By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – A national award, a state award, an 86-year-old community servant who can always do more and a Brandywine teacher whose three-year-old history club has grown to include a fourth of the student body.
Those were among the honorees Monday afternoon at Capt. Samuel Felt Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) annual Awards Day at Cass District Library.
The national DAR medal for contributing to the understanding of American history was awarded by Kay Smith to Barbara and Grafton "Grif" Cook of Sumnerville, whose books include Round Oak Stove People and Other Dowagiac Personalities, M-1 Carbines, Pokagon Township Reflections, including a video, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church's diamond jubilee, 1915-1990.
March 31 in East Lansing Decatur school board president George Fusko of Wayne Township will receive the DAR's state conservation award.
Fifteen-year Brandywine teacher David Roeder of Niles, accompanied by his wife, Angie, a guidance counselor, was honored locally for imparting history.
Roeder graduated from Doane College in Nebraska, earned his teaching degree from Hillsdale College and added a master's degree from Marygrove College in Detroit.
One of his senior students wrote a recommendation letter.
She stated he isn't an ordinary high school teacher, but "an individual who desires to inspire every student."
Roeder has become junior and senior class adviser and manages the prom committee, where he can put his fundraising expertise to good use.
There was a book club, whose members met Sunday nights at Borders.
There was a movie night, with members viewing historical films together.
Trivia Nights took place at Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and a shot at defeating David and Angie.
As the group gained members, events ranged farther afield.
During spring break, the club roamed Navy Pier in Chicago.
The beginning of summer brought an excursion to Mackinac Island between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
The club continued to grow and there was a Haunted Cemetery Tour for Halloween, watching "National Treasure" 2 in a theater and a trip to Medieval Times in Chicago.
Positive feedback led to the school board approving 56 students and staff to spend a week in Boston.
He continues to arrange events to keep the club vibrant, including Henry Ford Museum, Gettysburg and Williamsburg (this year) and New York (next year).
"When I started the club, I thought maybe 10 or 15 students would join," Roeder said, "but as of today we have 96 out of 400 students in the high school."
"The students do a great job of fundraising," he added, "and no student is excluded because they can't afford it. We sell lots of candy and we have a Port-a-Pit this Saturday at Niles Inn."
Jon Wuepper, Cass District Library local history branch manager since January 2002, wrote one of the Cook's three non-DAR nominating letters: "They have been stalwart supporters over the past 5 1/2 years. Barbara and Grif, individually and collectively, have immense knowledge of the history of Cass County and southwest Michigan. Furthermore, they have dedicated a great deal of time promoting Cass County's historical significance and developing materials that enable them to share their knowledge with others," such as historic tours.
"I feel the community has benefited greatly by their research and knowledge," Wuepper wrote, "and I personally am proud to be associated with them. In my opinion, they are worthy of the DAR history award medal many times over."
Barb serves on the Historic Society of Michigan board of directors. Grif, a Son of the American Revolution, served on the National Historic Preservation of Public Records until budget cuts disbanded it.
"Grif started making historical presentations in grade school," Barb said. "We've both been active with Southwestern Michigan College. One thing seems to lead to another. Our background is genealogy. A lot of our interests have come from genealogy and expanded out."
Mrs. Cook remembers one car trip where they arose early and were debating the causes of the American Revolution by 6:30 a.m.
Grif was instrumental in SMC's museum acquiring a Philippine collection which has since been returned to its government.
"We received a great deal of personal satisfaction from that," she said, "because when the curator came and met us at the consulate in Chicago, there were tears in his eyes. He had read about many of the artifacts, but had never seen them. We had some paper things he was sure had been disintegrated because what the Americans didn't steal or destroy, the Japanese burned. The Filipino people lost their heritage until we returned about 500 items to them."
The Cooks were instrumental in the Freedom Trail Marker the State Bar of Michigan placed by the 1899 courthouse. In fact, she said, it was nearly placed in Marshall.
They also took part in the Orphan Train sesquicentennial at SMC in 1998 and the national Round Oak Stove collectors convention in Dowagiac.
"Recently," Barb, a former Pokagon Township supervisor, said, "we've been involved with Fort St. Joseph in Niles and have done several PowerPoint presentations on the French and Indian War, the Potawatomi and the fort's history. We've both served on the U.S. Heritage Trail Council and done speaking engagements connected with that. I've been on the Historical Commission and got involved with MEANDRS. Grif is writing an article on the Masons the state wants to turn into a book. The Dowagiac lodge is a combination of three lodges," including Cassopolis and Decatur.
"It's an interesting relationship," Barb said. "We're very harsh critics" of each other. "Grif has a fantastic depth of knowledge of what's gone on nationally and internationally. I really enjoyed a diary and some letters written in 1898 during the Klondike gold rush some friends of ours shared. I turned it into a PowerPoint presentation, which was tons of fun."
"I finally got my bachelor's degree in history and English in 1996 at the age of 66 at Western," Grif said. "I was quite honored when they gave me an award for a thesis I wrote on arms, armor and the plays of William Shakespeare. I'm very much an Anglophile because I've found you can't know American history unless you know British history."
"The collection of Philippine artifacts is the centerpiece for the national museum in Manila," Grif said.
