March 29, 2024

Club news

Friends of the Library

Members present at the March 20 Friends of the Library meeting were Emily Cook, Jessica Duncan, Judy Hoakison, Cari Jack, Marisue Lewis, Bunny Norton, Kay Raymond, Julie Schieffer, Karen Walter and Ann Coulter. Norton was welcomed as a new board member.

The agenda was approved as well as the minutes as corrected. The treasurer’s report was placed on file for audit.

Coulter, library board of trustees president, reported the board is in need of another member. Enough time has passed there is no need to be gender specific.

Plans were made for National Library Week from April 9-15.

Motion carried to accept the changes of the by-laws. FOL will review the resolution and vote on it at the next meeting.

Cook is the chair of the Scholastic Book Fair to be held July 4. Other committee members are Schieffer, Duncan, Starr Cure and Raymond.

The scrapbooking event went well.

The next meeting will be 6 p.m. April 17 at the library.

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Afton Federated Garden Club

Members of Afton Federated Garden Club met 1:30 p.m. March 10 at Afton Community Center. President Shirley Wallace called the meeting to order at 1:35 p.m. with members repeating the Pledge of Allegiance and club collect. Roll call was answered by 11 members.

Minutes of the February meeting were read by Monica Huddleson. Motion to accept the minutes after corrections were made by Jane Lawhead and seconded by Lauri Long. Iris Smith gave the treasurer’s report. Joan Johnson made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report and Donna Thomas seconded the motion. Thomas presented a bill for postage. Judy Weese made and Johnson seconded the motion to pay Thomas.

Thomas reported that she had sent Doris Porter a birthday card in February and it was returned. Doris’ new address was shared with all. Thomas will also send Gwen Sandeman a birthday card.

Upcoming events include Wallace Center Spring Workshop to be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 25 with reservations due by March 25 and Reiman Gardens is having a “Day of Insects” March 24-25.

Although the Bevington Garden Club is no longer federated, they are still a club and would like to be invited to the spring luncheon.

The members discussed advertising for the second annual plant sale, and the ways and means committee will plan the posters. Wallace brought starting mix and trays to share with members to start plants for the sale. Wallace and Huddleson brought seeds to be shared so the club will have a bigger variety of plants this year.

The community service project for this year will be to help clean up the flower gardens by the Iowa State Savings Bank in Creston. Members plan to meet at 10 a.m. April 7 with a rain date of April 13.

For the April 14 meeting, members are to meet at the Butterfly Garden in the Afton City Park at 11:30 a.m for spring clean-up. Then the club will have lunch and meet at the Afton Community Building to work on projects to sell at the plant sale. The regular meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m.

Everyone recited the club collect and the meeting was adjourned.

Huddleson gave tips on “choosing a replacement tree.” Due to the Emerald Ash Borer and the new threat of the Asian Longhorned Beetle to Acer genus of trees, including maples, birch, sycamore and more, many will have to choose replacements. A rule of thumb is to have a diverse tree population. Swamp White Oak, Shagbark hickory and tulip trees are just a few trees to choose from. You can go online to the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University, Trees Forever and Iowa Department of Natural Resources to find other trees that will work.

Wallace and Huddleson served a delicious lunch. The next meeting will be April 14. Ginny Quick and Johnson will be hostesses and Quick will have the program on birds.

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DAR

Ten members of the Nancy McKay Harsh Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, met March 11 at Summit House. Hostesses were Cheryl Micetich and Jerilyn Johnson.

Members shared what they do for conservation. Bonnie Riepe gave the flag moment and told the group about Arizona and New Mexico becoming states in 1912. The 48 star flag was designed as a result of the two states being added. Darlene Morgan gave the women’s issue report focusing on March 1981, when Women’s History Month was declared in the United States. Pam Marvin share information about Kesho Scott, associate professor American studies and sociology at Grinnell College. Scott was recently inducted into the Iowa African American Hall of Fame.

