The Friends of Cooper Memorial Library Veteran’s History Project was cited with an honorable mention presented to the Project Chairwoman, Mrs. Audrey Jackson-Morgan of Clermont, by the Florida Library Association during the Friend’s Day awards luncheon held on May 14 at the Caribe Royale Hotel & Convention Center, Orlando.

In 1991 a group of local Cooper Memorial Library Volunteers began collecting stories of South Lake County veterans who served in the United States Army. The original stories, hand written and kept in three ring binders were stored behind the receptionist desks. In 2000 the US Congress passed legislation to create a Veteran’s History Project which includes audio and video recordings housed in the Library of Congress. In order to bring this experience closer to residents of Lake County, members of the committee decided to publish a “one of a kind book” to pay tribute to our veterans. The series of memoirs start with WWII veterans and the latest, Volume 5 Korean War and World War II veterans, published May 2015.

The collection of Memoirs is housed in The Cooper Memorial Library, 2525 Oakley Seaver Dr., Clermont on the 2nd Floor Genealogy Section and 3 WWII volumes are housed in the WWII Museum in Downtown Clermont’s Historic Village. The Committee is currently planning to interview veterans who have served in the Vietnam War. If you are interested in being part of the interview process, please contact Audrey Jackson-Morgan at 352-536-9954.