ROTARY FLASHES

08/19/2010

Greeter:  None

Presiding:  Tom Theller

Invocation:  Offered by Norm Wilson.

Visiting Rotarians:  (Read by Geralyn Yingling) Sunrise – Jayne Barr.

Guests:  Earl Palm invited Tony Robinson to join him today; Gerhard Maroscher had a mini-entourage of his wife, Ruth, and their son, Geoff; Dan Fouts was accompanied by his wife, Esther, and Ryan Bertram, an official from Boy Scouts of America.

Absentees:  Ankrom, Joe Brown, Wendell Brown, Dean, Dutton, Eitel, Elick, Ely, Feeley, Fluhart, Justinger, Kuehnle, McIlroy, McMahon, Neff, Peters, Powell, Scherer, Sneed, Stickel, John Stout, Vickers, Wolfe.

Make-ups:  Sunrise – Ned Riegel; Ashburton/Buckfastleigh, England – Drexel Poling; Edinburg, Scotland – Drexel Poling; eClub One – Ellery Elick (2).

July Attendance:  85%

August Birthdays: 3^rd – Glenn Reeser; 5^th – Bill Stout; 9^th – Bob Cole; 15^th – John White; 16^th – Bud Brehmer; 21^st – Dick Tootle; 31^st – Kelly Feeley.

August Anniversaries: 3^rd – Jack Hooks, John Prince; 4^th-  Drexel Poling; 7^th- Jerry Leist, Charlie Pockras; 14^th – Dan Fouts; 18^th – Tom Tootle; 19^th – Bob Sneed; 20^th – Mark Smith; 26^th – John Stout, Bob Tootle; 30^th – Tom Theller.

Piano: Don Metzler

Songs:    Due to the expected length of today’s program, Jim Hooks was allowed only one song, but as only Jim could do, he made the best of it!  He selected an obscure song, titled “Grandfather’s Clock.”

Student Guests: None, due to summer break.

Announcements:

• Tim Tener announced that the next Community Kitchen will be Monday, 08/23/10, @ 3PM, at the Presbyterian Church.  Volunteers are always appreciated!

• Dave Moss gave an update on the progress of the preparations for our club’s 13^th Annual Golf Scramble, which will be on Thursday, Sept. 9^th at Cooks Creek Golf Club! 

• Clark Cellio added to Dave’s note by explaining that volunteers are still needed.  He passed around a sign-up sheet.  Raffle tickets are still available as well.  Remember that the funds from this tournament & tickets go to a most worthy cause…our Rotary Scholarship Fund!!

• Tom Theller stated that PICCA is having a golf outing fundraiser on Sept. 10^th.

• Via snail mail:  Pickaway Co. Chamber of Commerce is holding another Legislative Roundtable on Wed., Sept. 15^th, 3:30pm – 6:00pm, @ OCU Leadership Center.  Please RSVP by 09/13/10 to the Chamber at # (740) 474-4923.

SAA:  Jeff Spires was also asked to keep it short today, so he fined everyone who had not picked up, or bought, Rotary Golf Raffle tickets yet.

Lottery:  Debbie Hoffman had the lucky ticket and gained $18, but the golden pebble is yet unfound.  The pot has grown to $1,539.

Program:  Dave Webb introduced today’s speaker, and fellow Rotarian, Gerhard Maroscher.  Dave stated that “There are a million stories in the Naked City.  We heard Walt Spangler’s two weeks ago…and today Gerhard Maroscher is going to tell us of his WWII experience.”  Gerhard has retired twice:  first from DuPont, and second from teaching at Teays Valley.  He is a soccer fan and a coach.  “However,” Dave exclaimed, “he is best known for being my neighbor!”  (Great display of modesty Dave! J)

Gerhard approached the podium and began a wonderful PowerPoint presentation.  He started by dispelling a myth regarding his background.  He is not German, but is actually from Transylvania.  His last name is a derivation of the name of a river in Siebenburg, Transylvania. He gave a quick historical recap of the area, and of how settlers came to Hungary via a request from the king.  The king had planned for the settlers to act as a buffer between them and the Tartars and Mongols.  Hungary then became the first democratic republic of Europe and was self-governed.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Gerhard was born in 1943.  His older brother was born in 1940.

• His father was a member of the Romanian Mountain Corps and a teacher; both were well-respected professions.  The Corps members rode horses in the summer, and used snow skis in the winter.

• During occupation of his town, his mother was given an 1 ½ hour notice of the arrival of a Red Cross train to take people out of the area.  She had to make a split-second decision to stay or go.  She chose to go, and packed everything she could into a baby buggy.

