Laura Fay Bassitt, 88, died Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2015, at 4:24 p.m., at the Lost Creek Care and Rehabilitation Center. Fay was born June 13, 1927 in Hardin County, Ohio, to Charles R. and Pearl R. (Peggs) Johnson who preceded her in death.
Fay and Robert E. (Bob) Bassitt, Sr. were married on horseback at the Labor Day Rodeo in Ada on Sept. 1, 1947. They were together for over 67 years when Robert died on April 7, 2015.
Lions Way Trailhead Park will be dedicated at 4 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 16, according to Richard Ramseyer, chair of the Bluffton Pathway Board and president of the Bluffton Lions Foundation.
The event takes place at the trailhead picnic shelter near Comfort Inn on Commerce Lane and will include a ribbon cutting.
The Trailhead park project involves construction of a picnic shelter with concrete pad and wheel chair assessable ramp, picnic tables, identification signs, bike stand on concrete pad, drinking fountain, plantings and landscaping.
The advice that college freshmen receive is always obvious or bogus, and given by people relating what they should have done when they were 18 or 19.
That’s what first-year Bluffton University students heard Sept. 1 from poet and novelist Marge Piercy—who went on to offer a few suggestions anyway at the university’s annual opening convocation.
“Keep your eyes on what’s happening because it can land on your head,” Piercy recommended, urging her largely student audience to pay attention to politics because of its pervasiveness in life.
Bluffton University’s Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR) is offering a trail biking class this fall for both interested retirees and the semi-retired.
Local bicyclists Paul and Mary Fleck will lead the class, whose first meeting and ride will begin at 2 p.m. Sept. 16 in the Sommer Center parking lot on campus. Cost is $50.
Tickets are still available for the opening performance in the 2015-16 Bluffton University Artist Series, by the baroque chamber ensemble Apollo’s Fire, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, in Yoder Recital Hall.
Founded in 1992, Apollo’s Fire is dedicated to reviving the true spirit of baroque performances, with the emotional impact the music was intended to convey. The group is based in Cleveland and plays to sold-out houses around the world.
Dr. Donald Hooley, a professor of mathematics at Bluffton University, will discuss "An Achievement Evaluation of a Flipped Calculus Course” at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, in Stutzman Lecture Hall in Bluffton’s Centennial Hall.
The first campus colloquium of the academic year, the presentation is free and open to the public.
Dr. James M. Harder, president of Bluffton University, will present the annual President’s Forum at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, in Founders Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Harder will offer perspectives on the start of a new academic year—Bluffton’s 116th—and describe several institutional initiatives for the coming year. The special theme of this year’s address will be the unique qualities that define the Bluffton educational experience.
Book ReViews, 123 S. Main St., Bluffton, hosts Beth Huffman, local author is a book signing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 12, according to Dr. Christina Walton, store manager.
Huffman is a retired English teacher from Columbus Grove. She will sign copies of her new book “Dance, Belle, Dance!”
It is the story of a girl, Belle, born with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Her inability to focus in the classroom creates many obstacles and her immaturity results in social miscues that her peers don’t understand.
Bluffton University’s Institute for Learning in Retirement (ILR), an educational program for retirees, is offering eight courses on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from Sept. 21-Nov. 12.
Each course costs $50; the cost to take two or more courses is $100. Registration and, if applicable, course fees are due at the time of registration. Sept. 18 is the deadline to register. Unless otherwise noted, classes will meet in the ILR classroom, located in Shultz Hall of Riley Court on campus.
Leland and Joanne Voth celebrated 65 years of marriage on Sept. 2, 2015.
Leland grew up in China where his parents were missionaries with the General Conference Mennonite Church and later lived in Newton, Kansas. Joanne's home town is Bluffton. Joanne left Bluffton College for one year as an exchange student to Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. She later graduated from Bluffton College. In 1950 they were married in the First Mennonite Church, Bluffton.
