ladmo shows impacted him and Arizona history.

November meeting

 Planning future events at the November meeting brought out a good crowd of Historical League members. Guest speaker Diane Burke Fessler presented her book and discussed women veterans in WWII.

Thanks to Josie Pete and Katie Tovar for the great photos.

Thanks to Sandy Loeffler for the adorable fall wagon table decorations.

Fabulous lunch presentation from Creations by Sergio at our November meeting. Turkey dinner sandwiches and Pecan pie . . . oh my!

November Guest Speaker Diane Burke Fessler "No Time for Fear"

 Honoring our veterans this month, Diane Burke Fessler, author of No Time for Fear: Voices of American Military Nurses of World War II, spoke at our November meeting. Her aunt was an Army nurse who wrote letters every week from her stations overseas and led Fessler to want to write about her. After attending a reunion of the 166th General Hospital in 1989 with "Auntie Raine" (Lorraine Krause Taylor), she interviewed more than 200 nurses whose stories had not been told. Covering all theaters of war, the nurses remembered their overseas assignments, including the first flight nurses, women at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, prisoners of the Japanese in the Philippines, and African-American nurses who served in a segregated U.S. Army.

Diane grew up in Chicago, graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Journalism, and lives in Phoenix. She also contributed a chapter about women in Arizona during the 1940s to a book titled Arizona Goes to War: The Home Front and Front Lines During World War II, published by University of Arizona press.

Diane Burke Fessler and Jolynn Clarke

Ira Parsons, NHD student, wins Library of Congress Award

 Old news but always exciting and bears repeating . . . Scottsdale Student wins Library of Congress Award from Jewish News, Aug 9, 2024

The Library of Congress has awarded this year’s “Discovery or Exploration in History” prize to W. Ira Parsons, a Jewish freshman at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, for his work, “The Fastest Man On Earth: How Col. Dr. John Stapp Revolutionized Space Medicine.”

Parsons was one of 500,000 students globally who entered historical research projects in this year’s National History Day® competition, held June 9–13 at the University of Maryland. The 2024 contest theme was Turning Points in History.

Winners from all 50 states, Washington D.C., U.S. territories, and international schools were invited to compete in the national round. 540 historians and education professionals served as judges. The Library of Congress awards its “Discovery or Exploration in History” prize to an outstanding National History Day® project in any category on American or international discovery or exploration. This year’s 50th Anniversary Honorary Committee included, among others, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden; Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan; Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch; historians Doris Kearns Goodwin, Douglas Brinkley, Heather Cox Richardson, and Walter Isaacson; documentary filmmaker Ken Burns; and journalists Jake Tapper, Jonathan Capehart, Judy Woodruff, and Wolf Blitzer.

“Participating in the National History Day National Contest in 2024 is a special honor,” said NHD Executive Director Dr. Cathy Gorn. “As the organization celebrates its 50th anniversary, the students at the National Contest witnessed history. They have shown an incredible level of critical thinking, analysis, and research skills that will benefit them beyond their participation in NHD. I am proud of the students’ achievements this contest year and look forward to how they apply the skills they developed during their research to their future careers and lives.”

Ira Parsons with NHD co-ordinator Stacey Trepanier

Sandra Day O'Connor 1992 Arizona Historymaker

 Honored in the first group of Arizona Historymakers in 1992, SDO has been an inspiration to us all.

On October 23, 2018, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from public life. This was not an easy step for an active public servant, but the diagnosis of dementia, likely Alzheimer's, led to the final quiet chapters of her amazing life.

In a letter to the public, she shared:

"While the final chapter of my life with dementia may be trying, nothing has diminished my gratitude and deep appreciation for the countless blessings in my life. How fortunate I feel to be an American and to have been presented with the remarkable opportunities available to the citizens of our country. As a young cowgirl from the Arizona desert, I never could have imagined that one day I would become the first woman justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

I hope that I have inspired young people about civic engagement and helped pave the pathway for women who may have faced obstacles pursuing their careers. My greatest thanks to our nation, to my family, to my former colleagues, and to all the wonderful people I have had the opportunity to engage with over the years."

You can learn more about her amazing life, work, and her lasting legacy at OConnorInstitute.org.

Hassayampa Inn for lunch during Historical League October tour

 Historic Hassayampa Inn is a great place for lunch in Prescott. Our tours always include delicious food!

Thanks to Josie Pete for great photos!

Tour to Prescott Museum of Indigenous People

 No better way to enjoy a tour to Prescott's Museum of Indigenous People than in the company of Historical League members! The October tour was well attended, fun on the bus and educational at the museum with Executive Director Manuel Lucero IV speaking.

Cathy Shumard commented, "Manuel's storytelling and humor easily held our attention."

Thanks to Josie Pete for the great photos!

Win Holden, October guest speaker

Win Holden, former publisher of "Arizona Highways" magazine and now its informal ambassador, was our October guest speaker. He enlightened us as to how the magazine has remained popular through historical and contemporary photographs, attracting elite landscape photographers and using an unconventional publishing business model.

