In May the Bluffton Area Chamber of Commerce invited Ralf Bronnenmeier as a guest breakfast speaker.
Our experience inviting speakers falls in one of three categories:
1 the invitee needs to think about it and get back to us later,
2 the invitee needs to check his calendar and get back to us later,
(Categories 1 and 2 require a second phone call to the invitee for a definite yes or no)
3 the invitee asks, “Why do you want me as your speaker?”
We invited Ralf and his response was none of the above. It was immediate.
Gary Kirtland says he bought his first car at age 15. Conner Stewart sold him the car. At the time Stewart owned a Sohio gas station at the corner of Main and Jefferson Streets (now owned by Kirtland).
“I told my dad that I wanted this car – a 1954 Ford – and I bought it,” said Gary. Stewart let Gary park the car on his Sohio lot.
Since he wasn’t old enough to drive, after school he’d go start it, rev up the engine and mess around with it. He eventually blew the engine simply by revving it up too much.
Maybe Marlin Gerber is the Johnny Appleseed of blueberries. Leduc, Michigan, blueberries to be specific.
Bluffton likes blueberries and Marlin Gerber feeds our appetites for the tiny summer berry.
Who is Marlin anyway and why does he come to Bluffton with blueberries?
Originally from Sugarcreek, he enrolled at Bluffton College in 1953. He took off a couple years to volunteer in PAX. Then he returned to graduate in 1960.
Todd Gratz, formerly of Bluffton, - brother of Kevin Gratz - and former editor of the Bluffton News read our story about Henry Huber and "knee high by the Fourth of July." (Click here to read that story.)
He took one of the iconic photos of Farmer Huber in 1972 and sent us a copy from his personal collection.
The Icon offers viewers a three-part photo series that took three years to complete. We intend to continue this series. Here’s the story about it.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away there was a newspaper editor in a small town called Bluffton, Ohio.
The editor’s name was Charles Hilty. He created a tradition that The Icon has adopted. Every year on or very close to July 4, he’d take a photo of an old farmer, Henry Huber, standing in Henry’s cornfield.
