The Sultana Association of Descendants and Friends held its first ever virtual reunion on April 23 and 24, 2021 on Zoom. The event was a great success! We had 67 members attend and the event was great! We were thrilled to see those of you who attended and missed those of you who were not able to. About 1/3 of the attendees were members who joined us for the first time. Zoom is a great way to allow everyone to attend!
Big thanks to our speakers! Thank you to Hilda Koontz, who shared fascinating information about mental health issues and PTSD in particular among Sultana survivors. Gene Salecker presented on both Friday and Saturday with an update about the Sultana Disaster Museum and then with interesting information about the first two years of the Sultana. Jerry Potter spoke on Saturday, as well as Judge John Fogleman, who shared more information about the Sultana Museum and the capital campaign, which kicks off with a big event on Tuesday in Marion. More information and a link to the event here on the Museum's Facebook page. Norm Shaw, without whom the Sultana Association would not exist and who has been leading the group with his indefatigable enthusiasm for more than 30 years, joined us on Friday to share a welcome message.
Recordings of both the Friday and Saturday meetings can be found on our YouTube channel and on our Facebook page. The videos that Mike and Mark Marshall made about the Sultana Disaster Museum and that they showed on Saturday, as well as a video made by Brandon Ford with drone footage of locations important to the Sultana, will be posted soon.
The pictures in the gallery below are of the Zoom meeting, including the candlelight ceremony that Pam Newhouse led to conclude the meeting, as she has done for many years at our in-person meetings.