The North Tonawanda History Museum has received word from Heritage Preservation:  The National Institute for Conservation, in Washington, D.C.  that the Museum  has been determined eligible for the 2006 Conservation Assessment Program (CAP). The Museum will be allocated $6,540 to hire a professional conservator to assess the Museum's collections and a preservation architect to assess the facilities for the future Museum home.  Assessors will meet with Museum staff and volunteers, as well as with members of the Board of Trustees, so that everyone will play a part in the CAP assessment and will be invested in carrying out the assessor's recommendations.  The Museum will need to match the grant with $610.

Letters & Notes from Museum Visitors

January 2006

Dear Donna Zellner Neal - Director of North Tonawanda History Museum,

I was born in North Tonawanda in 1943, went to grade school and high school in North Tonawanda, went away to college in 1961, and returned to NT frequently until my parents moved to Florida in 1978.  I was very blessed to have a wonderful experience growing up in NT, and I have many fond memories of those days. I am now retired and living in Scottsdale, Arizona. A good friend made me aware of the NT History Museum and suggested I try out the website. I must say that the information on the website certainly exceeded my expectations! The fact that an NT History Museum even exists deserves celebration by itself, but the work you, your staff, and other volunteers have done to assemble and share much, much interesting information and pictures calls for major congratulations! Very well done, indeed! I especially enjoyed looking at the old time pictures and post cards, and even though many were of pictures of events before my time, they were certainly interesting. The ones including the Riviera and Avondale theaters brought back fun memories.

I did notice one item which I would request you modify: In the Collections Category under "Our Military Heritage", "Vietnam War", please include the name of First Lieutenant Michael Schmidt in the list following the sentence "The other North Tonawanda Youths killed in Vietnam were:" I am requesting this on behalf of Tom Newton, Bob Roggow, JP Scheller, and myself, all NTHS Class of 1961 graduates who were good friends with Mike, who was also a Class of 1961 graduate. While we could not locate a copy of Mike's obituary, I was able to use the website of  "www. Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Page .com" to locate a paragraph written by Mike's widow, Laura, whose comments included that while Mike did not die directly from his critical wounding on April 28, 1968, he did die on October 29, 1971 of complications due to hepatitis B that he obtained during his initial nine month recuperation. If you would like to read more of what Laura wrote, please visit that website and click on "The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall Page", search under the last name of "Schmidt", go to the third page for Mike's information, click on "Info page", "Personal Comments or Pictures", and scroll down to read Laura's comments. I would suggest you add this line to your excellent summary of Vietnam War information: 1LT Michael Schmidt, 28, seriously wounded April 28, 1968, died on October 29, 1971.

Also, this website indicates that Mike's name is listed on Panel 02W, Line 95 on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.

I hope you and your colleagues agree that Mike's name belongs in that list referenced above. Thank you in advance for your consideration to my/our request, and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at the above address or call me at my home phone number of 480-836-2401.

I don't get to NT very often, but I will try to visit your museum the next time I am there. If not then, then the visit after then.

Dear Donna,

Thank you for your very positive response to my e-mail, especially about being willing to add the information about Mike Schmidt to the website. I have communicated with my friends Tom Newton, Bob Roggow, and JP Scheller in response to your request for a picture of Mike that could also be added to the website, and we have come up with at least two for consideration. However, I believe that because this website is obviously for the general public, we need to offer the opportunity for providing a picture of Mike to Mike's widow, Laura, first. So, while I have not seen Laura in over 30 years, plus I didn't know her very well, I may or may not be successful in contacting her. If I am successful in contacting Laura, I will also ask her if she has an obituary or some sort or military summary of Mike that she would like added to the website. I will keep you informed with how my search ends up. In the meantime, the four of us recommend that you proceed with adding the information I proposed earlier.

Of course you may include my original letter in the letters & comments section of the website. Tom, Bob, and JP are also willing to have their names included in the correspondence that you post on the website.

One last point: After re-reading the section of the website that addresses the Vietnam War, I would propose that you change the wording from "The other North Tonawanda Youths' killed in Vietnam were:" to "The other North Tonawanda Young Men (or Men)killed in Vietnam were". My (old) Webster dictionary includes "the period in life from puberty to maturity" in the definition of "youth", and I believe that all of these heroic young men were past being considered youths when they clearly demonstrated maturity in giving their lives for their country.