Friends of The Orange Public Library annual meeting Saturday
Published 7:43 am Wednesday, March 15, 2017
From staff reports
Friends of The Orange Public Library, Inc. will hold their annual business meeting of members and visitors at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, in the Ira Williamson meeting room of the Orange Public Library at 220 5th Street.
Information of the Orange Public Library’s annual used books sale and Scholastic Book Fair will be announced during the meeting.
Both of these events are sponsored by the Friends organization.
The American Association of University Women will present the year’s Library Family of the Year.
The Program will be a book review of The Eighty-Dollar Champion: Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation, written by Elizabeth Letts and presented by former Orangeite, Dr. Earl Parker.
Parker, completed his B. S. from Mississippi State University and his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill both in Chemistry. His entire professional career was spent in the Plastic Industry in Texas.
As a horseman, he has competed and judged in the National Cutting Horse Association, retiring in 2009. He spent 13 years as docent at the Stark Museum of Art which has a significant collection of American Western Art.
Over 20 years ago, he became interested in the U. S. Cavalry Remount Breeding Program and where these Stallions were located across the U. S. He has developed a database which is on the web at www.uscavalryremount.com. In 2011, he was awarded at J.H. Daniels Fellowship by the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, VA to research. These studies lead him to the history of the imported horses, “Spoils of War” horses, including the Lipizzans and other European breeds. His US Cavalry Remount Studies Inc. program was awarded a tax free 501 C-3 status in 2014.
Earl and Vera Parker were part of the AAUW organization when living in Orange. He has delivered over 10 book reviews for the AAUW book group.
On Saturday he will be reviewing “The Eighty Dollar Champion”, a book by Daniels Fellow, Elizabeth Letts. This worn out plow-horse was bought at auction in New Holland, PA as a schooling horse for a private girl’s school on Long Island, NY. The horse was saved from being rendered by the glue factory. His owner schooled him and won National Championship in the November 1958 Show Jumping Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Elizabeth Letts and Dr. Parker have discussed the possibility that he was a product of the US Cavalry Remount program.
Light refreshments will be available. The public is invited.
