Kim Yelas The Kappa Pi Chapter of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International focused on patriotism for its March 4 meeting in Lindy Goode’s home in Tyler.

The guest speaker, Kim Yelas, shared her story about how she and her missionary parents lived in the Philippines and fled from the Japanese during World War II.

For three months, they lived in a hidden cabin. After that, they hid in the jungle, moving every day or every night for 18 months while 200 soldiers searched for them.

Yelas learned her ABCs and her numbers from a pack of cards and the Bible. Every morning, she woke up to look for her pet chicken’s egg, her breakfast.

When the Japanese fi- nally found them, she remembers they sat her on a tree stump and cut her long, curly hair with a rice bowl on her head.

Yelas marked her third, fourth, and fifth birthdays in a POW camp. The teachers there organized a school for the children.

But they had no books, no pencils and no supplies. However, the children learned from the teachers, and Yelas has a tiny, framed kindergarten diploma from the camp.

For her fifth birthday, she wanted a doll. Her mother got ticking from one woman who had a mattress, traded potato skins for colored embroidered floss, got yarn from a nurse for the hair and got some sheer material from someone who had a ballerina costume.

The diploma, a doll, and a knitted Christmas stocking are the only items she saved from the camp. When they were set free, Yelas remembers being afraid of the big American soldiers who tossed her up into the air. Yelas displayed beautiful woven baskets and wood carvings from the Philippines as well as a sample of the colorful cloth the women wear for skirts.

She had a large map to point out the western border of the U.S., the Hawaiian islands where Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Philippines, and Japan.

Following the program, Benita Carver led the group in singing, “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” and “God Bless America.”

Lou Brown and Lynda McQuaid folded a flag while Naomi Bledsoe explained the meaning of a flag-draped coffin and the meaning and purpose of the 13 folds.

Hostesses Goode and Brown led the group to a beautifully appointed table with milk glass dishes and delectable sandwiches, chocolate brownies, cream cheese tidbits, nuts, candy kisses, and lime sherbet punch.

Katherine Bunce, president, presided over the business meeting that included plans for the April meeting, election of officers for the next biennium, Alpha State Convention reservations, a treasurer’s report, and details about the Founder’s Day Luncheon on May 1. The door prize was won by Erma Johnson.

——— Read more about Yelas’ experiences on Page 8.