The monthly meeting of the Historical Society of St. Boniface and Maryhill Community was held on Monday, April 25th at 7 p.m. in the Edward Halter home. Although there was no March meeting all committees were very busy. Members of the society are always welcome to attend all of the board meetings however only board members can vote. We are pleased to have members attend.
PRESIDENT – Tom Schell reported that the meat project with the other community groups is progressing. Thanks to Ashley Honsberger the order forms were condensed when sent in the recent newsletter. Tom has helped MaryAnn Stroh and Diane Strickler with the re-organizing and things are really looking good. The walk-in closets can now be walked-in again. Many items were returned to donors, or recycled. The basement also has more items on display. Tom has also been looking into obtaining deeds for the land that the Drexler and Keleher Crosses are located on.
Tom reminded the society that community groups are welcomed to use the Resource Center with them booking through the executive. A member of the society should be present at these meetings. It would be asked that the group make a donation.
VICE-PRESIDENT – Mary Ann Stroh spoke on the hooked mats that we have and how they can be preserved. Several piece of clothing has been donated to the “Fashion Museum” in (Hespeler) Cambridge. This society is better equipped with the climate control to preserve these items. The families have given their permission that we could donate them to this society and the donors name and our Historical Society will be included. The curator, Jonathon Walford informed us the Museum is open from Wednesday to Sunday from noon until 5 p.m.
SECRETARY – Ken Hanson distributed the new Constitution and By Laws as well as the revised Policies and Procedures. These were reviewed by all the members present. The volunteer House schedule has been passed around. This year the dates will be from Sunday June 12th to September 25th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The dates and times were changed looking at the previous year’s attendance.
TREASURER – Fran Vegh distributed the approved budget for this year which also had the comparison from last year. This is the first year we are operating on a budget. Fran will be distributing a budget with year to date monthly financial reports to the Board.
COMMITTEE REPORTS – ARCHIVIST & GENEALOGY – Diane Strickler has researched for Donna Massel (Massel), and Sylvia Hasbury (Vogel) families. Roger Miller has purchased a St. Boniface Church Postcard and arrangements will be made for a later date for him to present to our society. The Society has been invited to take part in the Waterloo Genealogical Society workshop on Saturday Nov. 5, 2016 at the Kitchener Public Library. The society will have a display and will be offering a presentation as well. Diane will be co-ordinating along with Ashley Honsberger and Ken Hanson.
BIRTHDAY CLUB – Diane Beitz has sent a total of 45 cards to date – January 10 cards, 10 cards in February , 12 in March and 13 cards in April.
BUILDING MAINTENANCE – Brian Lorentz will be creating a base for a new flag pole shortly. He is also checking the smoke detectors and the fire extinguishers for the Edward Halter Home.
CHURCH – Mary Campagnaro reported 3 deaths and 2 baptisms during the months of February and March. Work is continuing on pictures of monuments in the Old Walled Cemetery.
FUNDRAISING – Lee Ann Wetzel introduced her daughter Taylor who will be assisting in the Raffle & Silent Auction. Lee Ann has 4 prizes for the Raffle and is currently looking for donations to the Silent Auction for Heritage Day in September. She had prepared letters asking for donations.
MEMBERSHIP – Carol Neumann along with the executive has revised the membership dates. Membership will now be from January 1st to December 31st. Cost will be $10 for single, $20 for single life membership and $40 for couple life membership. She has also made membership cards and these will be added into the next newsletter. Total membership is currently 323 members. The “logo” committee, chaired by Carol has met several times with a logo designer. This logo will be used for letterhead, name badges, banners, flags, T-shirts and souvenirs. Carol will report at May meeting.
PROGRAM – Ken Kurtz is organizing for Canada Day. He is again hoping to have a car show and music . A committee of Doug Keller, Diane Beitz, Brian Lorentz, Tom Schell, Carol Neumann and himself will meet on Monday May 9th at 7:30 p.m. to complete plans and bring to the next meeting.
A Heritage Day committee was also set up with Tom Schell, Lee Ann Wetzel, Ken Hanson, Ashley Honsberger, Diane Beitz and Diane Strickler to make plans. This meeting will also be on Monday May 9th but at 6:30 p.m.
PUBLICATIONS – Ashley Honsberger has revised the format for the newsletter and it has been very well received. Cathy Moyer was happy with her profile. The newsletters will be going out in March, June and October. All newsletters dating back to 1986 are in a binder in the society library.
RESOURCE CENTRE – Diane Strickler & Mary Ann Stroh along with Tom Schell worked a couple of days re-organizing the rooms. It is hoped to begin an inventory shortly. A picture of St. Augustine’s Professors and students 1951 was sent to the Seminary in Toronto and they were able to name the men on this picture. They were very pleased to receive this donation. Diane and Mary Ann will give an overview of the resources at the Halter Home at the next meeting. This will help the volunteers who will be looking after the house sittings on Sundays.
SCHOOL – Mary Campagnaro is continuing to update the school information.
WAYSIDE CROSSES – Doug Keller has taken the protection off all the corpuses on the crosses and no damage was done to them over the winter. He is constructing a new cross at the Klein homestead. This cross has a plaque attached and he is hoping that plaques with a brief history could also be made for the other two crosses.
Next meeting is Monday May 30th at 7 p.m.
Picture – L-R: Ken Hanson (Secretary), Fran Vegh (Treasurer), Tom Schell (President)
