49 Days of Gratitude continue Through March 30
SPENCER — The 49 Days of Gratitude celebrates the 70th anniversary of North Carolina’s Merci train car’s arrival in Raleigh on Feb. 8, 1949. The Merci Train was a gift to the people of the United States from the people of France, given in appreciation for the United States help to the French during World War II.
The N.C. Transportation Museum, 1 Samuel Spencer Blvd., features the Merci car exhibition of original artifacts from the car, display of several vehicles from WWII era, and more.
Learn more at www.nctrans.org or https://49daysofgratitude.com/ or 704-636-2889.

Author Linda Baten Johnson
10 a.m. March 9
Linda Baten Johnson, author of The Friendship Train, will discuss the U.S. Humanitarian “Friendship Train” of 1947, the true stories behind that effort to aid Europe, and the response from the French, the Merci Train of 1949. At the NC Transportation Museum.

Salute to Women in Service
1- 3 p.m. March 9
Hefner VA Medical Center Building 42, featuring:
• Sandra Sharp’s “Women in service uniforms through history” display
• Veterans
• Music
• Talk by Professor Beth Ann Koelsch, associate professor and curator of The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project, Hodges Special Collections & University Archives University Libraries at UNC-Greensboro.

CFA celebrates gratitude
3 p.m. March 10
Center for Faith & the Arts has dedicated all of 2019 to an exploration of gratitude. This month’s discussion will focus on Compassionate Service.
There is no charge for this discussion series, but donations are welcome. Center for Faith and the Arts, 207 W. Harrison St, behind Haven Lutheran Church. 704-647-0999, www.faithart.org

The Great War – World War I
7:30 p.m. March 15
“The Great War” presented by the Phoenix Readers and St. John’s Lutheran Church.
Jim Epperson, retired Catawba Theatre Arts Department Chair, directs a program of the words of those who were there in the Great War, including “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag,” excerpts from “War Horse” and “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
Hear from an ambulance driver and one man’s memory of the Christmas truce as well as a nurse’s search for a friend among the wounded.
The Phoenix Readers are Ray Davies, Karl Hales, Mike Kline, Kate Davis and Lori VanWallendael.

‘Tea and Jive like it’s 1945’
1 p.m. March 16
SPENCER — American Girl’s Molly & Nanea Tea Party, with games, doll displays, door prizes, snacks, souvenirs and a program on the life and times of two American Girl characters whose families lived on the home front of WWII in Illinois and at the start of WWII in Hawaii.
RSVP by March 12. Adult tickets are $15 and children under 18 are $10. Held at the Spencer Woman’ Club, 100 Third St. then tour the Doll, Toy & Miniature Museum at 108 Fourth St.

Meet daughter of Holocaust survivor Ela Weissberger
3 p.m. March 17
Tammy Grinshpon, daughter of renowned Holocaust survivor, Ela Weissberger will visit Temple Israel, 1600 Brenner Ave. (across from the main entrance of the Hefner VA Medical Center) sharing her mother’s legacy and describing life within the concentration camps. Weissberger shared her story in her autobiography “The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin.”
Portions of a Web cast featuring Weissberger will be shown.

Yoga and French cuisine
5-6:30 p.m. March 24
Gather at SoFul, 1024 S. Fulton St., to enjoy gentle yoga focusing on gratitude, followed by a taste of French food prepared by Christine Zimmer, SoFul’s French-born yoga instructor and trained chef. Cost is $10, plus a donation to Family Crisis Council Rowan’s emergency shelter.