Rotareminder for 11/28
The meeting was called to order by Asad Khan, and the patriotic song was “God Bless America.” The invocation was by Rachel Kerns and the fun song was “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” led by Dominique Bollenbacher.
There were no visiting Rotarians, but Brian Bialik introduced Todd Nicolas, senior commercial loan officer at Hometown Bank. Dave Myers announced that the “Every Rotarian, Every Year” campaign (which contributes to the Annual Fund of Rotary International) would be kicking off soon, and that Rotarians should watch their email for more details. Rachel Kerns reminded everyone to bring in gifts for the Toy Drive. Bill Childers acknowledged that it was Giving Tuesday and thanked everyone for all that our club does to support local organizations.
Happy Bucks: Will Underwood was grateful for Thanksgiving with his family. Rachel Kerns celebrated the more than $60,000 raised at the Habitat fundraiser. John Flynn said he was sorry he missed last week. Laura Martin Miller was excited to be heading to Florida and thanked the Cookie Walk volunteers for handing out cookies. Dominique Bollenbacher was happy to have Amy Mucha join and excited to be going to Nashville. Bill Childers was thankful that the Kent Free Library Foundation awarded United Way of Portage County $14,000 for a Dolly Parton Imagination Library. Anne Monneypenny was hoping the weather would be good for Saturday’s Festival of Lights. Asad celebrated his daughter’s 3-pointer, which was mistakenly counted as four points, in her home opener basketball game.
We then had a new member induction for Amy Mucha. David Dix introduced Amy Mucha as a new member. Amy is a lifetime Kent resident and neighbor of David. She and her husband Nate have three kids, and she is a former math teacher at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy. She started her cake pop business,
Daisy Pops, during Covid, and was so successful that she opened a storefront recently. She has sold 138,000 cake pops this year and is hoping for more in the coming year.
Gary Beckley, author and historian, was introduced by Amanda Senn. Gary wrote “Oh Susannah!” which is based on his Civil War-era ancestor. He shared some information about the 19th century, including:
- In the 19th century people expected to work 6 days, and only take Sunday off. However, by the end of the century, people started taking a half day off, leaving the “work week” of Monday – Friday.
- The “happy birthday” song we sing today was created in the late 1890s, and was originally sung to welcome students to the classroom.
- The 1850s saw lots of immigrants who impacted festivals/celebrations. For instance, the English liked to have feasts, the Germans brought trees in the house to celebrate Christmas.
- Harper’s Weekly had an 1863 cover that depicted “Santa Claus” visiting the US northern troops and handing out gifts.
- Agricultural fairs were fairly common, with an area for livestock, and a section on exhibitions (baked goods, handiwork, etc).
- Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated nationally. He read a quote by the Ohio Governor from the 1850s where the governor encouraged people to put aside the day and celebrate it.
- The Women’s Rights Convention in 1851 was held in Northeast Ohio in and Sojourner Truth gave her famous “Ain’t I A Woman” speech at it.
Ralph Kletzien thanked Gary for his research and for sharing it with us.
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