Jasper German Club

The “Doppel Adler Musikanten” entertained members and guests of the Jasper Deutscher Verein Family Picnic. The picnic was held at the Schnellville Community Center on Saturday, September 25 th. Over 150 members and guests attended.

Members and guests were treated to Jaegerschnitzel (Hunters Schnitzel) along with spaetzle prepared in the afternoon by members of the picnic committee and club members brought in additional food.

President Dan Gutgsell welcomed all present. Tokens of appreciation were presented to Dan and Linda Wehr, John and Julie Gutgsell, Dave and Rita Blessinger, Ed and Sarah Zoglman, and Patti Goepfrich for chairing the booths during the Strassenfest. President Gutgsell noted that the Deutscher Verein Float was awarded the Strassenfest Award for the Strassenfest Parade.

Dan Wehr gave a financial report of the Deutscher Verein’s Food Stand, Pastry Stand, and Souvenir Stand at the Strassenfest. Due to the efforts of the members of the Deutscher Verein along with the great weather, the booths enjoyed a record year. The Deutscher Verein provides much support for the Strassenfest.

Dan Gutgsell and Patti Goepfrich recognized John and Vicki Hoffman and Barbara Fleck and Larry Taylor who participated in the Outdoor German Home Decorating/Lighting Contest and were present for the evening.

Matthias Hilger, Picnic Chairperson, recognized his committee members who decorated the hall and prepared food for the meal. They were Bob Fleck, Linus Lechner, Wolfgang Erhardt, Scott and Kerstin Ortiz, Rafe and Phyllis Ackerman, Jim Gutgsell, Dan Gutgsell, Bob Dilger, and Patti Goepfrich. Don and Vera Renner served as greeters for the evening. The updated German Club web site was displayed. The web site address is www.jaspergermanclub.org.

President Gutgsell announced that German-American Day will be celebrated with a dinner at the Schnitzelbank on Wednesday, October 6 th. Social time begins at 6:00PM with presentation of the 6 th German Heritage Award and dinner at 6:30PM. Students representing the county high schools will present their winning essays. Each winner will be presented a $250 scholarship. The German American Bank is the financial sponsor of the contest. Norbert Krapf will present the program. Mr. Krapf is back home in Indiana after 34 years in New York and will read passages from immigrant letters, poems, and folktales dealing with German heritage. His books will be on sale at a discount at the dinner. He will have a new book of poems set in southern Indiana and Germany published in April from Time Being Books, “Looking for God’s Country”.

Ben Werne will attend the November meeting to discuss the Eckert Mill with any members who would like to share their memories.

Bob Dilger, Vice President of the Deutscher Verein, then recognized new members present. Members and guests are encouraged to attend all club activities.

Joe Wanninger won the special attendance prize. Other attendance prizes were won by Jane Luebbehusen, Joan Vaal, Nancy Burton, Gary Egler, Rita Egler, Rafe Ackerman, Linus Lechner, Gene Humbert, Regine Haderer, Edward Wening, and Leroy Oser. Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Eckerle were recognized for being married 59 years.

The remainder of the evening was spent socializing and dancing to the music provided by “Doppel Adler Musikanten”.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the German Club or parents of students taking the German language are welcome to attend.

The Jasper Deutscher Verein, Sister Cities of Jasper, Inc., and The Jasper Partnership Commission sponsored a German-American Day Program October 6 th at the Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper. Over 75 individuals celebrated the occasion.

Dan Gutgsell, president of the Jasper Deutscher Verein, welcomed all present and gave a brief history of the reason for the German-American Day. He introduced Mayor William J. Schmitt, who read the proclamation recognizing October 6 th as German American Day in Jasper.

Jim Gutgsell, president of Sister Cities of Jasper, Inc., introduced the essay winners of the “Why is it important to preserve the German Heritage in Dubois County” contest which was held in conjunction with German-American Day. This contest was open to all seniors in the four Dubois County high schools. Over 65 entries were received.

The winner from Jasper High School was Whitney Gutgsell and her parents are John and Julie Gutgsell. Brittney Knies was the winner from Forest Park Junior-Senior High School and her parents are Tim and Yvonne Knies. The winner from Northeast Dubois High School was Michael Wessel. Michael is the son of Fred and Therese Wessel. Students presented their essay as part of the program of the evening. Teachers were also recognized. These students, along with Matthias Hilger and Patti Goepfrich, appeared on WITZ with Gary Lee earlier in the day.

Mr. Gutgsell also introduced Dr. Norbert Krapf. Dr. Krapf is back home in Indiana after 34 years in New York and read passages from poems and folktales dealing with German Heritage and local experiences.

Matthias Hilger, president of The Jasper Partnership Commission, then presented the 6 th annual German Heritage Award. This award is presented to an individual or group who has contributed generously of their time, talents, or resources in maintaining, improving, or building upon the German roots in Dubois County.

Sister Cities of Jasper and the Jasper Partnership Commission created the award in 1999. The Jasper Deutscher Verein sponsored the award.

