Dear Members,
Another year has passed and as I look back on 2009, I think we
can all be proud of the accomplishments that were made during the year.
Thanks to so many, our dream of replacing our Maibaum finally became a
reality. All of our Biergartens were successful, the GHA programs were
well attended and our Oktoberfest was once again a huge money maker thanks
to our volunteers, supporters and good weather.Unfortunately 2009
brought sadness to our Club. We lost several wonderful members
including Elsie Gerrits, in early December. Elsie and her late husband
Albert worked diligently for this organization for so many years and were
responsible for much of its success throughout the years. Elsie was
indeed a class act and will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved her.
In closing, I hope all of you will attend the Installation Party on January
30th. Please come out and show your support for our newly elected officers
and appointed committee members. As always, this a free party, but is
for members only.
Wishing
all of you the best in 2010.
Jim Boeckmann, President
LADIES AUXILIARY
The annual Ladies’ Children
Christmas Party was held on December 6th.
Santa & Mrs. Claus (Jim Oliver and Rosemary Razor) presented each child with
a gift and a stocking full of fruit and candy. The Grinch (Bruce
Zimmerman) provided soft drinks, while The Grinch’s dog/ “reindeer” Max
(Mary Z.) and Cindy Lou Who (Pat Z.) took pictures of the children with
Santa and printed them up so that each child had their own picture.
While the children waited their turn to see Santa, they had their face
painted with various pictures of their choice. New this year prior to
Santa’s visit, we had a magician entertain the children and they all seem to
have enjoyed themselves immensely. Hot dogs, pretzels and chips were
available to all who attended.
I’m proud
to say that our monthly Card Parties have been very successful. Monies
generated from these parties have supported numerous projects for
improvements & repairs at our club. Our next card parties will be
Thursday January 7th and February 4th
and as always are from 10 am until 3 pm, so please come out and enjoy.
Our monthly meetings for 2010 will be held on Monday January 18th
and February 15th, with the starting times being
7 pm.The Officers wish
to thank all who donated their time, energy, talent and hard work to make
2009 a profitable and wonderful year.
As you are aware, the election for the officers has already taken
place and the elected Officers for the year of 2010 are:
President:
Mary (Peppy) Crawford; Vice President: Gerdi Ottman; Secretary:
Patsy Stout; Treasurer: Ingrid Hoffmann
We wish everyone a
Happy New Year and hope to see everyone in 2010.
Peppy Crawford, President
GERMANIC HERITAGE AUXILIARY NEWS
The November program on
Ohio River navigation was well attended, and Chuck Parrish, retired
historian of the Corps of Engineers, made a very interesting presentation.
At our business meeting prior to the program, the following members were
elected as 2010 GHA officers: President, Vicky Ullrich;
Vice-President, Pat Zimmerman; Secretary, Jane Keller; and Treasurer, Patsy
Stout. This is the same roster of officers as for 2009, and we thank
them for their past and future service.
Our next program will be a fun and educational change of pace.
Representatives of Schmitt Sohne Wines, the distributor of the Riesling wine
served at the Club, will have a presentation on the production of German
Riesling wines. This will be followed by ---drum roll, please! – A
tasting of the various Riesling varieties imported by Schmitt Sohne.
The company offers an array of Rieslings, far beyond the single type we have
at our bar. There might even be a red wine to try as well! The
program/wine-tasting event will be held on Sunday, February 21, 2010, at
2:30 pm. Since this will definitely be a popular event, and we want to
be sure there is enough wine for all to try, RESERVATIONS ARE NECESSARY.
Please RSVP to Vicky Ullrich, 459-6820, or
ultravic@bellsouth.net, by
February 15th.
Vicky Ullrich, President
MUSIC COMMITTEE INFORMATION
I want to thank all of you who supported our chorus by attending our
Christmas concert and dinner on December 6th.
The concert turned out well and the dinner was delicious, as usual.
Our singers give a lot of personal time attending rehearsals in order to
perform two concerts a year, and I know all of them appreciate those of you
who continually support their efforts.
The Chorus will be on a short break for the Holidays and will return to
rehearsals on Thursday, January 14th. We
look forward to another season under the direction of Justin Romney and
accompanied by Louise Bornwasser. I can’t begin to tell you how
fortunate we are to have both Justin and Louise.
If you are interested in
joining the Chorus or have any questions, please contact me at 727-1302 or
e-mail me at:
patsys@mwmcorp.com.
Best wishes to all in 2010
Patsy Stout, Chairman
ARRANGEMENT COMMITTEE
UPDATE
Currently there is no new information to report concerning Arrangements
other than to let you know that the new schedules will be printed soon and
will be available as soon as we receive them and that it has been decided
that schedules will now run from January to December of each year.
