Join us starting at 10:30 for hospitality and mingling. The business meeting starts at 11:00, followed by our featured speaker around 11:30.

Our speaker will be Shirley Sloat. Her presentation is titled “It takes a village…… to produce a book preserving the memories of the only living grandchild of two Georgia slaves who came in a wagon with nine children to Wheelock, Texas, in 1894”.

Shirley met Estelle Mitchell Adams at an aqua exercise class in 2013 and the two formed a friendship. Estelle shared many written documents about the Negro churches, schools, and cemetery in Wheelock. When Estelle showed Shirley that she remembered the names of all but about 12 of the 40 students attending the Wheelock Colored School in 1934, Shirley knew that she had to help to capture Estelle’s voice and memories for the public.

Their collaboration has led to the publication of “Remembering Negro Life in Wheelock, Texas – Churches, Schools, Cemetery, Families in the 1900s” (copies of the new book will be available for sale at the meeting).

The intention of the presentation is to provide a suggested path through some of the intricacies of creating a book in general, to shed some light on the challenges of creating one with a story teller, and to give courage to those who might have been afraid to try publishing their work. It will include a brief talk from Estelle, now 89, followed by Shirley’s account of the various events and help provided along the way by people and organizations like the Texas Portal, University of North Texas, Dallas Public Library, and DGS members, with particular thanks to Ed Millis who just likes to make books and who tells all about things like achieving an ISBN number.

Shirley Remnant Sloat was a computer professional at Texas Instruments and Sun Oil until she retired in 1992. She immediately joined the Dallas Genealogical Society as a Life Member and began working at the Dallas Public Library’s 8th floor volunteer desk.

She joined a small genealogy study group who encouraged her to expand her volunteer work into other areas of DGS. Over the years she chaired the publicity committee, and served on the DGS Board as VP Membership, Executive VP Fundraising, and President in 2005-6.

She received DGS awards for the Writing Contest, Volunteer of the Year, Historical Preservation, and the Award of Merit. She has received the Dallas Public Library Award of Excellence twice, and the A.C. Green Award from the Friends of the Dallas Public Library.

She still volunteers on the 8th floor on Wednesdays, and is a proofreader for DGS publications.

She has spent the past two years organizing, editing and indexing, and posting online and in book format the remembrances of a close friend who is the last living granddaughter of Georgia slaves who came to Wheelock, Texas in 1894.

Estelle is the author of three other publications that are available on the Portal to Texas History:

• The History Of Wheelock Afro-American Cemetery, Wheelock, Robertson County, Texas (View on the Portal)
• Preserving the History of Wheelock Colored School, Wheelock, Robertson County, Texas (View on the Portal)
• The Black Churches in Wheelock, Robertson County, Texas (View on the Portal)