It's one thing to want your name on your license plate. It's another thing to be the first in the state to achieve it (without adding a number). Here's a success story when it comes to beating the crowd of all Ohio Loewens to the plate. You'll often see this plate near the Ed Reichenbach State Farm Insurance office.
Note: Christine Purves writes about Swiss dialect words, phrases and stories, which relate to the history of this community. Her column is printed with permission by the Swiss Community Historical Society.
By Christine Habegger Purves
I never heard my grandmother use the word "rheumatism," but she came close. She would say, "I got some rheumatic fer shoor."
Or more specifically, "I ha jetszt es haxaschuss, und es duet mi viel rookveh." Literally this means, "I have a witch's shot and it gives me a big pain in the back."
Note: This update on the Swiss Community Historical Society is reprinted from the society's recent newsletter.
By Phil Kingsley, president of the society
In the wake of the June 2010 Swiss Day the Society's Board has begun exploring some new directions and possibilities, and has reorganized some of its committee structure to support this.
Saturday's fall festival had a real bounce to it. The Bluffton Baptist Church had a kid's activities area on Vine Street. One of the activities was this inflatable bouncing room.
This could be your great-grandfather. Sorry to say, the young man from Bluffton is unidentified. Will Triplett took the portrait around 1900. The more you study the photo, the more things jump out at you. Check out our model's left hand, for example. Is that a pocket watch chain near his right hand?
