For Mother's Day, Mary Ann Sadler told her Mom that she had an idea for a play about women in the New Testament and how Jesus directly touched their lives. The goal was to include her Mom, her daughter, Rachel, and herself.

She wrote the play, "His Wonderful Presence ... Then and Now..." Rachel and Mary Ann have acted in the staged performances with many other ladies including Mary Ann's Mom once.

Mary Ann says, "The script comes from the Bible and my heart. My wish is to let everybody know just how much Jesus loves them and how He will accept them just the way they are." Her play has been enacted in local Churches in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze and will be presented at the Charleston Baptist Church in Charleston, SC over Easter.

Mary Ann has B.A. in Communication Arts and Theatre and has been in numerous secular plays, but, her favorites are plays with a Christlike message. She has worked in Radio and Television as an Operations Engineer, Production Assistant, and on-Air Host. For the past 16 years she has been a home-school mom, a 4-H Club leader, a wife to husband John. Their daughter Rachel is a junior at Gulf Breeze High school.

Mary Ann Sadler and her daughter, Rachel, stand at the counter of the Ice Cream Truck which she drives throughout neighborhoods after school.

Mary Ann also has a second career; one that all neighborhood kids love. She is the "Ice Cream Lady" and drives the Ice Cream Truck. Her business is called Sadler's Sweet Treats. She can be seen sometimes with Rachel touring the neighborhoods in her truck after school.

But most of all Mary Ann loves to perform, direct, and write and is anxious to get back to her primary career. She has acted in the following plays: "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" as Mrs. Armstrong; "South Pacific" as Bloody Mary; "Oliver" as Mrs. Sowerberry; "Picnic" as Helen Potts; "You Can't Take It with You" as Rheba...and more. She is a member of "Refuge Drama Team" at Calvary Chapel Church and has performed as: Mary, Mother of Jesus in "His Wonderful Presence...Then and Now..." By Mary Ann Sadler; Nanny in "The Crook and The Nanny"; Becka Sue in "Trial by Error" by Bette Dale Moore; Eleanor Richmond in "Four Tickets to Christmas" by Deborah Craig-Claar and Mark Hayes; and has had various roles in: "Traveling Light" by Lawrence Enscoe; "A Rock and a Hard Place" by Lee Eric Shackleford and Robert Montgomery; "The Sheeple Incidents" by Gail Blanton

LEFT: Sadler is the "Sweet Treats" lady, who drives the ice cream truck.

Mary Ann has been invited by the IZON talent agency in Gulf Breeze to compete along with others in the Orlando July 31 through August 26 in front of National and international talent and modeling agencies. For more information consult her web site at www.maryannsadler.bizland.co m

GFWC Milton Woman's Club

Ladies, pull out those wide brimmed hats, gather your friends together and plan to spend Saturday, April 14, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., strolling the grounds and inside of the Milton Clubhouse, 6863 Oak Street in downtown Milton. The GFWC Milton Woman's Club, Inc. is sponsoring GARDEN PARTY as the fifth in their series, Women in the Arts.

This event will feature the following artists: JoAnne Byrd; Angela Channell; Jennifer Johnson; Barbara Meloy; Pam Mitchell; Mary Rentz; Brenda Stokes; and Pam Thompson. This event will be the perfect setting to choose a special gift for those on your Mother's Day gift list. This gift would be made by a woman and given to one woman from another. There will be many choices: beautiful baskets, birdhouses, rugs, soaps, soy candles, unique bird feeders, woven items, chimes, yard art and much more.

The book, "Cole Family Civil War Letters" was discussed at the Historical Society meeting.

For more information on this event and how you can nominate your favorite female artist, please email retsel4765@aol.com. For more information on the Milton Woman's Club, please call 850- 626-9567. Gulf Breeze Historical Society

The Gulf Breeze Historical Society met on Tuesday, March 20, at 7 pm at the Gulf Breeze Library. The subject for discussion brought out a record attendance. The meeting was called to order by Gordon Sprague who conducted a very short business meeting before the program. The speaker, Amy Stevenson, was introduced by Tricia Briska.

Amy Stevenson spoke on her book, "The Cole Family Civil War Letters." Amy told the story of the Civil War as revealed through letters written by her great-grandfather, William, and her grandfather, Edwin, who were in the Union army. William's wife and Edwin's mother saved all the letters written to her by her husband and son in a trunk. Amy transcribed these letters with very little editing. To prevent the fragile letters from being handled too much, she hand-copied them and put them in chronological order for her book.

Stevenson

The letters tell the experiences of 40-year-old William and his 16-year-old son Edwin who both enlisted in the 23rd Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteers on the same day. Edwin served as a drummer boy until he was 18 years old and could carry a gun. Father and son were both wounded and captured on the same day and imprisoned in Libby prison at the same time.

Libby Prison, located in Richmond, Va., was the most famous prison of the Civil War. It consisted of three tenement buildings that were four stories high. It was used almost exclusively for officers, though it was also the receiving depot for prisoners through Richmond. Thus, enlisted men would come to Libby Prison, be registered as POWs, and usually then transferred elsewhere. William and Edwin were imprisoned there for about three months probably near the end of the war.

The letters related the scenery, types of housing, weaponry, steamships and battles as they moved from Massachusetts through New York and on to Virginia. One letter describes a fruit that Amy thinks must have been a persimmon. One of the poignant themes in all the letters by William and Edwin was the prayer that they would show bravery in battle. Amy had the trunk the letters had been preserved in, a blanket that had been made from homespun wool, some weaponry, her grand father's carpet bag and many other artifacts on display at the meeting.

After the war, Amy's grandfather Edwin came south as a carpet bagger selling his wares. He went to New Orleans and met a young southern lady and they traveled together to Mobile, Ala., married and settled down. Edwin started a tool business on Water Street. That was the beginning of the southern branch of the Cole family.

Amy was raised in Mobile and finished high school there. She studied at the University of Alabama for three years but when her father was killed in World War II she left school and married her boyfriend who was also attending the university.

The audience listened raptly and asked questions following Amy's presentation. The book The Cole Family Civil War Letters is completed and will be on the book shelves by April at the latest.