‘Dayton History’ held their annual meeting Thursday afternoon at Carillon Park. Members met in the Kettering Family Education Center at five for a ‘welcome’ by Eric Cluxton, board chair, for a ‘year end overview’ by Brady Kress, pres. & CEO, and presentation of 2009 Preservation Awards by Ken Kuntz.
The Preservation Award went to Robert & Nancy Shiffler, owners and developers of the Kuhns and McCrory buildings on South Main Street. The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Lucy McCarren of the Harveysburg Historical Society for the preservation of this Quaker village. Special Recognition went to Dick Cummings, the Volunteer of the Year.
At six p.m. the doors behind the speakers platform were opened to reveal the Deeds Barn! “This barn, the site of the invention of the ‘self-starter’ and many other automotive inventions – will be enclosed within the large addition to the Kettering Center. Please step into the Barn and then come around the Center where the ‘Carillon Brewing Company Model T Truck’ is parked and where refreshments will be served.”
Dot Matthews, Burt & Alice Saidel, Katie Makarius, Irv Bieser, and Lee & Betsy Whitney were there. Lee was ‘recognized’ as a dedicated Volunteer – and – it was announced that it was his Big Birthday! Long-time supporter of the Park – Fred Smith was in the front row-center. Molly & Jeff Bloomer, Mary Bayman & Duane, Rob Connelly and Lorenz Warwar were attending members. It was announced the Park has 1,645 members. Also, there has been an 18 percent increase in attendance to the Park in the past year.
Friday was the ‘…third Friday in the month’…so “Sing-A-Long’ was meeting and singing at Dayton Country Club. Abby Burns, Barbara & Marvin Marcus, Rena & Jim Roberts, D.L. Bachus, Joe Aceto, Dee & Bob Millat, and Byron Epely were gathered around the piano. And, the piano-ist was Connie Epely. Two ‘diners’ on their way from the dining room – were invited to “…come in a sing along with us!”
One invitee was Ginny Whalen and her companion explained “…Ginny’s interest in your music. Do you all remember the song ‘Red Sails In The Sunset’? Well Ginny’s mothers’ picture was on the sheet music…she introduced the song on her radio show …she was called: ‘The Song Bird of Indiana’,,. and her girl-hood-home was right down the hill from here off the third hole…she was a Ziehler before she was a
"Berghoff’.”
Ginny was invited to: “To please come to our next meeting in August.” Ginny’s dinner companion was remembering members of the “…old Sing-a-Long group – Bob Barker, Helen Danis, Fred Hess, Jim Losh, Johnny Brownell…”
Wayne Morse forwarded a fascinating memo from Glen Walters, Media Exec. In Residence at Univ. of Dayton. It was about Edward H. White, II one of the enshrinees of the 2009 class of the Aviation Hall of Fame.
“Ed and I were classmates at Oakwood Jr. High School in 1943…he lived at WPAFB and every summer he’d spend several weeks at our house in Oakwood and I’d do the same at Wright-Pat…in 1948 Ed and his Dad called and said they could get me an appointment to West Point, but I’d already committed to Denison…after West Point, Ed flew fighters in Germany…1960 Ed and family moved back to Dayton where he flew Zero-G at Wright-Pat training astronauts preparing for Gemini-Titan IV…Ed invited me to Cape Canaveral to fish for a week before the launch…he got quarantined but I was there for the launch and his historic Walk in Space…in Jan. of 1967 Ed perished in the fire of Apollo I…we attended his funeral at West Point…in March of 2005 I nominated Ed for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame…”
The Dayton Air Show had a record-breaking attendance! Attending was an exciting, fascinating, happy experience. The Show was so well organized for the thousands of attendees.
For Oakwood-ites it was so easy to organize. First, you could buy tickets at any Kroger store at any check-out register. Next you could drive to the UD Arena parking lot, park your car, buy a ticket on the waiting RTA buses and be delivered right to the gate of the show in Vandalia.
The tall, handsome, young ‘ticket-taker’ said: ‘Hi’. It was Adam Schantz Whalen – Bill Whalen’s son and Ginny Whalen’s grandson! The collection of aircraft was mind-boggling…where to begin? “That gigantic, grey plane flies over our house in Oakwood almost every day!...there’s our ‘Wright-B Flyer’ – I see it’s now painted with the ‘US Signal Corps logo and colors’…remember when we had a ride of it?...these are all Marine planes…those are US Navy…
The announcement came: The Brazilian Air Force acrobatic team is now in the air! The seven-plane team put on a heart-stopping demonstration! Next a little WW11 fighter plane flew with a latest Air Force fighter plane – beside each other – on top and under each other – and did intricate maneuvers together…whatta show!
Back to the front gate and the ‘UD Arena’ – RTA bus was waiting…and passengers were back to their cars in fifteen minutes!
July 21, 2009
Volume 18, No. 29
front page
arts
schools
sports
editorial
'round town
people
events
obituaries
