St. Elmo News

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sunday, August 4
• The Lovett Family reunion, 12:30 p.m., First Church of God S.H.E.D. All family and friends are welcome. Those attending are to take their own table service.
Monday, August 5
•  School nutrition pre-registration is by next Monday. See info after the Announcements.
Wednesday, August 7
• See RNA school collection info after the Announcements.
• St. Elmo City Council, 6 p.m., City Office.
Thursday, August 8
• Lunch Bunch, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• St. Elmo Public Library District Board, 7 p.m., Beecher City Branch Library.
• Effingham Chapter #110 Order of the Eastern Star, 7 p.m., Effingham Masonic Temple.        
RNA School Collections
Royal Neighbors of America #5784 have a box at Mary Ann’s Restaurant to collect donated school supplies for the schools. The items will be collected through Wednesday, Aug. 7.
School Nutrition Learning Institute
ABC’s of School Nutrition Learning Institute is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 9, at the Regional Office of Education #3, 1500 W. Jefferson, Vandalia.
It is a free day of local school food service training providing 6 hours of USDA Professional standards credit for the 2019-20 school year, and lunch is provided.
While training is few, pre-registration by Aug. 5 is required. To register, go to web.extension.Illinois.edu/cefj/ or call 217-347-7773.
Check-in is 8:30-9:a.m.; basic nutrition: fruits & vegetables 9-10 a.m.; USDA foods 101, ISBE nutrition principal consultant Paula Williams, 10 a.m.-noon; Joe’s Pizza lunch provided, noon-1 p.m. serve it safely food handler training or managing food waste in school cafeterias, 1-3 p.m.; measuring tray waste in Illinois schools, 3-4 p.m.; and Q&A/final words, 4-4:15 p.m.
This material funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Illinois State Board of Education, with University of Illinois, United States Department of Agriculture and local Extension councils cooperating.
Fayette County HCE
The board of Fayette County Home and Community Education met July 22 in the Vandalia Extension Office with the following present: President Ashley Davis and Connie Green of the Sefton Unit, Marian Rubin of the St. Peter Unit, Donna Blair of the Bingham/Ramsey Unit, Debbie Segrest of the Vandalia Day Unit and Anna Jean Rhodes of the St. Elmo Unit.
Davis opened the meeting with all giving the Pledge of Allegiance.
In the absence of the secretary, the June minutes were read by Blair, and Green gave the treasurer’s report.
First Vice Segrest reported that the Vandalia Golden Circle is having a fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 17; it will be a homemade ice cream social from 1-3 p.m.
Second Vice Rhodes reported the current HCE county membership is 82.
In June, 78 2018-19 members rejoined, two former members joined and two new members joined.
The updated membership enrollment is included with the October, November, December newsletters that were available at the meeting.
Each unit is to make sure each member receives the newsletter. These newsletters include info from the board officers and some info on the June annual meeting.
International Rubin reported she has a speaker for the International Night in October and the program will be on India. The Illinois Association HCE International Week is Oct. 14-19. The board decided to have the program on Monday, Oct. 14, and to change the time; registration will be 11:30 a.m. and the potluck at noon. The place will be announced later.
Community Outreach/Family Issues/CVH Blair suggested the HCE week baby be born the week of Oct. 7.
Discussed was having a chili/soup supper sometime in October to honor all fire department volunteers in Fayette County. More will be decided on this at the August board meeting.
A committee from the HCE board met June 5-6 in the Extension Office to update the constitution, bylaws and policies.
The revised copies were given to the board members, and at the Aug. 26 meeting of the board, they will be voted on, county members will receive copies and a date will be set for a county HCE meeting for county members to vote on the updates.
There is a possibility the county meeting also will include a membership drive.
Board members eating lunch together at the Vandalia Denny’s were Green, Rubin and Rhodes.
St. Elmo Lions Club
St. Elmo Lions Club July anniversaries observed at the July 22 meeting held at Mary Ann’s Restaurant were: Mark Lash, 18 years; Bob Loew, nine years; Rex Reeder, eight years; Dave Cox and Max Hollinshead, six years; and Holly Huffer, five years.
President Dave Maxey opened the meeting by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance and Pee Wee Denton led in prayer. The business continued with the preliminary planning for the upcoming Labor Day Parade.
