Akron GFS Eagles. German Family Society of Akron, Inc. WINTER Deutscher Familien Verein, Akron e.v

German Family Society of Akron, Inc. Deutscher Familien Verein, Akron e.V. www.germanfamilysociety.com Facebook: Akron German Family Society Twitter: ...
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German Family Society of Akron, Inc. Deutscher Familien Verein, Akron e.V. www.germanfamilysociety.com Facebook: Akron German Family Society Twitter: @Akrongfs • blog: www.germanfamilysocietyblog.com 3871 Ranfield Road, Brimfield Township/Kent, Ohio 44240 • 330-678-8229 • Email: [email protected]

WINTER 2014

Akron GFS Eagles By Rich Reikowski For those of you that know Marty Misbrener, you know that you are speaking to a man that truly loves everything there is of the sport and the game of soccer. Marty is truly the face of of the soccer program at Akron German Family Society. He is a man of exuberance, gentleness, humbleness, and a genuine kindness to others. We’re overjoyed and very proud of Marty in being rec og niz ed for his soccer contributions in being inducted into the Ohio Soccer Hall of Fame in 2008. He was one of eight inductees. In 1954 he played for Vienna in the Jr. Olympics. Marty said that he felt a great need and responsibility to share this love of the sport with his new country and specifically with the Akron German Family Society. He joined the Akron German Americans in 1954, a second division team in the American Soccer League. In 1965, the German Family Society founded the Akron Eagles, of whom Marty was a team member.

Most recently he lead his Major soccer team, the Akron German Family Society Eagles, to achieve the Runner-Up Champions of the National Donauschwaben 2014 Tournament. The Donauschwaben teams have competed with each other for many years, as well as the various soccer groups of the Reserves, over 40, and over 50 age groups. The 2015 indoor soccer season (Major and Reserves) will start in January thru March. The outside game season will run from May thru July. Our club will be hosting the 2015 US National Donauschwaben Soccer Tournament. Teams will be arriving, from across the country, to our very own Donau Park to compete. We hope to bring home the championship on our own fields! Marty invites all club members to come out in support of their team. There is “no charge” to watch the soccer games. The 2015 soccer schedule will be out soon.

Read the entire article at www.germanfamilysocietyblog.com

2014, The Year of Change As we approach the start of another year here at the German Family Society, we’d like to review our out-going year for our club and future plans for 2015. This was the year of change. We lost a great friend and leader, Joe Geiser. Joe was President of our club for the last 23 years. Joe directed the Youth Group during the early 70’s and formed the first Culture Group, now named Tanz Group in the late 70’s. He also assisted all groups with dance routines through his many years at the Helm. We also lost many of our lifelong members including Barbara Tonhaeuser, who for so many years, directed the Youth Group and was the first leader to win, Backto-Back Competitions at our National Donauschwaben Treffens. More recently she represented our club as “Kulture Director”. As change continued, we welcomed our new President, Rudy P. Stagl in for 2014. Rudy would follow in the footsteps of his father, Rudy Stagl who also was President during the 60’s and early 70’s and had recently passed away as well. In late spring, we had a visit by our local Liquor Control officer, first visit in over 25 years. We were made aware that much of the way we operated was not in compliance with our current Liquor License. Holding a “members only” License, we were always told we were allowed to have 1, then came 2 festivals along with ability to host weddings as long as the wedding couple were members. We were mis-informed and with only 2-3 weeks before our upcoming European Fest were made aware that we needed to make changes, and rather quickly.

change, how we collected entry fees and establishing entry gates. This year also has seen improvements to our Festival lighting, Dressing up our Bier Garten with many more flowering plants and unique to our area, adding Palm trees to our Bier Garten area. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in outside weddings enjoying the outdoor areas of our park for their Nuptials. As our festivals have grown, It was also decided to upgrade our tickets to 50 cent segments, $2.00 per page. Although we’ve experienced some growing pains with implementing this, the process is steadily improving. We’ve seen a dramatic increase with 41 new members this year. With that, our groups continue to grow and now may surpass the high numbers of our group members from the 60’s and 70’s where the Baby Boomer generation flourished during their time at our club. Our Youth group and many members of our board travelled to Milwaukee over Labor Day weekend to attend the National Donauschwaben Treffen. Our kids joined together with 16 other cities youth groups to show off their latest dances and spend time with other groups building relationships that would continue for a lifetime. Our Youth Group was recognized and voted on by all 16 cities, as the most Congenial or Friendliest Youth Group in 2014. Congratulations to you all. We and our Youth were proud to receive this award.

