United Presbyterian Home News

Guests in the home of Pat Jenkins last week were her two sons, Roger and Gail Jenkins of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Russ Jenkins of Warner Robins, Georgia. Also visiting were grandchildren; Jason Jenkins of Tinidad, Colorado, and Kassi King of Destin, Florida. Joining them were Rhonda and Dale Hesseltine of Crawfordsville; Randy Jenkins and Brenda Hamilton and Rick and Nancy Jenkins of Ainsworth, and Ellen Waggoner of Washington.

The group also visited their dad in Brownlee Health Center. Randy has built a new deck on his house, so he took on the cooking responsibilities for most of the meals for the group to ?break in? the new addition.

The family was together to participate in two benefits for the Alzheimer?s Association. Granddaughter, Tara Jenkins of Ottumwa, is a very active volunteer advocate and participant in Alzheimer?s funding, so she persuaded the family members to assist her. On Sept. 11, they held a fish fry at the Opera House in Ainsworth, which was quite successful, serving 140 people. On Sept. 12, the group went to Ottumwa to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer?s. Samantha Thompson and son Zachary and Laci O?Leary and daughter Jett joined them for the walk. Thanks to a lot of hard work on Tara?s part and the generosity of the people attending the fish fry, her team was the top fundraiser for that event.

Merrill Mason celebrated his birthday in the Town Center this week with the Monday morning coffee crew. Merrill?s wife, Ann provided multiple pans of goodies to share. Everyone went home to add Merrill?s birthday to their calendars so as not to miss the treats next year.

Harvest of pumpkins and gourds which the summer day care children planted on June 2 of this year is complete and ready for the next phase of a pumpkin?s cycle ? to be decorated by the children. Over fifty small pumpkins and numerous gourds await the tiny hands and creative minds of the little ones eager to paint, carve and eat the fall produce.

Classics Et Cetera for Sept.17, 2015 included the Overture to ?Ruy Blas? by Felix Mendelssohn; Variations 1-8 from the 4th Movement of Orchestral Suite No. 4 (?Mozartiana?) by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; 1st Movement of Trumpet Concerto in E-flat by Johann Neruda; ?Blue Tango? by Leroy Anderson; 4th Movement of Symphony No. 2 by Johannes Brahms; ?Hora Staccato? by Grigora? Dinicu; ?Trombone Blues? by Fred Jewell

Grigora? Dinicu (1889-1949) was born in Bucharest, the capitol city of Romania. He attended the Bucharest Conservatory and then got a scholarship at the Vienna Conservatory, but he was not allowed to go there because he was a Romani, or Gypsy. He never forgot the insult. For 40 years he directed popular music concerts and toured abroad as a violinist and conductor. Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987), perhaps the greatest violinist of his era, said that Dinicu was the finest violinist he ever heard.