St. Elmo News
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wednesday, January 6
• Wright’s Corner Unit of Home and Community Education, 1 p.m., Loudon Town House.
• Reverb Youth 56, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Reverb Youth 78, 6:45-8 p.m., St. Elmo Christian Church.
• St. Elmo City Council, 7 p.m., city hall.
Thursday, January 7
• St. Elmo Business Association, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• Wheatland Unit of Home and Community Education, 1:30 p.m.
• St. Elmo Women’s Civic Club, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
Saturday, January 9
• Following the 5:30 p.m. Mass, St. Mary’s Catholic Church will have an Epiphany dinner in the Parish Hall.
Signup sheets were on the church bulletin board to make reservations for the catered meal.
Sunday, January 10
• Sunday Night Live youth, 6-7:30 p.m., First United Methodist Church Parsonage.
• Detour youth, 6 p.m., First Church of God S.H.E.D.
• Amp’d high school youth, 6 p.m., St. Elmo Christian Church.
Monday, January 11
• St. Elmo Lions Club, 6 p.m., Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
Tuesday, January 12
• Deadline to enroll in the Master Gardener program. Call the Effingham Extension Office, 217-347-7773, for more info.
• American Legion Post #420, 7 p.m., Legion Home.
• Fayette County Board, 7 p.m., county courthouse, Vandalia.
Thursday, January 14
• Lunch Bunch, noon, Mary Ann’s Restaurant.
• St. Elmo Public Library District Board, 7 p.m., St. Elmo Public Library.
• Effingham Chapter #110 Order of the Eastern Star, 7:30 p.m., Effingham Masonic Temple.
Ministerial Alliance Christmas Dinners
Churches in the St. Elmo Ministerial Alliance served 32 dinners at noon on Christmas Day.
The First Church of God was the host church and baked the ham donated by Royal Neighbors of America #5784, and boxes were packed at the church. First Assembly of God Church furnished the hash brown casserole, First Baptist Church furnished the baked beans, First United Methodist Church furnished the frozen fruit salad, Freedom Reigns in Christ Church furnished the dinner rolls and St. Elmo Christian Church furnished cookies and candies.
Volunteers from each church helped pack the boxes and deliver them to shut-ins and those who were alone on Christmas Day. The dinners included abundant items.
Great-Grandparents for First Time
Ron and Elsie Voelker of Mason are now great-grandparents. Their granddaughter, the former Tiffany Myers, and her husband, Matthew Burch of Robbins, N.C., became parents on Dec. 26 of a 6-pound, 11-ounce boy and named him Isaac Matthew. The maternal grandparents are Tammy and Terry Myers of Winfield, Mo.
Rhodes-Side Gleanings
in December
December weather wise has been an excellent month for the St. Elmo area – much warm weather in the 50s and 60s, and very few times the temperature went below 32 degrees and icy roads.
We had a few days of fog and several inches of rain at the end of the month and only a very few snow flurries.
No meetings or Christmas parties had to be canceled.
An inch of rain can become 10 inches of snow if the temperature is right.
Some reports in this area are we had 5-7 inches of rain – 50-70 inches of snow would have buried us!
The worst December weather started after Christmas with heavy rains that caused extensive flooding and closing of highways in this area. Some of the closings, for hours or for days, were Route 51 south of Vandalia, Route 40 east of Vandalia and I-70 west of Greenville.
Another good thing about December of 2015 is there have been fewer obituaries than usual. I am on WPMB Radio three times a week with the St. Elmo News, and from the funeral homes I was given only one obit in December: a woman from Herrin who was a sister of an Altamont woman.
In previous years, some Decembers had terrible freezing weather that caused many cancellations. Some Decembers have had many more obituaries than other months. In both areas, St. Elmo has been blessed this December.
There was a full moon on Dec. 25. Another full moon on Christmas is not scheduled for 19 years, in 2034.
RNA New Year’s Dinner
At noon New Year’s Day in the Phillips Building, Royal Neighbors of America held a ham and beans dinner with ham, beans and cornbread furnished and potluck dishes taken by those attending. There was good visiting, and all enjoyed the New Year’s traditional foods.
The 32 present were Phyllis Albright, Kevin Castic, Serenita Castic, Wayne and Joan Conner, Carrie Cox, David and Peggy Cox, Carrie Dodson, Cathy Emerick, Betty Feezel. Pat Hamilton, Elain Hoene, Connie Hough, Anna Ruth Lilly, Clement Lilly, Karla Lilly, Vernus Lytle, Nadona Robins, Brad and Linda Smith, Mark Smith, R. W. and Mary Smith, Shirley Smith, Della and David Stewart, Lavern and Leona Wright, Marsha Lilly-Wright, and Oliver and Edna Wright.
President Della Stewart told that beginning Jan. 1, RNA has a different format for members earning credit toward their goals; there will be a computer study on how the new format works.
The next regular RNA meeting will be at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at the Phillips Building.
