Keepsakes, Nov. 8
Published 8:59 am Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Mercer DAR
The Jane McAfee Chapter DAR’s October program was in commemoration of the centennial of World War I. The U.S. declared war on Germany in April 1917. Many Mercer Countians were drafted to serve in the military. The war ended on Nov. 11, 1918 at 11 a.m., on Armistice Day.
Seated from left, Dianna Rose, Phyllis Brown and Amalie Preston. SEcond row from left, Beverly Woodard, Bonnie Moore, Helen Ddman, Regent Myrgle Huffman, Betsy Sale and Frances Brock. Back row, Betty Burchett and Maggie Hardy. Not pictured are Mary Woodard and Barbara Chiericozzi.
On display were photos of some Mercer County residents who served during the war. Members spoke about their ancestors’ involvement. The spread belongs to Amalie Preston and was a gift to Maudie Moor rom her brother Joseph T. Holman when he returned from France. Music from that time period was played during the meeting. The chapter appreciates the Harrodsburg Historical Society Research Library for preserving information in regard to WW I and Mercer County.
Danville Garden Club
Danville recently celebrated Arbor Day with a festival at Weisiger Park. Along with information about local wildlife and ecology, activities about nature were available for children. The Garden Club of Danville sponsored a table of arts and crafts, with members helping children make butterfly and bee masks and headbands, as well as cardboard binoculars. Olga Buettner, left, Julie Pease, and Linda Porter, seated, were among Garden Club members who assisted the young artists on a beautiful fall day.
Recent births at EMRMC
Recent births at Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center include:
Oct. 21 – A boy, Damon Reece, to Shelby Lynne Lewis of Harrodsburg.
Oct. 22 – A boy, Silas Jasen, to Aliyah Moore of Danville.
Oct. 28 – A boy, Trevor LeBron, to Susan Watts of Harrodsburg.
Oct. 30 – A boy, Noah David, to Kayla Snow and Zachary David Benedict of Danville.
Oct. 31 – A boy, William Wyatt, to Keela Anea and Bryan Keith Payton of Waynesburg. A boy, Weston Carter, to Katlin Hawkins and Layne Hahn of Harrodsburg. A boy, Easton Lee Wayne, to Ashley and Matthew Coffey of Stanford. A boy, Elijah Taylor, to Heather and Zack Parrish of Harrodsburg.
Nov. 1 – A girl, Tae’sia Railynn, to Casey Watson and Cristian Solis of Danville.
Nov. 3 – A boy, Jagger Wilson, to Vanessa and Billy May of Lancaster. A girl, Alyssa Lynn, to Sarah Lynn Baugh of Jamestown and Daniel Ray Davis of Eubank.
Nov. 3 – A girl, Tatum Rein, to Taylor Carmickle and Ashton Goodeve of Stanford.
Nov. 4 – A boy, Bradley Jason, to Ashley Nicole and Bradley Kaigen Damrell of Junction City.
Morning Pointe
Haigley Sadler from Harrodsburg Tic Toc enjoyed visiting with Audrey Ping, Morning Pointe of Danville resident, during the Halloween festivities at the senior living and Alzheimer’s memory care community.
Danville native, writer Klisz receives award from EKU
Danville native Theresa Klisz received a Professional Achievement Award at the recent Eastern Kentucky University International Alumni Association annual awards banquet. Flanking Klisz are Bob Sullivan, left, vice president of the alumni association, and EKU President Michael Benson.
As a reporter and news executive the past 40 years, Theresa Klisz, ’78, has covered events ranging from Miss America pageants to the Olympics (four times). She was in the Florida Today newsroom after the Space Shuttle Columbia came apart, and shared a Best of Gannett Award in 2005 for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She led a team of reporters covering Capitol Hill and, for a few years, was an entertainment editor covering events such as the Kennedy Center honors. She was working at Gannett News Service less than two miles away when terrorists flew a plane into the Pentagon and, as most were trying to get out of the capital, walked with her colleagues four miles into Washington, D.C., to relocate to another office.
But she still thinks of herself as “just that kid from Danville, Kentucky, who showed up on campus in 1974 and knew she had found her village.” But, as she soon discovered, her village was about to expand.
“EKU made my world bigger,” she recalled, and gave her the “confidence to walk into any door, any time, and believe that I would be welcome.”
She credits mentors such as Carol Wright, Glen Kleine, Jim Harris, Ron Wolfe, Libby Fraas, Carol Polsgrove, Charlie Sweet, Bond Harris, Doug Whitlock, Larry Bailey and Karl Park.
“Each of them saw something in me that made me feel I could accomplish anything. They engaged my mind, my wit and taught me to think, analyze and readjust on the fly.”
After holding a variety of positions with Gannett for more than 20 years, eventually as Washington Editor, Klisz fell victim to declining newspaper revenues and the nation’s economic woes in 2009. She moved on to an editorial position with Child Care Aware of America, and today serves as program manager with Star-Hawk Solutions, where she recruits, hires and places foreign-language journalists and other professionals in the South and Central Asia division of Voice of America.
Looking back, she is proudest of her work on the Olympics, where her credentials as Gannett’s features editor hardly impressed the veteran sports reporters under her command. One hockey writer stood in front of Ms. Klisz’s desk, looked down at her (literally and figuratively) and declared, “This will never work.”
As the end of the Games drew near, that same reporter asked Ms. Klisz if he could work on her team at the next Winter Games.
