03/01/2018  Judy Budi and Harvey Smith

03/08/2018  Judy Budi and Don Gerhardt

03/15/2018  Doug Bockrath and Wayne Davis

03/22/2018  Mark Gerken and John Beals

 

Our official greeters Harvey Smith and Judy Budi had some extra help greeting this week. Before the meeting Harvey needed to speak with our new member Eric Beach to tell him about the Rotary Foundation, etc., and so Boyd Preston and Rebecca Quinones stepped in to help until Judy Budi arrived and Harvey was done with his other duties. Here with see Harvey joshing with Boyd and Rebecca at the entrance to the meeting room at Yankee Trace. Our club president Peachy Metzner is in the background. Brian Hayes, not seen in this picture, manned the sign-in desk.

 

Here is Harvey speaking with Eric Beach before the meeting. 

 

Boyd is seen here greeting member Lee Hieronymus, with Don Gerhardt on the left. Notice they are by the dessert table and Don already has picked his pie.

 

Our vice president Chuck King and Rebecca Quinones were awaiting incoming guests.

The Centerville Rotary Club met at The Golf Club at Yankee Trace at noon. Club President Peachy Metzner led the Pledge of Allegiance; Harvey Smith gave the prayer, asking that we keep Jack Workman, Bev Callander and Rick Terhune and their familles in our prayers. Brad Thorp led God Bless America, sung by club members.

 

Our guest speakers Zack Beck and Bill Kennedy; Edie Landsiedel, widow of John Landsiedel, a long-time member. She came as the guest of member Don Stewart; Dottie Overly, wife of Don Overly.

 

 

 

Our president Peachy Metzner is seen at the right of Brian Hayes, who sought five volunteers to help with the students trying out for the Rotary Four-Way Test Speech contest. They are to be at Rotary in two weeks. 

 

Brian said they have recruited four Centerville students and three Alter students as prospective orators to try out.

The club members judging the student participation will be Rebecca Quinones, Harvey Smith, Jeff Senny, Mike Wier, and Lee Hieronymus.

 

Next, our President-Elect Boyd Preston came to the podium to speak briefly about the upcoming all club work days in March.

 

Boyd provided information on the various service day projects, asking people to sign up for the program they wish to serve.

 

Two new ones have been added, one at the Foodbank of Dayton, and one at St. Leonard Senior Community.

On Friday, March 16, those working at the House of Bread from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., will help prepare and serve a hot, nutritious lunchtime meal to about 230 people. They'll help with the clean-up afterwards and be provided a meal at 1 p.m. with the other volunteers.

Saturday's schedule includes a project at Grant Park, the Foodbank of Dayton project, which will have volunteers either packaging up boxes of juices and canned goods for individual clients, then preparing and sealing them for distribution; or, assembling individual kits of juices and pre-packaged meals for children's backpacks for distribution to schools in a three-county area. 

Also you can volunteer at Hannah's Treasure Chest, where volunteers will unpack and then wrap donated diapers in 25 count packages for distribution to clients, help prepare spring appeals letter for mailing; replace exterior floodlight bulbs, etc.

Project Read includes unpacking, sorting and re-packaging into smaller boxes donated books for local schools, reading programs and Habitat new homeowners.

At St. Leonard Senior Community volunteers will be painting one of the dining rooms.

On Tuesday, March 20, volunteers at BOGG Mobile Meals (5:30-8:30 p.m.) will help with set-up and tear down. You might help distribute food, work the grill, handle check in, help with games with the kids, or interact with clients one-to-one.

 Boyd said that last night he and Peachy helped Project Read build more shelves for the books, and there was an article by Meredith Moss in the Dayton Daily News, but no mention of our Rotary Club's help was made in the article, an oversight for sure. 

 

Peachy noted and handed around an article in the paper noting that Past-President Ron Hollenbeck was honored for giving his 100th blood plasma donation, a very special donation as he has a rare blood type, AB...which was the answer to a crossword puzzle in the paper that day. The question was asking that AB blood type was a? Rarity, was the answer.

