Page 10 - February 2021 SARIZONA

Arizona SAR Chapters new
leadership ready for
challenges of new year.
The following individuals are the Presidents of the eight SAR Chapters in the Arizona Society.
Barry M. Goldwater SAR Chapter Richard Spargo
Colorado River SAR Chapter Jeff Corwin
Palo Verde SAR Chapter Keith Hugus
Phoenix SAR Chapter Barry Welch
Prescott SAR Chapter
Robert “Jack” Lee Berry
Rim Country SAR Chapter Stan Garner
Saguaro SAR Chapter Mike Fisch
Tucson SAR Chapter Michael David Sacco
If you want to reach out to them their contact information is available on the Arizona SAR Roster which is posted on the Arizona SAR web site.
Arizona SAR to Celebrate It’s
125th Anniversary in Special
Event in June
On June 13, 2021, our Arizona SAR will celebrate its 125th anniversary due to the organizational efforts of Herbert F. Robinson on that date in 1896 and the efforts of Gurdon M. Butler in reviving our Society in 1934. The Arizona SAR will hold a statewide 125th anniversary event later this year. Look for an invitation containing the date, location, and time—and be sure to attend!
How did the 1896 meeting end?
They ended the meeting by singing
“America.”
By David A. Swanson, Arizona SAR Historian
“America” was sung by our Arizona SAR Compatriots at the close of our Society’s first meeting on June 13,
1896.The Compatriots of the Barry M. Goldwater have traditionally sung “God Bless America” at the end of their meetings—or is it “America the Beautiful”? Isn’t that the same song? Is “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” the same song as “America”? What about the “Star–Spangled Banner”— the song some NFL players and some other workplace employees don’t see a reason to stand up for—isn’t that our national anthem?—or is it “Hail Columbia”?
First of all, our country really is blessed with a variety of outstanding patriotic songs—isn’t it? When you hear the title “God Bless America” can’t you just hear Kate Smith singing those lyrics? When I hear “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” it brings faint memories of singing that in grade school—more than a few years ago.
So let’s wade through some music history and try to answer some questions.
First of all, the song “America” that was sung by our Compatriots at the close of our Arizona Society’s first meeting in 1896, was first written in 1831 by Samuel Francis Smith and used the same melody as the British national anthem “God Save the Queen.” As a long running de facto American national anthem its first verse is:
“My country, ‘tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrims Pride,
From every mountain side
Let freedom ring.”
So I guess that answers the question, is the song known
as “America” the same as “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee.”? Did you know that the other de facto American
national anthem was “Hail, Columbia”? “Columbia, the gem of the ocean,
The home of the brave and the free
The shrine of each patriot's devotion, A world offers homage to thee;”
That song and the melody are very inspiring. Speaking (or writing) of “its melody,” we owe that to another
British patriotic song “Britannia, the Pride of the Ocean.” (Good thing we are such good friends!) That song written in the early 1840s was a very popular in the North during the Civil War.
“America the Beautiful”; now there is a song that captures the beauty and goodness of our great land. The poem originally named “Pikes Peak” was written in 1893 (and published in 1895) by Katherine Bates after taking a train trip from Massachusetts to Colorado. The poem’s title was changed to “America the Beautiful” and after
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