Wharton Book Review Club season starts Oct. 13

The Wharton Book Review Club begins its 2008-2009 season Monday, Oct. 13 at 9:30 a.m. with coffee and refreshments in the Wharton County Historical Museum 3615 N. Richmond Road.

The Program will follow at 10 a.m.

Sylvia Thompson will give a program based on several books and publications about the first families of Galveston.

She tells of the people who helped to build Galveston into what it has become as an internationally known city of the mafia, gambling and politics versus the people who wanted Galveston to be truly a place of beauty and commerce that it had become before Hurricane Ike paid a visit there on Sept. 13.

Thompson lives in Houston. She received her B.A. in history and English from Baylor University and taught American history for a number of years at Memorial High School.

She has more tha 20 years experience as a book reviewer, historical trip narrator and lecturer on Texas and Southern history.

Thompson is a frequent banquet and event speaker. She has lectured for Baylor University's Women's Forum, the University of Texas Elder Hostel and UT's Winedale Symposium.

She is the author of In praise of Painted Churches, written for the Texas State Historical Society's Heritage Magazine. Her first book A Tribute to Early Texas was co-authored with Anita Higman and published by Republic of Texas Press in October of 2001.

Thompson has served on the boards of the Texas Association of Museums, Baylor University Women's Association as a chairman of both the Accessions Committee and the Guild of the Heritage Society.

Season memberships are $25. For more information call Sally Soderquist at 532-4936 or Sammy Lou Franks at 532- 4615.