Western Reserve Society
Sons of the American Revolution
America's Largest and Oldest Local Chapter
Events & RSVPs
Guidelines
The WRSSAR holds regular events throughout the year. These events are open to members, their families, friends and the community at large. We hope that all of our events can fun and educational. If you have ideas for future events, please do send them to us: wrssar.communications@gmail.com
- RSVPs are required for all events. Members and their families can pay at the door (cash, check or credit card).
- Non-members do need to send payment in advance. Cancellations must be made in writing or by phone 72 hours ahead of time.
- Unfortunately, if you do not show up without canceling in time, we will need to request payment in full since we will be charged by our facility provider.
Online RSVP Service
Event Calendar
Join us for our Annual SAR / DAR Veterans Day Celebration at 1145am in the large ballroom at the 100th Bomb Group Restaurant by the airport.
Our featured speaker will be: Lt. Col. Brian Ferguson, ROTC from John Carroll University.
Brian A. Ferguson Professor of Military Science / Department Chair
Responsible for the developing, training, recruiting, retaining, and commissioning of future
Army officers in the Cleveland Metro Area through the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps
(ROTC) program.
BA: Political Science, Mount Saint Mary’s University.
MA in Organizational Security Management, Webster University.
MA-Higher Education Administration, (in progress), University of Louisville
20 year veteran, 1999 commission into Field Artillery. Overseas Assignments: Iraq (’03), Iraq
(’08), Afghanistan (’11), Hawaii.
Born in Queens, New York and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. Favorite hobby is sailing
followed by being outdoors, touring and studying history. Husband to a beautiful wife and father
to five kids. Always seeking adventure, finding it in the Army. Enjoys his job for the extensive
travel opportunities and to work with a diverse group of people and cultures. Seeks the ability to
provide experiences for personal growth, character building, and leadership.
Invite your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers for this great luncheon!
More information to be posted closer to the date.
All Officers and Trustees of the WRSSAR are invited and encouraged to attend the Final BD meeting of the WRSSAR in 2019.
We will be holding 4 regular Board Meetings in 2019 but there may be a few additional meetings announced as the year goes on.
Attendance at all 2019 Board Meetings is FREE of CHARGE for current Officers and Trustees. The WRSSAR has received a donation that will cover the cost of meals and parking for our current officers. It is our hope that all Officers and Trustees will attend these quarterly meetings as we explore new directions and proposals to make our Society more responsive to our current and future members.
Location: Union Club of Cleveland
Time: 1145-145
Please join us for our Annual Meeting and Family Holiday Dinner
This year, we are doing something completely different. There is no speaker. This is a holiday buffet dinner, social hour and Support Our Troops activity.
530pm: Holiday Music and Cash-bar
615pm: Annual Meeting / Election of Officers
645pm: BUFFET DINNER with open seating
715pm: Support the Troops Event
There will be stations set up around the room where you have the opportunity to DO SOMETHING to support the troops:
a) One table will have holiday cards where you can write a personal note to a service person deployed overseas.
b) One table will have ornaments and cards that you can make for Veterans in the local veterans hospital
c) We will have a basket where you can drop a check to fund a Care Package that will be delivered to the troops.
The idea this year is for this to be a Holiday Party with a casual buffet and chance to float around the room and do things to support the troops.
1st Board Meeting of the 2019 year. Union Club of Cleveland.
Join us for our annual Luncheon in honor of George Washington’s Birthday. For over 125 years, the Western Reserve Society SAR has been holding this event in Cleveland which is open to the public. This year’s featured Speaker will be West Point historian Lt Col Sherman Fleek.
Sherman Fleek retired from the U. S. Army in 2002, after a 25 year career, as a lieutenant colonel. He served as an aviator, Special Forces officer, and enlisted armor crewman, ending his career as Chief Historian of the National Guard Bureau. Lt. Col. Fleek joined the Army in 1973, serving in Mainz, Germany. Commissioned from the ROTC in 1982, he has also served in air cavalry, air assault, and fixed wing support units. He was commander of several units, served two joint tours, and served in combat arms units from platoon through division.
As a historian, he has more than thirty articles published on military, frontier army, Mexican War and Civil War history in national periodicals and historical journals. In 2006, his first book appeared, the award-winning History May be Searched in Vain: A Military History of the Mormon Battalion; his second book, Place the Headstones Where they Belong, a biography of Thomas Neibaur, a World War I recipient of the Medal of Honor, appeared in 2008. He later published two historical novels on the Mexican War in the Far West. His latest book, Saints of Valor: Mormon Medal of Honor Recipients, was published in late 2011, and again in 2013.
He served from 2002-2005 as historian for a Civil War preservation foundation, telling the Civil War story in the Shenandoah Valley. In 2005, the U.S. Army appointed Mr. Fleek as the historian to record and to write the Army’s official history of the reconstruction efforts in Iraq, then served in Iraq in early 2006. In May, 2007, he became the first ever historian for Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 2009, he was appointed the command historian for the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. Also Fleek has taught military history to cadets at West Point since 2013, and a graduate history course to Army officers affiliated with Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Lt. Col. Fleek’s awards include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal and eight other decorations including the Master Aviator Badge, being qualified in several rotary and fixed-wing aircraft with more than 2,200 flying hours. He also received the Army Parachutist Badge, Special Forces Tab and Air Assault Badge. In May 2016 Fleek received the Secretary of the Army Award for Valor for disrupting an armed robbery at a restaurant in California in May 2015.
Check back for more details. Save the date now: 2/22/2020 starting at 11:45am
Quarter 2 Board Meeting held at the Union Club of Cleveland
Join us for our annual Youth Outreach Contests at Rose Senior Living auditorium off of I-90 in Avon. Come support high school students from around the region who compete for cash awards and the chance to represent the WRSSAR at the Ohio and maybe even national levels.
At 10:00am, we will watch students perform 5 minute original orations (speeches) related to the American Revolutionary War – without any notes! Following the oration contest, wander the front of the building and enjoy the WRSSAR Elementary School Poster contest entrants and the WRSSAR Middle School Brochure Contest entrants.
For the first time, this event is not a luncheon. But, you can stay at Rose Senior Living and enjoy a wonderful lunch in the cafeteria with friends and fellow SAR members. There is no charge to attend this event and you will pay your own way for lunch. Parking is free.
For anyone who ever said “They don’t teach history in school anymore”, you need to show up and support the SAR and these students – because we are putting history in the schools. Bring your friends and support our programs and the students and then stay for a nice lunch.
Save The Date: We are still signing contracts and finalizing the event. Check back in the fall of 2019 for updates.
Quarter 3 Board Meeting at the Union Club of Cleveland