By David Melding
  The distinguished academic and past chair of the NAWF’s Welsh Board, Professor Jon Roper was inducted into the Order of Ivorites on the 15th January 2022 at the Guildhall, Swansea, Wales.

   The Lord Mayor of Swansea, Councillor Paxton Hood-Williams made the presentation and said that he “was delighted to welcome the Ivorites back to Swansea and to see such an outstanding citizen of the City honored in this way.”
   Professor Roper taught at Swansea University where he was one of the two key figures who established the Department of American Studies. He was Head of Department 1996–2007 and became known on both sides of the Atlantic as a leading authority on US politics. As well as his contributions to scholarship and the public understanding of American politics, including an acclaimed book on the US Presidency, Professor Roper led the NAWF’s Welsh Board for many years before stepping down in 2022.

  At the ceremony, Professor Roper was joined by his wife Nicola and members of the NAWF’s Welsh Board. After the presentation, members took the opportunity to discuss with the Lord Mayor the work of NAWF in promoting cultural and educational links between North America and Wales. The Lord Mayor was particularly pleased to hear how NAWF had revived the Order of Ivorites in the form of an award to recognise individuals and institutions whose work has brought “honor to the overall Welsh tradition and heritage.”

  On his induction Professor Roper said, “It is an honor to join the distinguished list of members of the Order of Ivorites. I would like to thank all those involved in making this award and organising the presentation.” David Melding, Chair NAWF’s Welsh Board, added, “It is wonderful to recognise Jon Roper’s outstanding contribution to scholarship and American-Welsh relations. Thanks to Jon, the work of NAWF in Wales has prospered and we look forward to building on his achievements.”

  The original Ivorites were particularly strong in Swansea and its hinterland in the second half of the nineteenth century. Even today there is still a public house named the Ivorite Arms in Swansea, an echo of the time when many streets, meeting halls, and pubs in Wales were named after the highly esteemed Ivorites.

The main areas of settlement were Utica, Steuben and Remsen. After the Revolutionary War, land was granted to Major General Baron von Steuben by a grateful government. This land, 16,000 acres in the town of Steuben, was divided into 100-acre plots and sold to the newly arrived Welsh settlers.

In these early days, Welsh families came together to keep alive their cultural traditions, maintain friendships and honor their Patron Saint, St. David. Two of the earliest groups were the Welsh Society of Philadelphia, founded in 1729 and the St. David's Society of New York State in 1835. The St. David's Society of Utica can trace its roots to the Cymreigyddion Society's Eisteddfod in 1856.

Very few individuals have extended their contributions to the cultural and social lives of their communities in Wales to Welsh American life as Edward Morus Jones has done. By now, he is a familiar presence and contributor at our gatherings, particularly at the North American Festival of Wales and in Philadelphia.

The North America Wales Foundation is particularly pleased that he has accepted an invitation to receive our Foundation’s highest honor, its Heritage Medallion – Y Tlws Treftadaeth. In one of his many internet citations, he is described as a folk singer, school headmaster, campaigner, and political candidate. That only begins to describe this gentle, kind person whose personal warmth makes him no stranger to anyone he meets. He is a universally admired Welsh American.

Edward Morus Jones is a farmer’s son born in Llanuwchlyn, near Bala in Meirionnydd. He discovered his passion as an educator early in life. His activities as a teacher spans many years at schools and institutes of higher education in several locations in both North and South Wales. Beyond his leadership in formal education Edward’s passion and talents as a musician and sublime communicator has led to a career of entertaining, performing on-stage and in radio and television programs. He and his good friend Dafydd Iwan, look back affectionately at their contribution to children’s music with the songs recorded for the “Cwm Rhyd y Rhosen” series. He has conducted many Cymanfaoedd Canu over the years. Today, Edward stays busy in his church, as an ecumenical preacher in Welsh language chapels around Wales, and as the current chair of the annual Llandegfan Crown Eisteddfod. He extends his extensive social and cultural commitments to his community in Sir Fon where he has lived for many years. An example is a wonderful video of his leading the children at the local Henblas School, “Canu Gyda Mr. Edward Morus Jones,” to be seen at https://www.flickr.com › photos ›. And yes, that’s the same guy who leads the late night singing at NAFOW. He is a President of the Court of the Sir Fon Eisteddfod and was an honorary President of the National Eisteddfod held in Sir Fon in 2017. There is so much more to tell, we must at least mention his long-time leadership of the Urdd and Cymru a’r Byd (Wales International).

