Our Family Congratulates the Awardees
It’s quite a feat getting the family together for an event. But we did it!! Here we are with the 2023 recipients of the Carnahan Public Service Awards and Scholarship. Front row: Mary Katheryn Davis (Scholarship); Mr. Dale Wright (Education); Judge Patricia Breckenridge (Law); Jean Carnahan. Back row: JC Antolinez; Tom, Robin, Russ, and Debra Carnahan. (Congressman Tom Coleman (Public Service) joined by Zoom.)
I kick off the event with a few words. The gathering takes place each year at the State Historical Society of Missouri in Columbia. The event is held on, or around, Gov. Mel Carnahan’s birthday.
Keeping the Dream Alive
Many thanks to Judge Steve Bough for his work throughout the year, for the selection committee, donors, and the annual golf tournament participants.
“I’m still enough of an idealist to believe that public service is a calling worthy of our lives.”
~ Gov. Mel Carnahan
Evening Bonus: A View of Historic Missouri Art
When at the State Historic Society, I always enjoy seeing their splendid collection of Thomas Hart Benton and George Caleb Bingham art, as well as Greta Kempton’s painting of the Truman family. The SHS owns all of Benton’s 91 lithographs, which are currently on loan to the Spiva Art Gallery in Joplin through February.
A previous “reunion” with Greta Kempton’s painting of the Truman family brought back fond memories. I saw it everyday when it was on loan to the Governor’s Mansion during my time there.
Beth Pike, assistant director of communications and education, points our the details of Bingham’s famous painting, Order No. 11, that depicts the forced evacuation of residents from Bates, Jackson, Cass, and Vernon counties during the Civil War. Bingham painted two of the event: one is in Cincinnati and the other at the State Historical Society in Columbia, MO. Waiting for the Cargo is another of famous Bingham owned by the SHS.
This statue of Thomas Hart Benton now resides at the State Historic Society. The marble work was relocated after being in the U.S. Capitol since 1899. Look for the formal unveiling soon. (Note: Benton, above, was the politician and great-great uncle of the artist by the same name.)
