It is with great sadness that I must report the passing and Celebration of Life for long time Chapter and Society members, Woodrow Darrell Harkey and Albert P. Keiser Jr.

Albert became a member of NSSAR in 1979 and in fact, pre-dates our Chapter.
Darrell became a member of our Chapter in 2003.
Both men were wellsprings of knowledge and festooned with intimate information of local histories and happenings of the past 200 years or more.

It was the efforts Darrell to preserve Lincoln County History that led to the creation of our annual National Event, The Battle of Ramsour’s Mill, that we conduct every June. During the COVID shutdown of 2020 when we could not conduct the event live, we road Darrel around the Battlefield on a golf cart, (which has 2 schools built on top of it now), stopping to film Darrell narrate what happened at each point to be used in the virtual Ramsour’s Mill event. His Celebration of Life took place, Friday, 16 September 2022 in Lincolnton NC. Members from Catawba Valley SAR and Thunder Over Carolina Inc served as Honor Guard.

Albert had written several books about local history and was instrumental in the perpetuation of the National SAR Library in Louisville KY, the Catawba Valley Chapter, the Hickory Museum Of Art, Lenoir-Rhyne University and Davidson College, from which he graduated, with substantial donations. In fact, it was his gift that allowed Catawba Valley Chapter to erect the Grave Marker to 12 Patriots at Old St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Newton this past May. His Celebration took place on Sunday, 18 September 2022 in Hickory. SAR Members from National, Catawba Valley Chapter and Col. Daniel Boone Chapter spoke.

God’s Speed my Brothers: Rest in Peace