Latest news with #MooseLodge
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Community supports family of 9-year-old boy killed in bike accident
EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio (WKBN) – The community is coming together Friday to honor the memory of 9-year-old Clayton Talbert, whose life was tragically cut short in a bicycle accident earlier this month. Family friends have organized a special benefit dinner at the Moose Lodge in East Liverpool. The fundraiser, which kicked off at noon, features a spaghetti dinner and Chinese auction. Family members were wearing custom-made t-shirts honoring the young boy. It's all to help support Talbert's family during this difficult time. Organizers say they've prepared 140 pounds of spaghetti and they'll keep serving until it's all gone. 'It was a great relief, all of the donations that we received and all of the baskets that we got. Seeing everyone come together for the family is always heartwarming in a time of need,' Chelsey White said. The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Proceeds from the event will go directly to the Talbert family. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
From hub to hardship: Chicago-area VFW posts work to preserve veterans' spaces
The Brief Many VFW posts across Chicagoland are struggling with declining membership. Some posts have merged or sold buildings to stay afloat. Leaders are finding success by connecting veterans with services and support. CHICAGO - Memorial Day is a time to stop and pay homage to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. In a FOX 32 special report, we take a look at VFW posts that for generations have been gathering places for vets who made it home and the challenges to stay open. The backstory The sign on the outside now says Moose Lodge 660, but one building in the northwest suburbs was originally the hall for VFW Post 1337. Built by a group of Mount Prospect veterans back in the 1940s, it was a town hot spot. "Especially for Mount Prospect in the mid-1950s, 60s, there was some places to hang out but it was still a somewhat rural area where you may not have as much going on. You may not have as many places to go to just hang out, relax at the end of the week," said Emily Dattilo, director of the Mount Prospect Historical Society. In 1982, the VFW sold the building to the Moose Lodge because they couldn't afford to keep it. One of the reasons is their membership had started to wane. It's a problem other VFW and American Legion posts were also having as World War II veterans were getting older. "Our post was almost going to close I think. It was lacking membership when I took over. We only had like 60 or 70 people in it. After it goes so low, it kind of disbands," said Les Durov. Durov has been the post commander for the last seven years. Keeping up membership is one of the hardest tasks for him and his staff. "It's the hardest thing to do. To get veterans into the post. They don't think they're worthy of it. They don't think they deserve it," Durov said. But Durov and his team found a way to increase their membership numbers by simply talking to veterans about what's important to them. "Once you ask them about their benefits and tell them some of the benefits they can get and how they can get them, they love you. They're willing to join right away," Durov said. "Some of these guys are messed up pretty good. They really are. So we try to help each veteran as much as we can." This year, VFW Post 1337 turned 100 years old and is 134 members strong. "It's getting harder and harder," Durov said. "This year, I don't know if I'm going to make my membership but I'm trying." Durov says they've just about tapped out Mount Prospect when it comes to finding new members. "If we go west, Niles has a post. If we go north, Northbrook has a post. There's just a lot of posts in a ten–twelve mile area. We don't take people from another post. It's not proper," Durov said. Dig deeper The VFW in Lisle found itself dealing with a similar membership problem this year too. "Lisle is a very mature, very developed community. So there's not a lot of new people moving into the area," said Brett Nila. "So there aren't a lot of new veterans coming in to draw upon or approach." Nila is a trustee and a past commander for Lisle's VFW post. He says they are down to just 38 members, compared to several hundred when their membership hit its peak in the 1980s. "Right now, we have made the decision to merge with the Naperville post," Nila said. He says merging is one way to help preserve his post's legacy. "Particularly, we like to try to merge more than close. That way, it continues to keep veterans and give them what we call a home post," said Eric Morales, membership director of the Illinois VFW. What's next Catch part two of this special report about VFW success stories on Thursday. The Source FOX 32's Nate Rodgers reported on this story.
