United Presbyterian Home News

Six residents participated in the 2017 Spelling Bee including Esther Bordwell, Jeane Fry, Carol Ray, Kitch Shatzer, Gwen Ying and Dorothy Koehler-Yoder. Lee Buchholz officiated as the announcer with Melva Mineart, Lois Swank and Dorothy White the official judges for the contest. Esther Bordwell was declared the winner after 12 rounds, correctly spelling the word ?voyage.?

Some very brave kids also participated in the Spelling Bee including Sophia, Olivia and Bella Lujan; Layla Hesser, Wade Miller, Sawyer and Parker Tschantz, Lauren Drahota, Brady Krantz, Ada Turner and Peyton VanderWeide. Children spelled words from the same context as the adults. Ada Turner and Lauren Drahota both just finished first grade at Stewart School and did not miss spelling a single word. The event raised $95, which will be donated to the Alzheimer?s Association on behalf of the UP Home?s NuStepping to End Alzheimer?s-The Longest Day Team.

The Longest Day Team offers this annual Spelling Bee as a fun activity to engage the mind. Exercising the mind is as important to fend off dementia as well as exercising the brain. Everyone needs to BEE active in mind, body and spirit.

Kathy Knutson and Herb Yoder celebrated their birthdays in the Town Center Friday morning, offering treats to their friends and neighbors.

Dave Henderson chauffeured his grandson, Nathanael Adams, to basketball camp in Knoxville, Illinois, last week as a good grandfather sometimes does when parents have to work. As always on his trips, Dave found a new eating establishment to his liking in Galesburg, Illinois. The Iron Spike is an old fire house microbrewery with delicious food and brew.

David Draheim and Linda Boston recently returned from a working expedition in Canada where they mined for amethyst in the caves north of Thunder Bay. The purple rocks were plentiful and well worth the trip even though they had to contend with the larger-than-life mosquitos and bugs that attacked their skin, leaving multiple wounds. Along the way they viewed beautiful waterfalls and picked up nuggets in what David terms the beaches of Minnisnowta. Working with the amethyst is a joint project as David cleans, cuts and polishes the stones before Linda fashions them into beautiful jewelry.

Mysterious sticky notes of inspiration and uplifting messages appeared all over campus Tuesday morning leaving readers to wonder where they came from. Some investigative work reveals that Bella Lujan was the one responsible for the insightful thoughts.

Al Kinzler is proud to announce that his granddaughter, Katherine, has been named to the Dean?s List at Drake University in Des Moines. Katherine is majoring in art history and political science/pre-law. Al reports that Katherine gets her intelligence from her mother, Anne, and grandmother Sara.

Classics Et Cetera for June 15, included the overture to ?Carnival? by Franz von Suppé; ?Menuetto? from Divertimento No. 17 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; 1st Movement of Wind Quintet, Op. 68, No. 1, by Franz Danzi; ?Camelot,? performed by Richard Burton; 1st Movement of Piano Concerto No. 2 by Camille Saint-Saëns; ?March,? Op. 99, by Sergei Prokofiev

The Frenchman Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) enjoyed a notably long and successful career as a pianist and composer. Debuting as a pianist at age 11, he later composed operas, symphonies, concertos and symphonic poems, as well as chamber and piano music. He was also a noted church organist. Not all were impressed, however. The great British conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961), once said, ?Camille Saint-Saëns is the greatest second-rate composer who ever lived.? Oh, dear!