Clarion
Publication Date: July 5, 2005
Volume 56, Issue 10
Club Welcomes 3 New Members
Since our last publication date, President Tom Shields has had the distinct honor of inducting three new members–Bryson Clark on 6/7/05 and Eric Johnston and Mark Walters on 6/28/05.
Bryson is Secretary/Treasurer of Allied Industrial Supply Company of Hickory. He is a graduate of East Burke High School and Catawba Valley Community College. He is a deacon at First Baptist Church of Hildebran, and he lives with his wife Karen and two children. His mailing address is PO Box 3805, Hickory. He has been named to the Interclub committee; his sponsor was Wendell Cramer.
Eric is a business graduate of Lenoir-Rhyne College. He is employed by the Jackson Group as a healthcare consultant, and lives with his wife Marie at 1670 Wellington Avenue in Newton. Pres. Tom has appointed Eric to the Fund Raising committee; he was sponsored by Ken Kleva.
Mark earned a physics degree from Benedictine College, Atkinson, KS and a masters degree in the same field from the University of Kansas. He had worked several years in Massachusetts before recently acquiring a local firm–FastSigns. Mark is single and lives at 2419 23rd Street Dr. NE in Hickory. Mark has been named to the Public Relations Committee; he was sponsored by Wendell Cramer.
We extend a hearty welcome to Bryson, Eric and Mark, and we look forward to working with each of you in furthering Kiwanis goals.
New Board Names Secretary
At a special meeting of the 2005/06 Board of Directors, Margaret Sorrell was unanimously appointed to serve the Club as Secretary for the coming administrative year.
Margaret will be succeeding veteran Secretary Al Lee, who asked some months ago to be relieved of his duties at the end of his term.
We congratulate Margaret on her appointment, and we salute and thank Al for his faithful and dedicated service over a number of years.
Recent Programs
June 7–On the 60th anniversary year of the defeat of Nazi Germany, our club was privileged to hear a native German express his appreciation for our having liberated his country and implemented the Marshall Plan to restore it.
Somewhat of a history buff, Stefan Waltermann cited interesting details, some humorous, from key battles and campaigns of the two wars.
Introduced by Dave Kozak, our speaker’s grandfather and parents had fought in WWI and WWII and he himself remembers his childhood experiences from a small post-war German village. He has lived in this country for 22 years, and is now President of Heico Fasteners, a supplier to the furniture industry.
June 14–Harvey Jones, Operations/Marketing Manager of ServPro of Hickory, introduced the club to the fire and water restoration services offered by his firm. He also gave us an understanding of molds and fungi sometimes running rampart in our houses, their associated health concerns and the remediation steps necessary to deal with these microbes.
The program was arranged and introduced by Helen Devlin.
June 21–John Brown, Principal of Long View Elementary School, shared with the club through commentary and slides some of the sights and experiences from his two week trip to India earlier this year. The object of his tour was to observe some of the mission sites supported by his church–the Church of the Brethren, and consequently, most of his scenes were from rural India, where abject poverty prevails.
Introduced by Ken Kleva, the speaker said the people of India recognize that education is the key to overcoming their poverty. Now, only 15 percent of the population goes to public schools, but strangely, India has an engineering degree- graduation rate ten times that of the USA. Only two percent of the population is Christian, which further handicaps their obtaining the rare jobs.
June 28–Our speaker for the evening was Bill Poteat, a native of Burke County and a weekend columnist and Crawdad reporter for the Charlotte Observer’s Catawba Valley Bureau. Bill is a gifted speaker as well as a writer, who abruptly changed careers at age 43 from a full-time journalist to an English teacher at East Burke High School, the “the smartest decision he ever made”.
Without an assigned or suggested topic, Bill chose to share with us two of his columns, which had provoked the greatest reader reponses: the first one centered on his belief that livermush is the most sacred of all foods and how fortunate we are in this section of the state to find it readily available in virtually all groceries. The second piece was a personal interest topic involving their parting moments when his 19-year old daughter was returning to her college campus in the D. C. area shortly after 9-11 and during the serial killers’ spree in that area. Both columns were outstanding in their appeal, not withstanding the fact that everybody doesn’t necessarily like livermush.
Annual Joint Summer Picnic Rescheduled
Remember that this event has been rescheduled for Tuesday, September 13, to, we hope, take advantage of a more pleasant environment and to permit some of our sponsored youth organizations to attend. More on this later.
Happy Campers Return on June 17
Dr. Tom Warren, chairman of this annual scholarship-supported camping project, reports that 18 deserving elementary school-aged kids returned from a week’s stay at the Betsey-Jeff Penn 4-H Camping Center in Reidsville. Each camper’s experience was underwritten with a $265 Kiwanis scholarship.
Kleva and Lee to Int’l Convention
By the time you read this report, Ken and Janice Kleva and Al and Susan Lee will be on their way to the Kiwanis International Convention in Honolulu, HI. We thank these members for going and hope this experience will be rewarding to them and to the club.
Willis and Bird to Co-Chair Club’s Greater Hickory Golf Marshals
Dr. Harrison Jahn has announced that Frank Willis and Les Bird will co-chair the club’s volunteer efforts to support this fall’s Greater Hickory Classic Golf Tournament (and best wishes Harrison on your pending hip surgery).
Announcements
Richard Thompson and Bruce Blackburn were the recipients, respectively, of Al Lee’s and Jim Tillman’s reverse birthday gifts.
Linda Baker reported on CVCC Circle K’s summer project in helping with the beautification of the Sherrills Fords Elementary School grounds.
Selected Happy Bucks
[In response to popular requests, particularly from some spouses who actually read the Clarion’s back pages–thank you– for mention of their mate’s having taken notice of their wedding announcements, your editor has sacrificed this month’s masthead to provide some additional space for this important news, and my apologies for any of those I may have missed]
Dr. Tom and Dee Warren on their 34th wedding anniversary
Richard and Diane Thompson on their 21st wedding anniversary
Danny and Elaine Seaver on their 29th wedding anniversary
Bill and Martha Barkley on their 53rd wedding anniversary
Rev. Stanley Stiver on the 58th anniversary of his ordination to the Lutheran ministry and also on his 84th birthday
Helen Devlin for having noted that this year’s Miss Hickory (who presented a memorable program to the club) was the first runner up for Miss North Carolina
Dick Washer for his two week tour of eastern European countries and for his having won first place in the Grandfather Mountain photographic contest with his wild flower shot
Frank Willis for his son’s graduation from college and for his securing a real job. Also his commendation to your editor for the Clarion’s coverage of the club’s activities [Thank you very much]
Upcoming Programs and Other Events
July 2/6–Kiwanis International Convention, Honolulu, Hawaii
July 12–Grief in Schools program sponsored by Palliative Care and Hospice of Cat. Co.
July 19–Meals on Wheels
July 26–Patsy Wells speaking on reverse mortgages
August 2–To be announced
August 9–To be announced
August 19/20–Carolinas Kiwanis District Convention, Charlotte, NC
"Total absence of humor renders life impossible" -- Collete