Joan Owen Visit

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of visiting with Joan Owen, wife of the pastor of the Welsh Church in Detroit. Joan, and her (now deceased) husband John not only used to live in Detroit when he was the pastor there, but then subsequently came to Mount Gilead where John pastored the church that Kathy and I now attend, First Presbyterian Church of Mount Gilead. While they lived here, they became very close friends with our (now current) neighbors, Chuck and Dolores Reutter. Joan currently lives in Lisbon, OH about 2 hours east of here, just a few minutes south of Youngstown, OH.

Joan stopped and spent the day and evening at Chuck & Dolores' and today is on her way to visit her grandson (Marion's oldest) who is a sophomore at Ohio Weslyan University in Delaware, OH just about 40 minutes south of us.

On Sunday, she'll be attending a Gymanfu Ganu in Westerville, OH (northeast Columbus) at Central College Presbyterian Church.  She is quite active still in the Welsh community nationwide, serving on many boards and committees and has even worked as part of a team compiling and publishing a Welsh songbook.

Both Marion and Roderick live in Virginia, about an hour apart from each other and Roderick is a college professor at Mary Baldwin College where he teaches philosophy and religion.

I'm sorry I never asked what Marion is now doing, but I did find out that each has 3 boys, so Joan has 6 grandsons.  Although she doesn't have email, I know she'd love to hear from you girls, so I'll send you her address and phone when I get it from Chuck and Dolores.

Eisteddfod

OK, so I switched back to a "basic" style template because I couldn't figure out a good way to be able to write posts.  You'll need to just overwrite the part that says ..."Here's where you'll write your new posts"

Mark and Cindy are coming for dinner tonight, I've been cooking pork BBQ rack of ribs (8 lbs) out on the grill since about noon, keeping the fire at 200 deg.  Kathy's made cheesy potatoes and 7 layer salad too.  Yummy!

It's been raining non-stop for about all week now, we are going to a Wooster College football game tomorrow and then on Sunday we are going to Gomer, Ohio to Gymanfa Ganu and the Eisteddfod

Gomer's Welsh atmosphere has endured to the present day. An annual Gymanfa Ganu is held on the first Sunday in October, Saint David's Day is celebrated there and Gomer Welsh Community Museum has been set up in the village.

The Museum is open between 1:30 and 4:00 on the second and fourth Sundays of every month. The address and telephone number are:
Gomer Welsh Community Museum,
7365 Gomer Road,
Gomer, OH 45888
(419) 999-5820


Link to more on Gomer, Ohio and the Welsh

Check out this link too ....

That's all for now, see you girls later, I'll try to shoot some video of the Eisteddfod so you can hear the singing!