Happy 2017! Last year was an extraordinarily eventful (and happy) year for me, and I'm starting to settle down into a new routine. My employer, Rogers State University, has been most accommodating and has graciously allowed me to develop a teaching schedule that allows me to spend several days each week in Alva, Oklahoma, where my husband, Dr. Richmond B. Adams, teaches at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

On one of my first visits to Alva, I noticed the beautiful windows in the United Methodist Church and was startled to see G. A. R. (Grand Army of the Republic) in the center of the large, round window.

There are a number of Union veterans buried in the city cemetery and obviously many were attracted to the area thanks to the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in 1893. The four windows underneath the large, round window are just as fascinating.

Abraham Lincoln:

A pair of American flags:

And, the symbol of the Woman's Relief Corps which obviously sponsored the four smaller windows: