Legion Report
by Fred Lee (fotofred4u@q.com)
The William H Crippen Post 62 held their regular meeting on Monday, December 1st, with ten members present. Before the meeting started, Elementary teacher, Cheryl Prunty and Principal Matt Alley stopped by to thank us for participating in the Veterans Day activities at the school this past Veterans Day, telling us the kids really enjoyed all the veterans‘ interviews and learning more about the local veterans. They left a picture of the veterans that was taken at this event. After they left we had the salute to the Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance. The minutes and treasurers reports from the previous meeting were read and approved. Douglas Meyer gave the sick call report. He said Myron Schievelbein was in the home in Marion, Dale Garry is in Colton and Francis Grace has been in the hospital and Lile Meyer had a stint put in and is resting at home. Fred Lee mentioned that Valley Springs Legionnaire Bud Ackerman had passed away.
Commander Charles Dubbe had a letter from Jean Friske with a memorial from Laynard to the Post. Derwood Eisenberg had received a donation to the Oratory fund from Larry Pressler.
Commander Dubbe reported on our Legion Oratory contest that will be coming up this month.
Fred gave a report on the recent County meeting in Dell Rapids. It was an informative meeting and our State Vice Commander, Royce Loesch, discussed membership, congratulating our district with our good numbers. The next meeting will be January 27th, in Garretson. He also told the membership about a chili cook off at the Sioux Falls Legion on Saturday, December 13th during the Army/Navy football game. Everyone is welcome. He also said anyone with internet access could access the Legion site at legion.org and go to the Centennial Celebration link to see highlights of posts in South Dakota.
After these discussions, the meeting was adjourned.
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Auxiliary Report
by Donna Beck
The William H Crippen American Legion Auxiliary Unit 62 held their regular meeting Monday, December 1st in the Community Center. The meeting was preceded by a potluck supper with the Legion members. President Connie Meyer called the meeting to order with ten members present. The minutes and treasurer’s report of the previous meeting were given and approved.
President Meyer thanked all for their help with all November activities - dictionaries for the third grade students, apples for the teachers, the Veterans Day supper and the soup and pie lunch. All were successful projects. Donna Beck thanked the unit for their donation to the Veterans Day Visit. She visited each patient at the VA Medical Center with a card of thanks for their service and a small monetary gift. A thank you was received from the VA Medical Center for hosting a social hour for the patients.
Money will be sent to Operation Tender Care so candy can be purchased and given to all in a unit.
Barb Bassett, Shirley Price and Donna Beck gave apples to the teachers for American Education Week. Sheryl Siemonsma and Donna Beck will help at the Christmas Gift Shop at the VA Medical Center.
American Legion Commander, Charles Dubbe, briefed us on the high school oratory contest. Elsie Baye and Barb Bassett offered to be some of the judges. The District 7 competition will be January 11 at 2 pm in the Community Center. Our unit will serve refreshments.
With the agreement of the American Legion members, we will hold our January, February and March meetings at 7:30 pm.
Everyone is reminded to bring a monetary donation for the VA Medical Center to the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned. Myrna Searl won the door prize.
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Post Member Spotlight
Gib Bassett is a forty year member of our Post. He is a Korean War veteran.
He was enlisted into the US Navy in June, 1950, and took basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station, located near North Chicago, in Lake County Illinois. Gib served aboard ship as a gunners mate, as they supported other ships. He was a Seaman First Class when he left the service and returned to Colton where he did car body work in the local garage.
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Membership Update
As of December 3rd, the State membership stood at 17,115 or 75.40% of the Department’s 2015 membership goal.
Post membership stands at 78 members or 79.6% of our Post’s goal. William Henning, Bruce Knutson, Dan Pressler, Kate Weir, Dale Papka and Pat Kaffar have paid their dues since our last meeting. Thank you for your support of The American Legion and our Post.
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Lunch Committee for January
Charlie & Donna Beck
Lile & Theresa Meyer
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William H Crippen Oratory Contest
sponsored by The American Legion Post of Humboldt
All Girls This Year
Eight girls from West Central High School participated in the William H Crippen Oratory Contest sponsored by The American Legion Post of Humboldt this year.
Shown here, from left; Melissa Voss, Brittany Kuhl, Kassondra Gooley, Jesika Tiezen, Kyra Lunde, Ashlynn Anderson, Isabel West and Katrina Callahan.
We appreciate their efforts and enjoyed the topics they presented.
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After the first round of competition, the winners were. from left; Melissa Voss, Junior; Jesika Tiezen, Freshman and Katrina Callahan, Sophomore.
The Final Competition will be Saturday, January 3, 2015, in the West Central High School Auditorium between these three girls. It is open to the public and starts at 1 pm.
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Shown here, from left: Kassondra Gooley, Brittany Kuhl, Katrina Callahan, Melissa Voss, Government Teacher JoAnn Bohl, Isabel West, Katrina Callahan, Kyra Lunde and Ashlynn Anderson.
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Merry Christmas everyone!
Winter months meetings to start at:
7:30 pm
Legion Meeting - Monday, Jan 5 - 7:30 pm
Auxiliary Meeting - Monday, Jan 5 - 7:30 pm
County meeting-Garretson - Jan 27 - 8 pm
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