Post 97 honors veterans at annual dinner, program

By Eve­lyn Long -

Awards were made when Jenkins-Vaughan Post 97 of the Amer­i­can Legion hosted the Vet­er­ans Day pro­gram at the post home on Sun­day, Novem­ber 11, 2012.

Post Com­man­der Jim Mor­ris emceed the pro­gram. Assist­ing was Chris Payne, the post Finance Offi­cer. The two men made the fol­low­ing incre­ment year awards: Doyle Smith, 60 years; Ken Rush, 45 years; Harold Clinger, 30 years; Jeff Sell­ers, 20 years and Carl Cook, ten years.

Also rec­og­nized for their years of Amer­i­can Legion mem­ber­ship were Leonard Ben­son, 63 years; Bob Gompf, 64 years and Vir­gil Irwin who has been an Amer­i­can Legion mem­ber for 65 years.

Com­man­der Mor­ris named the late Richard Renz as the Posthu­mous Legion­naire of the Year. Accept­ing the award was his daugh­ter, Mar­lene Renz, who shared mem­o­ries of her father’s Amer­i­can Legion activ­i­ties. He was com­man­der of the post from 1975–1982 and also served as the post finance offi­cer, on the Rifle Squad, Color Guard, helped to served din­ners and was on sev­eral committees.

The Post Adju­tant, Dave Leonard, was named Legion­naire of the Year 2012.

Leonard is a seven year mem­ber of the Amer­i­can Legion and is a six year vet­eran of the U S Navy, serv­ing dur­ing the Viet Nam War. He has served Post 97 as Sergeant-at-Arms and chap­lain and is the cur­rent Adju­tant. He is active with the Post Rifle Squad, the bingo pro­gram and the craft bazaar. He and his wife, Audrey have a son and a daugh­ter and five grandchildren.

Guest speaker James Funk, a vet­eran of the U S Navy, who prac­ticed law in Find­lay, has been asso­ci­ated with Mar­ion Tech­ni­cal Col­lege since 1989. He said MTC offers classes for return­ing vet­er­ans and that many of them are enrolling. He encour­aged vet­er­ans to con­sider the school.

Also speak­ing were Chris Scherzer and Cade Bran­non, Cardington-Lincoln High School seniors, who were the 2012 Buck­eye Boys State del­e­gates, spon­sored by Post 97 and Squadron 97 of the Sons of the Amer­i­can Legion. The teens shared their expe­ri­ences at the mock gov­ern­ment pro­gram and also thanked the post and squadron for send­ing them.

Com­man­der Mor­ris con­ducted the Post Ever­last­ing pro­gram dur­ing which the fol­low vet­er­ans, all mem­bers of Post 97 who passed away since Novem­ber, 2011, were remem­bered as their records were trans­ferred to post ever­last­ing: Bill Har­vey, Harry Radel, Jim Smith, Paul Beam, John Clem, Keith Pearl, Car­roll Burns and Dean Hord. Par­tic­i­pat­ing in this ser­vice were Jim Craw­ford, Ken Rush, Bart Arndt, Doyle Smith, Ernie Brovont, Dick Him­ler, Chris Payne and Duane Rinehart.

Giv­ing the invo­ca­tion for this pro­gram was Esther Cel­lan, Unit 97 chap­lain. The POW/MIA Remem­brance Ser­vice was con­ducted by Com­man­der Mor­ris, who also wel­comed the 145 per­sons attending.

Com­man­der Mor­ris rec­og­nized vet­er­ans by their branches of ser­vice, U S Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

Spe­cial guests intro­duced included Floyd Mor­ris, Com­man­der of Squadron 97; Amy Car­roll, pres­i­dent of Aux­il­iary Unit 97; Jim Craw­ford, Sixth Dis­trict Chap­lain; and post offi­cers, Bart Arndt, first vice com­man­der; Dave Leonard, adju­tant; Chris Payne, finance offi­cer and Jeff Sell­ers, chaplain.

Mor­ris also rec­og­nized the fol­low­ing mem­bers of the Mor­row County Vet­er­ans Com­mis­sion who were present: Ryan Law­son, Ser­vice Com­mis­sioner and board mem­bers Ger­ald Nep­tune and Harold Clinger. Mor­ris, who is also a board mem­ber, intro­duced Elton Burns, a dri­ver for the vet­er­ans office.

A round of applause and trib­ute was given Susan Sands, the head cook, the 14 mem­bers of the Chester Arbor of the Gleaner Life Insur­ance Soci­ety who served the din­ner and the mem­bers of Boy Scout Troop 56 who helped with the clean up.

Reg­is­ter­ing the guests were Beate Payne and Stephanie Payne, mem­bers of Unit 97.

Giv­ing the bene­dic­tion was Post Chap­lain Jeff Sellers.

Posted by Randa Wagner on Nov 20 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.