Southeast Tennessee Letter from Executive Director, Julia Wright - July 2017

The annual meeting of the Southeast Tennessee chapter was held June 21st ,  but this was no typical gathering.  This year’s meeting highlighted the centennial celebration of the Tennessee American Red Cross and particularly, of our Southeast Tennessee chapter.

Although none of the packed house in attendance could represent the founding year of 1917 or even very early times, several of our long time members recounted interesting and unusual experiences from their years of service. Storytellers, Rickie Pierce, Oscar Brock, and new volunteer, Robert Gould, made our event a very entertaining and educational one.

Robert came on board about six months ago, following his move from New York where he was very active in the Red Cross in the boroughs of the city and associated counties. Robert's father, John Fleming Gould was the artist who designed the signature Red Cross posters in the mid to late fifties. His original work commands impressive prices by collectors today.

Robert shared the original works by his father with us as part of the visual display he created. Complimenting this presentation were vital parts of our much greater historical archive in clippings, printed materials and pictures that tell the story.