Historic PreservationPromotion of Education
The Mission Hills Chapter meets on the fourth Monday of each month, September through May, at 11:30 a.m.
Prospective DAR members are very welcome! Contact us for more information.
This program was called "Who Were the Patriots." We learned the
stories of ordinary, everyday citizens who fought in the
Revolutionary War or who helped the patriotic cause.
This photo shows a very enjoyable program on Wilbur Wright.
The 2003 "Natonal Award for Outstanding Service of a DAR Member" in the field of literacy promotion was given by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution to Diana Abitz, Mission Hills Chapter member. The photo shows our Chapter Regent, Betsy Heimke, presenting the certificate.
Diana’s local contributions, that won her the national award, included a reading-writing-speaking program called "Student Experts in Training," presented as an after school club for fourth to sixth graders. Drawing on the expertise of local scientists and businesses, she also initiated Science Night at Trailwood Elementary, providing hands-on opportunities to explore and read about our world.
Diana researched and developed a trivia game for classrooms to use during Constitution Week (Sept. 17-23). Because trivia games were so popular among students, Diana also invented 4 interactive trivia games incorporating classroom curriculum, including American History, Geography, U.S. Presidents, and Ancient Civilizations.
Diana believes, "Learning to read is one way to promote self-esteem and empowerment."
Shown above is a Junior holiday luncheon attended by Juniors and Junior supporters of several Kansas chapters, including this one. Juniors collected for Toys for Tots at the event. (Photos courtesy Deana Sage.)
Our chapter is proud of our service to America's veterans. Here, members of the chapter participate in an annual Valentine's party for veterans at the VA in Leavenworth.
Chapter officers are installed.
Mission Hills Chapter meetings always include a program, and our topics are interesting and varied:
Coordinating with other area DAR Chapters, we:History is in our own back yard, and over the years, we have taken a keen interest in the needs of the Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway, Kansas.
including distributing the DAR Manual For Citizenship
Veterans at the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center
in Leavenworth, Kansas
One of our projects was providing support to refurbish two rooms in the Mission's East Building.
The East Building of Shawnee Indian Mission
The Mission was opened in its present Johnson County location in October 1839, with Reverend Thomas Johnson, a Methodist Missionary, at its helm. The site was chosen where a branch of the Santa Fe Trail passed through the Shawnee lands. Indian children of many tribes were sent to this school to learn basic academics, manual arts, and agriculture. Some of the tribes represented were the Kaw (Kansa), Munsee, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Otoe, Osage, Cherokee, Peoria, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Wea, Gros Ventres, Omaha, and Wyandot. At the height of its activity, the mission consisted of more than 2,000 acres with sixteen buildings, including the three large brick structures which still stand, and an enrollment of nearly two hundred Indian boys and girls from the ages of five to twenty-three.
Thomas Johnson was murdered at his home in Missouri on January 2, 1865. The murderers were believed to have been Southern sympathizers who apparently were angered when Johnson, a proslavery man for many years, had sworn an oath of allegiance to the Union at the start of the Civil War. Johnson is buried in the Shawnee Methodist Mission cemetery (three blocks east of Mission Road on Shawnee Mission Parkway) along with several members of his family.
When the small cemetery needed repairs to its fence and grounds, Mission Hills Chapter joined in, and participated in the effort to beautify the cemetery, straighten the stones, and improve the plantings.
A more recent effort to assist the Mission was to help replace trees which were damaged in a devastating Kansas City ice storm in early 2002.
The Dedication Stone
The Cemetery
The Thomas Johnson Marker
The work of DAR is varied and diverse. Our chapter is proud to have a number of committees serving all aspects of our National Society, and fully supporting its goals and objectives.
Heavy ice covered trees city-wide...
...leaving many beautiful old trees completely destroyed.
Contact Mission Hills Chapter
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