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It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

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Orphan Train Heritage Society
from the desk of
MEJ
Pat Young, OTHSA’s new vice president, has assumed responsibility for the “Country Store.”
Pat will be filling mail orders for train pins, T-shirts (both adults and children’s sizes), caps decorated with the OTHSA logo, photographs, books, and other items. If you would like to receive an order form listing what is available, write to OTHSA.
Iva Flo Hill, a member of OTHSA’s Board of Directors, is spending her winter evenings making a very special quilt which will be raffled off as part of OTHSA’s fund raiser in 1990. Pat and Iva Flo will let you know more about this in the February issue of CROSSROADS.
New membership cards are being prepared to be mailed to all members. Also a new way of alerting members and subscribers of their renewal date is being worked out. The date will be on your CROSSROADS mailing label.
A membership directory is being prepared and a speakers’ bureau is being formed. At this time speakers are available in seven states. It is not necessary to be an Orphan Train Rider to join R.O.O.T.S. (Eiders £>f Qrphan Trains Speak). Information packets will be made available for speaking engagements.
The focus of OTHSA during 1990 is research.
In ’86 and ’87 attention was given to letting everyone know OTHSA existed. In 1988 an all out effort was made to increase the open research files by writing letters to every contact made. Sometimes several letters would be mailed before a response was finally given and the priceless information recorded.
The year of 1989 was geared towards the gathering of materials and publicity. Actually the publicity had to come first in order to find the people who had the information. Three times OTHSA was on national television: January, August and October. Major newspapers carried excellent articles. National Public Radio broadcast an eight minute interview with an Orphan Train Rider. Four radio talk shows interviewed Mary Ellen Johnson live. Peg Kildare (an Orphan Train Rider in Nebraska) was interviewed on the Tom Snyder talk show broadcast nationwide. Members gave countless speeches, some with very short notice such as Sister Justina Bieganek at Reunion ’89. Sister was asked to speak to the problem of coping with never finding biological family and she received a tremendous applause for her direct approach.
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Everyone appreciated her talk and identified with the problem.
Now it is time to turn our full attention to documenting and cross-referencing the information and making it available to our members who want to research. The goal for 1990 is to have every name in OTHSA’s files entered into the computer for quick reference.
All of this will take place in OTHSA’s office in the new house near the springs on the Johnson farm. Soon we will be ready for an “open house” at OTHSA’s new headquarters. Plan to drop by. — MEJ
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OTHSA has three addresses by which mail arrives. The original one - Route 4, Box 565 - was changed to a street address when the new emergency “911” was created in the Springdale, Arkansas area. OTHSA’s mail was then sent to 4453 S. 48th. With the new house being built on the Johnson farm, OTHSA’s address will change to: 4912 Trout Farm Road, Springdale, AR 72764.
Recently a letter came addressed: “Orphan Train Lady, Springdale, Arkansas.” However, we do make an effort to keep the postman’s job as easy as possible with zip codes and correct address. — MEJ
Sylvia Wemhoff shows off her OTHSA T-shirt as she boards the “New Orphan Train.”