Program co-ordinator Patt Grogg with Win Holden

 

Todd Bailey Special Projects Co-ordinator at AZHC

 So grateful to have Todd Bailey at AZHC. He is indeed a treasure! Check out this excerpt from AZ Republic 9/27/2024.

From the glamour of Monte Carlo to the deserts of Arizona, dance has taken Todd Bailey across the world. The professional dancer and educator has now returned to Arizona and works at the AZ Historical Society as a special projects coordinator, but his journey has taken twists and turns like a winding canyon road in his home state.

Bailey was born in Mesa in 1967 and raised in the Valley.

“I’m a Gen X kid from the ’70s, running around these desert streets trying not to burn my feet and all that,” Bailey said. His grandparents moved from Mississippi in the 1940s and raised his mom and her three sisters in the Washington- Escobedo neighborhood.

Bailey attended school in south Mesa, where he was homecoming king in 1985. Although he grew up in a segregated area of the Valley, he looks back at his childhood fondly.

“Education was really, really, really a big deal in the family and also the arts. My mother is a gospel singer, they call her ‘Joyce the Voice’ Bailey,” he said.

This exposure and love for the arts from a young age set him on the path he is still on today. For Bailey, it’s the reason why he became involved in dancing at all.

“Her musical and arts interests kind of filtered to me and I became a professional dancer, I grew up dancing at Tempe Dance Academy,” Bailey said.

After beginning his career in the Valley, he started his journey across the world; first to San Francisco, then New York City and Atlantic City. He worked in Monte Carlo as well.

After 25 years of dancing and being on the road, Bailey retired from professional dancing and came back to the Valley.

He has worked for the Arizona Historical Society for about 6 years, where he is the special projects coordinator.

In this role, he has organized many events and worn many hats. One such program is the society’s annual Juneteenth Celebration.

The event is hosted at the Arizona Historical Society and is organized in conjunction with the Black Family Genealogy and History Society, and the Arizona State University Library.

Jessica Salow, assistant archivist of Black Collections at ASU has known Bailey for the last five years and has worked side by side with him on the Juneteenth Celebration for the last three.

For her, Bailey has been a source of inspiration and a connection to the community around her.

“Working with Todd is an absolute delight, it’s a pleasure. Every time I am in conversation with him, every time I collaborate with him on a project I learn so much from him and I am very inspired and in awe of who he is,” she said.

Diana Gregory Foundation Honorees

 Each year the Diana Gregory Foundation honors two senior citizens who have made great contributions in their community. Historical League member Dr. Josephine Pete was honored this year.

Pictures from Norma Jean Coulter.

Attending the event are Historical League members Norma Jean Coulter with Dr. Josephine Pete, and Cathy and Tom Shumard. 

Dr. Josephine Pete, one of today’s honorees.

Guest speaker Andrew Young, 92 yr old former Atlanta mayor, U.S. representative, ambassador, guest speaker

Mrs. Elizabeth White, 102 yr old former honoree and 2023 Arizona Historymaker. Lady in red with Mrs. White is 104 yr old WW II army nurse who is also honorary mascot for Tuskegee airmen Arizona Chapter.

September 2024: First meeting of the year

 What new adventures will we have this year with the Historical League? Our September meeting was filled with plans as well as renewing friendships after the summer.

Katie Tovar, Cathy Shumard

Dr. Kristen Rex, Jolynn Clarke

Cathy Shumard, Leonard Moody, Norma Jean Coulter, Dr. Kristen Rex

The successes of AZ students at National History Day were celebrated as Dr. Kristen Rex was enthusiastic about the event held in June in Maryland. At the Sept. 6 Historical League meeting, we listened to her and NHDAZ co-ordinator Leonard Moody's experiences.

Leonard Moody

Jolynn Clarke introduces Leonard Moody

Plans for the 2025 Arizona Historymakers Honorees are happening now! Co-chair Diana Smith filled us in on nominations at the September 6 Historical League meeting. Lots of excitement and work ahead. Seated Jolynn Clarke and Historymakers co-chair Diane Smith.

Dr. Josie Pete attends NHD in Wash. D.C.

On the morning of June 12, I arrived at the National Museum of the African American History, where I was greeted by Dave and Diana Smith! What a wonderful surprise! 

We agreed the excitement and enthusiasm of the hundreds of students in attendance was contagious. It was rewarding to witness the skills and talent demonstrated by the students. The relevance of the research and maturity level of the topics was a testament to the time and effort dedicated to the production of these projects.

I later found Nathan Davies-Venn and his family. His documentary was shown in the theater in the morning. I was proud to meet this talented young man, who did an admirable job of representing Arizona. Nathan’s documentary was on the life of Henrietta Lacks. This experience was sobering in clarifying our role to ensure history is documented and understood by our students. 

The Historical League provides a beacon of hope ensuring that these young people continue to be encouraged and are supported in their educational pursuits.

 

A special thank you to Cathy Shumard, who kept me updated on the National History Day events.

From June 2024 Historical League Old Ned Newsletter