WILLKOMMEN
NEW MEMBERS
Karl and Edda Gross Charles and Diana Sexson
Christa Tuton William Linker
Welcome to our little family here
at the club and please let myself or anyone you see help you with any
questions or concerns you may have.
MEMBERS WHO ARE ILL OR RECOVERING:
Elizabeth Schuldheis’ son Eric has
re-started chemotherapy for his Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; Elizabeth herself is
recovering nicely from her knee replacement; Norma Heitz
had surgery on her retina and of course Vicky Ullrich is
still hobbling along nicely.
MEMBERS AND FRIENDS WE HAVE LOST
It is with great sadness that I must report that we have lost several both
close members and friends in the recent weeks. Let me begin by letting
you all know that just very recently we lost Elsie Gerrits,
she passed away while in the hospital fighting multiple health issues,
including pneumonia. We also have lost Fay Surbaugh
and Hannelore Harper; all three of these ladies were dear
and loved members of the club and will be truly missed.
We also have members who have recently lost loved ones. Ruth
Feldkamp lost her son Bernie; Jack Griffin lost
his father Hackworth Griffin; Nancy Renaud lost her father
William Sacco; Pat Zimmerman lost her sister-in-law Ann
Horn and just prior to Elsie’s death, her son Fred Gerrits passed.
Vicky Ullrich has also brought to my attention that our
dear friend, Dr. Eberhard Reichmann, Professor Emeritus of German Studies at
Indiana University and husband to Dr. Ruth Reichmann, died in October, at
age 83, in Columbus, Indiana. Eb was born is Stuttgart, Germany, and
immigrated to the U.S. in 1953. His entire career, and indeed even his
“retirement” was devoted to promoting the importance of German-American
Studies. Eb received many honors, and was admired and loved by all who
appreciated his efforts to preserve German heritage. Eb was never at a
loss for a witty story, joke, or clever comment, and boy did he love to have
a good time! He made many trips across the Ohio River for visits, and
was last at our Club for Oktoberfest a few years ago.
I know all members of the German-American Club wish to extend our sincere
condolences to all of the family and friends of the special people we have
lost, and to let them know that they are all in our prayers.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
It’s a new year and I have decided it is time for a
change in the style and format of the newsletter and with your help I hope
to offer a new feel of the newsletter itself.
While the new version will continue to have all the important
submissions and info you need, I would also like to get some input from you,
the members, themselves. I’m looking for interesting (but brief)
stories about group, individual or family trips you have taken (whether
across the world or across the state), things like visits to other German
club events, trips to Germany, Austria, Switzerland or even Monkey’s
Eyebrow, KY (yes this is a real city), all I ask is that it be pertinent to
the German American Club (tell us about a great Biergarten you attended, not
about a great family reunion’s beer choice) and please include photos when
possible. Digital pictures sent either via e-mail or on a disk would
be the best method.
If you found a new German recipe and want the
whole world to know about it or are looking for a particular recipe, send me
an e-mail. If you found a little hole in the wall place that sells the
best schnitzel, let me know.If you have any questions or concerns about the
club or activities, write a brief request and we will see what we can get.
With any e-mail or letter I receive, it must
include your name and e-mail or phone number. If you do not wish to
have your name published please let me know and I will respect your wishes,
but no letters or stories will be published without the name and information
of the writer.
My goal is to make this newsletter not only
informative but entertaining and interactive. So if you feel you have
something important to contribute, just e-mail me at
mlzimmerman@bellsouth.net or mail your submission to the
club made to my attention.
Please remember I may not be able to print every
submission sent to me at that particular time, for reasons such as space
availability, relativity to the club’s mission and content, but because they
are not placed in the immediate newsletter does not mean they could not
appear in future publications.
Also I would greatly appreciate pictures,
whether club events, group trips or vacation sites, these all make great
resources for me to use, either with your article or to help fill the
newsletter with pictures. Please be sure to include all information
with any pictures you send (who, where and when) as well as your name so
proper credit can be given. If you mail any pictures to me, please be
sure they are copies, as they cannot be returned.
I am looking forward to this New Year and am very
excited about the new direction the newsletter is taking and I hope you feel
the same way.
Mary Zimmerman, Editor
GERMAN LESSONS 101
As I have gotten deeper and deeper into this editing of the newsletter, it
occurred to me that even though I am a member of the German-American Club
and my last name is Zimmerman, I really don’t know very many German words or
phrases; this got me to thinking that I’m sure I’m not the only one.
So I’ve decided to attempt to add a few words and/or phrases with each
newsletter that is pertinent to each month.
The phrases I decided to choose for this newsletter were pretty
simple, so here they are:
Happy New Year ------Glückliches Neujahr
Best wishes for a happy New Year -------Die besten Wünsche für ein
glückliches Neues Jahr
Happy Valentine’s Day -----Glückliches Valentinstag
Hello, my name is
----Hallo, mein name ist
DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER WILL BE FEBRUARY 1ST.