Chicago Tribune
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Big Rock couple still in step after 70 years of marriage
It was a passion for dancing that brought Herbert and Alvena Ruh together so very many years ago. But it is love for one another that has kept this Big Rock couple in each other's arms after more than 70 years of marriage. And, as far as I'm concerned, that makes them Valentine's Day experts. That's why I found myself this week interviewing the delightful pair, both 92, who met on a blind date at the Blue Moon dance hall in Elgin back in 1952 and have been tripping the light fantastic ever since. 'I was looking for a dance partner,' recalled Herb as we sat in the living room of their large white farm house on Swan Road. 'And she liked to dance.' Which is just what the young Aurora woman and Batavia man did every weekend – from the two-step to the polka to the waltz – for pretty much the rest of their lives. In fact, youngest son Steve Ruh recalls how 'I never saw them on Saturday nights. I always had a babysitter. They were always at dances.' If not the Blue Moon, then some other venue that offered live music. Like the Moose Lodge. Or VFW. Or a Fireman's Ball. Or a church social. It takes more than dance to make a team, however. Hard work, they both agree, is a critical component, not just in maintaining a strong relationship, but in life, overall. 'We had no time to get into trouble, we were always so busy,' insisted Herb, who was born and raised in Chicago, yet always wanted to be a farmer like his maternal grandfather, more so after his parents moved to Batavia when he graduated from Chicago Vocational High School. So Herb became a farmhand – before and after a stint in the U.S. Army. He and Alvena were apart for about a year when he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. But they made it official at their St. Nicholas Catholic Church wedding in Aurora on Oct. 16, 1954. Herb continued to learn his trade as a tenant farmer on several different properties in Kane County. Alvena followed his lead reluctantly, because she knew how tough this life could be. Her parents were Nebraska farmers who eventually gave up their drought-riddled land in the Dirty Thirties and moved to the Chicago suburbs. 'I did not want to be a farmer's wife,' stated Alvena who, after graduating from Nazareth Academy in LaGrange Park, took a job with Barber-Greene Company and moved to Aurora. 'But Herb didn't want to do anything else.' Marriage, they both know, requires sacrifice on both parts. And so, she threw herself enthusiastically into the role, especially after 1968 when the Ruhs bought a 220-acre farm in Big Rock, complete with the house they continue to call home today. In addition to growing corn, soybeans, wheat and hay, Herb milked cows, raised pigs and fed cattle. The farm also had saddle horses, a team of Belgian draft horses that helped haul manure and feed, and plenty of chickens that supplied eggs for those big breakfasts every morning (followed by even larger dinners at noon and suppers in the evenings). Alvena was always a great cook, according to her sons and husband. She was also a prolific baker, gardener and chauffeur for their four boys and one daughter. And she is mighty proud of her honorary title as 'sanitation engineer' for that nasty task of keeping those milk machines clean every day. The Ruh marriage was old-fashioned as the polkas they taught to their children. Alvena took care of hearth and home, while Herb was in charge of supervising all five kids outdoors. 'We all learned the true value of hard work,' said oldest son Russ Ruh, who owns DeKane Equipment in Big Rock. 'That has carried on from them to our professional lives now.' His youngest brother agreed. 'Even with sports, chores always had to be done. We ate fantastic food all the time and we never had any holes in our socks,' Steve replied quickly when asked to summarize his parents' teamwork. 'They stayed out of each other's hair until evening. And by then they were too tired to argue.' Still, when the weekend came, it was time to put on those dancing shoes. Remarkably, husband and wife enjoyed doing so until last year, when Herb had a stroke that made it difficult for him to walk. Nevertheless, farming and dance remain an important part of their lives. The Ruh homestead has continued to grow, with their youngest son taking over for his dad, who did not retire until age 80. And while Steve's 15-year-old son Sullivan may not have inherited his father's or grandfather's love of the land, he certainly picked up that dancing bug. After outgrowing local studios with his talents, the high school freshman is studying at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet Academy, with eyes set squarely on a stage career. Herb and Alvena, who both inherited their own parents' love of dance, were thrilled to watch Sullivan perform in 'The Nutcracker' last year at North Central College. 'We are just so proud,' said Alvena, referring not only to the young ballet dancer but to all 19 grandchildren and great- grandchildren. As the Ruhs sat in their living room, surrounded by walls filled with dozens of framed family photos – including baby portraits of the couple's five children – it's apparent farming and dance, while important, are not the bedrock of their long and happy marriage. 'We have been so very blessed with a large, close-knit family and friends,' said Alvena. 'We wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.'
