Erin Dickerson’s Prayer
Lord,
In this, the last week in the Christian season of Advent, may we all take time to reflect on Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. May we never lose hope that we have the power to make the world a better place, one small act at a time. May we find peace within our hearts each day knowing we did our very best. May we find joy, not only in big moments and grand gestures, but also in the everyday little ones. May we feel Your love surround us and share that same love with all those we meet. And may we live this, not only during the season of Advent, but in every season of our lives.
Amen.
Happy Birthday
Stan Fronzaglia had an idea about singing Happy Birthday in our terrible fashion for those with a birthday between December 21st and January 1st. Since we don’t have a meeting the last week of December each year, those folks will never have a birthday on a Tuesday with a meeting. First time choral director President Beth Duncan led us in singing. She sucked at it – which is the goal. Don’t blame her, we should consider what she had to work with!
The following members had Happy Birthday sung in honor of them: Anna Bargmeyer, Paul Boeckman, Debe Dockins, Steve Mock, Jeff Papanek, Dave Gaines, Dave Kay, Christine Balsan, Molly Petsch, Kelly Stone, Rafael Santillan.
Debe Dockins, Christian D. Larson Award Recipient 2022
There are three Christian D. Larson awards for CNO members for 2022. The awards are presented at meetings when the honoree is present. Greg Wasmund was presented his award at the Holiday Party on December 13, 2022.
Today Chris McAlpine announced the second recipient, Debe Dockins. Remember that the details about a recipient are given in a slow reveal and the name of the recipient is not mentioned until the end of the list.
Chris announced the following about Debe Dockins before revealing her name:
Debe has participated in
- Avenue of Flags
- Golf Outing
- Tree Lot
- Tri-Star Soccer
- Tri-Star Basketball
- Essay Contest
- Build-a-Bear
- Haunted Trail
Positions held by Debe
- Social Committee Chair
- President, Vice-President, Board member
- Past Lt Governor of the Great Ohio District of Optimist International
- Chair of the Oratorical Contest for the club and for the Ohio District.
- Chair of the Fun Committee for the Ohio District
- Member of the Long-Range Planning Committee
- CNO Lunch Speaker Coordinator
- Membership Committee
Other Organizations
- She is active in her church at St. Charles
- She is a member of the Centerville Washington Foundation Board
- She is one of our favorite Centerville Washington Township Library Representatives
It was a joy to see the expression on Debe’s face as Chris finished with, “By now you know it is Debe Dockins. We are lucky to have her.” It was a look of total surprise and great gratitude.
Debe spoke from the heart and was a little teary, “I’m so honored. I’m in such good company.”
Congratulations Debe Dockins! Debe became a member of CNO on May 26, 2009.
A Message from Santa – Naughty List for Bell and Gavel Thieves
President Beth has tried to stop members from stealing her bell and gavel during lunch. She has tried noise makers, tape, car batteries, twine, and a police officer. Nothing has worked. She sent a list of names to Santa Claus for his naughty list and Santa replied with a video that we watched discussing Beth’s concerns.
You can view Santa’s video here.
Here is the text of Santa’s speech:
Hello,
In case some of you don’t know who I am, I’m Kris Kringle. AKA, Santa Claus! I heard I’m speaking to a bunch of Optimists! I hope you all have a GREAT Christmas this year. I know most of you have been pretty good, but I heard from President Beth that she has a Naughty List. She brought me this list, but I told her I was already well aware of some of the Shenanigans and goings on that happens at those meetings on Tuesdays. I have been watching the bell stealing and I must say, some of you need to get a hobby!
President Beth has tried hooking the bell up to noise makers, tried duck taping, hooked it up to a car battery (kind of dangerous Beth – Someone could have been electrocuted) – and tying the bell up with twine. The best was having Sgt. Mike Yoder from the Centerville Police Department standing guard. She has tried to give you all the benefit of the doubt but she really has not made much progress with all of you so I thought I would step in.
You know sometimes for the naughty kids on my list I normally give lumps of coal…But President Beth had a better idea. I think we need to call out some of these culprits…Will the following please come to the front as your name is called and receive your “naughty” gift. Maybe next year you will try and be better!
Ya’ll need to find something better to do.
Any others not on my list that would like to come clean – Please make your way to the front. Oh, and don’t forget, I WILL BE WATCHING YOU ALL YEAR! Let’s try and be better this next year!
The following people to receive their naughty gift of their own miniature bell so they can stop stealing President Beth’s bell are:
- Bob Burkman
- Mike Brem
- Scott Langer (x 1000)
- Bill Stone
- Nancy Lehren
- Sue Brubaker
- Joan Cordonnier
- Kelly Stone
- Myron Rheaume
- Gary Smiga
- Mike Creech
- Mike Yoder
- Larry England
- Jerry Stahley
- Erin Dickerson
Gifts for Everyone at Today’s Meeting
Beth Duncan gave a wrapped gift to everyone at lunch today. Before opening the gifts, she read a customized version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. She added extra occurrences of the words “Left” and “Right” to the story. Every time you heard a direction, we passed the gift we had to our table mates. It was at least thirty passes, maybe more. It was fun and then we opened the gifts.
