Captain J.J. Dickison - Camp 1387
In Brevard County, the Captain J.J. Dickison, Camp 1387 was chartered in March 1982 and has approximately 50 members.
The Camp holds monthly meetings and provides living history programs for elementary, junior and senior high schools.
The Camp also conducts Confederate Memorial Day ceremonies at local cemeteries (soldiers of both sides are honored), sets up public library educational displays, provides speakers and living history presentations to civic groups, and has conducted beach cleanups.
The Camp is also cleaning and mantaining two cemeteries:
Lawndale (H.S, Wiliams House), Rockledge, Florida
&
Canaveral Groves Cemetery, Sharpes, Florida
The Camp maintains a period Color Guard equipped with Florida and Confederate historic flags for use in local parades and civic ceremonies.
2nd Lt. Commander Nick Nichols is Camp 1387's resident Genealogy Specialist. He will assist you in tracing your ancestor's Confederate Service.
Please Contact 2nd Lt. Commander Nick Nichols at
camp 1387 at gmail dot com
CAMPTALK Vol. 36 No. 03 March 2016
HAPPY 35 BIRTHDAY CAMP 1387 By Don Young with research by Johnnie Hiot
On March 28 th 1981 15 men from the Melbourne area came together and formally applied for a
Camp Charter with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, which was then a Mississippi corporation. The application was endorsed by then Florida Division Commander Robert G. Elliott of Daytona Beach on 18 April 1981.
Aubrey R. Bates, of Melbourne, owner of Bates Furniture and a member of the Brevard School
Board was elected as the first Commander.
Lunsford O. Healy, of Merritt Island, retired and an
avid history reader was the 1 st Lt.
Charles A. Buchanan, an engineer with Boeing was the
Adjutant.
Dr. N.F. Fain Jr. MD was the Surgeon.
Rev. Gilbert Dieffenwierth Pastor of Palm Bay
United Methodist was the Chaplin.
John W. Harrison, advertising executive was the Color Sergeant.
The other charter members were:
James F. McClanahan of Satellite Beach,
John C. Grady ofPalm Bay a retired Harris Corp. engineer,
Talmadge S. Skinner of Rockledge a pharmacist at
Wuesthoff hospital,
Lawrence W. Gardenhire of Melbourne a Harris Corp. engineer,
B.G.Abercrombie of Cocoa Beach an engineer with General Electric,
Joseph L. Gettys a widelyrespected American History teacher at Melbourne High School,
Francis G. Hall of Cocoa Beach,
Hon. Joseph A. Cowart Jr. of Cocoa District Court of Appeals judge
and
James T. Stevenson an engineer with Harris Corp.
The Camp’s early meeting place is unknown to your author, but by August of 1990 they were
meeting at Holmes Regional Nursing Center in Melbourne. In 1991 the Camp was meeting at
Morrison’s Cafeteria at the Melbourne Mall. About 1992 the Camp moved it’s meetings to
MeMaw’s Barbeque in Indian Harbour Beach. The room rental agreement established at that
time is still in effect and the Camp has met at MeMaw’s excellent facility ever since.
One of the primary activities was setting up and providing a Camp Library for the compatriots. In
the early to mid ‘80’s the book list was hand written, sometimes typed and had about 1,250
titles. By 1990 the list was on a computer print out and contained over 500 titles. Larry
Gardenhire and Lunsford Healy were the librarians.
In the 1980-90’s Camp pillars and later officers and mentors John Spooner, Ding Patton, Dick
Lancaster, Carl Smith, Alex Pulliam, James Nance and Larry Rowell became members.
An April 1993 roster lists 60 members and 14 “pending”. Two of the pending applications were
Robert R. Murray of Mims and Donald C. Young of Merritt Island.
In 1999 the Camp incorporated as a Florida State Not for Profit Corporation and has maintained that status.
In February of 2003 Larry Gardenhire, the last of the founding members, crossed over the river.
Several of us attended his funeral and his son gave me his SCV scrap book which contains much of the information reported here and his original 1981 membership card.
camp 1387 at gmail dot com