at First Mennonite

Randy Smith has been appointed the new pastor at First Mennonite Church in Hillsboro.

He and wife Ann come from Raleigh, N.C., where they led a service adventure with Mennonite Mission Network.

Smith graduated from Bethel College of North Newton with a degree in social work and from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., with a master of divinity degree.

He has served as youth and associate pastor Whitestone Mennonite Church in Hesston, pastor of Hope Mennonite Church in Fort Worth, Texas, campus pastor at Bethel College and interim pastor at Greensboro Mennonite Fellowship in Greensboro, N.C.

He and Ann, a nurse at Wichita Clinic-Bethel in Newton, have been married for 28 years. They have two children, Mark and Emily.

Smith began Sept. 1 at First Mennonite and will be installed at the Oct. 2 service.

Rendezvous Oct. 7-8 at Maxwell refuge

A Mountain Man Prairie Rendezvous will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 7 and 8 at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, located six miles north of Canton.

Participants will be invited to step back to the 1800s, as early explorers and trappers dressed in buckskins and furs will demonstrate necessary survival skills of the fur trading era.

Buffalo tours will depart every hour. Other activities will include art and crafts, birding displays, Kansas Flintknappers Knap-In and concessions available with buffalo burgers.

Musical entertainment includes Thad Beach at 10 a.m. and Cowboy Zerf at 12:30 p.m. Friday, and Don Wagner and Bill Burrows with cowboy music and poetry at 10 a.m. and classic country band Spur at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

Charges are $2 gate admission and $5 for tours. Children under 4 are free. To make group reservations, call 620-628-4455.

Harms to be speaker

at AHSGR gathering

The Golden Wheat Chapter of the American Historical Society of Germans From Russia (AHSGR) will gather for its quarterly meeting Oct. 9, beginning with a potluck dinner at 1:30 p.m. at the Immanuel Lutheran Church, 909 S. Market, Wichita.

The meeting is open to the public and everyone is welcome, especially descendants of German-speaking families who came from Russia. Registration begins at 1 p.m.; the program begins at 2:30 p.m.

The featured speaker will be Wilmer A. Harms of North Newton, who will present an illustrated lecture of recent events in the former Molotschna Colony, a Mennonite settlement near Zaparohyze, Ukraine.

This area was settled by German-speaking Mennonites at the beginning of the 19th Century.

Harms is a Mennonite historian who has made 11 trips to the former Soviet Union and has toured in 10 of the former Soviet provinces.

Harms will use slide illustrations to show the memorial monuments prepared beforehand and placed at strategic locations in the former Molotschna Colony. These monuments were unveiled and dedicated in 2004 as part of the Bi-Centennial Molotschna Mennonite Celebration. This celebration ended with a worship service attended by more than 500 Mennonites, said to be the largest gathering of Mennonites in Russia in more than 60 years.

A graduate of Tabor College and the Kansas University School of Medicine, Harms' interest in Mennonite history became a passion in 1975 with his appointment to the steering committee for the Mennonite World Conference held in Wichita in 1978.

Harms first traveled to Russia in 1984, and thereafter began developing and presenting lectures that have highlighted the historical events of both Mennonites and other German groups from Russia.

He has written and published three books and was a contributor to a fourth one. Following five years of research he wrote "The Odyssey of Escapes From Russia" and "The Saga of Anna K."

This book describes 17 different ways Mennonite and Lutheran families found to escape from Russia into China during Stalin's reign of terror. With the help of Mennonite Central Committee, the Mennonites eventually were resettled in North and South America.

MCC update Sept. 25 at Alexanderwohl

John Stoesz, director of Mennonite Central Committee Central States, and Irma Gonzalez, supervisor of the MCC Central States workroom, will speak at 7 p.m. Sept. 25 at Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church near Goessel.

They will report on how the Mennonite churches in the South are helping victims of Hurricane Katrina, as well as what they observed as they toured parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

The public is invited to attend.

Women's workshop planned for Nov. 5

Marion County's 11th women's wellness workshop will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at Marion Elementary School.

The workshop, themed "Making Life's Pieces Fit," is free of charge for women of Marion County.

Child care will be provided, and a children's workshop will also be available free of charge.

The workshops are sponsored by Marion County businesses.

Northview announces

board of directors

Northview Developmental Services has announced its 2005-06 board of directors.

Officers from Marion County are Howard Collett of Marion, Susan Kliewer of Hillsboro and Jan Schroeder of Hillsboro.

Recently completing a term was Brad Bartel of Hillsboro.

Goessel-area walk set for Sept. 25

Goessel walkers are recruiting sponsors for the two-mile or 10-K walk starting at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 25 from Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church near Goessel.

The walk is organized through Church World Service.

To sign up to walk or donate, call Denise Nickel at 367-2226.

Werner to speak at

Chat and Dine Oct. 1

Marion County Lake residents will meet for the Chat and Dine covered dish dinner at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at South Lake Hall.

Families and guests are invited to come early to enjoy hot or cold cider before dining.

Sharon Werner, chief attorney of the consumer fraud and economic crime division of Sedgwick County, will present the program "Consumer Concerns" on the topics of warranties, buying used cars and the increase of identity theft.

A painting by Judy Reno has been donated for the October hall-rent fund-raising drawing. It is on display at Central Park Antiques Emporium in Marion.

Hosts for October are Helen and Dwight Beckham, Jean and Homer McKellips and Johelen and Dean Fincham.

TEEN board meeting Sept. 21 over ITV

The next Technology Excellence in Education Network meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 21 over the ITV network.

The TEEN board of directors includes representatives from the school districts of Centre, Marion, Herington, Hillsboro and Peabody.

Santa Fe Trail Fest set for Oct. 9 in Tampa

The Santa Fe Trail Fest will start at 4 p.m. Oct. 9 at the ball diamond in Tampa.

Music by Gail Burns and Friends and the Routh Sisters and children's games will start at 4 p.m.

A chili cookoff and wiener roast will follow at 5 p.m. Donations will be accepted for the roast.

A dedication of the Tampa Rural High School monument will also be held at 5 p.m.

A hayrack ride around town and a scarecrow decorating contest will each begin at 6:30 p.m. Teams of three to six people are needed to enter the contest. Scarecrow "stuff" will be provided.

Centre Leos will serve doughnuts, coffee and lemonade, as well as chances to win various cakes at $1 for a ticket or $5 for six tickets.

The public is encouraged to bring chairs and roasting sticks.

Ogden addresses

Delta Kappa Gamma

The Alpha Omega chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International met Sept. 9 at Butler County Community College in Marion. Sixteen members and two guests were in attendance.

Members voted to donate books to local libraries in memory of each recently deceased member of the society. Books will be placed in the Hillsboro City Library in memory of Kathryn Blair and Evelyn Schmidt. A book will be placed in the Peabody City Library in memory of Frances Skinner.

Guest speaker Linda Ogden, director of Communities in Schools, addressed the group on the issue of teenage drinking.

The next meeting will feature a silent auction to raise funds for the incentive award presented each year to senior girls who will be pursuing a career in education.

Home interiors bingo set for Sept. 30

A Home Interiors Bingo Party will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Marion Senior Center.

The public invited to this free event hosted by Denise Crabb and Chris Baatrup. Prizes will be given. For more information, call 382-9107.

Durham library sets closing book sale

The Becker City of Durham Library will hold a book sale from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 23.

The library is closing its doors following the sale.