On Saturday, Aug. 17, St. Elmo Lions Club will assist the Fayette County Food Bank with food distributions at the Pinnacle Foods parking lot.
Those present in addition to those mentioned were Don Crawford, Skip Heaton, LeMar Marchman, Al Nevergall, Dee Newberry, Lloyd Stanley and Bob Wells.
St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club
Officers of the St. Elmo Women’s Civic club meets one time in the summer to set up the programs and proposed budget for the year that starts in September.
Those present at the July 24 meeting held in the St. Elmo Public Library were President Pat Porter, Second Vice Mary Myers, Third Vice Mary Jane Matttix and Corresponding/Recording Secretary Anna Jean Rhodes.
The programs, social committee, place and time for the meetings September 2019 through May 2020 will be put in the new program book that will be available at the Sept. 5 meeting to be held at 7 p.n. at the St. Elmo Public Library.
The book will include the proposed budget that will have to be voted and also the names of the 20 members who have joined.
Porter served cookies and punch.
Rhodes-Side Gleanings on a Past Event
Because organization news is over for the month of July and I still need more news for the remainder of the month, I looked through an old notebook and found an article I think I wrote in 1990s.
Some of the info is on a Prairie Farmer-WLS survey staff notepaper (and I was a staff member for a few years).
In 1991, Marie Pankey moved back to St. Elmo; Marie (Bell) graduated from the St. Elmo High School with the class of 1946. We became good friends again and she became a member of the Century Culture Club and Homemakers Extension (now HCE).
This article and a skit that she and I did may have been at a CC Club meeting sometime in the 1990s. This is what I wrote before we gave the skit.
As time goes by, we come to the year 1945. The first most important news headline that year was the death of President Roosevelt at the age of 63. On May 6, Berlin fell. On Aug. 6, Hiroshima was bombed by an atomic bomb. On Aug.14, Japan accepted the surrender terms and signed the treaty on Sept. 2 to formerly end World War II.
Nov.8 brought an end to rationing except for tires (they ended Dec. 3, 1945) and sugar (which was rationed until June 11, 1947).
The fashions were wartime – short, short and skimpy shirts, long jacketed suits with square padded shoulders, gathered skirts, just barely full.
Two of the top tunes in 1945 were “Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe” and “Shoo Fly Pie & Apple Pan Dowdy.”
On June 10, 1946, the U.S. Army hit the moon with radar impulses. On Nov. 9 President Truman ended nearly all price and wage controls – prices started soaring.
At the close of the war, Broadway Theater (in New York) started packing them in. “Oklahoma was still running as was “Brigadoon.” The big Broadway play to open in 1946 was “Annie Get Your Gun,” with some of the top hit tunes being “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,” “Doing What Comes Naturally,” You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun,” “The Girl That I Married,” “They Say It’s Wonderful,” “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning,” and “No Business Like Show Business.”
The year 1946 was Frank Sinatra heyday. One of his favorites was “You’ll Always Be the One I Love.” Also in 1946 were “Onsie, Twosie, I Love Yousie” and “The Old Lamplighters.”
The year 1947 was when Elizabeth married Lt. Philip Mountbatten on Nov. 20.
In the spring of 1947, the skirts were above the knees, but by fall everyone was talking of the “New Look” that was sweeping the country – skirts had gone almost ankle length and, with almost no hems in the war time fashions, women were caught short – literally – and wardrobes were undergoing complete changes.
Nylon was becoming popular and thin, thin nylon blouses were being worn everywhere. The “leg-o-mutton” sleeve was a coming fashion. Skirts were straight, tight and long or slightly fared (possibly 4-gored).  
The top two tunes were “New Year” and “On the Avenue.”
The big news of 1948 was the presidential election, with Dewey proclaimed winner over Truman by all the leading morning papers, only to find that Truman had done the impossible and won after the final count was taken.
Remember the big news in 1949? Rita Hayworth and Aly Khan married on Nov. 29.
“Kiss Me Kate” opened on Broadway giving us “Always True to You Darling” and “I Hate Men.” “South Pacific” also opened with such hits as “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair,” “Some Enchanted Evening.” “There’s Nothing Like a Dame.” “Bali Hi,” and “I’m as Corny as Kansas in August.”
In Jan. 31, 1950 Truman ordered development of hydrogen super bomb. The start of the Korean War was June 25.
I will tell about the skit in next week’s St. Elmo News.