I had two appointments in Cape Girardeau this morning and  an afternoon of “Butchering Exhibit” planning in Altenburg.  While checking in at the History Center for the 1st Uptown Jackson Chamber Coffee in through the door walks Troy Wayne Poteete, Chief Justice of the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court and Executive Director of the Trail of Tears Association.  I met Justice Poteete at the dedication of the Trail of Tears monument on the Cape County Courthouse green this past summer.  He stopped to check in and to tell me about a Trail of Tears Association workshop in May.  During our conversation he told me wonderful stories of one of the women who most influenced me, Chief Wilma Mankiller.  He told me stories of his journey from insurance businessman, to tribal councilman, through his law degree and now his role as Chief Justice.  Justice Poteete wants to hear more about the immigration story here in the Altenburg region.  As some of you know, the last boat of Cherokee People were coming up the Mississippi River during the exact time that the first boat of German-Lutheran immigrants were coming up the River.  They were all frozen in during the winter of 1839.  I am madly researching the story and hope that my friends Kathy Berkbigler and Warren Schmidt will help me, because the Trail of Tears Association (Poteete is the Exec. Dir.) will be meeting at the Trail of Tears State Park in May for a workshop and the Lutheran Heritage Center folks have been invited to a reception at the Cape County History Center on May 12 to tell their story to this magnificent organization.

We also had guests from Minnesota here today.  They were on their way home from wintering on the coast of Alabama.  They are an LCMS family, and they met while he was a serviceman in Germany and she was a German citizen.  Take Care, Carla Jordan