he Candor Historical Society will hold their July meeting on Wednesday, July 29, at 7 p.m. at the Candor Fire Hall.
The Candor Historical Society is dedicating its July meeting to the men and women who have served this country, and will be hosting guest speaker Jim Raftis.
Raftis will open the floor for topics such as personal reflections from interactions with Tioga County’s four Fallen Hero Families; First Iraq Fallen Hero Funeral and Procession to Final Resting Place in a Driving Rainstorm; uniting of Fallen Hero Families for First Time; Broome Country Airport Arrival of Plane with Body of Fallen Hero from Iraq; an overview of the Tioga County Veterans Memorial and Tioga County Soldiers and Sailors Civil War Monument in Owego; and Hero’s Welcome in Owego by the Commandant of West Point Military Academy.
His talk will include the Fallen Hero Funeral in Candor, and the Gold Star Father doing Maple Grove Cemetery survey for deceased veterans. He will also talk about the need for Candor to consider a new Candor Veterans Memorial, showing her fallen heroes of all wars.
Raftis is a U.S. Army Veteran with service in Korea, and the Memorial Day Chairman of Glenn A. Warner Post 1371, Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is well known in our area for his knowledge of local veterans who served in the armed forces, and has been recognized for his 30 years of Excellence in Broadcasting and his five decades of community service.
Raftis has won national awards from Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow and Grand Lodge of Elks; the New York State Excelsior Award; New York State Assembly and Senate Resolutions for 40 years of community service, as well as numerous other awards and recognitions.
Join them to learn about and pay tribute to our local veterans. After the program, which is free and open to the public, there will be a time for refreshments and visiting after the talk.
For more information about the meeting and the Candor Historical Society, contact Milton Dougherty at mhdough@frontiernet.net or by calling (607) 659-7357.
