Gypsy Road Trip

Vane Scott Shares “The Many Faces of Old Glory”

Vane still has the 13-star flag hand-sewn by his great-great-grandmother, Sarah Mulvane Sultzer for the American Centennial in 1876.

Flags and their history have always been part of Vane Scott‘s life. His father, Vane Scott, Jr, actually began telling the story of the American flag back in 1975. At that time, young Vane’s father and mother co-founded their own flag company, Colonial Flag Company, which became a division of Annin Flagmakers, the largest flag company in the world.

Five-year-old Vane Scott wore the white tuxedo in a parade for Miss America. The float he rode was designed by his parents’ company, Great Scott Displays.

    Before that, they traveled coast to coast with Great Scott Displays, which was started by his grandfather. They decorated cities and designed parades for national functions such as General Eisenhower’s inauguration, Miss America homecomings, Hollywood premieres, and fairs all over the United States.

Dressed in colonial garb, Vane addresses a Barnesville Masonic Lodge gathering.

     Vane III has a rich family heritage in the Newcomerstown area. His ancestors, the Mulvanes, were the first white settlers in the area. Their Masonic tradition rings strong as his son makes the fifth generation of the family that has been part of the Masons. When Vane speaks of his family, you can hear how much he admires their legacy.

     After high school, Vane served in the Navy on two destroyers. When he returned home, it seemed only natural to work in the Coshocton flag company. Eventually, he became their plant manager.

Vane, Jr and Vane III, father and son, shared a passion for the history of our flag.

     His dad encouraged him to learn the story of the flag so he could continue telling it to the next generation. They even practiced a couple of times at the kitchen table when his dad was very ill.

His dad, surrounded by flags, began the dynamic flag program back in 1972.

     For relaxation Vane and wife, Sue, enjoy a backroads motorcycle ride. On a ride some two years after he lost his dad, Vane began repeating the flag story in his mind as they rode along. When they took a break, he told Sue, “I need to tell Dad’s Flag Story.” Soon thereafter, he began sharing the story of our flag’s origin.

The Grand Union Flag is often considered the first national flag. It combined the King’s Colors with the thirteen stripes of the colonies.

     The story, “The Many Faces of Old Glory”, tells the story of how our flag was developed. It begins with the early flag of England and progresses through our present flag. The story’s purpose is to make people understand why we love this country so much. Children, especially, need to understand our rich heritage, as they are our future.

Vane demonstrated how Betsy Ross made her five-point star with one cut of the cloth.

     While it’s not possible to give you his entire flag story here, it’s not a boring history lesson. You can be assured there’s a bit of humor thrown in throughout. There are over twenty flags included in the show and some are quite unique. He still uses the flags his dad folded all those years ago.

The Easton flag followed the First Flag Resolution description in an unusual manner with the stripes being in the corner.

     Of special interest was the fact that when Congress enacted the First Flag Resolution in 1777, it said: “Resolved the flag of the United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; and the Union be thirteen stars white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” Every seamstress designed it in a different way. No two flags were alike. That’s where Vane got the title, “The Many Faces of Old Glory”.

The Great Star Flag contained twenty stars. This replaced the prior flag with 18 stars and 18 stripes.

     At first, they added a stripe and a star to the flag for each new state. But you can see that would be very cumbersome. So it was decided to maintain thirteen stripes to represent the original thirteen colonies, and then add a star for each state. Out present flag has been in place with fifty stars since 1960.

Share this amazing story of our flag’s history with “The Many Faces of Old Glory” DVD.

     A special performance of this show was held at Patriot Plaza in Sarasota, Florida where Vane presented the flag history to 2000 people. Here the background music was provided by a live symphony orchestra, Sarasota Pops Orchestra. This flag show travels the country and will be returning to Florida in 2020.

His wife, Sue, who he met on a high school blind date, runs the musical portion of the program.

     Today he uses a recording of the Tuscarawas Symphonic Orchestra as background for his talk. That local connection also appears on his DVD of the show. If others can’t see the program, that DVD would be a great way to introduce your young family members to the history of our country through the story of the flag.

     This dynamic story continues to raise patriotism to the end when Vane joins a recording of his dad singing, “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Audiences are drawn to their feet as their voices are raised in singing our national anthem. His parents would be so proud of the story Vane is carrying on.

As President of the Newcomerstown Historical Society, Vane appears on Olde Main Street as a shoe repairman.

     While Vane enjoys his flag story presentations, he”s not idle the rest of the time. Right now he is president of the Newcomerstown Historical Society, where tour buses are visiting their Olde Main Street Museum on a regular basis. He also serves as commander of the National Honor Guard, where they present at around thirty funerals a year. They also participate in several parades and serve as color guard for many school events.

His dad would perform the flag presentation for Amway and Eastern Star Conventions.

     Vane would like to perform more often for large groups all over the country as his dad did before him. This program should be a must see for all students to raise their awareness of our country’s history through the story of the flag. As one man said, “It’s history within history.”

     We may be born in America, but to be an American is quite another thing. After seeing “The Many Faces of Old Glory” you’ll leave a better and prouder American.

To contact Vane Scott regarding his program, “The Many Faces of Old Glory”, or to purchase a DVD, call Vane at 740-498-8803 or email vanescott@yahoo.com. Visit their website at http://www.ManyFacesofOldGlory.com .