Ellwood City Historical Society Membership Meeting May 14

 Everett Bleakney welcomed everyone to the May 14 meeting of the Ellwood City Area Historical Society.  There were 36 in attendance.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Guy Prestia, a WWII veteran.

Minutes of the previous meeting were read.  Motion to accept was made by David Barensfeld and seconded by Ron Geddes.

Treasurer’s report was given by Charlie Brown with a beginning balance of $5807.24 and an ending balance of $5836.60.  Motion to accept was made by Ron Geddes and seconded by Louise Carroll.

Old Business:  Nothing to report.

New Business:  Ron advised volunteers were needed to man the Society booth at the Arts & Crafts Festival June 29-30 & July 1 and sign-up sheets would be passed around.  Jim Houk volunteered to pick up the panels which had been borrowed from Riverside High School in past years to be used in the tent if someone would contact the School to request them.

Show and Tell:  Sam Pawloski brought a small metal license plate that was used in 1943-1944.  This plate was used in lieu of the larger plate during World War II.  It was affixed to the larger plate from the previous year. 

Barb Mastropietro brought copies of two 1946 price lists from Reino’s, her mother’s grocery store, which was located at 214 Line Avenue.  She presented the two copies to the Historical Society.

Everett introduced the two recipients of the annual Robert and Janice Barensfeld Scholarships, Carter Brown and Logan Confer.  Carter, son of Doug & Cathy Brown attends Riverside High School.  Logan, son of Pascal and Christine Confer, attends Lincoln high School.  David Barensfeld congratulated the boys and presented both with enlarged copies of their $1500.00 checks.

Carter’s essay was titled Flu Pandemic of 1918 and How it Affected Ellwood City.  He plans to attend Kent State University and has been accepted into their Architecture program.

Logan’s essay titled Two Heros was about the tragedy of losing Firefighters David “Ernie” Martino and Paul Frederick as they fought a fire in 1989.  Logan will be attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Both students were presented with a village piece of their respective schools.

All submitted essays were judged by three former school teachers, Mary May, Barbara Mastropietro and Donna Schry.

Door prizes were won by Cathy Brown, Paul Dici, Dave Mastropietro and Guy Prestia.

Everett again congratulated the winners and thanked the Barensfeld Family for providing the funds for the scholarships.

A motion to adjourn was made by Barb Neff and seconded by Ron Geddes

Refreshments were then provided by Kay and Jim Houk.