The State assisted us to pull together what was needed to gain a special Fair License and worked with us to make other changes. This included applying and receiving a new License that is no longer members only.

In 2014, our club held 16 events/dances, including, Night in Vienna, Kindermaskenball, Schlachtfest, 3 Fish Fry’s, a Mothersday Dance, our 2 Festivals, a new event, Jimmy Buffett night out, German Day, Traubenfest, Christmas Program and our upcoming New Years Eve Dance. We hosted 10 private weddings/parties and our Spring Concert with performers from Germany and Austria.

With these changes, it required us to make additional changes to our events. Most all noted the fencing that now accompanies our two Festivals. With that came another

Of course our club is active nearly every other day with group practices, food preparations, spring cleaning and of course the upgrades and repairs being made by our Vice Presidents

and other Board members throughout the year. Not to be forgotten are the nearly 10 members of our Grounds Crew and Soccer leaders in upkeep of our park. We thank each and everyone for their hard work, dedication to our club and how well we all work together to make our club so successful year after year and the envy of many other organizations.

an Adult Maskenball (Fasching) event in February, something that was very popular with our club throughout the 60’s.

We look forward to 2015 and continuing these successes. Our Youth Group and many Members of our Board, plan on attending our National Donauschwaben Treffen for 2015 hosted by the Los Angeles Donauschwaben Club in Anaheim California in late summer.

Lastly we’ve been asked to once again invite “Tom Watt and the Fruitcakes” back for another “Night out with Jimmy Buffett”. Hopefully we will go without the rain that put a damper on last year’s event but was one that most everyone enjoyed.

We look forward to some upcoming surprises including not only a Kindermaskenball (Masquerade) party but now bringing back

Our Board extends our wishes to all of our members, a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year for 2015.

Milwaukee’s Opening Ceremony for the National Donauschwaben Treffen.

Lighting of the Blue Candle, a Donauschwaben traditon at Christmas.

Christmas Program in December.

The Weinstube (Wine cellar) at Traubenfest.

Plans are being made to celebrate our 60th anniversary dance in May with all kinds of special presentations made looking back to the beginning of our club in 1955.

2015 BOARD OF TRUSTEES GERMAN FAMILY SOCIETY

President............................................................................... Rudy Stagl 1st Vice President................................................ Michael Rodesheim 2nd Vice President............................................................. Frank Ganz Honorary President.......................................................... Maria Rickert .......................................................................................... Anna Koenig House Manager............................................................... Mike Petzker Treasurer................................................................................ Amy Stagl Assistant Treasurer..................................................Awald Langenfeld Bar Treasurer............................................................ Christian Spreitzer Ticket Treasurer................................................................... Jen Herring Kitchen Treasurer............................................................. Betty Leipold Membership Secretary...........................................Allison Burdeshaw Recording Secretary.......................................................Hilda Rasnick Corresponding Secretary......................................Hermine Frischherz Ladies Group President................................................ Helga Hippich Bar Trustees...............................................................................Tony Pilz ................................................................................ John Schwarzinger ........................................................................................... Tony Leipold .............................................................................................. Frank Guld Park Manager.............................................................. George Sensius Park Committee............................................................... Fred Leipold Kulturberater.................................................................... Anna Koenig Youth Group Leader.......................................... Carri & Steve Sensius Jr. Youth Group Leaders.................................... Carolyn Langenfeld ................................................................................................Lisa Blaser Children’s Group Leaders....................................................... Liz Miller .............................................................................. Katrina Marmaduke Tanzgruppe Leaders............................................... Aaron Engelhardt .......................................................................................... Steve Sensius Sports Director............................................................Marty Misbrener Assistant Sports Director............................................. Laurent Majerus Reservations.......................................................... Renate Moellmann ..............................................................................................Eva Lehner Decorations..................................................................... Betty Leipold Media Group: Newspaper.................................................................Rich Reikowsi Web..................................................................................... Chris Pilz Photo................................................................................ David Hall Public Relations................................................................. Sandy Clark Wurstmeister.................................................................. Fred Misbrener Beautification Committee.................................. Konrad & Sadie Pilz

Calendar of Events Kinder Masken Ball February 15 2 pm

Silvester Feier

Costumes, Games, Dancing, Food, Magician Entertainment and more.

(New Years Eve) Music by: Eintracht Band

Doors open at 6 pm All Invited age 8 and up.