County Commissioner Johnie Rodebush, D-Howard Township, merited the DAR community service award announced by Virginia Bontrager of Dowagiac.
Rodebush, 86, is a retired iron worker, longtime firefighter, youth mentor, teaches BIble study and provides leadership for a variety of steamed corn fundraisers that benefit the Niles senior center, Niles Lions Club, Cass County Council on Aging and Cass District Library.
Funds he raised have helped 17 homeless veterans in Niles.
Rodebush serves on the Region IV Area Agency on Aging board, was a 2008 delegate to Older Michiganians Day and sits on the Niles senior center board.
A 35-year charter member of the tri-county Southwestern Michigan Commission and has been chairman of the Cass County Board of Commissioners and of the Michigan Association of Counties.
During his long tenure on the county commission, the Medical Care Facility, Law and Courts Building and the district library were constructed.
He donated the first dollar to establish the Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council and helped found Barn Swallow Theater in Cassopolis.
Last Aug. 25, Rodebush received a Michigan Senior Citizen of the Year award at the state fair in Detroit, nominated by Lynn Kellogg, AAA chief executive officer.
Rodebush carries a corn kernel in his pocket to remind him of his father's indelible lesson from childhood. At 7, Rodebush struggled to keep up with siblings doing chores in Arkansas.
As Johnie labored to lug a pail full of shelled corn, his dad dropped in another kernel, admonishing, "You can always do more."
"I don't do it for awards and ribbons," he said. Rodebush credited former commissioner Marjorie Federowski, a DAR member, for the library.
During the Carter administration, she suggested applying for the $975,000 that built the county library "without any money from the taxpayers," Rodebush recalled. "As far as the steamed corn, it's easy to feed 200 to 300 people when you've got help."
Fusko majored in biology, but minored in history. "Not many history teachers go beyond the textbook. It's really exciting when someone does," Fusko praised Roeder.
Paula and Curt Johnson hosted Capt. Samuel Felt DAR Chapter at their clubhouse on the Rolling Hills Hunting Preserve Aug. 11. Members and guests were treated to a hay ride through acres of wildflower pheasant cover.
A week-old pheasant was also a guest and tolerated the petting and admiration of the group as Mr. Johnson explained pheasant development.
That summer meeting focused on presentation of the annual conservation award Fusko received to follow up his 2007 Cass County Conservation District Educator of the Year Award.
He taught science in Decatur for more than 30 years. During that time he organized many biology trips to both national and international destinations, including Cape Hatteras, Costa Rica, Belize and the Amazon River in Peru.
His students found themselves exploring the Amazon and climbing Machu Picchu in Peru, walking through the Cloud Forest in Costa Rica and traversing the rain forest and coastal area of Belize and Guatemala.
Along with the study of the environment in these countries, Fusko's classes also studied their cultures – in one case meeting and interacting with Amazon tribes which rarely receive outside visitors.
Fusko helped the Decatur biology class construct a rain garden on school property. This rain garden collects water runoff from storms.
Vegetation planted there assists in absorption, eliminating standing water.
Cory Harding, honored in December as the Cassopolis DAR Good Citizen, returned to read his winning essay on "Our American Heritage and Our Responsibility to Preserve It."
Cory wants to study business at Western Michigan University.
Regent Paula Johnson, a history teacher who just returned from traveling to Guatemala, Colombia and Panama, said, "I hope you have a chance in your not too distant future to do some traveling. Our young people need to see what's out there and to get beyond the borders of the textbooks and the borders of the classroom. The more you travel and see how people live in other parts of the world, the more precious our heritage becomes. I say that as someone who was afraid to get off the boat in Colombia because I thought FARC was going to meet me and take me away."
Johnie with his community service sets an example for young people" like Cory Harding, the Cassopolis DAR Good Citizen who read his winning essay on
"I'm just so thrilled by the talent we have in this county," Johnson said.
Larry Balok, 90, who received the DAR's community service award in March 2008, gave the program on tax preparation at the Council on Aging.
Balok, a South Bend, Ind., native who came to Diamond Lake in 1963 and introduced ice boating, has been preparing taxes for senior citizens through the Cass County Council on Aging for 26 years, since retiring from K&M Machine-Fabricating.
For the COA, Balok also engraved all the thousand bronze leaves on the giving tree entering the Edward Lowe Center.
He also makes balloon animals for grandchildren at the COA's annual festival.
Balok won a national award for his COA contributions presented in Washington on June 8, 2007.
"I've had a very interesting life, been all over the world and I have no regrets," the Navy veteran said.
"The year I retired, I thought about things to do. I went to school to learn as much as I could about the IRS. I've been associated with them ever since, for 26 years. I do a lot of taxes for older people, and I do some for younger people, too. That's probably the most important thing I do for a lot of people."
As for his ice boating, "I've been a sailor all my life," Balok said.
"I was a member of the Olympic sailing team one year. I guess I've got quite a reputation on Diamond Lake for introducing ice boating," crossing Cass County's largest lake at speeds exceeding 100 mph from north to south in 11 seconds.
"One year, I sailed in every month but February," Balok said. "You don't hear much about ice boating, but it's a wonderful sport. You can really move. I've been up over 100 mph on that lake more than once."