The Maryland Society, Sons of the American Revolution (MDSSAR) has a very rich leadership history. Beginning with its founding President Edward LeCompte in 1889 all the through to our current leaders.
We’ve been very fortunate to have the right President at the right time to inspire, to focus, and to marshal resources that improved our Society, solved its challenges and continued to move us forward while continuing to honor our past.
I am the product of a small Midwestern town upbringing. My father was a minister and we moved every couple of years in very small farming towns (population 200 to 450) throughout Iowa and Missouri. Everyone knew everyone else, there were no dial phones, party lines and the Minister's kids (PKs as we were known) were always a central topic for gossip. I am strongly influenced by that upbringing; the central plains family farmers lived a very independent, "get out of my way", "I will fix it" and "my word is my bond" mentality. I believe I still carry a lot of that ideology and work ethic with me.
My government career began with the number "54". On the first day of having my own personal government number, our local draft board announced they were calling all numbers up to and including "36". I knew my time was short, so I decided to join our Armed Forces. The early seventies was a difficult time for the military. The Viet Nam conflict was nearing its end, the military's morale was almost as low as the budget they received. Significant portions of the public believed the military was at fault for the results of the war and the soldiers personally felt that rebuff. From that beginning to the end of my military career, I was always proud to wear my country’s uniform. My career took me to many places throughout the world. I always left those places knowing how fortunate I was to be born in the United States of America and I developed a very strong pride for my country.
As my military career came to an end, I knew that one retirement was not enough to enjoy the good life. So I exchanged my uniform for a suit and became a Federal civil servant. In my new career, I supported the military I came to love. For the next twenty years I moved around our government doing my best to make a difference for our War Fighters; to provide them with the information and knowledge they needed to be successful in whatever they were tasked to do.
After 40 years of serving my country, Sandy (with her own 40 years of service to our country) and I were able to retire and begin to focus on things we enjoy. I indulge my personal weakness, which is old cars. We have several toys and they keep me very busy. Each one demands time, attention and resources to keep them running. I often quip that I have OCCD (Old Car Collector Disorder) and what I know is there is no cure for this disorder and you always want another one.
I was always curious about my family history but I did nothing about finding out until I helped Sandy with her DAR package. After some research, I found the children of two Patriots married and created my family line. I also came to know the "Deeds" family has a very rich and distinguished military heritage beginning in the Revolutionary War and includes the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and continues even now in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I came to the Sons of the American Revolution as a member of a patriotic family with a proud history and tradition of serving our country. I am 6 Generations removed from my Patriots Andrew Deeds and Frantz Christian Hootman.
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