September 9, 2017 the Genesee Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution presented Dawn M. Bastian with an Historic Preservation Award. This award recognizes worthy individuals for outstanding achievement in all ares of historic preservation who have contributed to their community in an outstanding volunteer manner.
Left to Right – Carol Powers, Historic Preservation Committee Chair DAR; Dawn Bastian, Award Winner; Cheryl Morris, Regent Genesee Chapter DAR
Ms. Dawn Bastian
Historic Preservation Recognition Award
Ms. Dawn Bastian, a dedicated citizen of Goodrich is involved in historical and patriotic groups, has worked tirelessly in the preservation of Goodrich area cemeteries, collects and maintains historical artifacts housed in the Ladies Library Museum and has restored vintage travel trailers and automobiles.
Dawn Bastian loves history and historical artifacts. She works hard to make sure what she is involved in is correct, precise and done the right way. She has been a rein-actor and is the registered agent of the Citizens of Monroe, a Civil War Reenactment group. She sews all her own Revolutionary War and Civil War era clothing, including hats, and makes sure everything is historically correct. She has given presentations in school classrooms in this clothing and talked about history and what it was like to live, dress, work and play during this time.
Dawn has been very involved in the historical aspect of local cemeteries. She has cleaned and restored headstones, done research on pioneer families buried there, given presentations, participated in grave dedications and conducted cemetery tours making others aware of the stories of our past these local gems record.
Cemetery work is not the only local project Dawn Bastian has undertaken. She is a hardworking member of the Goodrich/Atlas Historical Society which is also caretaker of the Goodrich Ladies Library Museum. As curator of the Museum, Dawn has been in charge of many one of a kind local treasurers. She secures historical items and presents them in the Museum in a pleasing and easy to find and understand way. She has co-authored four books for the Historical Society, The Passage Of Time, Stories and Pictures of Atlas Township, Businesses of Atlas Township Then and Now and REMEMBER. REMEMBER is a detailed book about the veterans of Atlas Township, complete with their stories and pictures from Revolutionary soldiers to present day. She is very passionate about the history of our area and is the go to person for historical information.
Restoration of vintage trailers and cars is also what Dawn has done with love and great care to historical detail. She has spent thousands of hours in the meticulous, painstaking restoration of two vintage trailers, one a 1966 Scottie trailer and one a 1962 Holiday House trailer. She researches, talks to experts and gets the job done right. On both trailers, she took everything down to the frame and rebuilt, piece by piece, until she has beautiful trailers. She has traveled with these trailers on the Lincoln Highway (pulled with a 1966 Chevrolet), to Florida and on a circle tour of Michigan. She has won awards, been invited to a black tie event at a dealership to represent 100 years of travel and been in many car and trailer shows. She is well known in vintage car and trailer clubs. Recently, she was the guest speaker at two neighboring community’s Historical Societies where she gave presentations on Vintage Motor Camping to very enthusiastic and interested audiences.
It is for all these and more reasons that the Genesee Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution is honored to present to Dawn Bastian an NSDAR Historic Preservation Recognition Award.