After the story we then played the dice game of chance, “Left, Right, Center.” We each started with three chips. Whoever had the last chip won the grand prize at each table, which was a gift card to various restaurants.
Thank you, President Beth, for the holiday laughs and gifts. It was a lot of fun.
Opti-Kids Performance
The Opti-Kids performance from last week’s holiday party was recorded and screened at today’s lunch.
Beth Duncan, with hands provided by Kelly Davis, and Joan Cordonnier with hands provided by Kelly Stone, performed several funny lip-sync and dance acts to upbeat songs. It was hilarious. Beth and Joan had their hands disguised as feet. You must see it to believe it!
Watch the Opti-Kids video here.
About the Christian D. Larson Award
Kelly Stone presented the following:
The Christian D. Larson award is Optimist International’s most prestigious award. This award is a lifetime achievement recognition given to a person who has exemplified outstanding service to both our community as a whole and The Centerville Noon Optimist Club in particular.
The award was named in honor of Mr. Larson because he was the author of the well-known Optimist Creed which was written in 1912 and is what we Optimists live by every day. In the one hundred years of Optimist International, with hundreds of thousands of members, less than eight hundred individuals worldwide have been accorded this honor, twenty-seven of whom are from our club.
Each year, our club donates half the proceeds of the tickets purchased for the 50/50 drawing along with all the money raised through the Sergeant at Arms fines and Happy Bucks during our Noon meetings. This money goes to the Optimist International Foundation for the purpose of supporting its charitable, literary, and educational activities. In return, for each one thousand dollars donated, the Optimist International Foundation grants our club the privilege of presenting a Christian D. Larson Award.
The qualifications to be considered for this prestigious award are as follows: Have a minimum of ten years in the club, have held leadership positions, contributed greatly to both the community and our club, exhibited a positive optimistic attitude and volunteered consistently over many years actively enhancing the club’s formula for success.
The past recipients of the award meet and nominate deserving candidates. These candidates are voted on by past recipients and the winners are chosen.
Previous Recipients of the Christian D. Larson Award
- Steve Fisher
- Margaret Barclay
- Phil Robinson
- Joe Madden
- Jerry Stahley
- Chuck Dickerson
- Jim Hawley
- Bill Stone
- Gary Aiken
- Judy DeMarco
- Dan Beck
- Gary Smiga
- Kelly Stone
- Mike Bevis
- Tom Novak
- Gary Anderson
- Will Cale
- Don Kelley
- Charlie Tapp
- Bob Burkman
- Nancy Lehren
- Pat Behn
- Mary Madden
- Myron Rheaume
- Tom Frazier
- Stan Fronzaglia
- Karl Frydryk
- Joan Cordonnier
- Gail Aiken
- Roy Barclay
- Barbara Santo
- Vida McDowell
- Larry Lynde
- Craig Dring
- Chris McAlpine
- Don Wildenhaus
- Greg Wasmund
- Debe Dockins
Welcome Guests!
| Guest | Guest Of |
| Addie Bartlett | Evelyn Griffin |
| Aidan Bartlett | Evelyn Griffin |
| Amanda Bartlett | Evelyn Griffin |
| Carol Hughes | Jean Pummill |
| Courtney Sirmans | Karen Sirmans |
| Kathy Rearick | Joanne Rau |
| Mark Fultz | Liz Fultz |
| Ron Rearick | Joanne Rau |
| Colton Dickerson | Erin Dickerson |
New Member Readings and Inductions
| Name | Sponsor | 1st 2nd 3rd Reading or Induction |
| Kathy Rearick | JoAnne Rau | 2nd Reading |
| Ronald Rearick | JoAnne Rau | 2nd Reading |
| Tom Duncan | Beth Duncan | Induction |
| Salli Duncan | Beth Duncan | Induction |
Happy Bucks
No time for Happy Bucks this week.
Sergeants at Arms
| Member | Infraction |
| Clair Kerr | Didn’t know about the high tech name badge numbering system the sergeants use for putting the badges in the cases. |
| Stan Fronzaglia | Giving President Beth the idea of singing Happy Birthday to those who have a birthday December 21st or later. |
| Greg Griffin | As a kid for looking like Ralphie from the Christmas Story movie. |
| Jerry Stahley | Left an item at the tree lot that was found while closing the Tree Lot |
| Gail Aiken | Left an item at the tree lot that was found while closing the Tree Lot |
Membership Anniversaries
| Member | Joined | Years |
| Bill Stone | December 22, 2007 | 15 |
| Scott Langer | December 30, 1997 | 25 |
| Bob Duffy | January 1, 1988 | 35 |
| Jim Rumford | January 1, 1990 | 33 |
| Paul Stull | January 1, 1970 | 53 |
Birthdays
| Anna Bargmeyer | December 21 |
| Paul Boeckman | December 22 |
| Debe Dockins | December 22 |
| Steve Mock | December 25 |
| Jeff Papanek | December 26 |
| Dave Gaines | December 27 |
| Dave Kay | December 27 |
| Christine Balsan | December 28 |
| Molly Petsch | December 28 |
| Kelly Stone | December 29 |
| Rafael Santillan | January 1 |
CNO Donations – 2013 through November 2022
Click here to see a summary of donations the club has made since 2013
Thank You Notes Received
CLICK HERE to see this week’s Thank You Notes