May was National Preservation Month and to celebrate the Versailles Area Historical Society will honor six living historians in our inaugural “Preservation Award”. These ladies, through the years have written and or in other ways preserved our local history.
Several years ago our Society’s Board met with a representative of the Ohio Historical Society and he encouraged us to preserve our stories. The six ladies selected this year to be recognized have done this in extraordinary ways.
Ruth Ann Pleiman of Russia compiled the Russia history for the nations Bicentennial and continues to keep the proud history of this community alive. Marianne (Monnin) Doyle created a newsletter to celebrate and keep the French culture alive for future generations. Gail (Pitenbarger) Brandewie helped give voice to her father’s early reels of video of Versailles business and updated it several times through the years. Again keeping our story alive! Ruth (Wagner) Schieltz helped record local church histories and advised many on searching for their roots. Lois Ann (Judy) Baker traveled the countryside rediscovering lost history and cemeteries to remind the future generations of who we were and are. Juanita Baltes) Gerling devoted her life to writing and especially sharing our story with all who would listen that we might tell it to our children.
These extraordinary ladies will be recognized on June 7th at 1:00 p.m. at the museum for their gifts of preservation to our communities and to give us the community as a whole the opportunity to say thank-you for their generous gift of preserving our past for the future. We hope you will join us!
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