VOL 18 ISSUE 2

OCCASIONAL CHIPS

Oglebay Woodcarvers Gui ld Wheeling , WV

39’th Annual Show and Sale

at Oglebay Park, Pine Room

will be held Sat., Sun.

September 1 & 2, 2018.

Editor Joseph J. (Joe) Hodorowski

56061 Governor Drive

Bellaire, Ohio 43906

740-676-7030

E-Mail jhodo5@comcast.net

Meetings/Carving Sessions All Monday evenings 6PM-

9PM. All Thursday morn-

ings 9AM-12PM.

Quarterly business meetings

held at 7:30 PM Mondays.

(All gathering sessions closed

on Stifel Center Holidays)

Dues $5.00 per year.

Officers:

President-Clark Adams

V. President-Ann Swearingen

Treasurer-Duke Jordan

Recording Secretary-Suzanne

Mozena Corresponding Secretary & Pub-

licity-Joe. Hodorowski

Board Members:

Keith Miller

Jay Nicolella

Joan Nugent

Jim Showalter

Al Pierson

Committee Chairpersons

Annual Show-Clark Adams

Christmas Party-Sue Mozena &

Ann Swearingen

Activities-OPEN

Librarian-Joan Nugent

GUILD E-MAIL www.oglebaywoodcarvers.com

Oglebay Woodcarvers Guild

Chartered in 1976

You’re a What!

A Woodcarver? What’s that? Why do you do that? What do you carve?

YES I AM.

Mr. Michael Keller of Woodcarv-ing.com explains. “There are probably as many answers to that question as there are carvers. Here are some of the most obvious reasons that come to mind for me:

To Create Creation brings us a great satisfac-tion. It brings us joy to have added to the world in a positive way;

To Manifest our Passion Not only do we manifest our pas-sion simply by carving but also by reproducing our dreams in a very tangible form;

To leave our Signature on the World

When we leave this planet, we will leave behind not only whatever

memories others might have of us but also little relics of what was im-

portant to us and others; To Bring Happiness to Ourselves

and to Others Clearly, carving brings us happi-ness but we also bring happiness to others to whom we gift our carv-

ings. Introduces Relationships Carving introduces us to a vast group of artisans who are also great people. We seldom meet a carver that we don’t appreciate and like;

Form of Meditation We find that carving is a form of meditation. While carving we of-ten find ourselves in a trance like state… introducing us to unlimited moments of enlightenment and clarity;

Income If we sell our products, we are generating a bit of income from doing what we love.

Challenge When carving a piece that chal-lenges us, it helps us grow to new level of creativity and skill;

Helping Others We can all agree how rewarding it is to teach others and helping them with woodcarving; And the list goes on. Anyone reading this is probably adding many more items to this list which have quickly come to their mind. I have a friend who is constantly reminding me that “there is so much wood and so little time.” We better get back to work. Keep Sharp.”

So join us for our 6 PM Mon-

day, evening or 9 AM Thurs-

day, morning carving only ses-

sions for the above reasons.

NOVEMBER 2017

NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 2 OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL 18 ISSUE 2

ness of this man who really could have been very angry with me. I have known Jim since he joined the carv-ers group I recall sharing space during a carving demonstration during West Virginia Days event for the low grades in the New Martinsville grade school. His patience with these “”wee” ones handling his carvings was great to observe. Jim, the Monday, “nighters” are missing you from the day you became ill. May God reward you.

Karl W. Ohly, Phd 1930-2017

Officially Karl was not a dues paying mem-ber of the Oglebay Woodcarvers Guild, he was a long time friend. Those who have par-ticipated in the yearly Carving Show grew to know Karl with his German accent and his large human bust carving displays. He al-ways had a name for each and generally they were female faces. Over the many years of his attendance he always sold most of his creations. We were awed by the many ladies who purchased his carvings. His drive home to Sandusky, OH was with a less heavy load. Recently, Kendra Metcalf, a daughter of a lady who purchased three of his carvings in 1990, contacted me because she would like to sell them “to someone who appreciates the work of a talented man. Her mom cherished them”. She was asking $200.00 and her phone number is 740-579-1407 if anyone is interested. I have a photograph of the three carvings. Karl I believe worked in the medical arena and had lived in Pittsburgh in his early years. Karl, a very talented individual also was a fa-ther, brother, cousin and uncle to his family. We are sure his wife Gisela will have many happy memories of their life together.

