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!