President Rachel Woods called her second weekly meeting of the Wagner Rotary Club to order on Wednesday July 27th. There were no extra guests, just those present for the program so Pastor Bill heermann gave thanks for the day and the food and fellowship. He asked for guidance for us to go about in our community to help others.

Assistant Song Leader Geritt Juffer announced that we would sing “Roll Rotary” which brought a round of laughter as we had just sung it last week. We did an excellent job again.

Rotarian Ken Cotton was next with the Membership Minute about unusual make-up meetings for Rotarians. There are thirty-four members of the Rotary Club of Papeete, Tahiti, which is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and is the most remote club from any other. The southernmost Rotary meeting is that of the Rotary Club of Punta Arenas, Chile, on the tip of South America. The northernmost club you would travel to would be above the Arctic Circle to Nord Kapp, Norway. The El Aguilar club in Argentina is the highest club in the world at 16,000 feet above sea level. The lowest club meets at 40 feet below sea level at El Centro, USA.

It is said that there is a Rotary meeting being held someplace in the world every hour of every day of the year. If you attended one meeting per day, it would take 75 years to visit more than 27,000 Rotary clubs in the world, and by that time, no doubt, there would be thousands more new clubs to attend.

Sergeant at Arms Jordan Weber has a good memory. He fined Rotarian Bryan Slaba $4 for not being able to pronounce his 13th grandchild’s new name, Nehemiah last week. Also: $1 to Linda Soukup for a phone infraction, $2 for Becky Brunsing finally making it back to a meeting, $2 to Bill Frei for wearing a nice Hawaiian Shirt, $2 to Jeff Doom for taking food away from people and $2 for opening crackers that weren’t his; $2 to Gerrit Juffer for sitting all alone again, $2 to Jerry Weber for trying to get Scott McAdaragh fined for something; $2 to Scott for sitting by Jerry; $2 to Craig Krsnak because he didn’t take any fruit with the meal. Happy Fines came from Craig Krsnak donating $5 for Rachel taking care of his records last week when he was absent.

Jordan sold the Queen of Hearts tickets, Jordan mixed them up; and then Jordan holds the lucky ticket for a chance at the Queen. He missed. It was the Ace of Clubs.

Secretary/Treasurer Craig Krsnak announced the Queen of Hearts drawing is up to $586.00; also, Jordan’s attendance team has six misses and Jamie Soukup’s team has five misses. Krsnak warned everyone that they would be receiving their quarterly statements next week and would be receiving a financial statement of the Club.

President Rachel announced that she had brought extra Rotary T Shirts for those that did not receive theirs last fall. She also read a short article that ABC news had just released that a positive polio case has been diagnosed in the state of New York.

Rotarian Jerry Henke announced that Ymkers Greenhouse of Armour, South Dakota had decided to purchase all the remaining butternut trees that the Wagner Rotary Club was selling. A round of applause was given to Jerry and Kathe Henke for all their work in planting and maintaining these trees.

Rotarian Becky Brunsing announced that she is working on the football books and ads. If you wish to place an ad for your business, it is $30.00 The cost of a football book will be up $5 from previous years as all costs including printing have risen.

Rotarian patty Frei introduced her program members. Dave Robertson and Linda Youngbluth who are volunteers on the Wagner Cemetery Association Board as is Patty. Linda Youngbluth began the program be giving a brief report on the old status off the cemetery association. It all began with the ZCBJ Lodge which could be found in almost all small communities in the early 1900’s. Linda could not pronounce the title in Czech but explained that it stood for Western Fraternal Association which was always offered to any couple having a child. It was an insurance policy for $1,000.00 The ZCBJ Lodge in Wagner disbanded since most of the members were elderly and no longer living. The policy holders were absorbed by the Lodge at Utica, South Dakota which was a part of the Eastern Division of the company.

The Utica Lodge did not want to participate in the upkeep and decision-making process of the cemetery so Ken Cotton, the lawyer in Wagner, is preparing a Quit Claim Deed to be signed by the Utica Lodge. Linda stated that they had to get a surveyor to determine exactly where all the cemetery lines exist. At one time there was a section known as “Roseland” in the middle of the cemetery and there are also some confusing zigs and zags in the property lines.

Patty Frei took the podium at that point and brought everyone up to date on actions that have been taken since the spring of 2020. She called for a meeting at Wagner Lake so that the public could take part in the process. Mike Medricky, Melissa Zacharias, Todd Johannsen, Chad Peters, Patty and Bill Frei, and Linda Youngbluth are the seven volunteers that are taking the lead on the project until the legalities are prepared.

The have had several cleanups at the cemetery which is open to all who would wish to come. They have filled holes, trimmed, removed trees, tried to seed grass in places that needed it and have hired a firm from Armour that comes down to mow when necessary. Mowing is a big expense and is even more so now that gasoline prices have risen. They hire a sprayer to spray for the weeds and have volunteered their own personal time to help repair some of the headstones that have fallen or tipped. Anyone who has visited the cemetery this spring or summer can see that there are improvements being made.

They are currently operating on a $8,000.00 budget and have relied heavily on personal donations, and bequests from families. They have future plans that include putting up a lasting directory, continuing to release information in the newspaper and already have their own Facebook Page—Wagner Cemetery Association. They plan to have an open annual meeting and organize by-laws and a rotating board membership.

If you are interested in helping the group with your donation of time and labor, please contact them or watch the newspaper for announcements. There was discussion on gravesite charges, opening a gravesite, plot charges and perpetual care funds.