This recognition is open to all people, not just residents of the City of Jasper, who give what they can in order to make a difference. A nomination recognizes the work of those who generously support the German heritage. A committee, consisting of the presidents of the Jasper Deutscher Verein, Sister Cities of Jasper, Inc., and the Jasper Partnership Commission, judges the nominations and selects the winner. Mr. Hilger noted that there were a record number of nominations this year of many deserving people.

The 2004 German Heritage Award was presented to Danny and Linda Wehr. Hilger noted the many areas that Mr. and Mrs. Wehr have been active in supporting the German Heritage. Danny was the first president of the Jasper Deutscher Verein and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. Linda has been involved with the scholarship program that the Deutscher Verein sponsors. She is the driving part of the selection committee and sees that the students are selected fairly and to the guidelines set by the Deutscher Verein. They have taken the challenge of organizing the German Club Food Booth at the Strassenfest for a number of years. Twenty-six years ago, they donned their German outfits and visited many towns and media stations in Indiana promoting the German Heritage of Jasper and the Strassenfest. They promote the German language whenever possible and have visited Germany several times to support the Partnership effort.

Members of Mr. and Mrs. Wehr’s family also attended to help them celebrate the evening.

Previous recipients of the award are Mary Jo Meuser, Claude and Martina Eckert, Dave Buehler, Linus and Sally Lechner, and Joe and Irene C. Eckerle.

Rhonda Hopf, Executive Assistant, and Jay Baker, Vice President-Sales Leader, representing German American Bank then commented on the leadership skills and German Heritage in the essays presented by the students.

On behalf of the German American Bank, they then presented each essay winner with a $250 scholarship and certificate.

Dan Gutgsell then thanked the German American Bank for their financial assistance of the essay contest and for the help in organizing the contest and thanked all for attending the dinner and supporting the German Heritage.

Scott and Kerstin Ortiz presided at the welcoming table and aided Dr. Krapf in the sales of his books. The remainder of the evening was spent socializing.

The November meeting of the Deutscher Verein will be held at the Jasper VFW on Thursday, November 18 th. This meeting will include the annual auction benefiting the JHS German Student Exchange Program. There will be a presentation on the updated Deutscher Verein web site. More information will be in the club newsletter or on the web site at www.jaspergermanclub.org.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the German Club or parents of students studying German in school is welcome to attend.

A special thanks to the German American Bank for being
the financial sponsor of the German American Day essay contest.

Members with last names beginning A-J are asked to bring a dessert and members with last names beginning with K-Z are asked to bring an appetizer or snack. The club will provide beer and soft drinks.

The meeting will include a presentation of the new German Club website by Perry-Spencer Communications personnel. Member are encouraged to take a peek at the new website found at http://www.jaspergermanclub.org/ prior to the meeting as a significant amount of work has been done recently. Be prepared to ask questions and express ideas for future inclusion.

Dan Hoffman has graciously agreed to conduct our annual auction of donated items with 100% of the proceeds donated to support the Jasper High School German Student Exchange program. Everyone is encouraged to bring an item or two for this Auction. Please be generous!

Items from past years have included baked goods, crafts, furniture, homemade wine, German items, and Holiday items. Be creative – the more variety and quantity of items we have in the Auction, the more funds will be raised to support the Exchange Program. Come prepared to bid!

The December meeting will be on December 16 th and will be our Annual Christmas Party. Please note that the Christmas Party will be at the VFW this year.

The menu will include fried chicken, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, and butter. Cost will be $8 per person.

Every seat was filled for our on-time take off. It seemed like the group was really ready for a good time - actually, it seemed like some had not been out for a while, everyone was in a party mood.

As we headed toward Bloomington in our Luxury Coach, our first stop came only 21 miles in our journey. Seems like we were not getting very good MPB. After restocking coolers we were off again.

As we navigated the winding roads of Southern Indiana in our trusty coach, fall colors were at their peak.

Arriving at Upland Brewery, we were greeted by the German Brewmaster. We toured the Brewery and heard a detailed explanation of the process of beer making, hearing how all those hops and grains work together with their own Bloomington tap water to make a wide variety of great beers. Many beers were sampled while hearing exactly how you should taste to make sure you get all senses involved. Actually, I believe some on the trip were already experts.

The food was absolutely great! Many different dishes were ordered and the opinions of all were the same.

As we journeyed toward home, the mood was still in a party mode. While singing various beer drinking songs, and an occasional ein prosit, all too soon, a half hour before the bewitching hour, the lights of Jasper came into view and we had to sing Good Night Irene.

Thanks again to Upland Brewing Co. and General Beverage for sponsoring the trip. Danke!

Homemade Amish Buffet 4 – 8 pm
Featuring Specialty German Dishes
A German Christmas Program 7 – 8:30 pm
German Christmas Music
Authentic German Folk Dancers
Hoosier German Christmas Stories
Sing-A-Long German Favorites

LONDON - Being bilingual produces changes in the anatomy of the brain, scientists said in a finding that could explain why children are so much better than adults at mastering a second language. They found that people who speak two languages have more grey matter in the language region of the brain. The earlier they learned the language, the larger the grey area.