• The Red Cross train trip, to a refugee camp in Austria, lasted three weeks.  During the trip, Gerhard’s brother became separated from his family.  Fortunately, due to the kindness and persistence of others, he was found and reunited.

• Those who had chosen to stay behind & not take the train were:

  • deported to the Soviet Union for slave labor

  • sent to concentration camps

  • loss of all rights, (e.g. vote) and loss of all property

  • experienced government control of schools and churches.

• Sept. 1944- Feb. 1945: Gerhard’s family went to a refugee camp in Herzogenburg, Austria.  Cabbage & potatoes were the only food items, and baby Gerhard could not digest any of it.  Eventually, Gerhard’s mother used a gun to “convince” a guard to let her go out to find suitable food for Gerhard.

• Feb. 1945- Oct. 1946:  Weimar, Germany.  Gerhard’s mother took her sons here in hopes of finding her sister, who lived there.  Bombing raid occurred the day of their arrival.  They took shelter in many abandoned basements.  They eventually found a bomb shelter, but Gerhard’s mother had an unexplained urge to leave the shelter at the last minute.  It was fortunate that they did because the shelter itself was bombed and scores died there.  While roaming the streets seeking shelter, Gerhard’s mother saw a house and felt another urge that guided her to it.  She stood under its shuttered window and exclaimed their need for help.  Much to their surprise, the window opened & it was her sister, who had recognized her voice!  

• After war (1945-46):  Mother worked for Russians, making their uniforms and clothes.  She was paid in cigarettes, which was much more valuable than money.

• His brother was in first grade and went to school, and Pro-Communist materials were pushed upon the students.  He was often punished by the teachers for not going along with the Communistic propaganda.  He was also beaten up by fellow students for the same reason.

• Gerhard’s father was spared from Stalingrad only because he was suffering from hepatitis and nearly died. 

• Then, he surrendered to the Americans, but unfortunately all those who surrendered were turned over to Russian, who made them POW’s.  They were given only 1 handful of moldy corn per day.  One day a guard opened the gate & told him “Old man go, save us a burial.”  So he left.

• After hiding in hayloft, he bumped into an old Jewish friend who he had helped in the past.  This friend was now a Communist Police Commissioner, but instead of arresting him, he remembered Gerhard’s father’s kindness and in turn helped him & protected him.

• Gerhard’s father wrote a note on cigarette-rolling paper, and put it in a cigarette pack & had someone smuggle it for him.

• Eventually Gerhard’s mother received the message & she got across the border via the aid of sympathetic soldiers. 

• The family was finally reunited in 1946 in Bavaria/Rothenberg cdt, West Germany!

• Gerhard’s father had read about America, and in 1948 they applied for immigration.

• In 1952, they were approved and sponsored by a Lutheran Church in Bexley, Ohio.  They were on an America-bound ship in March, 1952.  That was the first time, Gerhard said, that they had enough food to fill their stomachs.

• His dad started as a janitor and his mother was a “house mother” for a group of co-eds.  His dad worked his way up the ladder, working during the day & taking classes at night.  He eventually reached the goal of which he dreamt: becoming an engineer! He counted being an engineer on the moon-shot as one of his accomplishments.  He always felt America was a land of opportunity, and that the people were kind & tolerant.

• In 1958, Gerhard & his family officially became U.S. citizens!

• Gerhard and his bother both served in the U.S. military, a fact of which their father was very proud.

• Gerhard displayed a photo of his mother before the war, and then after the war, to show the effects of the war and how it had aged her.  I was quite a touching and moving moment!

 In conclusion, Gerhard opened the floor to questions.  The room was silent however, and I’m sure it was due to the power of Gerhard’s presentation & the experiences he relayed to us.  (Clearing of throats & sniffling could be heard throughout the room.  I had to use tissues by the end of the presentation!)

Contact info: 

None provided.

Tom Theller regained the podium to thank our speaker and to announce that a donation will be made in his name to the Mike Harrison Park Fund.

Meeting adjourned.

August’s program schedule:  (as submitted by Dave Webb)

• 27^th: Carly & Jeremy Neff - Rhoads Market & Landscaping.

September’s program schedule:  (as submitted by Don McIlroy)

• 2^nd : Pickaway Co. Visitors Bureau – Charlie Jackson

• 9^th:  ROTARY GOLF OUTING – go to Cook’s Creek for the meeting!

• 16^th:  Pickaway Co. Farm Bureau – John Torres

• 23^rd:  Circleville High School Athletic Boosters – John Ankrom

• 30^th:  Haven House – Lisa Johnson

 Until next week…,

Patty Rothe,

Editor

E-mail: pjrothe@rpjohnson.net