SAFFORD — There was some exciting news at the Graham County Historical Society’s annual symposium last Saturday.
“We are working with the (Graham) County that owns the old Stockmans Bank building on 7th and Main Streets (in Safford), which will be the site of our museum.” Association.
In addition to savings from years of fundraising, the Historical Society will use a $150,000 grant from the Freeport Community Investment Fund to remodel the interior of the building and move artifacts and exhibits out of the warehouse.
According to Moeller, the Historical Society estimates it will take about 18 months before the museum opens to the public.
The Historical Society’s collection of artifacts was housed in a museum in the old Thatcher Middle School building, but the museum was closed in the early 2000s when the Thatcher Unified School District demolished the building to build the current middle school. The item was stored. school.
In 2017, when Circle K announced plans to build an upgraded, larger convenience store and gas station on U.S. Route 70 east of Safford, the Historical Society received a demolition of the Safford Carpet building donated by Circle K. I was.
The plan was to reassemble the building on land Graham County made available in the Fairgrounds, but the cost of construction proved too much for the all-volunteer Historical Society.
In addition to the museum’s announcement, the symposium re-elected Harvey John as President of the Historical Society and included two historical presentations: Landsman Camp by Hal Herbert and Where the Water Comes by Jay Dee Colvin. rice field.
A highlight of the event was the presentation of the Legacy Award to former Historical Society President Charles Robert Pursley. This included sharing family memories with his two older sons, Robert and Tom.
Pursley was born in 1936 on a family farm in Lone Star. He graduated from Safford High School and attended Brigham Young University. While at BYU, he enlisted in the Navy, attended flight school, and became a helicopter pilot.
After ten years of active duty and a brief stint with the FBI, he attended law school at the University of Arizona. After graduating, he became a medical practitioner and eventually he moved his family back to Gila his Valley in 1978. At the EAC he taught criminal justice for a year before he was appointed a Superior Court Judge, where he remained until his retirement in 2003.
Pashiri and his wife, Carol, have six children, 26 grandchildren and 33 great-grandchildren.