Introduces Relationships On the previous page it states that carving introduces us to a vast group of artisans who are also great people. We seldom meet a carver that we don’t appreciate and like. At times we lose those relationship due to death. The following folks ended their earthly mission and all will be missed.

Jim Ingram 1935-2017

On Sunday, July 2, 2017, we lost a friend and fellow carver after a long illness battle. James S. Ingram, 81, who lived in New Mar-tinsville was a 15 year member of our group. He was one of our Monday evening carvers and also a participant in our other carving ac-tivities. A memorial service was held at the United Methodist Church in his hometown on Wednesday, July 5, with President Clark Ad-ams and Treasurer Duke Jordan represent-ing the club membership. Jim was always one of our Monday carv-ing sessions talkative and interesting carving members especially stories about his Navy service years. He was an active member of the American Legion. Illness was not a deterrent to his plans to attend our 2017 Carving Show in Oglebay Park. His outlook was always positive. We don’t recall any instances when he was dis-pleased even when I erroneously via email reported his demise many months ago. Newspaper information printed that Jim In-gram of the same name plus many other similarities had died. They both lived in WV, retired from the same company and about the same age and knowing that our Jim was ill an email was sent to members since I was the corresponding Club Secretary. On my arrival for a carving session Duke Jordan, who did not see the email informed me that he spoke with our carver Jim, and would be joining us that very evening. I went into a panic and it was time to crawl under the carv-ing table. My apology was quickly accepted by Jim with no problems. That was the kind-

Nancy C. Topa 1939-2017

Nancy was the beloved wife of our Virginia club member Phil Topa. Phil joined our club 3 years ago after visiting our show a few times and

VOL 18 ISSUE 2 NOVEMBER 2017 Page 3 OCCASIONAL CHIPS

both making friends and ultimately joined and displayed during our past annual Labor Day weekend shows. Nancy and Phil, both very talented. Nancy’s talent was with the “cloth”-quilting. This special interest brought Cass Adams, Clarks wife and Nancy into a close personal friendship. One Christmas Nancy donated a nice quilting miniature for our Christmas Tree project. Traveling was another special interest for this couple. One reason was their next of kin were spread far apart so it was natural for them to travel from their home in Glade spring, Virginia to our Wheeling Carving Show. Phil is a very talented carver and photogra-pher. His carving are almost all original be-cause of his artistic eye. Nancy is missed by our club members who knew her and Phil will be the distressed one since he lost his faithful companion. Our thoughts of friendship are extended to you Phil—stay in touch.

James Maggi Jim Maggi, 53 of Wheeling died Sept 6, 2017. He was a Wheeling Park high School graduate. He is survived by his brother Jay, two nephews and two step brothers. Services were held Sunday Sept 10 with burial at Mount View Cemetery, Dallas, WV.

Jim was a past carving member who also

enjoyed his train hobby. Jim always was in

attendance during the Monday evening carving

sessions. Jim, a quiet person participated in

most club activities.

Cabin in the woods Last February four carving members pur-chased a thick hunk of Basswood and com-

menced work on a deep relief carving named Cabin in the Woods. After several months Missy Mazeska, Tom Stoker, Jay Nicolella and Wayne Miller completed this project. In-structors were relief carving specialists Clark Adams and Duke Jordan. This was a deep relief which required much wood removal, a time consuming project. Clark Adams and Duke Jordan have been teaching members with relief carving for the past few years. They are asking other mem-bers to volunteer to teach a small group in some other discipline such as in the round caricature carving, easy Christmas ornaments, or light hallow reliefs, some easy chip carving projects. