St. Elmo Area News

By Editor | November 24, 2010 |

By Anna Jean Rhodes

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wednesday, Nov. 24
Thursday, Nov. 25
• Happy Thanksgiving!
• St. Elmo churches will provide Thanksgiving dinners for shut-ins and those who might be alone on Thanksgiving Day. The First Church of God is the host church and will provide turkey and dressing and other churches will provide other foods including salads and desserts that need to be at the Church of God by 10 a.m. Workers to prepare the boxes and delivery people also will be needed tomorrow.
Saturday, Nov. 27
• Christmas is four weeks away!
Sunday, Nov. 28
• Wolf Creek Cluster of United Methodist Churches Advent service, 4 p.m., Brownstown United Methodist Church. The St. Elmo First United Methodist Church pastor, John Eisfelder, will be the minister. Each church in the cluster is asked to have a special. The offering will go to the United Methodist Children’s Home at Mt. Vernon.
Monday, Nov. 29
• No activities are scheduled for the fifth Mondays.
Wednesday, Dec. 1
• Wright’s Corner Unit of Home and Community Education will meet at 11 a.m. at Mary Ann’s Restaurant. They are to take non-perishable food and/or toys for Caring and Sharing. After the lunch, they will make tray favors for the nursing home.
Thursday, Dec. 2
• Wheatland Unit of Home and Community Education will not meet until December 16.
• St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club, 5:30 p.m., Mary Ann’s Restaurant and canned goods for Caring and Sharing are to be taken.
Friendly Neighbors Special Meeting
Friendly Neighbors met the morning of Nov. 16 at the Phillips Building to make lap robes as a special project of the Friendly Neighbors. Fabric was furnished by Mary Smith and others present were Joanne Owen, Rosemary Owen, Marjorie Sarver and R. W. Smith of St. Elmo, Paula Brunk of Brownstown, and Shirley Smith and Mary Thomas of Altamont. Several took food for refreshments along with coffee.
They made seven lap robes and several took them home to tie knots before they will be given to the nursing home.
Library Board
“Murder on 34th Street,” a murder mystery dinner theater, presented by Bissell Mansion and the St. Elmo Public Library District, will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 4. at the St. Elmo Public Library.
Tickets are $30 per person or $55 per couple and are available at the St. Elmo Public Library at 311 W. Cumberland Road.
For reservations. you can call 829-5544.
After approving the September minutes and paying the bills at the Nov. 11 meeting at the St. Elmo Public Library, the St. Elmo Public Library District Board was told that the Brownstown Branch Library’s problem areas have been fixed.
The proceeds from the Beecher City Branch Library auction were $9,000. Gordon Price offered to move, with five helpers, the library to the new building. The board decided to move the library; the Beecher City Bank loan extension was signed and the rent will be the same as it is now. The library will do the floors and doors with the auction proceeds.
The board adopted Ordinance 2010-5 Levying and Assessing Municipal Tax for St. Elmo Public Library District for the fiscal year July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011.
Historical Vandalia Inc.
As a Fayette County Museum fundraiser, orders are being taken for baked goods such as cookies, banana bread, gooseberry pie and seedless blackberry pie.
Those wanting baked goods should call the museum a few days before the items are needed; the phone number is 283-4866.
The museum is open 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 1-4 p.m. on Sundays.
The board of Historical Vandalia Inc. that has the museum met the evening of November 14 at the museum. Present were Jim Brewer and Mary Ann Rhoades of Ramsey, Marilyn Beyes of Smithboro, Barbara Buckland of Brownstown, and Donna Blair, Steve Durbin, Phil Shroyer and Mary Truitt, all of Vandalia.
Before the meeting, they toured the children’s area and November exhibits in the museum.
It was reported that the museum had 354 visitors in October. The total included several tours, and more tours are scheduled for November and December.
Christmas decorations have been put up in the Fayette County Museum, Vandalia. Displays are changed each month and throughout December, the displays will include Lincoln commemorative prints by Lloyd Ostendorf and historical toys.
The next board meeting will not be until Jan. 17.
The last of the museum’s Season of Entertainment fundraiser will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 23, in the Vandalia First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. Tickets available at the museum are $15 each. The program will be the presentation by John Goldsmith of Greenville on the history of the Demoulin Bros. Factory in Greenville from the manufacture of lodge paraphernalia to the world’s No. 1 maker of band uniforms (1892-present). Refreshments will follow the program.
Royal Neighbors
Final plans for the Royal Neighbors of America #5784 annual Christmas dinner were made at the meeting the afternoon of Oct. 17 at the Phillips Building.
It will be held at noon on Saturday, Dec. 4, in the First Church of God S.H.E.D. Everyone is welcome by making reservations.
Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children.
Those attending also are to take a non-perishable food item or a new toy for the Caring and Sharing boxes.
Items were collected for the Veterans and were taken to Effingham by Irene Reed to the V.A. Office to be distributed to the Marion V.A. Hospital or where needed.
They included toothpaste, socks, shampoo, writing paper, ink pens, magazines, pencils, Search and Words, tablets, envelopes, razors, coloring crayons, Christmas cards, handkerchiefs, soaps, puzzles, combs, a screwdriver set, lotions, powder, deodorants, shaving cream, two boxes of clothing, underwear, T-shirts, ladies briefs, gloves and hat.
Items were taken to the meeting by those present: Ina Abendroth, Jean Brown, Anna Ruth Lilly, Rosemary Owen, Irene Reed, Marjorie Sarver, Shirley Smith, Della Stewart and Leona Wright. Others sending items were Nancy Durbin, Ruby Myers, Tamara Washburn and Max Watson.
Plans were made at the meeting for a ham and beans dinner to be held at noon on Jan. 1, at the Phillips Building and those attending are to take a dish to share.
Vit-Em-In Class Thanksgiving Dinner
The Vit-Em-In Sunday School class of First United Methodist Church had the annual Thanksgiving dinner at noon on Nov. 18 in the fellowship hall.
The class had turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy catered from Mary Ann’s Restaurant and those attending took a dish to complete the meal.
The green beans, corn, cranberry sauce and many other foods made the filled plates very colorful. There also was a wide variety of desserts.
Those present were Dewey and Elizabeth Bail, Bob Cox, Marilyn Claypool, Imogene Dothager, the Rev. John Eisfelder, Doris Jones, Barb Kelley, Helen Koonce, Delva Krost, Dick Lowe, MaryEllen Lovett, Bob and Joanne Owen, Rosemary Owen, Anna Jean Rhodes and Jack and Marilyn Sproat and guests, Leatha Newberry, and Dave and Joan Maxey.
They did not have a business meeting or program, but spent much time visiting.
St. Elmo HCE
The St. Elmo Unit of Home and Community Education met at the St. Elmo Public Library the afternoon of Nov. 18.
Chairman Karen Denning opened the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. Roll call was answered with “A reason I’m thankful for HCE.”
The treasurer reported that a check for Pennies for Friendship was sent to the county HCE treasurer to send to the state HCE treasurer. The HCE project is to help women in many foreign countries.
Denning read the October board notes, and reported that she and Loretta Heischmidt went to the HCE International Night held the evening of Oct. 28 at the Phillips Building. They did the table decorations with a fall theme. She also gave out the tickets to sell for the $100 Wal-Mart drawing for the County HCE fundraiser. They are $1 each or six for $5. The drawing will be held at the Dec. 20 meeting of the County HCE Board Christmas party.
Cards were signed for the veterans and the cards have to be taken to the County HCE Board November meeting. Copies of the instructions for the dresses to be made for the African children also were given out and the unit decided to wait until January to get together to make them
Karen Wegscheid gave the special feature “Brain Blitz.”
It was a lesson to keep the brain focusing at its best and included mind stimulating exercises and ideas to help memory. There was discussion.
Noma Moore asked them to tell about their family Thanksgiving memories.
Denning was hostess and served apple cake, apple cider and chocolate mints from a table decorated in a fall theme.
Those present in addition to Denning, Wegscheid and Moore were Loretta Heischmidt and Anna Jean Rhodes and a guest, Leatha Newberry.
The December meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 16, at 11:30 a.m. at the Rain Tree Restaurant, Effingham. They are to meet at St. Mary’s Catholic Church parking lot at 11 a.m. to share rides.