Before we discuss the connection of the month of June to marriage and childbirth, we have a few quick observations on recent occurrences of note.

I don’t know about you, but…

I can never get enough of youngsters and the community doing good and volunteering for a worthy cause. On May 12, I was part of a group of volunteers that included all sorts of young people, including many that were in one of the Kiwanis Families of Kids (including Key Club and Builders Club among others). The group also included Kiwanis members and other adult volunteers. You ask, “What were they doing?” They were helping a nonprofit organization known as Kids Against Hunger-Your Quad Cities that organizes mobile food packing events.

They were packaging meals made up of a specialized blend of rice, soy, dried vegetables and a mix of twenty-one vitamins and minerals. In a little over an hour, the group, with the help of the Kids Against Hunger-Your Quad Cities volunteers, packed, I believe, almost 1,000 meals. The destinations for the meals, packed that day in Steamer Gym at Central Junior High School, were Haiti and Africa. Overall this organization has packed well over 3.6 million meals. The event was a sight to behold. Just search the organization on Google if you want more information.

I don’t know about you, but…

I believe people who eat meals regularly, and do not know the difference between being hungry and literally starving with real hunger, should count their blessings and never take for granted their filling their bellies on a consistent basis.

I don’t know about you, but…

I think that getting in the Guinness Book of World Records is quite an achievement. I don’t believe that I ever knew anyone personally who made it into the book until now. One Anderson Taylor, of Cambridge Ill., age eleven, was just put in the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest male museum curator. His museum, the Cambridge Natural History Museum is at 132 W. Center St. in Cambridge. The museum does not have a website but does have a Facebook page if that is your sort of thing. I know this young man and have even heard a presentation he did about his museum and consider him to be a remarkable young man. Congratulations Anderson. I encourage you to check out Anderson and his museum if you are able.

I don’t know about you, but…

I really enjoy many of the programs that the History Channel has to offer. I recently had an opportunity to view a special on Ulysses S. Grant. The three-part series, entitled Grant, does not portray U. S. Grant to be the butcher, the drunkard or the corrupt politician that many history books make him out to be. Instead, he is lauded for his contributions to helping save our Union, and for his efforts in the early Civil Rights movement and the Reconstruction Era. I somewhat like the message that this show presents. I would like to think Abraham Lincoln would agree with me.

I had the opportunity to attend a retirement banquet for retiring Fire Chief Stephen Welgat on the final Saturday of May. I don’t know about you, but…

I would like to congratulate Chief Welgat on his retirement. I have known Steve and the entire Welgat family for over 40 years. He played football for me at Kewanee High School. A very tough and hard-nosed individual, he played football the way it was meant to be played, hard and fast. Back then Steve displayed leadership qualities that I am sure served him well as fire chief. I do find some irony in the fact that the most difficult fire that he ever had to deal with occurred on May 5, shortly before his retirement. He and all the fire departments that helped deal with that fire were up to the task. Anyway, I wish him great luck in his retirement.

I don’t know about you, but…

Chief Welgat seems rather young to be retiring. I wonder what his next career will be.

Now you ask, “What about June being the month of marriages and births?”

I don’t know about you, but…

I found it interesting to learn that the month of June was named after the ancient Roman goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage, childbirth and fertility. You will get no argument from me considering that I have a father, sister and brother that were born in the month of June. My parents also were married in June of 1949. It is crazy to think that we owe all the June weddings that occur to an ancient Roman goddess.

I don’t know about you, but…

I hope you don’t forget that almost everything of value that came out of ancient Rome was stolen, uh, I mean borrowed, from the ancient Greeks.

National Fishing and Boating Week occurs each year during the first full week of June. I don’t know about you, but…

Even though I don’t fish anymore, I have great memories of fishing with my father and family as a youth, and then with my children later on. And even though I never went boating on a regular basis, I enjoyed the many opportunities I had to be on any kind of boat. So, if fishing, boating or both are your things, by all means grab any chance you get to do these fun outdoor activities. Time spent fishing and boating is a great opportunity to talk, laugh, relax, reconnect and create good memories with family and friends.

June 13 is Weed Your Garden Day. I don’t know about you, but…

I wish I could get away with weeding my garden only once every growing season. Heck, I would settle for once a month. I find weeds to be very persistent living things. By the way, I would like to thank all of you that go through the effort, time and expense of beautifying your yards and gardens. It is one of my favorite things about the month of June.

June 14 is Flag Day. I don’t know about you, but…

I believe that because it falls in between two other important national holidays, Memorial Day and Independence Day, that it is often overlooked. For those of you that don’t know, even though our nation’s flag was first created during the Revolutionary War, the idea of a Flag Day didn’t originate until the Civil War. But despite a number of grassroots movements calling for a national celebration of Flag Day, it didn’t become official until August 3, 1949, when then President Harry Truman signed a law establishing an annual celebration of Flag Day. So go ahead, and fly your flags high and proud on June 14, or any other day you have a mind to do so.

June is also home to “The Longest Day.” I don’t know about you, but…

I would imagine most of you know of the summer solstice, which occurs on or around June 21, as the day with the longest amount of daylight in the northern hemisphere each year. But some of you also know that June 6 is historically referred to as “The Longest Day” in reference to the Allied D-Day invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.

On that day, in an operation codified as Operation Overlord, over 160,000 Allied troops stormed five beaches in Normandy. The phrase “The Longest Day” comes from German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel when he predicted in April 1944, that any Allied invasion would be decisive, stating that for both sides, “It will be the longest day.” The phrase was popularized by a book by journalist Cornelius Ryan in 1959, and by a star-studded 1962 epic war film, The Longest Day, which remains a classic representation of the event.

I don’t know about you, but…

I am also looking forward to all of the History Channel’s 20-hour documentary, World War II, which began on Memorial Day and is narrated and executive-produced by Tom Hanks. What can I say? I like history.

I don’t know about you, but…

I imagine that some of you remember that in my last column, I mentioned that Kewanee High School Athletic Director Tim Atwell is retiring. He is actually retiring at the end of June, 2026. There will be an Open House celebration for Tim at Cerno’s Bar and Grill on Friday, June 26, from 5 to 9 p.m. I feel that if Coach Atwell touched your life in some way, and you are able to do so, you should drop by and wish him the best in his retirement life. I know I am planning to do so.

I don’t know about you, but…

If Tim Atwell or Steve Welgat need any pointers on dealing with retirement life, I believe that I am just the guy to do it. Simply put, of all my life endeavors, I feel that I have done retirement the best. I am a natural-born retired person if you will.

I don’t know about you, but…

I believe it is time to close. I am, however, concerned that with all the documentaries I will be watching, and all the weeding I will be doing in the month of June, that I may not find enough time to take all the requisite naps my tired, old body needs. But that’s probably not the case. I know that somehow I will find the time!

I believe I will close with a quote from one of my favorite historical figures, Winston Churchill. On speaking style, he said, “A good speech should be like a woman’s skirt: long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.” I believe that might apply to writings such as this. I hope I have kept it short enough to create interest.

Be careful out there!!