“The grey matter in this region increases in bilinguals relative to monolinguals -- this is particularly true in early bilinguals who learned a second language early in life,” said Andrea Mechelli, a neuroscientist at University College London.

“The degree is correlated with the proficiency achieved.” Learning another language after 35 years old also alters the brain but the change is not as pronounced as in early learners.

“It reinforces the idea that it is better to learn early rather than late because the brain is more capable of adjusting or accommodating new languages by changing structurally,” Mechelli said. “This ability of the brain decreases with time.”

'The bigger the change the better the proficiency' Mechelli and his team used structural brain imaging to compare the size of the grey matter in the brains of 25 monolinguals, 25 early bilinguals who learned a second language before the age of five and 33 late bilinguals.

All the volunteers in the study, which is described in the science journal Nature, were native English speakers of comparable age and education.

In the bilinguals, the grey matter in the left inferior parietal cortex was larger than in the monolinguals or the bilinguals who picked up the second language between the ages of 10-15.

“By looking at the size of the change (in the brain) I can tell whether someone is very proficient or not because the bigger the change the better the proficiency,” said Mechelli.

Grey matter in the brain is made up of neurons, or brain cells. The scientists do not know whether the change in bilinguals means there is an increase in the size of the cells, the number of cells or the connections between them.

“The next step would be to understand the change better at a small-scale level,” according to Mechelli.

He and his colleagues are planning further studies with people who have difficulty learning languages to see whether their brain behaves differently.

They also plan to study speakers of several languages to determine whether the increase in grey matter is proportional to the number of languages they have mastered.

At the family picnic, many members wore their Deutscher Verein Golf Shirts. Deutscher Verein and Sister City Golf Shirts may be ordered and purchased at Jasper Embroidery, 310 Main Street, Jasper. They can also embroider the American Flag and the German Flag on shirts.

The year 1987 comes to an end and the Christmas festivities are near at hand. They are the feast of love. This makes my thoughts wander to Jasper where we have again experienced so much love during our second visit of partnership, in gratitude. It is a necessity of my heart to convey from The Herald the sincere Christmas greetings of the community Pfaffenweiler to our respected sister city. We have so many friends in Jasper; thus, this is my only way to reach everybody.

I can assure you that the citizens of Pfaffenweiler are looking forward to your visit of partnership in the coming year.

With the repeated wish for a blessed Christmas and for peace and well-being in the year 1988, as well as a happy reunion in Pfaffenweiler, I remain in the bond of partnership, yours,

A gift to the Jasper Deutscher Verein (German Club) German Heritage Endowment of the Dubois County Community Foundation is a wonderful way to remember that special someone. A gift in honor of someone or in memory of someone may be given. The Dubois County Community Foundation will send a letter of acknowledgment to the individual being honored or to the family of someone being remembered. Send your gift along with the appropriate information to the Dubois County Community Foundation, P. O. Box 269, Jasper, IN 47547-0269 and note that you wish your gift to go to the Jasper Deutscher Verein (German Club) German Heritage Endowment. Appropriate envelopes are also available at the greeting table at each club meeting.

The Deutscher Verein Website has been updated and Sister Cities of Jasper, Inc. information added. This was possible because of a grant that was received from the Dubois County Community Foundation through the general grant making process.

We have added Sister Cities of Jasper, Inc. information and information (in German and in English) from the 15 th Anniversary Partnership Booklet.

Enjoy the beauty of Hamburg, Germany while staying there as an Au Pair (10-12 months) or just visiting Europe for an extended period of time. Experience the German culture and learn the language through a unique program. We are a small company that does German language instruction/translation/cross-cultural training in Hamburg and Indianapolis. Our idea is to connect you with a local (Hamburg) Au Pair agency who will place you with a German family (for those between the ages of 18 and 25). In addition, we offer affordable language classes specifically designed for Au Pairs as well as programs tailored to meet your individual needs and capabilities.

If you would like to learn more about the details of this exciting opportunity, please contact Katharina Tebbe-Kircher, a recently transplanted Hamburg native who has spent over 10 years teaching language at international companies, for further details.

Deutscher Verein

Officers :

Directors :

Bob Dilger - President
dilger@fullnet.com
Virgil Gress- Vice President
vgress@fullnet.com
Rita Egler - Treasurer
gregler@fullnet.com
Ruth Wibbels - Secretary
wibbles@fullnet.com

Die Zeitung
Editor: Patti Goepfrich
Phone: 482-4821
e-mail: pmgoep@fullnet.com

Fr. John Boeglin
Dave Buehler
Raymie Eckerle
Dan Gutgsell
Jim Gutgsell
Matthias Hilger
Janet Kluemper
Linus Lechner
Danny Wehr