The meeting on February 9 began with good news from a few of our members. Mel Mrochinski has started a new business, Tom Hollis is now a grandfather to a baby boy, and Steve Acuff was awarded the Paul Harris Fellow +3 pin! Once announcements were done, the club listened to area author Louise Staman who wrote RESTORING LOST TIMES: Savannah's Anna Colquitt Hunter.
Louise describes herself as a die hard historian who loves to read and learn which is how her book about Anna Colquitt Hunter started to take shape. Anna lived her entire adult life in Savannah and was an amazing woman. She joined the Red Cross in WWII when she was 51 years old because she wanted to help and give back. She was assigned the position of running snack bars overseas. While working for the Red Cross, Anna learned about conserving buildings and had the opportunity to talk and meet many different people. In the 1950's, historic downtown Savannah was being abandoned and developers were moving in to replace old buildings with new ones similar to the ones being built in Atlanta. In 1955, Anna Colquitt Hunter, along with six other ladies, started a group dedicated to saving these buildings which is now known as the Historic Savannah Foundation. Louise implored everyone to protect old letters in acid free boxes so they can be preserved for future generations and historians.