A few weeks back Mato, our past exchange student from Slovakia, had let me know he still thinks about Rotary, and wanted to say hello to all and say he misses us. For some odd reason the Club Runner people had dropped him from our friends list for getting the eBulletin for our club, but Carol Kennard put him back on.
Happy Bucks: Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers did not collect Happy Bucks this day, as the meeting was rearranged for the memorial ceremony for Fred Weir. Next week Erich will again collect Happy Bucks for The Victory Project, a privately funded Dayton after-school program for young men involving the three "E's": Education, Entrepreneurship, and Enlightenment.
A box lunch from DLM was enjoyed by all...Random pictures of the group enjoying a close-knit lunch together in the Kennard Nature Nook follow. Note the white squirrel in the background.
More box lunch people
John Beals seems to have been caught off-guard in this candid picture below.
This crew below was more prepared for the picture to be taken...
Is that Dale Berry answering his phone in this picture?...below...
Arnie...(at right, below)...where were you when we needed the key? He heads up the park district these days, though someone said if we had called Carol, she could have helped us with the code, but we didn't want to phone someone who might have been at John's funeral mass.
Celia gets a close look at the brick placed in Fred's memory.
Small blue spruce will soon grow big and really spruce up the entry area to the forest.
Before the meeting closed our club member Joyce Young was featured as our Speaker, to give members, especially those new to the club, an idea of the many contributions she has made to help and serve the community near and far.
Club President Ron Hollenbeck gave just a brief background of the many boards she has served on and the awards she has won. Then she was asked a series of questions about what brought her to Rotary and why she keeps coming back. She is a Washington Twp. Trustee, and has served as president of the trustees numerous times. She is also a polio survivor, which is what she said brought her to join Rotary, as the eradication of polio is one of the organization's main objectives. See below under Today's Speaker section.
After her presentation, club members went outside to pay our respects to Fred Weir, who passed away last year. A special conifer forest is dedicated to our members who are deceased, as noted on the plaque attached to a large stone at the entrance to the grove, seen in the picture below.
Fred Weir's name has been added to the brick memorial in front of the large stone.
Celia and her two sons are shown with Harvey Smith before the memorial service.
PDG Harvey Smith, on right, told of Fred Weir's many generous gifts to the community, asking who it was who volunteered first whenever someone was needed for a club Rotary project. The answer of course was: Fred Weir. He asked who was it who provided the tools and works for gazebos at Benham's Grove and Oak Grove Park that our club built: Fred Weir was the answer. And it was Fred Weir who got the measurements and materials for the steps and rails at The Castle, to protect those working on the elevated garden platform. And it was Fred Weir who helped at the Pancake Breakfast, using his drill to improvise a mixer for the pancake batter to make it fluffier. And Fred got the table ads together for the Pancake Breakfast...and many, many more things that aren't listed here.
"Fred loved his wife more than anything," Harvey said. He said we are grateful for his gifts and are grateful for his life. He was our fellow member, he said. We are grateful for the service he rendered to the community. He said now Fred is serving in God's kingdom, and that we are all grateful for Fred Weir and his family.
Celia, in turn, thanked the Rotary members "for making his life special. Thank you for this love," she said. She said Fred loved Rotary and the fellowship it brought.
Fred Weir (R) and his best friend Jack Workman at an April, 2016 meeting of Rotary.
The following story can be found on the centervillerotary.com Web site about Fred, who shared with us his story a while back:
Fred, who has been a member of the Centerville Rotary for 23 years, said he was born in his parent's farm house on Kemp Road in Dayton. His mother was a nurse. He was the first of three children. He has a younger brother and then six years later his younger sister was born. He went to Kemp School in East Dayton, being held back a year before he could go and then attended school in Beavercreek from third grade through eighth grade before going to Wilbur Wright High School, where he graduated in 1949.
He attended Miami University for one and a half years before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, as the Korean War was underway. He served three years and then entered his grandfather's lumber business. It had started as the Kuntz-Johnson Lumber Yard and his grandfather had bought out Peter Kuntz's interest. His grandfather and his brother also had a wallboard company and Fred moved to Buffalo, New York to run the company but that didn't work out for him so he moved back to the area and started a building business in Tipp City, where he met his wife Celia on a blind date. They met at Easter time, he said, and were married by September. They have six children, three boys and three girls, and 10 grandchildren.'
