Purdue News

December 10, 1999 Purdue to join in observance of Washington's death WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University campuses will take part in a national observance of the bicentennial of George Washington's death on Tuesday (12/14). Coordinated by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, the effort has the support of the national and Indiana societies of the Sons of the American Revolution, and it has been endorsed by congressional and gubernatorial proclamations. On Tuesday, Purdue flags will fly at half-staff in memory of Washington, the Revolutionary War hero and the nation's first president, who died on Dec. 14, 1799. The Mount Vernon association also has requested institutions and churches to ring bells across the nation at 1 p.m. EST. One of the bells of the Purdue Bell Tower on the West Lafayette campus will toll 16 times at 1 p.m., symbolic of the 16 American states in existence at the time of Washington's death. CONTACT: Noel Reen, William Henry Harrison Chapter, Indiana Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, (765) 447-5973 To the Purdue News and Photos Page