(Lander, WY) – Now in its 15th year, the annual Lander Valley High School (LVHS) “Night at the Museum” event once again had hundreds of student family members and folks from around the community in attendance, who celebrated the students’ family history.
The “Night at the Museum” is put on every year by the social studies and history department at LVHS, and provides Juniors the opportunity to research aspects of their family history, and then share their findings through presentations to the community.
From famous baseball players to war heroes, religious settlers to hunters, Native ancestral roots to celebrated politicians, LVHS had a wealth of history on display this year.
Precious Bowstring shared her family’s jingle dress from the Ojibwe Tribe, which she explained was modeled after a healing dress that was created when a Tribal medicine man had a dream where he was instructed to make it for his sick granddaughter.
Bowstring said she felt empowered by the origin story of the dress, which was given to her by her grandma June Shakespeare, and plans to pass it and its story along to future generations.
Allie Spies gave the history of her grandfather David Mantlo, a beloved baseball player who played in college and later became a coach, winning over 500 games.
Ally went on to share that Mantlo was coach of the year in 1985, and will be inducted into the Dugout Baseball Hall of Fame in Colorado later this year.
Finn Gebhart presented on his grandfather Ronald Warpness, who served as a Specialist 1st Class in the Vietnam War, starting off as a military policeman in Saigon, but later transferring to become a door gunner in a UH-1B helicopter in order to get “closer to the action.”
Gebhart went on to tell a story about his grandfather’s quick thinking when dealing with a mechanical issue, which resulted in him taking home a piece of the actual helicopter.
Janetta Womack told of her great great great great grandma Janetta, who was not only her namesake, but immigrated from England as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
When Janetta was 16 she and her family travelled across the ocean on a religious pilgrimage, first landing in New York, then making the harrowing journey to Salt Lake City, and ultimately ending up in Arizona after having 11 children.
Thanks to all of the students who shared their family history with us, and be sure to check out some more Night at the Museum photos below!
