“The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone,

“The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is a test of a true gentleman*

Robert E. Lee

The January meeting of the Fauquier CW Roundtable will be held at the Ripley Center at the Inn at Kelly’s Ford on Wed, Jan 10; Social hour at 6:30; Dinner at 7; Presentation at 8 p.m.

Please call/email Jim Flannigan by Jan 9 with dinner reservations at 540-439-3549 or SummerduckWood® aol.com

Focus of this meeting will be commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Robert E. Lee.

Speaker for the evening will be roundtable member John Tble. The title of his talk will be “Not Unmindul of the Future” - this is the English translation of the Lee Family Motto, “Ne Incautus Futuri”

John will present his view of Lee’s legacy for us and his hope that this bequest will endure for future generations.

If you are unable to attend this meeting, but are interested in the presentation, it will be repeated on Sunday, Jan 14 at 4 p.m. at the Town Hall in Little Washington (Rappahannock County) as part of the Rappahannock Historical Society Lecture series.

(The Town Hall is a brick building on the east end of Gay St) Call 675-1163 or 937-5850 for further info.

About John Tole

John is a native of Washington. D.C. He holds a doctorate in Instrumentation Engineering from MIT where he was a Principal Research Scientist specializing in medical instrumentation. He later worked in software and communication engineering in the DC area and was, for 11 years, responsible for the access control and personnel ID systems for the White House.

Currently semi-retired from engineering, John and fellow roundtable member Anne Howard perform Civil War era music as Evergreen Shade, currently participating in about 30-40 gigs/year, including upcoming events in Culpeper, Orange, and at Stratford Hall in connection with Lee’s 200th Birthday.

One of John’s g-g-grandfather’s was a member of Jackson’s Stonewall Brigade. He was wounded at Cedar Mountain, with Ewell’s Corps at Culp’s Hill at Gettysburg, and wounded again in the Mine Run campaign finally “calling it a war” after the Battle of Cedar Creek. Another g-g grandfather was a Union Naval officer.

John is student of and great admirer of R.E. Lee and has written and spoken about ‘Marse Robert’ on a number of occasions. Despite the current tendencies, in the age of political correctness, to diminish and even expunge all of Lee’s memory, John firmly believes that the many positive aspects of Lee’s character and life provide numerous ideals & for persona] behavior and surpassing leadership that are worthy not only of commemoration, but also of emulation. In an age where responsibility for one’s actions has all but disappeared it is well to note that the man who ordered Pickett’s charge was the first to admit that this and other failures were “all my fault”. And when the cause for which he sacrificed most of his worldly station was lost, he firmly rejected a call to continue the fight via guerilla warfare as “bringing on a condition from which the country would not recover”. He later urged his fellow southerners to “put away your animosities and teach your sons to be Americans”. ' Forbearance, forthrightness, personal responsibility, self-denial, duty, honor, forgiveness - traits so absent in the leaders of today; these were the foundations of the code of the man who, more than any other of his time, was the spiritual descendant of George Washington. Please try to join us on Jan 10 (or Jan 14) in remembering this heroic, tragic, flawed and yet most remarkable American, a man for all seasons.