I recall as a schoolboy in the late twenties on Armistice Day at 11:00 a.m. being instructed by Miss Biederman (and the next year by Miss Steiner) to lay my head down on my desk in remembrance of those who died eight to ten years before in the World War--no WWII then on the horizon.
There was the school janitor, Mr. Potee, and his brother with war disabilities to remind us of veterans. I had just outgrown a khaki wool suit which my mother had made from an army uniform a neighbor gave her.
Note: A torn anterior cruciate ligament is an athlete's worst nightmare. Here are two stories on how ACLs have affected Bluffton University athletes.
Photo and story by Derek Woods, Icon student intern
A.C.L.! The last three letters you don't want to hear if you are an athlete of any kind. Those are the letters Mike Johnson heard this summer. During a practice in summer camp for the Bluffton University football team, Johnson tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). This experience would change his life.
Gideon Steiner, 93, of Bluffton died 2:40 pm Nov. 10, 2010, at the Mennonite Memorial Home, Bluffton. He was born April 10, 1917, in Ontario, Canada, to Gideon and Sarah Wilhelm Steiner.
On Dec. 8, 1941 he married Ellnora Amstutz and she preceded him in death on Aug. 17, 1995. Mr. Steiner retired from Durez Corp., Kenton where he was a first class stationary engineer. He also worked at BLH, Lima and was a custodian at the Bluffton Schools.
An almost 50-year span of Bluffton athletics is represented in the university's Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2010-11, which will be inducted during a Jan. 29 dinner and ceremony in Marbeck Center.
Inductees are J. Roger Howe '49, Charles Stapleton '78, Louis Stokes '73 and the 1992 softball team.
Bluffton University students will direct a series of one-act plays in Ramseyer Auditorium on Dec. 1 and 2, starting at 7:30 p.m. each night. General admission is $1; all tickets can be purchased at the door.
The plays are completely student-run shows staged by students in Dr. Melissa Friesen's Play Direction class, which is required for all theatre minors. The students had to read through published collections of 10-minute plays, then choose a compelling play with two or three actors that they would enjoy directing.