 

Sofie Ameloot mentioned that club members need to bring full-size bottles of shampoo for the District Conference. Our club's contribution is 325 bottles, so each member should bring 5 bottles in the next few weeks. You can also donate and she would buy the shampoo. She still needs about $300 if she is to purchase the rest of the needed shampoo, she said.

 

At a previous meeting Boyd Preston said he got an e-mail from the district governor, stating that at the upcoming president-elect meeting, which Boyd will be attending, they will be collecting picture books for children to send to a club in Nepal. (Originally he said Mongolia.)

Boyd's message to all via e-mail earlier, said: I will be attending All-Ohio PETs training in Columbus on March 9-10. The District Governor-Elects will be holding a service project among attendees by collecting children’s picture books that will be shipped to Rotary District 3450 – Mongolia. These books will then be translated from English to Mongolian by local high school students. They will make sticker tapes that are placed in the books with the Mongolian translation. A portion of the books collected will be translated into Braille in the same way. The translated books will then be distributed to school children in rural Mongolia by both Ohio and Mongolian Rotarians. They are looking for any children’s picture books but will gladly accept all books that would be appropriate for school aged children, kindergarten – high school.

 

Kim Senft-Paras reminded people to sign cards out front for Bev Callander and Rick Terhune, but a few may have missed the signing.

 

 

Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers and Gerry Eastabrooks, our club treasurer, collected Happy Bucks this day.

 

You just saw Erich, and now here's Gerry, looking a bit somber, because most of this week's Happy Bucks went for the sad passing of four important people, club members Jack Workman and Rick Terhune; Bev Callander, the wife of member John Callander, and member Kim Senft-Paras's mother-in law.

 

Most of the members gave in memory of our "lost Rotarians" and for the surviving family members, and for the guests and speakers this day, including Edie Landsiedel, widow of former member John Landsiedel.

Joyce Young noted that she was glad to see Edie, and Jeff Senney also noted that he got to see his grand baby.

Lee Hieronymus gave $5 "for all the friends of Rotary passing," and for the guests.

Tom Broadwell noted that he felt good to be back from Palm Springs, and also noted the club's loss.

Pat Beckel also noted that his sons have been successful recently in their photo ops in the Cincinnati area, and that one will be the face of poverty and they will be featured as the Face of 5-Star School Supplies.

Pat also made a joke at the expense of our past city manager, stating that someone might have been late for when they came to the entry street named Greg Horn, one thought it was a one-way street, and one thought it was just a dead end....it got some oohhhhhs, and requests for him to keep his day job.

Rebecca also mentioned the House of Bread and young girls helping out there from the CHS Interact Club.i

Eric Beach also said he was happy to be here, and Brian Bergmann also gave in the name of Brigid's Path.

Sivaji said something about sitting with the ladies and a couple of men, that got a big laugh.

 

 

 

Below you see Bill Kennedy

 

And here is Zack Beck with Bill Kennedy.  Zack has several items he gave away in a drawing at the end of the meeting...a snake and a stuffed oppossum, and some passes to the three area sites under the umbrella of the society.

 

Bill did not pass this piece of ancient history around, as he said it is a real mastodon tooth he is holding. Most museums only have casts of such items out where people might get up close, as they are irreplaceable and you wouldn't want to break a tooth like that, would you? He did pass around some other artifacts encased in small glass frames, and an ancient pipe (seen in a picture below) that everyone could get a close look at. The pipe was a cast version.

Our Vice President Chuck King introduced our speakers. 

He said Zack Beck is manager, community relations and philanthropy, and oversees strategic partnerships for the Dayton Society of Natural History.

Chuck said Bill Kennedy is the senior curator for the Dayton Society of Natural History. He is an archaeologist specializing in pre-contact Native Americans of the Midwest, with interests in architecture, settlement patterns, and spatial analysis. He supervises several departments, including Collections, Exhibits, and the SunWatch Indian Village and Fort Ancient Earthworks museums.

Bill conducts archaeological excavation and fieldwork, conducts original research, and teaches regularly as an adjunct prof for Wright State University, Chuck said.

 

Zack began by telling the history of the Dayton Museum of Natural History. He said it began in 1893 as part of the Dayton Public Library and Museum.