He started his own building business in 1975 and worked it until 2008, he said.
He said in his earlier years he worked with the Centerville Co-eds keeping all their props in shape over the years. He would go to all the practices...there were 60 girls who could really kick high..he said, and if a prop was missing something he would repair or replace it.
Brad noted that Fred has been a part of practically every project the club has helped build, from gazebos in the parks to the recent staircase project at The Castle, and the building of a large chicken coop in Honduras a number of years ago.
Fred said he has lived in 40 different locations in six different states over the years, improving houses.
- See more at: http://centervillerotary.com/Stories/getting-to-know-member-fred-weir-1#sthash.842oJDV1.dpuf
Today's Speaker: Joyce Young, Centerville Rotary Club member, and her 40-year career in giving service to the community and the world around her.
Ron Hollenbeck introduced Joyce Young, reading from a multi-page resume of the boards she has served on and the awards she has earned over the past 40 years. He said she has four daughters and four grandchildren. She has served the township for over 40 years. She has been president multiple times for the Washington Twp. Trustees. Her list is too long to put here, but let it be said, she was named a Top Ten Woman by the Dayton Daily News and was named Citizen of the Year for Montgomery County in 2002. She received the Centerville Women's Civic Club Award in 2014.
Asked why she joined Rotary, she said she joined because the goals of Rotary are to eradicate polio. She said she contracted polio during her first year of college and that it has affected her whole life. She had to stay out of school for a year, she said. She was on crutches for a long time, but then when she started to fall a lot and get injured, she decided it would be best to use a motorized chair.
Asked why she keeps coming back to Rotary, she replied: "You guys. You are really wonderful."
She was asked why she wanted to get involved in public service. She said it goes back to her grandfather and father, who were both involved in politics and the Republican Party. Her husband Fred was chair of the Montgomery County Republican Party and a state rep for eight years. He did not think it was good to make a career of politics, she said, so he did not continue it as a career. She also was a member of the Junior League, which helps train one in volunteering, she said.
She said it was actually Fred Weir who brought her into Rotary. "He did a lot of work on our house," she said.
Asked what she would like to do if she could do whatever she wished, she said it would be to spend time in Florida, Michigan, and on cruises. She would also go to Massachusetts, where she grew up. She said she had four brothers and sisters and had a good time.
Asked how she met her husband, she said it involved a blind date from the boys college near her girls college. Some of the story got lost across the tables, but there was mention of a fraternity pledge and someone from high school and it wasn't clear from across the room if the blind date was an old high school chum and/or Fred...but she said something about her date passing out under the piano...which got a good laugh.
Joyce said the Washington Twp. staff has been really good to her. And it was mentioned her daughter had counted 318 elephant figurines, but it wasn't clear if those were hers or not, but being a Republican all these years, you can guess that that might be true.
Having covered the Washington Twp. Trustees over the years as a reporter for the Dayton Daily News, I know that the people there did everything possible to make it easier for Joyce to attend their meetings after she was in an auto accident and not able to use her crutches to get on the platform where they sat due to a shoulder injury. They made a ramp for her wheel chair and helped her with heavy materials she needed to transport, but could not lift. Nothing has stopped Joyce from continuing on her path of contributing to the betterment of her fellow man. Ron did not mention that she has been on the Diversity Council for Centerville among her many other commitments to a host of boards for community organizations, Sinclair College, etc.
As a Washington Twp. Trustee, her bio reads:
Joyce Young, a township resident for more than 50 years, is known for her community activism and leadership on many civic boards, including the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Human Race Theatre Board, Montgomery County Family and Children First Council, Montgomery County Human Services Levy Council and the Brighter Tomorrow Board of Directors. Joyce retired in 2009 as past chair of the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, a state-wide agency that partners with individuals who have disabilities. She has earned the Ohio Township Association Leadership Academy award, the Katharine Kennedy Brown Award from the Junior League, and the Centerville Women's Civic Club Award. A trustee since 1995, she served as co-chair of the Create the Vision committee that helped write Centerville/Washington Township’s Community Plan. She has four daughters and four grandchildren.