Two Hendersonians on Thursday will present Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear with the World Peace Tartan which was given to them in a November trip to Scotland.
The route that the World Peace Tartan has taken to get into the governor’s hands started years ago, when the Rev. Angela Church and Dr. Chandra Werner first visited Scotland. They were interested in purchasing a tartan and got in contact with Victor Spence, who is the founder of the World Peace Initiative, an organization that works for peace and non-violence and to alleviate child poverty.
Spence suggested they meet at the mill where the World Peace Tartan is made, and there they sat in the mill’s coffee shop and talked for hours. After the long conversation, Spence presented each with a tartan and made them World Peace Tartan ambassadors.
They’ve kept in contact since, and in November, the two Henderson women returned to Scotland, this time with a gift of their own. They brought him a commission of the Kentucky Colonel, signed by Beshear.
Spence didn’t know much about Beshear and the women told him they thought he was a person trying to make the state a more peaceful place. At the end of the conversation, Spence gave the women a World Peace Tartan to give to Beshear.
According to information supplied by Church, who was a federal prison chaplain for 16 years, each thread of color in the Peace tartan is symbolic. The baby blue hues translate as the hope that lies within the United Nations, while the purple and green tones represent the Scottish thistle. Black and red highlight the brutal truths of war, violence and cultural unrest. And white symbolizes light, peace and harmony.
Spence has presented the World Peace Tartan to Bishop Desmond Tutu, the Dali Lama, Pope Francis, among many more.
Beshear will be in Henderson Thursday to tour the Initiative Readiness Training at South Middle School, where military personnel are offering free medical, dental, vision and veterinary services to anyone.
Church said the presentation of the World Peace Tartan will be at about 11:20 in the school lobby.
