Elaine Estes, Pam Jay, Carmelita Tieskotter, Connie Perryman, Judy Peace, Sally Bueno, Pat Dickens, Linda Charles, Pat Haas (DUV Tent No. 22 President), Brenda Carter, Joan Koechig (DUV Missouri Department President), Dee Dosch, Pat Sneed, Micki Dischinger, Fran Black, Sharon Williams, Kitty Crider, Cherrie Mann, Abi Phillips, Modena Hostetler—behind Modena is Carmen Boyd; Sarah O’Quinn, Connie Bogner, Mary Downing, Patty Johnson, Marilyn Lucas, Jean Ann Percy, Sally McAlear, Gere Masters, and Rose Jones.
Joan Koechig, MO Dept President, and her husband, Marvin, joined 29 Tent 22 members with total
attendance of about 100 persons. Other special guests attending included: Sonya Anderson, District
Director for Roy Blunt; Congressman Billy Long and his staffer, Jeremy Pruett; Wilson's Creek
National Battlefield Superintendent, Sarah Cunningham and several staff; Springfield History Museum
Curator Joan Hampton-Porter and Archivist Lindsey Young; Connie Yen, Greene County Archives; and
The Library Center Local History and Genealogy Department, Brian Grubbs, Ben Divin, and Michael
Price.
We were pleased to have Rev H. Russell Ewell II pastor of Pitts Chapel UMC, Charlotte Hardin, Chair of Pitts Chapel Administrative Board, Pitts Power of Praise singers (Tony Herron, Youlanda Herron, Kimberly Berry, and Jane Pike), Dr. Richard Todd Payne, MSU Professor of Music, and Rev. Adrienne Denson-Ewell, assist us with the dedication. Pitts Chapel was built in 1847 by slaves and is still an active congregation.
Photos were taken by Ben Divin. Image courtesy of the Springfield-Greene County Library District
The Color Guard was provided by SUV Camp #66. Sumner Hunnewell, the SUV Missouri Department
Commander attended. The veil was removed from the headstone by Tent 22 member Elaine Graham
Estes and all attendees were invited to place a red carnation in the vase to remember and honor Miss
Rhoda. The event was attended by several of the Springfield-Greene County Local History and
Genealogy staff. Ben Divin, Digital Imaging Specialist, took many photos that will be included in the
library's archive of digital photographs. The Library thanked us for our work to make known “such an
important part of Ozark's History..... Our digitization team strives to not only document past history, but
history as it happens, and you have made an immensely valuable contribution to our region's story as a
whole and our community is all the better for it, thank you."
Thanks to our Marker Committee: Chair Pat Haas, Fran Black, Sally Bueno, Dee Dosch, Rose Jones,
Gere Masters and Sally McAlear.
Photos were taken by Ben Divin. Image courtesy of the Springfield-Greene County Library District