Ralph James Naveaux EDUCATION: After graduating from Monroe Public Schools, I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a Master of Business degree in Hotel, Restaurant, & Institutional Management from Michigan State University. I subsequently acquired a Masters in French and a secondary teaching certificate from Eastern Michigan University. I am also a graduate of the Seminar in Historic Administration at Historic Williamsburg, Virginia, and the Michigan Police Reserve Training Council Basic Law Enforcement Course at Schoolcraft College. SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL & RELATED EXPERIENCE: As a life-long resident of Monroe and a descendant of the French-Canadian pioneers who explored and settled in Michigan, I have acquired a good appreciation for my community and its history. By the time I was in high school, I was already volunteering at the small, local museum in the old Sawyer Homestead on E. Front Street. For 15 years, from 1975 to 1990, I was employed as a teacher of history and French in the Monroe Public School System. In 1985, while continuing my teaching career, I started a 13-year stint as a reserve police officer in the Monroe Police Department, rising to the rank of Lieutenant of Reserves. For 20 years, I helped run the Old French Town Days festival in Monroe, usually in the capacity of co-chairman of the event planning committee. In 1990, I was hired as Assistant Director at the Monroe County Historical Museum, retiring as Director in January of 2007. During this time, I was considered the authority on the French-Canadian origins of our city and often guided French-speaking visitors and groups through the museum s facilities. I further developed and ran the evening Lantern Tour program at the Navarre-Anderson Trading Post and helped put into operation the River Raisin Battlefield Visitor Center. Among other projects, I worked to establish the Vietnam Veterans Museum at Heck Park and acted as historical consultant for the documentary War of 1812: Battles on the Raisin, produced by the Friends of the River Raisin Battlefield. Before retiring, I became co-chair of Monroe s War of 1812 Bicentennial Steering Committee, a group facilitated by the Community Foundation of Monroe County. Our goal for Monroe County is to build public awareness & education, promote heritage tourism, support preservation of our battlefield and other historical assets, and help coordinate bicentennial efforts both within and without our community. In 2008, I was appointed by Governor Granholm to serve on the Michigan Commission on the Commemoration of the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 and was elected its vice-chairman. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS & OTHER WORKS: Escape to Frenchtown, a story of the Lebeau of riviere au roche during the War of 1812. Women on the Raisin, the experiences of River Raisin women in the War of 1812. Invaded on All Sides, a detailed account of the Battle of French Town. The Mighty Mushwa, an explanation of a unique Franco-American culinary tradition. Other booklets: The Floral City, River Raisin Battlefield Drive Tour, & Traces of Custer. Numerous museum brochures & living history scenarios. Annual scripts for the Navarre-Anderson Trading Post Lantern Tours. Script work for the documentary film War of 1812, Battles on the Raisin. Script work for the fiber-optic map presentation at the River Raisin Battlefield.
LIST OF CURRENT & FORMER ORGANIZATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS: Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church - Wisconsin Synod, Michigan Education Association, Retired Life Member, Navy League Life Member, Ducks Unlimited, Michigan Archaeological Society, River Raisin Chapter Little Big Horn Associates, Custer Battlefield Historical & Museum Association Life Member, French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan, Detroit Institute of Art, Center for French Colonial Studies, Ohio Historical Society, French Colonial Historical Society, Toledo Museum of Art, Association of Living History, Farm, & Agricultural Museums, Monroe County Historical Society, National Rifle Association Life Member, Friends of the Henry Ford, Monroe Rifle & Pistol Club, Toledo Zoo, Alliance Française Detroit, Grosse Pointe, & Toledo chapters, French Institute of Michigan, Monroe Boat Club, Dundee Old Mill Museum, Exchange Club, Friends of River Raisin Battlefield War of 1812 Bicentennial Steering Committee for Monroe County Assemblée des Franco-Américains, Société St-Jean Baptiste de Détroit Aux. Member, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Society for the Protection of Old Fishes, Delta Phi Epsilon National Foreign Service Fraternity, MSU International Club, ACLU, Detroit Historical Society, Michigan Week Committee, Algonquin Club of Detroit & Windsor PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS: Since 1978, I have been a member of a large number of historical, professional, cultural, living history, and re-enactment organizations, dealing mostly with 18 th & early 19 th American & Canadian history. In the past I have served as President of the River Raisin Chapter of the Michigan Archaeological Society and commander of Jean-Baptiste Campeau s company of the Detroit Militia, a recreated 18 th century living history unit that has been active since the Bicentennial of the American Revolution. Currently, I am resident agent for the Monroe County Historical Society and Vice-President of the Center for French Colonial Studies, and president for the Friends of the River Raisin Battlefield, as well as being on the Governor s Commission on the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 for the State of Michigan. MEMBERSHIP IN RE-ENACTMENT GROUPS: North-West Territory Alliance: Campeau s Company, Detroit Militia (1780) Lacroix s Company, Michigan Legionary Corps (1812) Brigade of the American Revolution: Regt. Royal Deux-Ponts (1781) Forces of Montcalm & Wolfe : Cies. Fr. de la Marine: Detroit & Michilimackinac (1754) Brigade Napoléon : 21ième Regt. de Ligne (1812) North-South Skirmish Assoc: Loomis Battery, Michigan Light Artillery (1861)
LIST OF HONORS & APPRECIATIONS: 1963: Co-Salutatorian, Zion Lutheran Grade School 1967 National Honor Society, Monroe High School 1967 Co-Valedictorian, Monroe High School 1967 National Merit Scholarship to Michigan State University 1969 AMLEC Summer School, Paris, France 1969 Student Gov. Rep. to MSU Advisory Committee on International Projects 1970 Election to Phi Beta Kappa 1971 Klare Fellowship, MSU Dept. of History 1971 BA in History, Michigan State University 1972 Simonsen Graduate Fellowship, MSU School of HRIM 1972 Award Comité Int l. du Vin de Champagne, Epernay, France 1973 MBA, Hotel, Restaurant, & Institutional Management, MSU 1975 Teacher American History & French, Monroe Public Schools 1976 Black Powder Firearms Certificate, Greenfield Village 1978 Certificate Small Arms Firing School, Camp Perry, Ohio 1978 Official Interpreter for visit of Mr. du Chaffaut, Sec. to French Ambassador 1978 Commencement of 20-year stint as co-chair, Old French Town Days Festival 1979 MA in French, Eastern Michigan University 1981 Service Award, River Raisin Chapter, Michigan Archaeological Society 1982 Assoc. of Franco-Americans appointment as Representative for Michigan 1984 American Assoc. Teachers of French Scholarship, Université d Avignon 1985 Police Reserve Officer Training Cert., Schoolcraft College 1987 Cert. Michigan Law Enforcement Youth Advisory Committee 1987 Range Officer Certificate, Monroe Police Department 1988 Participant Retour de Rochambeau, Vendome, France 1990 Assistant Director, Monroe County Historical Museum 1994 Monroe Police Reserve Officer of the Year 1998 Michigan Minuteman Award, Monroe County Michigan Week Committee 1999 Cert. of Appreciation, Marquette University Army ROTC 2004 Honorary Kentucky Colonel, Commonwealth of Kentucky Gov. s Appointment 2004 Director, Monroe County Historical Museum 2007 Cert. of Appreciation, 246 th Transportation Battalion, Dept. of the Army 2007 Vice-President of the Center for French Colonial Studies 2011 Board Member of the Alliance Francaise de Toledo. 2011` National Spirit of 1812 Award, Daughters of the War of 1812.