10-6-15

NOVEMBER:
November 10, 2015, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. at the Olmsted Falls Fire Station. Our next meeting will have a proposal for an amendment to our Constitution. It shall read:
THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF OLMSTED FALLS SHALL HAVE TWO VICE PRESIDENTS. 
We will also discuss the election of officers for the year 2016.

Recent Projects:
JULY: The Grand Pacific caboose was open the first Thursdays in June, July, August, and September. It was manned by members of the Historical Society: Barb Wehe, Eljorie Mason, Lois Rowland, Jean Johnson, Bruce Johnson, Bev Smith, Nancy Nichels, and Bill Nichels. Donating their time together for this project were members of the Olmsted Falls Garden Club including Char Vas, Jeane Kroecker, Anne Zelten, Margaret Burwell, Cindy Debrelbis, Jean Johnson, and Bev Smith. A zillion kids (ok, it just seemed that way) and many adults toured the caboose and learned a little more about why they were used. Kids even got a coloring sheet to take home. Remember, kids have never seen a caboose on the back end of a train. Both the Historical Society and Garden Club sponsored musical groups with funds earned by volunteering for the wine tasting event held at the Grand Pacific Junction in the spring.

MEMORIAL DAY, MAY 25, 2015
MEMORIAL DAY, May, 2015, was acknowledged by the Historical Society of Olmsted Falls by reviving an old tradition of dropping a flower into Rocky River by residents commemorating those soldiers who fought in previous conflicts or wars. After the War Between the States, or the Civil War, as some of us recall the conflict, a flower was dropped into Rocky River from the old Chestnut Grove Cemetery. The 2015 ceremony took place at the Harding Memorial Covered Bridge in honor of all branches of the U.S. Military. Bill Nickels, who served on USS LST 769 led the event by dropping a red carnation in honor of the U.S. Navy. Other participants included Bruce Johnson honoring the U.S. Air Force, Kay Martin honoring the U.S. Marine Corps, Taylor honoring the U.S. Coast Guard, Jack honoring the U.S. Army, and Arlene Oden honoring the U.S. Merchant Marine (white carnation). We do thank The Cutting Garden for their help.
JAN AND BEV SMITH
Jan (from old family name Janney ) was originally from Lakewood and Bev, born in Stamford, Connecticut, met while at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where both were part of the Canterbury Club, the college group at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. After graduation they were married on Sunday, August 30, in Stamford and headed for Ohio immediately to start new jobs. Bev began working at the YWCA in Lakewood and Jan was hired by the Olmsted Falls School system. They first lived in the old Town House Apartments on East Bridge Street in Berea but moved to Lewis Road in Olmsted Falls when daughter Kathy was four months old.
Jan taught sixth grade, mainly English, Math, and Social Studies, throughout his career before retiring in 1993 after 34 years teaching. He was assigned to Falls Elementary/Junior High School but in 1968 moved into the “old high school” which became the Middle School (which became the present City Hall in 2001). Beginning in the early ’70’s Jan was part of the staff that accompanied seventh graders to Mohican Outdoor School for one week each fall. Jan was chosen to participate in the Jennings Scholar Program in 1963-64. He also studied under an NDEA Grant at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1967. He earned his Masters Degree in Education from Kent State University in 1972. After Jan retired from the Olmsted Falls Public Schools he taught for eight years at the American Language Academy at Baldwin Wallace College, which provided extensive English studies for international students. Jan was appointed to the Olmsted Falls Civil Service Commission by former Mayor Tom Jones in 1994 and served for 20 years. He held the office of Chairman most of that time.
Jan’s grandfather Edward Smith was a genealogist for the Western Reserve Colony of Mayflower Descendants. Edward was one of the founding members of that organization in 1930. Jan is nine generations from his Mayflower ancestors. On his mother’s side he traces back nine generations to Thomas and Margery Janney, Quakers from Cheshire England, who knew William Penn and bought 250 acres of land from him in 1683 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where they settled.

Bev worked as teen program director at Lakewood YWCA until children were born and then did substitute teaching in the Olmsted Falls School once her kids started school. She was selected to serve on the Olmsted Falls City Council to fill a vacancy and reelected for two more terms. She retired briefly to return the Southland YWCA as an Adult Program Director 1978-1988. As a full time working mother she took time off from politics but then returned to fill another vacancy when David Dunn became mayor after the death if Mayor David Fortier. She remained on council until the end of 2007, many of those years as Council President. In January of 2008 (after 11 days of retirement) she was appointed as Special Projects Manager by Mayor Robert Blomquist and held this position until the end of 2013. The main focus of her work was on railroads and airports. Two major accomplishments were the building of the railroad underpass on Columbia Road and the creation of quiet zones on all seven rail crossings in Olmsted Falls. As this was one of the first communities to press for this project then Governor Robert Taft came to Olmsted Falls to sign a bill permitting the pursuit of traffic ease on state routes. So, no train horns blow in Olmsted Falls and residents can sleep at night
After Bev retired from the YWCA she volunteered at the Cleveland Council of World Affairs to put together programs for international visitors selected by the U.S. State Department to see how America worked. Foreign visitors were escorted by members of the State Department. Bev planned programs with visitor's specific interests in mind. One of the most memorable groups was the Economic Reform Committee of the Supreme Soviet, which wanted to know how businesses worked here including startups. Years later she saw some of that group on T.V., championing the breakup of the Soviet Union, saying they could do this from the ground up rather than from the top down. It was Bev's  job to see that visitors could see everything including the warts in our society.
Bev and Jan have three children. Kathy is a paralegal who lives in Cincinnati. Jennie is a special education teacher who lives in Northern Kentucky. David is a French teacher and guidance counselor at Yellow Springs High School near Dayton. The Smiths have seven grandchildren. Kathy's daughter Katie is a commercial underwriter for the Hartford Insurance Company. Daughter Erin is a nurse in the cardiac unit of a Cincinnati hospital and her brother Tony graduated from Cincinnati State with a degree in culinary arts. Jennie's daughter Jessie just graduated from Miami with a degree in music education and began working this fall in Arlington, Virginia teaching 3rd and 4th grades and starting’ the 5th grade band. Her brother Kyle is a junior at Miami majoring in sports management. He is the 14th Smith relative to attend Miami. David's son , Nick , is in rehab construction in Detroit where he works on his novel. His younger sister, Callie,  is a junior at Yellow Springs and has her Dad as French teacher.
We thank Bev and Jan Smith for their dedication, hard work, and devotion to Olmsted Falls.  God speed. 
William Eichenberg, October 6, 2015.