A piece of history

FORT RECOVERY — Marilyn Halsted Vesner was doing some spring cleaning.
As she sorted through photos and various other items, she came upon a couple of sheets of yellowing paper folded and bound by a piece of thin rope. It was something she had likely seen before, but thought nothing of when she saw “Class ’98” on the front.
It was the first two numbers of the date though, not the last two, that made her find it special.
Upon turning to the first page, Vesner found the following in script lettering: “Tenth Annual Commencement of the Ft. Recovery High School, Ft. Recovery, Ohio, Wednesday Evening, May 11, 1898, at eight o’clock, Opera House. Your presence is desired.”
“I probably had it for some time,” said Vesner, who lives in Glendora, Calif. “And it just has ’98 on the front. I think in my mind I just thought 1998 … but then I started looking at it and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It just floored me. I don’t even remember getting it.”
But with the 116-year-old treasure discovered, she knew what she wanted to do with it.
Vesner went to her computer, found the Fort Recovery Local Schools web site and sent an email to superintendent Shelly Vaughn.
“Actually I thought it was pretty impressive that she didn’t just toss it in the trash,” said Vaughn, “but took the time to reach out to us and ask if it would be of interest.”
But Vesner never considered discarding the item.
“I think as I’ve gotten older, my husband and myself have gotten more interested in history,” she said.
The graduation invitation/program also provided an impetus to remember her great aunt — Rose Gertrude B. Sondermann — who was one of six members of the graduating class.
Sondermann came from a family of 15 children, though all of her brothers died in their youth. She lived in Ohio for about 20 years after her graduation from FRHS before moving to California.
There she became a business woman, owning La Rose Corset Shoppe in downtown San Diego.
“We used to tease and call her ‘aunt money,’” said Vesner’s sister June Haack, who spent time with her great aunt during the summer when she was young.
“It was a big deal to get $5 on your birthday at that time.
“She was very kind hearted and sweet and generous.”
She never married, but after her sister was diagnosed with, and later died of, tuberculosis, she raised two of her nieces, including Vesner’s mother.
“When she sat, she always sat tall,” said Vesner. “She was just a lady in every respect for the word.”
Vaughn immediately responded to Vesner’s email to express her appreciation and the school’s interest in making the piece of history part of its collection.
The program was in the mail the next day, and soon arrived in Vaughn’s hands.
“It was impressive to me what great shape it’s in,” said Vaughn.
The second page of the program lists the order of events for the commencement ceremony that was held at the Opera House, which was above what is now Brockman Appliance on South Wayne Street.
Graduation opened with the playing of the John Phillip Sousa march “Stars and Stripes Forever,” which had been published just a year earlier, and closed with a benediction by the Rev. J.A. Spyker.
Page three lists the graduates, with Alice Krenning, Keturah Lela Passmann, Mary Florentine Anthony, Martha Jane Runkle and Ida Bernadine Brake joining Sondermann.
The program will become the second-oldest FRHS item, trailing only an 1890 graduation program, in a display in the northeast corner of the school’s commons.
“I’m so glad,” said Vesner. “I think that is just so neat to have something like that, and in such good shape.
“I’m just so thankful. This was just meant to be found.”[[In-content Ad]]