Hey all of you genealogists and historians, next month you are going to get an opportunity to catch up on your history and receive a real treat at the same time. The Decatur County Historical Society will hold its dinner meeting on Monday, May 11, at the country club.

This month you will not only enjoy a delicious meal, but you can enjoy some delicious history as reported by one of our own. Jake Tobin, a Bainbridge High School senior, will present his prize-winning oration. Yes, that is correct. Jake won third place in the state American Legion history oratorical contest.

In addition to Jake’s oration, Dr. Ray Chambers will report on the voter precinct relocation. As you can see the historical society has lined up a great program for the May meeting. Time will be announced later so please watch The Post-Searchlight for details, but in the meantime mark your calendars for May 11.

As reported so many times in this column genealogy is history, and history is genealogy. People make history through historical events and people are genealogy. All of us have ancestors or we wouldn’t be here. Those ancestors made and are history.

Additionally we living today are making history. Most of us will become ancestors. What is the history we are making? How does it affect our lives? And how will it affect the lives of our descendants? These are questions we all should ponder.

As we think about history and genealogy, how about all of you members of the Decatur County Genealogical Society joining your friends in the historical society for the meeting on the 11th of May. Maybe, in addition to sharing a great time together, you can share some history as well as genealogy.

Recently I have been looking at some information about the “Thomasville landmarks” organization over in Thomasville. They are pursuing and planning some great things for the City of Thomasville.

Although our historical society is not as large or well-funded as is the above group, there is much that we could learn from them. And perhaps we can get some good ideas for future projects. That leads me to another plea to all of you historians and genealogists.

The historical society needs volunteers. There are many things that could be accomplished. Please contact Jim Smith and get involved. We have about 70 members. A city our size should have at least twice that number.

One need of the society is a membership committee. We need to get our young people involved. Some of we more mature members could use our experience to teach, explain and correct erroneous history to our young people. Almost everyone can use the telephone. Many can use computers and cell phones.

There are so many ways to communicate that even those who may not be able to get out and about much could do a lot to promote history right from their own homes. We need a membership drive. Come on folks. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Invite them to a historical society meeting.

Finally there is the need for projects to raise funds for the society. With the proper funding there are many things the historical society could accomplish. How great it would be if we could get the museum open.

One last reminder about the May 11 meeting. Invite a guest. Just think, if every member of the society would bring a guest, and if every member of the genealogical society were to come and bring a guest, we would have more than 200 people present to hear young Jake. Happy hunting, and watch The Post-Searchlight.