Fasching (Mardis Gras Dance)

February 21

Reservations Required

Music by:

Spass Band

A Night in Vienna January 31, 2015 GFS Youth Group Performs Traditional Waltz Dances

Put on your costume and come join us for an evening of fun and festivities! Reservations Required

Music by: Fred Ziwich Band Reservations Required.

If Reservations are made and you need to cancel, Please call and cancel so that someone else can attend and enjoy the evening.

Welcome to our New Members! We are happy to have you join our organization. Ann Kohner Joshua Wherley Gabriel Strayer Sara Williams Krysti Maxwell Daniel Norden Toni Norden Richard Tarr Cameron Carris Wendy Gibson

Don’t Forget to Make Reservations for ALL Club Events Please Note: We require reservations for our events but if you cannot attend, please, please call and cancel. Our last event, Traubenfest was a sell out and numerous family members turned away. We had 35 No-Shows which caused many not able to attend and a loss of hundreds of dollars in lost food. Please be considerate for future events. Thank You, Rudy

Reservations: Mrs. Moellmann: 330-633-3949 Mrs. Lehner: 330-335-8985

Jacky Harsch Heather Kraft Marissa Sensius Lucas Sensius David Rodenbucher Geena Whitney Alayna Whitney Marina Stagl Ryan Pittinger

Dance Groups Updates: GFS Kinder Group

GFS Youth Group:

With nearly 40 kids ending this year, Liz Katrina and Mary worked closely with their kids in preparations for the our Christmas program. We enjoyed a combinations of singing, poems, our festive actors and finishing up entertaining a full house with a new dance.

The Youth Group started off the year with 37 members and ended the year with 46 members. They enjoyed performing at various events throughout the year for our club as well as several activities around the area. These included the Milwaukee Landesverband, and three Oktoberfest performances at the Campground, Cuyahoga Falls, and The City of Kent.

They worked hard throughout the year performing at our Dances, Festivals and performing at numerous events in the Akron area. For anyone interested with a child ages 4-7, practices are Wenesdays, 6:30pm7:30pm. If anyone has any questions feel free to contact the Kindergruppe Leader Liz Miller @ 330-494-0877 GFS Junior Youth Group: 2014 was another good one for Jr Youth Group! At present, we have 33 members, 10 boys and 23 girls, whose ages range from 8-14years old. 7 of our dancers just graduated up to the Youth Group. We anticipate that 5 children will move up from Kindergroup to Jr Youth group when we resume practice in February 2015, so we will be close to the 38-40 members we have typically enjoyeded in our group for the past 5 years. For the new year, 2015, the kids enthusiastically requested to hold our kick off party at the KSU ice arena, a venue we have enjoyed before. Lenten Fish Fries will be on our agenda again for the upcoming year, as well as a July group trip…location TBD. We will also have the honor of helping commemorate the GFS’ 60th Anniversary in May with song and dance. Thank you to our dancers and their families for their participation and dedication throughout the year!

The Youth Group had three major fundraisers during the year. We made 3000 pounds of sausage in March and 3700 pounds in October. This is a record amount and hopefully it will continue to increase. We would like to thank Dave and Silvana Sensius for organizing the sausage fundraiser. We also hosted 3 Lenten Fish Fries which we plan to host again in 2015. We would also like to thank Steve and Carol Rodenbucher for setting up and managing the Youth Group booth at Old Eurpoeanfest and Oktoberfest. They work very hard to set up, manage, and tear down the booth for both weekends. The next 2 years will be very exciting for this group as they plan to travel to Los Angeles, California in 2015 for the Landesverband Annual Meeting and to Europe in 2016. This means that we will have increased expenses. The group is accepting donations to be applied to both trips. If you are interested in making a donation please send it to Carri Sensius, c/o GFS Youth Group to 1492 Stoney Pointe Dr. North Canton, OH 44720. Call Carri for more information at (330) 715-2365. We would like to thank everyone for supporting the group throughout the year including the parents of our dancers. Thanks to all who donated their time and efforts, helped with fundraisers, and to those who purchased sausage as this is our largest fundraiser. We will make sausage in March, 2015 so look for the order form. Our group is always looking for performing opportunities as this is how we fund our trips and uniform expenses. Please contact Carri at 330-715-2365 if you’re interested in having our group entertain for your event.