Jackie Beard gave the program on ancestry DNA, explaining how it works and what you can learn from it. She also talked about 23 and Me and Family Search, two other DNA testing possibilities. Much can be learned from having your DNA tested and it definitely enhances a person’s genealogy.

Members elected the following delegates to attend the state DAR convention April 27-29 in Ames: Jane Briley, Connie Kinkade and Beard. Alternates will be Marjorie Kinkade and Marvin. Members wishing to attend Continental Congress in July in Washington, D.C., should contact Marjorie Kinkade as soon as possible. Registration deadline is April 15.

The next meeting will be 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 8, at Summit House in Creston. Hostesses will be Briley and Laura Guhse.

Any woman 18 years of age or older who is interested in joining DAR and can trace her lineage back to the Revolutionary War, contact Marjorie Kinkade, at marjkinkade@gmail.com.

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Mary Circle

Mary Circle of First Christian Church met March 16 at the church with Pat Fils as hostess.

Fils opened the meeting with the disciple women’s prayer. The minutes were read and approved. Barb was absent.

Old business was the pie sale planned for March 19 in Fellowship Hall.

New business included coffee Sunday moved from April 16 to April 23 due to Easter and the club received an invitation to the salad luncheon April 6 at Creston First United Methodist Church.

Shirley Ray had the program on Rahab from “Bad Girls of the Bible.”

Next meeting will be April 20 with Florence Willets.

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Elzevir Reading Circle

Elzevir Reading Circle met Friday, March 10, at the home of Terry Ammon. In the absence of the president, Ammon began the meeting at 1:30 p.m. with a quote from St. Jerome, “Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best.”

Members answered roll call telling of a favorite thing about March. The secretary read the minutes of the last meeting. They were approved as read. The treasurer gave her report, which was also approved as read.

The GFWC/Iowa State Convention will be held April 19-20 in Pella. Ammon plans to go and invited members to join her. A letter was received from Southwestern Community College Education Foundation thanking the circle for the contribution as part of the Union County Federated Clubs. A receipt was included.

Cards were passed around and signed by members to be sent to honorary members Jean Paul and Carol Harrison. Jean Paul has been a member of Elzevir for 55 years and Francine Weckerlin for 54 years. Other members belonging for a long time include Carol Harrison for 36 years, Alice Bowers for 39 years and Carol Brentnall for 33 years. Those names will be sent to GFWC to be included during the state convention.

The meeting closed with all reciting Mary Stewart’s Club Collect. Rosalie Denton presented an interesting recount of her Sept. 12-23, 2016, national parks trip. Denton enjoyed seven national parks, three water rides and one train ride seeing many other attractions and making lots of memories during the 3,795-mile trip.

The hostess served a delicious dessert. The next meeting will be April 14 at the home of Alice Bowers.

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Ladies Lakeshore Auxiliary

Ladies Lakeshore Auxiliary met March 22.

Canasta winners were Mary Kline, first; Linda Clark, second; and Joy Seley, third.

Penni Nauman won the door prize.

Sherry Parrott and Nauman will host cards and chatter Wednesday, March 29.

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Ladies Literary Circle

Ladies Literary Circle met at the home of Connie Purdum with 17 members present. Stephani Finley led the business meeting including roll call and reading of the minutes. Sherry McKie announced the theme of modern age period from 1915 to 1945 for next year’s reading. A list of authors from that era was given to each member.

The spring luncheon will be May 5 at Crestmoor Golf Club. The guest speaker will be award-winning Iowa author, Cheryl Mullenbach.

Linda Hartsock introduced Purdum as the presenter for the day. She reviewed a biography of Julia Child authored by Bob Spitz.

Child was born in 1912 in Pasadena into an adventuresome family. Her mother was the first woman driver in the U.S. and Child was a spy during World War II. She married, moved to Paris and fell in love with the food. She spent her life promoting French cooking and died in 2002 at the age of 90.

The hostess served a varied array of good treats.

The next meeting will be at the home of Connie Rhine.