THE AMERICAN CONSULATE GENERAL
THANKSGIVING 2007
COMMENTS OF US CONSUL GENERAL GREGORY W. SLAYTON
November 22, 2007

• Welcome one and all, to our Thanksgiving Service today.
• It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving if we didn’t give thanks, so:
• Thanks to Bishop Kurtz for hosting the service here at the Cathedral followed by lunch in the church hall – to which you all are invited.
• Thanks to the clergy for being a part of the service and for the inspiration they give to us daily.
• Thanks to the American Society for its work in organizing today’s service and for all the charitable work it does here in Bermuda.
  

Before I read the Presidential Proclamation, I thought it would be interesting to note that we have a direct link to our nation’s history right here!  Our Consul, Margaret Pride, is a descendant of William Bradford and William Brewster, who arrived on the Mayflower and signed the Mayflower Compact - the first basis in the New World for written laws.

Indigenous Americans taught the Pilgrims how to grow the corn, beans, and squash that resulted in the first Thanksgiving harvest.  Here today are Mr. Tucker and other members of the St. David's Island Indian Committee, representing the Pequot, Mohegan and Cherokee tribes.  Thank you for joining us here today.