Newsletter Insert

Previous

Club News

March-April

2010

Next

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Dear Members,
It was great to see so many of you at our Installation Party on January 30th, especially with road conditions questionable from the early morning snow. I want to thank Hans Probst, for acting as Master of Ceremonies for our installation program. As always, Hans did a fantastic job and I appreciate him accepting this task on such short notice.
As I begin another year as President, I want to thank my fellow officers for their commitment to another year in office. Patsy Stout will again serve as Vice-President and as usual has willingly accepted extra jobs other than Vice-President, all of which require a lot of time and effort on her part. Johanna Yadon begins another year as Club Secretary as well as Protocol Secretary and as always I am confident Johanna will keep an accurate account of our monthly meetings while reporting the minutes to our members each month. Treasurer, Carmen Kaelin, begins her 15th year as Club treasurer. Carmen never fails to provide precise financial reports to the Board of Directors and to the membership. I can’t begin to tell you how lucky we are to have her as our Treasurer. Carmen carries out her duties with the utmost capability and always with a smile. So to all of the officers, members of the Board of Directors, our Ladies and GHA Auxiliary officers, special committee members, and to our entire membership, please know how much all of you are appreciated and I look forward to serving as your President for another year.
I am very happy to report that our roof loan will soon be paid off. Our rentals, and Club activities have been extremely profitable and we have our faithful workers and supportive members to thank. I hope everyone will read our informative newsletter thoroughly and keep your calendars posted for the many activities we have scheduled in the upcoming months.
I have the privilege to announce the selection of Mary Elaine (Peppy) Crawford as an Honorary Member of the German-American Club. The Board of Directors unanimously approved Peppy’s nomination for her years of service and devotion to the German-American Club and the Ladies’ Auxiliary. I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor. Congratulations, Peppy!
Finally, Hans Probst mentioned at the installation that it would be nice to rename Albert Gerrits Hall to include Elsie Gerrits’ name. As you probably know, Elsie recently passed away, and I am extremely happy to announce the general membership voted to rename our main hall the Albert and Elsie Gerrits Hall. Albert & Elsie were long time devoted members of this organization and instrumental to its success and I thank the membership for giving both of them this honor.
Looking forward to seeing all of you soon,
Jim Boeckmann, President

ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE MESSAGE
Dear Members,
I am very happy to announce the appointment of Larry Cooley as co-chair of the Arrangements Committee. Larry has served on the Board of Directors, is an active member of our chorus and has served on the Arrangements committee and Oktoberfest committees in the past. I am looking forward to working with Larry as his co-chairman and we both invite anyone who is interested to join the Arrangements Committee. We meet the second Monday of each month at 7:00 PM. If you are unable to join our committee, please send us your suggestions for activities you would like the Committee to include in the GAC schedule and we will consider your ideas when we plan our yearly events.

Thanks to all of you for supporting our Biergartens throughout the winter months. Although we have had great crowds, I think all of us are looking forward to better weather when we can be outside again enjoying the sunshine.

LADIES’ AUXILIARY NEWS
Even though the New Year has started with a few hic cups, we are still looking forward to a GREAT YEAR! As you all know, we cancelled the January Card Party due to the threat of a bad snow storm and goodness were we right to do that. Some areas may have received less than ½ inch of snow, but the roads were quite dangerous and I think we can all agree as much as our ladies love the fun, friends and food these monthly “games” provide, we would never want to ask anyone to come out at risk to their own life. I also want to thank all the ladies who did come out to the February Card Party and made it a great success. Our next Card Parties are scheduled for March 4th and April 1st, both events are scheduled for our regular times of 10 am until 3 pm, and as always, we can expect a great lunch, so we look forward to seeing you there.

As you all know prices have continued to increase throughout the year and unfortunately we have come to a point where we can no longer “eat” these added costs. At this point the only price we will be immediately (February 1, 2010) raising is the price of soft drinks, the price will increase from $1.00 to $1.25 per 16 oz cup. As I stated before, the Coke Company raised their prices last summer and I have just received a notice stating they will be raising the prices again effective February 1, 2010. So we have no choice but to raise our prices to prevent our club from actually losing money with each cup we sell. I as well as every Officer and Board Member regret the fact that prices have to increase, but we simply cannot allow the club to go into the red.

I would also like to warn you that there is a chance that prices on other items may increase as each supply company starts their new Fiscal year, and if our costs should increase, we will try our hardest to keep them as low as possible and will inform you of these changes as soon as we are able.

Our chorus has been rehearsing since January 14th, and I think most of us are pleased with the songs selected by the Music Committee for our concert in May. I’m excited to announce we have four new singers who have recently joined the chorus and the majority of singers have returned again for this season.

Our good friends at the Indianapolis Saenger Chor will be celebrating their 125th anniversary in October of this year in their beautiful new club house and our chorus has been invited to perform. This will be a wonderful opportunity to spend time with our friends from other clubs in our district who will also perform. We are honored to be included in this celebration and thank the members of the Saenger Chor for this invitation.

Remember, if you’re thinking about joining the chorus, please let me know. We meet every Thursday from 7:30 PM until 9:00 PM and we are always looking for new singers. You do not have to speak German and you certainly don’t have to be a professional. There are only two requirements: you like to sing and enjoy having a good time.

