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First Memorial Awards Presented at Reunion
Two special awards were presented at the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America Reunion October 8th.
The first “Sister Irene Award” was given to Mrs. Frances E. Marks of Twin Lakes Village, Idaho.
The Sister Irene Award was established by OTHSA to honor an individual, institution or company who has made a special effort to identify, document and preserve the history of the orphan programs conducted by the Catholic Order of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, and the New York Foundling Asylum (later the New York Foundling Hospital).
Marks has done extensive research on the orphan trains especially those arriving in the midwest. She has offered OTHSA access to her research material.
Marks’ articles concerning the orphans have been published nationally, and she has provided help to others searching for orphan train information.
“From the many stories I have read about the orphans and the history, they are some great people. They are special people in the history of the United States of America,” Marks said in her acceptance letter.
Ethel Lambert of Staten Island, New York, was presented the first “Charles Loring Brace Award.”
The Brace Award is given to the individual, institution, or company who has made a special effort to identify, document and preserve the history of the “Placing Out Program” started by Brace and carried out by the Children’s Aid Society of New York.
Lambert is a social worker retired from the Children’s Aid Society. She continues working at the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) as a volunteer.
As part of her volunteer work, Lambert has worked to identify and preserve the remaining orphan train records at the CAS.
Lambert has been an invaluable resource within the Children’s Aid Society in helping OTHSA in its research of the Placing Out Program.
“I am so content with the opportunity afforded me to work on the records of this significant movement in American history, that to be honored for doing it by an association of some of those who took part in the Orphan Trains is “icing on the cake,’ ” Lambert commented in her acceptance letter.
‘Chef Leroy and assistants took care of food preparations outside while hungry “mob” waited patiently inside during the OTHSA Reunion.
Sunday lunch at the Johnson Community Building, October 8th, 1988, OTHSA Reunion.
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Orphan Train Riders of BSL Document (103)
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