BRUNSWICK, Ohio -- It is often said that God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes it’s hard to see or understand that. But what happened over the past couple of days just didn’t feel like mere coincidence to me.
At virtually the same time that Visintainer Middle School vanished from the Brunswick skyline, a student who had stood out prominently at the groundbreaking for that same school has died.
Sadly, Clayton Benjamin died on Wednesday (June 24). I wanted you to see him in a photo as a first-grader watching Molly Zimmerman at the groundbreaking for what was originally Center School and contrast that with the remains of the school now.
These two photos are almost exactly at the same location as the Central School groundbreaking, showing all that is left of Brunswick's Visintainer Middle School being cleared away. (Sam Boyer, special to cleveland.com)
The Benjamin family was among the early settlers of Brunswick and what was once their property is now mostly known as Benjamin Farms subdivision.
From her home in Colorado, Molly Zimmerman Governs wrote: “I have that picture of Clay and I breaking ground for Visintainer School when I was about 6 years old. Clay was two years ahead of me in school. The reason Clay and I were chosen for the groundbreaking of Visintainer School was because Clay’s grandfather and my dad were on the Brunswick school board.
“Clay and I were first cousins -- our mothers were sisters. Clay sat behind me in the school band. He played tuba and I played flute. As a kid, one of my happiest memories of Clay as a kid is that he had a pet chicken that he had trained to ride on the handlebars of his bike.
“Clayton was a well-known Indians fan locally in Cleveland. I remember seeing an article years ago about his love for the Indians. He knew many of the players personally. When he was younger, Clay even trained with the Indians. Up until this year, Clay and his wife, Fran, traveled to Goodyear, Ariz., to the annual Indians spring training. This was a highlight for both he and Fran.
“Clay was a very successful man. He was a naturally born salesman, among his talents. Whenever we had fundraisers at school, Clay was always the winning person who had the most sales. He always won the big stuffed animal or whatever the prize was for the most donated sales.”
Clayton suffered a stroke earlier this year and seemed to be getting better but took a turn for the worse last week. A 1957 graduate of Brunswick High School, Clayton was a longtime resident of Medina and one of just two remaining charter members of the Medina Breakfast Kiwanis when it was formed in 1972.
Alan Penn remembered that Clay recruited him to join the club in 1975. Each year, Clayton would send me a reminder about the Kiwanis luminary sales at Christmas and would answer questions I’d pose in the column.
I know his family will miss him so much and we send our condolences to them and to his many friends.
Moving on: St. Ambrose Parish bid farewell to Father Jeremy Merzweiler, who has moved on to St. Francis deSales Parish in Akron to serve as an administrator. St. Ambrose pastor Father Bob Stec is carrying on alone at the moment, but reports that Father Andrew Hoover arrives on Aug. 5, so there might be some change in scheduling until then.
Cancellation: The Board of the Medina County Historical Society has decided not to reopen the John Smart House Museum at this time. The original plan was to hold the first open house July 5.
The board says, “The health of our members is paramount, and at this time we do not have the staff to work it. If anyone would need any information, please contact us and we will arrange an appointment for you to meet a staff member at the museum. Our phone is 330-722-1341 or 330-722-4409 and email is mchs@zoominternet.net. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
He’s official: The Rotary Club of Brunswick has announced that Mike Sheppard was commissioned as the new president via Zoom last week, so he’s now the president. The members have been holding their meetings on Zoom, as have many other organizations in the community.
At last, they’re coming back: On Friday, July 10, Scene75 Entertainment will welcome guests back into its Cleveland location for the first time since closing temporarily in March.
Scene75 was one of, if not the first in the industry to close its doors, doing so one week before the government mandate in order to uphold its core value of putting people first.
With those same values in mind, Scene75 has spent months on a nearly daily basis involved in (and even asked to lead) numerous seminars to identify and share best practices across the entertainment and restaurant industries as to how to best reopen safely.
With the help of experts -- from leading molecular biologists to health department representatives to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions to other operators who have already opened entertainment venues in other states -- Scene75 has identified protocols to help ensure that all guests and teammates are Staying Safe Together.