In my effort to keep our members updated on recent Board decisions, we recently held Elections that will become effective on January 1st. This was held on Sunday November 2nd and was attended by over 120 of our active members. I was given the opportunity to head up our club for another year. Thank you all for the opportunity and kind words on my transition to President as my first year comes to an end. We’ve added a new position to the board with David Hall joining the Club Board as our new Club Photographer. In addition, Mrs. Anna Koenig joined us as our new Culture Leader and she is ready and willing to add her drive and expertise to this position. Also new is Tony Leipold as one of our new Bar Directors, replacing Chris Pilz who will continue to focus on our website. We have new leaders of our Tanz Group, Steve Sensius and Aaron Engelhart were elected to head this up. Thank you to Jessica and Jason Evans for your hard work this past year. Mike Petzker, who has been regularly helping the Grounds crew, Soccer Crew and working with myself and our VP’s has now been elected as our Haus Manager. Mike will be in charge of our club and facilities with upkeep and repairs. Amy Stagl and Awald Langenfeld have taken over as our club Treasurers replacing Jim Rasnick. Jim has had many years as our club Treasurer and taking some well deserved time off for now. We Thank him for his hard work and staying on top of all the financial issues the club deals with. Most of the previous positions not mentioned remained on the board from 2014. We wish to thank the Board of 2014 for the job well done. Let us continue it into 2015.

I’m excited about our plans to continue to improve our Club and Park going into this next year. We have agreed to pursue a new Küchen (Pastry) Haus which is tentatively scheduled to be built beginning April of 2015. Plans are to have it located near the corner of the parking lot, on the hillside near the Memorial Headstone. This would allow us to serve Küchen and guests lining up along the parking lot near where the food service is held during festivals. We have some interesting designs that we are reviewing at this point. This will eliminate the bottle neck right inside the doors for pastry sales and our future plans is to have a resting area be set up in the coatroom area during our events. We are looking at improving our membership, and see if we can re-gain the many members that grew up with our club but have drifted away for one reason or another. Some special programs are being looked at towards the end of 2015. We are looking forward to another Family oriented New Years Eve dance where the kids ages 8 years old and up can celebrate their own welcoming in of 2015 with plenty of fun activities, fanfare, decorations and noise makers. Do plan to bring the kids along and make this a Family event, fun for all. Please contact our reservations ladies for this event. Please be aware that this is not a baby-sitting program and we ask that the parents keep an eye on their kids during our event. If you’re a sports fan, you will be happy to know, we have decided to replace the old, out of focus, TV near the bar area with a new 42” HD Television. This will be installed prior

g. Suite & Balance 102 AkronCenter OH 44312

ngbetterohio.com 0-644-1932 our New Years Eve event. The old TV was .unity Suiteto 102 Akron OH 44312 out focus and20 difficult to see. Frank Ganz, for ofthe past years~ -644-1932 Mike Petzker and I, along with members of , Balance, and Tinnitus our grounds crew, added additional drainage unity for the past 20 years~ to our soccer fields and park. An excavator was rented and almost 30 tons of gravel along , Balance, andfeet Tinnitus with 400 of drainage pipe was installed. Hopefully the days of the lower soccer field flooding will be a thing of the past.

We extend our condolences to the families of:

Karl-Heinz Fleischer Mary Albert Barbara Tonhaeuser

In the conclusion like to wishwith everyone: unds of Fest fillI’dyour heart joy!

“Fröliche Weinachten und ein Glüchliches Jahr”fill toyour all ofheart our members. unds ofNeues the Fest with joy!Thank you all for your support!

ki, Au.D Balance, and Tinnitus ki, Au.D Balance, and Tinnitus

Family Rudy Hearing & Balance Center

www.hearingbetterohio.com 2800 S. Arlington Rd. Suite 102 Akron OH 44312 330-644-1932 Quality Careour for community you ~Serving for the past 20 years~ and your family! In Hearing Loss, Balance, and Tinnitus Family Hearing & Balance Center

2800 S. Arlington Rd. Suite 102 AkronHearing Ohio 44312 330-644-1932 Family & Balance Center www.hearingbetterohio.com 2800 S. Arlington Rd. Suite 102 Akron Ohio 44312 330-644-1932 of the Fest fill your heart with joy! www.hearingbetterohio.com May the May sounds the of thesounds Fest fill your heart with joy! May the sounds of the Fest fill your heart with joy!

Dr. Richard Reikowski, Au.D Director of Hearing, Balance, and Tinnitus Dr. Richard Reikowski, Director of Hearing, Balance, and Tinnitus Dr. Richard Reikowski, Director of Hearing, Balance, and Tinnitus

German Family Society of Akron 3871 Ranfield Road Kent, OH 44240

German Crossword Puzzle Challenge

Answers on page 9.

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