Golden Buckeye Newsletter

Message from the President

Greetings GBF members,

In just a few days, our country will celebrate its 250th anniversary of freedom. We should each take some time to thank God for His rich blessings that established a land where we can freely worship and associate together. While we do have our problems, it’s still a great place to call home.

We have been pretty quiet at GBF since our Spring Brunch, but we are working on a few ideas for events. I would love to hear your thoughts on things you would like to do this summer. Is there interest in doing another Free movie at the Plaza Theatre in Miamisburg? If there is enough interest, we will arrange a date for that.

We also considered having a bicycle ride on the Miami River bike path. Sound like something you would like to do? Obviously, we would need to avoid super-hot days like this week!

Dan Stevens is working on the annual Fall Bus Trip and you know that will be good, and Nannette Wright is lining up our Fall Soup-In which promises to be a memorable event. Mark your calendars for Friday, October 23, 2026 for the Soup-In.

We still do not have a newsletter editor so if you feel called to help with this, please let myself or one of the GBF board members know.

Stay cool and have a Blessed 4th of July!

David Starkey

July 2026

2026 Game Day

By David Starkey

Sunday, February 8, 2026 was the annual game day hosted by Gerry and Linda Meyer. It started out as a cold snowy day and we wondered how many would come out and brave the cold. It turns out that about forty of you did!

Games included Chess, Mexican Train, UNO, Corn Hole, and some new games. For instance, Bob Jackson brought a game called Pegs and Jokers which use a deck of cards and a wood game board where you place wooden pegs in certain spots and work your way around the game board. Bob made the game boards himself and colored each peg into sets for each player. He is quite the wood working talent! There is a picture of this game on the website in the Event Photos tab.

Jim and Mathew Milks teamed up for some challenging Chess and Jim and Shirley Miller joined us for the first time. Welcome!

Besides gaming, there was Pizza, Salad, fudge, and cookies, which added to the fun. Thanks to all who helped make this an enjoyable event!

2026 Spring Brunch

By David Starkey

Spring Brunch was a successful event again this year thanks in large part to the work of Nannette and Roger Wright. About seventy Golden Buckeyes joined us for food, fun, games, a silent auction, and a talk by Debby Hayhurst from Wild Birds Unlimited.

Table decorations included painted birdhouses placed on decorated tree stump slices and individual edible chocolate “nests” with “candy eggs” in them. A prize notification was hidden inside six lucky “Happy Spring” napkins with the winners receiving a free painted birdhouse!

Bird photos taken by Kathy Boyd and James Garber played on the big screen throughout much of the event. You’ll have to ask Kathy Boyd about the picture of the baby Cedar Waxwing playing “Uno”. It’s a very interesting story about an adopted bird! Thanks to Bonita and Steve Woodin for so ably handling the video and audio for our event.

Nannette Wright and Kay Starkey lead several games of “Bird Bingo” that included bird related prizes. Silent auction items included hand painted birdhouses by Debbie Haas and Terry Harper; a custom embroidered Tea Towel by Nannette Wright, and bird paintings by Terry Harper.

Thank you to Marilyn Jackson and her team, which included: Bob Jackson, Denise and Charlie Fagala, and Roger Wright for preparing and serving the food. Also thank you to Caleb and Zoe Wright, who assisted attendees with carrying their food and other helpful services. This year’s spring spread included a green salad, egg frittata, muffins, monkey bread, donut holes, and fruit salad. Two large sheet cakes were provided by Jerry Meyer to celebrate Linda Farley-Meyer and Stan Haper’s birthdays that fell on that very day. The GBF group sang a rousing “Happy Birthday” to celebrate with them.

A major highlight of Spring Brunch was a recording of Roger Wright’s father (now deceased) presenting a devotional thought and song that included him imitating bird calls. It was rather amazing how much he sounded like live birds singing! This is a treasured recording in the Wright family and we are thankful to Roger for sharing it with us.

The event wrapped up with a talk by Debby Hayhurst from Wild Birds Unlimited. She explained what we could do to both protect and encourage birds to thrive in our area.

Again, many thanks to all those who made Spring Brunch possible and successful.

Happy Birding!

Needed: Newsletter Editor

Please Contact David Starkey or a GBF board member if interested