LCRTA President Fred Ciminello welcomed everyone to the June meeting, and especially our guests presenting the program today, and our scholarship recipient and her parents. Everyone was then served lunch by the CUMC volunteers. About 53 were in attendance.
Program: Following lunch Fred introduced Alice and Richard Hoover, who presented a very interesting program of the Civil War era…focusing on the issue of slave trade and conditions and the Underground Railroad, as they portrayed the real-life abolitionist family, Rev. Rankin and family. Out of their 13 children and 6 more adopted, 5 sons and a grandson of the Rankin family fought in the Civil War—and the Rankins would help many, many slaves get to freedom into Ohio for about 45 years. We thank the Hoovers for sharing this interesting story!
Business Meeting:
Following the program, first on the agenda was Fred calling up Joan Rittenhouse and Mary Ellinger to introduce our 2012 Scholarship recipient. This year’s honor goes to a well-deserving student, Gabrielle Palombaro from Licking Heights High School. Gabrielle spoke to our group, and her eloquence, maturity, and passion to become an educator made it very evident why we chose her for this year’s award. Gabrielle receives our $800 scholarship, and will be attending The Ohio State University in fall. She is already a very accomplished young woman during her high school career.