Some of the key Stay Safe Together guidelines include reducing occupancy capacities of its building and individual activities, checking temperatures of employees and requiring them to wear masks, increasing sanitation protocols, and modifying certain aspects of its operations, including its food and beverage offerings.
Scene75 Entertainment is a family-owned, locally operated, international award-winning brand with five venues across Ohio and Pennsylvania. Les and Jonah Sandler, a father/son duo and natives of Ohio, founded the company in 2012 with the belief that an entertainment center should do more than entertain -- it should serve the community.
As such, they and their teams spend countless hours identifying ways to give back to the communities that support them. Such efforts include free public events such as an annual free indoor trick-or-treat, special needs programming, learn-to-earn opportunities to help incentivize local students in the classroom, and more.
The Cleveland location, in Brunswick, features 12 different attractions, including indoor go-karts, a two-story laser tag arena, more than 150 arcade games, motion simulators, inflatable bouncing, blacklight miniature golf, bumper cars and more. The facility also includes The Food Truck Alley.
I know members of my family have been hoping for the reopening. Hooray!
Concerts continue: Ohio Regional Music Arts and Cultural Outreach (ORMACO) is continuing its live-stream Jazz Under the Stars concerts from 7 to 9 p.m. July 11, featuring Open Spaces Trio. The Akron-based ensemble draws from a diverse repertoire of jazz, Americana, rock folk and other genres.
Brent Hamker’s vibrant guitar solos, Matthew DeRubertis’ atmospheric bass sounds and Holbrook Riles III’s masterful drumming crafts whatever song they’ve chosen to play into a sonic journey. Enjoy this live-stream concert in the comfort of your own home. facebook.com/Ormaco.Inc/
Next, L&V Percussion Duo: Grooves of the World will be live-streamed from 2 to 3 p.m. July 12. Presented by Medina-based percussionist Ryun Louie and Morgantown, W.Va.-based percussionist Michael Vercelli, the program will introduce the audience to a variety of multicultural percussion instruments, demonstrate how world percussive traditions create music through rhythmic development, create musical hybrids commonly heard by combining world traditions and the American drum set, explain and demonstrate the importance of improvisation within musical structures, and engage the audience with creative percussive hybrids.
This will be a live-stream concert at facebook.com/wads
Political Basics: Leadership Medina County presents Political Basics from 6 to 8 pm. July 9. Join this online class featuring Zack Space, former law director of Dover, as he shares everything involved in running for political office.
You will learn about preparing yourself for public office, how to position yourself for a successful political run, the basic mechanics of organizing a campaign, and how to develop and communicate your message. Registration is $40, and you can register at leadershipmedinacounty.org/
Speakers can come from anywhere: Marcia Pappalardo of the Brunswick Rotary noted that in her last newsletter. And the same holds true for many of our local organizations, who are hearing from people they might never have been able to reach before. Rotary, in fact, had a program about El Paso, Texas, recently.
Learning about CASA: Medina Sunrise Rotary welcomed Beth Cardina to speak about CASA in its latest online meeting.
“What is CASA?” began Cardina, program director with the Summit County Juvenile Court and executive director of CASA. CASA is a Court Appointed Special Advocate/ Guardian Ad Litem.
It’s all about ordinary people doing extraordinary work for abused and neglected children; being a carefully trained community volunteer who is appointed by a judge to represent the best interest of an abused or neglected child in court.
The appointee is trained to serve as the informed, independent and objective voice for an abused and neglected child, helps tell a child’s story in court, and advocates and focuses on the child’s “best interest” and the child’s need for a safe permanent home as soon as possible.
If you would like to make a difference in the life of a child, you can contact Cardina at 330-643-2514, or email bcardina@cpcourt.summitoh.net.
And the Kiwanis had a sports talk: Medina Breakfast Kiwanis enjoyed the June 24 Zoom meeting featuring Medina boys basketball coach Chris Hassinger and Medina High School graduate and University of Michigan star Jon Teske. They learned how a Medina grad excelled in college and is preparing to play in the NBA!
Contact Boyer at samboyersunnews@yahoo.com.
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