Edward and his late wife Gwyneth, who also contributed much to Welsh cultural and educational life, received a unique recognition at the National Eisteddfod at Meifod in 2003. This is the only time that a husband and wife have been invested on the same day with the White Robe Order of the Gorsedd of Bards, its highest honor.
You may ask how did Edward, so busy in Welsh life, come to be a familiar and active part of Welsh life in North America. It began in 1984 with Edward and Gwyneth’s participation in the first of many Welsh Heritage Week courses (the most recent in Scranton in 2021), as language tutors, hymn-singing leader- conductor, folk-music tutor and light-hearted poetry-literature adjudicator! As Edward in his modest way says “It helps strengthen the Welsh Heritage Week link with Wales where it visits every few years”

Edward (with Gwyneth until 2012) has participated in ten North American Festivals of Wales (NAFOW). He has contributed in many different ways. Among them he has conducted the informal hymn-singing, performed in the Noson Lawen, (NAWF director Steve Jones has happy memories of their duets), adjudicated at NAFOW Eisteddfodau, conducted Cymanfa rehearsals, participated in the ‘Sunday Services’ and given lectures. Recently he has co-operated with NAFOW to arrange a ‘Song from Wales’ competition for children at St David’s Day time. 2023 will be its third year! Edward is now serving his second term as the Welsh North American Association Board of Trustees member from Wales. These are some examples of how he brings his talents and deep love of his culture to us in North America.

When we go to Wales the warmest greeting for Welsh Americans visiting the National Eisteddfod come from the booth of Cymru a’r Byd. Edward has been a leader of this organization for nearly half a century, serving it in many capacities over the years. His welcome has always made us feel at home away from home. Now that we have our own booth, namely Cymru Gogledd America, no need to ask who we wanted our booth to be sited next to. Edward is always among the first to come to say hello and help out with the logistics.

The transatlantic link in Edward’s life has been greatly enhanced by his marriage to Mary Roberts Glassman in 2016. She has 1600’s Quaker roots in Wales, only ten miles from where Edward grew up! Born of a long-standing family friendship and the loss of their respective spouses this has brought great happiness to them with joy and admiration to their large circle of friends on both sides of the Atlantic. Another good reason why Edward receives his award in Mary’s home city.

Dr. Philip Davies is presented the Robert Morris Award by the Welsh Society of Philadelphia.

With a strong and distinguished Welsh population, the Welsh Society of Philadelphia continued to meet and to assist needy Welsh immigrants throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
More recently, the Welsh Society has led the way among Welsh American organizations in cultural, philanthropic, and educational programs.
The prestigious Robert Morris Award is presented to a distinguished Welsh-American at the Society’s St. David’s Day banquet.

Lloyd Jones Award

• Elliot Goddard is an Industrial Design student from Bangor University. He is designing and manufacturing a sea kayaking wing paddle specific to the ‘Rockpool Taran’ Kayak, that must be robust and reasonably priced.
  

 

• Lois Gwenllian Griffiths is a Product Design student from Bangor University. She is working to expand The Calendar King product/service range into app design to help Firecracker Design and Print keep up with increasing competition.
  

 
Grants

• Peniel Welsh Chapel Association in Ripon, Wisconsin, will receive a full grant of $1000 to be used towards the cost of exterior renovations to the building.
  
• Mari Morgan will receive a full grant award of $1000 towards publication of her PhD thesis on Welsh-American composers Daniel Prothero and Joseph Parry. The work is titled Braids of Song ~ Gwead y Gan and is to be released in the United States. This award is contingent upon the acquisition of additional funding towards publication costs.
  

Exchange Scholarship

• Brooke Martin will receive the $5000 award to continue her PhD studies on Welsh opera at Bangor University. She has recently made great progress and new discoveries in the area of Welsh musicology, uncovering several Welsh and Welsh-American composers whose music output had not been uncovered.
  
• Andrew Edwards will receive a $5000 award to continue his studies in Welsh at Bangor University. He will begin writing his BA dissertation on the abolitionists of German and Welsh communities in America before and during the Civil War and the radical beliefs of both groups expressed in the German and Welsh newspapers of the time.