The November 10th Rotary meeting was held at their clubhouse on Main Street Wagner at noon. There were several guests in attendance. Glen and Karen Schneider of Pickstown were guests of Kathe and Jerry Henke and Frank Kloucek was the guest of Gerrit Juffer. Sharon and Carter Weise of Armour, SD, were guests of the Henke’s also and were Kathe’s program after lunch.

Rotarian Laurie Kidd offered up a prayer for the accident that had just happened west of the Wagner City limits and for the shooting incident in Scotland, SD the night before.

Laurie also led the group in singing “Be a Friend’ and we sang two verses of America. President Bryan Slaba asked all those who had served in the military to please stand, and they were given a round of applause.

Rotarian Ken Cotton spoke about Youth Leadership Awards. Each summer thousands of young people are selected to attend Rotary sponsored leadership camps or seminars in the US, Australia, Canada, India, France, Argentina, and Korea. Outstanding young men and or women spend a week in a challenging program of discussions, inspirational addresses, leadership training and social activities designed to enhance personal development, leadership skills and good citizenship. The program began in Australia in 1959 and the program gradually grew throughout all the Rotary districts of Australia and New Zealand. In 1971 the RI Board of Directors adopted RYLA as an official program of Rotary International.

Sergeant at Arms Jerry Weber provided the following fines: $5 to Rachel Woods for winning at football when she bought one of her own books; $2 to Craig Krsnak for calling Jerry by his last name; $2 to Bryan Slaba for rushing Jerry through the meal and giving him heartburn and another $2 for not turning on the flag light during the singing of America; $2 to Bryan also for hurting Jerry’s eardrums with the bell ringing, $2 to Jeff for being excited when he came to the meeting, $2 to Ken Cotton for having a car in his ditch

Happy Fines were $5 from Becky for DWU winning their Quarter Semifinal game against Northwestern in volleyball and also for hosting the GPAC for the first time in Mitchell; $10 from Kara Frei for the Wagner girls winning their qualifying game the night before and are headed to the State tournament; $4 from Linda Soukup who was going to a Arizona Happy Hour in the afternoon; $2 to Gerrit Juffer for the upcoming big game this weekend between the Coyotes and the Jackrabbits; $2 from Jeff Doom who is attending a George Strait concert this coming week.

One of the guests drew Craig Krsnak’s ticket so Craig tried to find the Queen of Hearts but pulled out a three of Spades.

Craig, disappointed as he was, gave the treasurer’s report which was that we collected enough to raise the pot to $166. The attendance race is still widening. Rachel Woods had four absences at the meeting and Becky Brunsing had only one missing. That leaves the Woods team at a total of eleven misses and four misses for the Brunsing Team.

Football book winners were Cheryl Gundrum sold by Bill Frei and Tess Ringling sold by Linda Soukup.

Kathe Henke introduced her program which was Carter and Sharon Weise from Armour, South Dakota. The Weise’s were dressed in attire like what the pilgrims from the Mayflower wore when they arrived at the shoreline in Cape Cod, Massachusetts (Plymouth Harbor) on November 21, 1620; 401 years ago.

In 1620 a courageous group of 102 men, women and children sailed across the Atlantic on the Mayflower searching for a life of religious and civil freedom. These Pilgrims landed in Plymouth harbor, establishing the first permanent European settlement in New England. Only half of them survived that first difficult winter. One man died on the Mayflower boat when he fell overboard. One baby was born on the voyage also. All 102 people were confined to the lower hold of the boat and only allowed to come up periodically for fresh air. During their first winter many died and there were only four women left and five teenage girls. Twenty-one men and six boys also survived. Only half of them survived.

The pilgrims had planned on building eighteen dwellings but reduced the number to seven after the hard winter and built a large meeting house. They became friends with the Indians occupying the same area, met the Chief of the tribe and enjoyed over 50 years of peace with one another.

The Mayflower left the next April and the pilgrims planted crops with seeds they had brought with them. Another ship arrived with thirty-five people on it in the meantime and the residents were hard pressed to have enough food for everyone.

Every person was given a parcel of land even the women who had survived a spouse’s death. The first declaration of the principles of American Freedom called “the Compact” were drawn up and everyone signed it. This compact was the model for all our future leadership in the United States.

There is an organization called the General Society of Mayflower Descendants founded in 1897 to honor the pilgrim ancestors and to keep their story alive.

Anyone able to document their descent from a Mayflower passenger is eligible to join. Over 120,000 lineages have been approved since the founding of the society.

Sadly, many do not know the true story of the Mayflower descendants. Mrs. Weise pointed out the fact that today pilgrims are always depicted wearing black and white with buckles on their hats, shoes, and belt. Buckles were not even invented yet! She also shared that very few schools include the story of the Mayflower and the first citizens in their curriculum.

There is a Mayflower Society House, an 18th Century mansion on historic North Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The house is open for tours from May to October.

If you are interested in tracing your lineage, you can contact the Society and make out an application. If you have already traced your genealogical ancestors this information will help you to fill out your application and will make it easier for them to do additional research. There is a society established in the State of South Dakota and if you are interested you need only to contact Mr. Carter Weise at PO Box 638, Armour, SD. 57313