Don’t forget our fast-approaching special event- the Schmitt Söhne wine tasting on Sunday, February 28, at 2:30 pm (not February 21). Please note the date change from the item in the previous newsletter. James Lindsay and David Lindsay, members of the GAC and representatives of Schmitt Söhne USA, will present a program on German Riesling wines, and we will try six wines ranging in taste from dry to sweet. There will be door prize drawings also. As usual, you may bring light refreshments to share, but they will be held until after the wine tasting is finished so as not to affect our appreciation of the wines. RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT. Please RSVP to Vicky Ullrich, 459-6820, or ultravic@bellsouth.net by February 22.

Our April event will be the annual Gründerfest recognizing the heritage group that preceded the Germanic Heritage Auxiliary and celebrating our incorporation into the GAC. This will be our potluck dinner with entrée provided by GHA and a cash bar. You are requested to bring a side dish. Gründerfest will be held on Sunday, April 25, at 5:00 pm. After dinner, we will have an interesting travelogue-type video. I also would like to have reservations for this event, so please contact me at 459-6820 or ultravic@bellsouth.net by April 20.

On January 30th, we had our installation party. We had a nice showing in spite of the weather. Hans Probst did a fine job as Master of Ceremony. He gave a brief history of the club, when it started and the various names it became. He also named some of the past Presidents. It was very interesting to us that have not been members that long.

He had Ros’l Becker swear in all the elected and appointed Officers. After that, she gave a speech of gratitude to all the Honeydoers. They are her “guys” and she is proud of them.

Hans introduced each of the Presidents: Jim Boeckmann, Club, Peppy Crawford of the Auxiliary and Vicky Ullrich of the GHA. They in turn took the microphone and gave a short speech of their accomplishments of the past year and goals for the next year. Hans then said every time he mentioned an Officer or committee chair, the name Patsy Stout. It seems she wears MANY hats.

After the speeches, the recognitions and awards were given. They went to the honeydoers and members that have been with the club 25, 15 and 10 years, etc. Then came the part we were all waiting for, THE BUFFET. The food was great and the drinks were FREE. There was a DJ to provide the music. At first it was not loud enough, but that was soon remedied. The crowd didn’t stay as long as they might have, due to the weather, but it was still a great time.

Wilda Probst fell during Thanksgiving and broke her wrist, ribs and pelvis along with some pretty severe bruising on her face and upper body.

Both Rosemarie Hyden and Bob Naumowicz were fighting the flu just before New Year’s Eve and they and their spouses were unable to attend our club party.

Ludwig Schuldheis was admitted to Baptist Hospital East for a collapsed lung and has recently had tumors removed from both side of his upper lungs.

Both Sieglinde Klein and Tony Tedesco have had knee replacements and are recovering nicely.

Rudi Knaus had knee replacement and unfortunately developed a severe infection at the site, so the doctors will remove the old knee, give him antibiotics to clear the infection and then re-implant a new knee, where he will have to re-start physical therapy.

Jim Fisher had quadruple bypass surgery last summer and is continuing to recover.

Hans and Fern Bender both are being treated for back and leg problems which have caused them to miss a couple of recent GAC events.

Eric Schuldheis has recently intestinal surgery due to diverticulitis, but continues to fight his Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma like a real trooper.

It was with sad news that Jim Boeckmann announced at the General Meeting on January 6th, that John Sapara has been admitted to the care of Hospice. I also heard from Hans Bender that John's wife is struggling with the difficult decision to place him in a nursing home or skilled care facility.

And finally, I am saddened to inform members that Tony Tedesco recently lost his 53 year old son Frank (He passed away February 2nd in his hometown of Radcliff, KY) and Jackie Steinemann lost her mother in February. So to those members, remember our prayers are with you in your time of grief.

First I want to apologize to any member that I have not mentioned in any previous newsletters regarding their illnesses, surgeries or recoveries. As I have told several people who have e-mailed me wondering why I am only mentioning certain people, I can only publish information that I am aware of. All of the people previously written about were people who either they themselves or another club member informed me of. So please, if you know of someone who is ill/injured/recovering please e-mail me at mlzimmerman@bellsouth.net or contact me at 635-7380 and give me as much information as you can. If I receive the information after the current newsletter has already been processed and mailed, I will be sure that the information will go into the next issue. I would never deliberately omit or ignore any member’s health issues, and I want all members to feel that they have people out there in the world who care and are concerned. So don’t be shy, if it is you or your family who is ill, let me know (after all I admit I do have some talents, but mind reading is not one of them).

May your day of birth be blessed, may you only be surrounded by family, friends and love, and may it be the best Birthday you’ve ever had, SO FAR.

And for those of you who were born in the years of 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998 or 2010

Because there was no challenge to any of the people who chose to run for the Board or the Officers of the club, there was no general election for those positions. I am aware Jim Boeckmann has already announced these results, but I just have to put my little “spin” on things.

President - James “Jimmy” Boeckmann (this is actually his 20th year as the president, a new club record)

As Members under association of their position of the club and its associate committees:

I, as well as all members of the club, congratulate these fine people who are willing to give of their time and energy to take on the positions we have entrusted in them and wish them all the success for the upcoming year.

Welcome to all of our newest members and we look forward to meeting you at one of our future club events. Please feel free to contact any Board Member, Officer or even myself if you have any questions.

As you can see, schedules have been sent along with this issue of the newsletter. If you or your family is in need of additional copies, they are available at the club.

Remember all Biergartens are from 6 pm until 10pm, with food being served until 8 pm

Contact Vicky Ullrich @ 459-6820 or ultravic@bellsouth.net for reservations by April 20th