OBCWRT’s Mission is to educate, preserve, and honor the history of the American Civil War through meetings, presentations and events. It also support preservation efforts while fostering respectful discussions that embrace the diverse disscussoins that embrace diverse perspectives
What’s Happening With Old Baldy
What Is Happening With Old Baldy
WELCOME to 2026I We hope everyone had a great Holiday Season including New Years! December saw significant changes for Old Baldy. We celebrated Don Wile’s ending his long tenure as Old Baldy Newsletter editor and are finalizing the transition of Programs from Dave Gilson. We also discussed the revitalization of the Old Baldy Website which is very close to being updated and targeting to have the conversion completed going into 2026. There are some additional ways we are considering to utilize the Website to enhance our communications going forward. Will reach out as this develops. There will be a gap in receiving the Newsletter until a replacement for Don is found or other approach is finalized. In the meantime, the revamped Website will be used to retain the newsletter typical content although not in a consolidated Newsletter format. The content will be accessible through a series of links on the revamped Website which will go through a one month test period starting in January. Once the test period is complete, it will replace the current webpage.
Our January meeting (January 8) with be totally by Zoom. There will be no in-person meeting. The speaker will be Ron Kirkwood; “Tell Mother Not to Worry: Soldier Stories From Gettysburg’s George Spangler Farm”. The meeting time and Zoom log-in information are provided below.
Ron Kirkwood on "Tell Mother Not to Worry": Soldier Stories From Gettysburg’s George Spangler Farm”
The George Spangler Farm in Gettysburg is a place of reverence. Nurses held the hands of dying soldiers and prayed and spoke last words with them amid the blood, stench, and agony of two hospitals. Heroic surgeons resolutely worked around the clock to save lives. Author Ronald D. Kirkwood’s best-selling “Too Much for Human Endurance”: The George Spangler Farm Hospitals and the Battle of Gettysburg established the military and medical importance of the Spangler farm and hospitals. “Tell Mother Not to Worry”: Soldier Stories From Gettysburg’s George Spangler Farm is Ron’s eagerly awaited sequel. Kirkwood researched thousands of pensions and military records, hospital files, letters, newspapers, and diaries of those present at the hospitals on Spangler land during and after the battle. The result is a deeper and richer understanding of what these men and women endured; suffering that often lingered for the rest of their lives. Their injuries and deaths, Yankee and Rebel alike, carried with it not only tragedy and sadness for parents, spouses, and children, but often financial devastation as well.
Ronald D. Kirkwood retired after a 40-year career as an editor and writer in newspapers and magazines, including USA TODAY, the Baltimore Sun, Harrisburg (PA) Patriot-News, York (PA) Daily Record, and Midland (MI) Daily News. Ron edited national magazines for USA TODAY Sports and was NFL editor for USA TODAY Sports Weekly. He won state, regional, and national awards and managed the copy desk in Harrisburg when the newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012. Ron has been a Gettysburg Foundation docent at the George Spangler Farm Civil War Field Hospital Site since it opened in 2013. He is a native of Dowagiac/Sister Lakes, MI, and a graduate of Central Michigan University, where he has returned as guest speaker for journalism classes as part of the school’s Hearst Visiting Professionals series. Ron and his wife of almost 50 years, Barbara, live in the deer-filled countryside near Murrysville, PA, just outside of Pittsburgh.
Funding provided by the Camden County Cultural & Heritage Commission at Camden County College, the officially designated county history agency of the New Jersey Historical Commission.
Our December meeting was our annual in-person holiday celebration which was attended by over 20 members. As noted above, we used the celebration to honor Don Wiles and his decades of service to Old Baldy as newsletter editor. December also saw two other Old Baldy supported events. December 13 was Wreaths Across America at the Beverly National Cemetery (Rich Jankowski, Maggie Tumasz, Joe Wilson, Debbie Jankowski and Joe Jankowski participated) and December 31st saw the celebration of Meade’s birthday at the Laurel Hill Cemetery (Members Walt Lafty, Calvin Kinsel, Dave Gilson, Paul Prentiss, Mike Bassett, Nancy and Russ Bowker, Mary Wible, Deitrich Preston, and former members John Voris and Kerry Bryan participated in the Meade Society sponsored event). Pictures from the events will be placed on the website under the “Community Out Reach” link.
We are moving forward with preparing for the 50th anniversary in 2027 and have picked up four members to serve on the planning committee and consider we are now ready to start working on plans for the celebration. A kick-off meeting will be held by Zoom later this month. Specific date is tentatively the 15th.. If any other member has an interest in being part of the committee, please reach out.
The CWRT Congress created a video that includes the Old Baldy marketing award received in November 2025. They made it to celebrate the Phoenix, Innovation, and Marketing Awards the congress awarded this year including Old Baldy’s award. This video can be seen our our You-Tube channel (we have not been able to get it to play on Zoom).
Our fellow RT and other historical societies have events in January. You can find the detailed information on our “Round Table Partner Events” link on the Website. These include:
• Gloucester County Chapter of the ASNJ; the Battle of Gloucester November 1777 (in person at 6:30PM EST)
• Inland Empire; Author & Historian Jeffrey Boutwell, Ph.D., will present "BOUTWELL: Radical Republican and Champion of Democracy” on January 26th, 6:30 P.M. Pacific Time on Zoom.
• Inland Empire: On Sunday, Jan. 18th, In-person only. Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg John J. Fitzpatrick will present "There is No Fail Here: The Real Back-Story to Lincoln's Leadership Challenges / The Gettysburg Address at Gettysburg.”
• William Patterson University History Day - Volunteer Judges (Randy Acorcey is the History Day POC). Dates are:
February 28 - Regional Contest at Monmouth University
March 7 - Regional Contest at Rutgers University-Camden
March 21 - Regional Contest at St. Elizabeth University
May 2 - State Contest at William Paterson University
The 2026 Membership Dues are now being collected. Dues remain the same, $25.00 Individual Membership and $35.00 Family Membership. Remember they can now be paid online. Just visit our Web Page, click on, "Membership" on the top bar, which will take you to the next page. Choose a payment method, visa, etc., and click "Buy Now". This will take you to the submission page, complete form and click on, "Pay Now". Done. As always, if you prefer to pay by check, bring it to any in-person meeting or send to: 142 Mimosa Drive Sewell, NJ, 08080 Should you have any questions, please contact me at 609-865-2973 or francal@comcast.net.
Wishing everyone a Healthy and Happy 2026!!
Calvin Kinsel, President
