Wellsville Historical Society

The Wellsville Historical Society held their monthly meeting on May 17. President Robert “Brass” Beresford presided.

After opening the meeting, Mrs. Wanda Boggs Puryear made a very special donation to the River Museum. Mrs. Puryear was accompanied by her husband Richard, her brother Vincent, her son Maurice Wyse and grandchildren Lille & Maurice Wyse, Jr. Mrs. Puryear and her brother Vincent are children of the late Mr. Melvin E. Boggs.

Melvin Boggs was a WWII veteran and following the days of the war African-American veterans were not accepted as members in the Wellsville VFW or American Legion. To counter this injustice Mr. Boggs was instrumental in organizing and getting a charter for the Sgt. Robert Shenault VFW Post 9285. There we 25 African-American WWII veterans that were charter members in that post. That charter was issued on March 20, 1955. That post existed until 2009 when their charted was pulled by the State VFW with less than 10 members remaining in Wellsville. Mrs. Puryear obtained permission to donate the VFW Post 9285 charter to the Wellsville Historical Society to preserve a piece of history in the River Museum.

Pictured above is Lillie Wyse being held by Richard Puryear, Mrs. Puryear, Vincent Boggs, Maurice Jr. and Maurice Wyse.

The program for the evening was presented by Education Coordinator Jennifer Miller of the Greater East Ohio Area Chapter of the Alzheimer's Assoc. Ms. Miller said there are presently 5.3 million Americans suffering with the Alzheimer's disease. By the year 2050 that number is expected to grow to 16 million. It affects one in eight people over the age of 65 and one in two over the age of 85. For more information on the disease visit their web site at www.alz.org.

Also received as a donation were many historical books and papers from the estate of the late Mary Clark given by her children. Mrs. Clark was a long time member who excelled in researching Wellsville history.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery was sent to member Jim Lawrence. Beginning on Sunday, June 5, the museum will be open from 1 to 4:30 PM each Sunday through the summer. On July 2 & 3 there will be a group of Civil War Re-enactors setting up camp on the grounds of the museum. On Sunday, August 28, Wellsville native Steve Clark will have a special program on the life of William Ralston.

Lunch was served by Jane Reese and Walter Hanlon. Next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 21 at 7:30 PM.

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