De Anza DAR learns about diabetes; Inducts new members
The De Anza Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution welcomed two new members at its monthly luncheon meeting held March 1 at the Lomas Santa Fe Country Club. A record number of 15 new members, four transfers-in and one reinstated member joined the De Anza Chapter in 2013.
De Anza 1st Vice Regent and membership chairman Marti Meiners and Chaplin Joanne Dudek inducted Amy D’Lima and Shirley Sayer, whose patriot ancestors saw battle during the Revolutionary War.
Shirley’s ancestor, John Jacob Speck, was born in Pennsylvania in 1753 and was a weaver by trade. At age 27, he enlisted in the Third Battalion of York County Militia. He was killed in 1780 during the devastating Battle of Camden, North Carolina, a major British victory, and buried in a mass grave, leaving a widow and three children under age 5. Amy’s ancestor, Jonathan Sheppard, who enlisted at age 15 in a Maryland regiment was taken prisoner by the British at the battle of Fort Washington and shipped to England. After a prisoner exchange between the colonies and England, he reenlisted and fought at the Siege of Yorktown. He survived the Revolution, married and settled in what is now West Virginia.
The event’s guest speaker, De Anza Librarian Katharine Dixon, MD, is a psychiatrist who directed the Ohio State University Eating Disorders Program during her tenure on the College of Medicine faculty. Katharine spoke about women’s health issues, specifically, diabetes. She has been a runner, swimmer, cyclist, weight lifter, equestrian, ice skater, racquetball player, skier, spelunker, trekker and a high-altitude mountain climber in South America and the Nepal, Indian and Bhutan Himalayas. She shared that she was diagnosed as pre-diabetic about a year ago, in spite of her active lifestyle. Since then, she followed dietary management to prevent further progression of this disease to type II diabetes. She explained in simple language what happens when we eat carbohydrates, the mechanism of insulin resistance, potential risk factors and the deleterious effects of diabetes. Katharine recommended consultation with a physician for further screening when risk factors for metabolic syndrome or diabetes are present, as well as nutritional information through The Center for Science in the Public Interest: www.cspinet.org. The attendees came away with good knowledge to use to in the prevention of insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.
Junior member Alli DeFrancesco shared that she is a survivor of Non-Hodgkins’ Lymphoma, in remission since a bone marrow transplant. Alli swam the English Channel in 2013 to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She is raising money for the campaign that runs March 4 - May 17, in competition to become Society’s Woman of the Year.
To sponsor her with a tax-deductible donation, visit www.mwoy.org/pages/sd/sd14/allid. Daughters of the American Revolution, or “DAR” (pronounced one letter at a time), is a patriotic lineage society founded in 1890 with more than 177,000 members in 3,000 chapters across the United States and internationally. DAR welcomed a record 13,906 members in 2013, breaking the record set in 1921. Any woman 18 years or older with lineal descent from a Revolutionary War patriot is eligible for membership. De Anza Chapter members live in the North County coastal communities from Carmel Valley to Carlsbad. For more information, call Laurel Lemarié at 858-756-2835 or visit www.deanzadar.org.