Over the years, collections gathered by prominent Dayton citizens on trips around the world contributed to the museum. Local natural history collections were also contributed.

In 1952, a group of citizens organized the Dayton Society of Natural History, which took responsibility for the collections and transformed them into the Dayton Museum of Natural History.

In 1958, the Museum of Natural History's main building on Ridge Avenue was completed.

In 1991, a new planetarium and expanded collection and exhibit space were added. The Society remained committed to the ideal of inspiring children to enthusiastically embrace science as a vital aspect of their lives through exhibits and programs, both entertaining and educational.

Meanwhile, in 1993 a group of interested community leaders formed a steering committee to explore the idea of creating the Children's Museum of Dayton. This group believed a children's museum could reach children ages two through twelve and instill in them a lifelong love of learning as well as an appreciation for the world around them. The group formed a governing board, launched a mobile outreach program, displayed model exhibits, and began planning a permanent home in downtown Dayton.

As the Children's Museum movement gained visibility, the similarity between its philosophy and the Museum of Natural History's mission became clear. In the summer of 1995, the Children's Museum Board and Board of the Dayton Society of Natural History began discussing ways to collaborate. By January, 1996, these talks resulted in an enthusiastic agreement to fully merge boards under the umbrella of the Dayton Society of Natural History. As a result of the merger, the Dayton Museum of Discovery was born and assumed all public, educational and programming functions previously associated with the Dayton Museum of Natural History.

The board commissioned a professionally-developed exhibits master plan that would take into account all of the resources and potential brought to the table by both organizations and by May 1999 Phases I and II of an extensive exhibits master plan had been completed.

The name change to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery occurred in January, 1999 to recognize Oscar Boonshoft, one of the Museum's most dedicated friends. The Dayton Society of Natural History is the parent organization of the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery and its sister organization, SunWatch Indian Village – a museum of the area's 12th century Fort Ancient Indians.

At the three sites, which includes Fort Ancient and SunWatch Indian Village, they had 220,000 visitors last year, Zack said.

The Museum is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, affiliated with the Association of Children's Museums, and is a governing member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers.  The Discovery Zoo, located on the second floor of the Museum, is fully accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

They have 5,251 members and reached 13,574 school children in the region.

The Boonshoft Museum has numerous departments, from education to astronomy, and its own  accredited zoo with 151 animals, including a 200-pound python, a sloth, river otters, etc. They have collections with 1.8 million artifacts.

Bill Kennedy spoke about the ancient peoples of the area, noting that over 11,000 years ago, at the end of the ice age, when the giant mastodons roamed around, and giant sloths, remnants of their existence were left and are still being uncovered.

What one sees today in museums are usually casts of the actual relics, he said, showing us a real tooth that looked a lot like a cast marble tooth.

He also passed around spear points from ninety-three hundred B.C., when the Clovis people who did not live in villages, but roamed around (probably to practice outrunning any Mastodons still left), being hunter/gatherers. They had stone tools that were not deeply buried, he said. 

Around 3,000 years ago, around 1,000 B.C., the Adena Indians who were mound builders, inhabited the area. They are responsible for the Miamisburg Mound, he said. Most of the mounds are gone, because they were plowed away, he said. The cast of an Adena pipe, as seen in one of the pictures below, was made by them. They were the first people to make pottery in Ohio, he said, and the first in Ohio to build earthworks and burial mounds, giving rise to their popular name, Mound Builders. Unlike the Hopewell mound-building culture which followed them, they made their mounds conical. 

And here is a shard of clay pottery...

And here is the cast of a clay pipe 

Here is another artifact...

Bill said Fort Ancient has one of the best preserved earthworks of the Hopewell people, built up to 25-feet high. In 2020 it is scheduled to become a World Heritage site that should bring in people from all over the world. A Hopi site near St. Louis became such a site and went from having 20,000 visitors to 200,000 visitors a year, he said.

Geology is important and helps us to understand our world better, he said. Geology has to do with energy and water, he said. 

 

Zack explained the free tours that allow people to go behind the scenes and get to know and become involved in what the Dayton Society Natural History is all about.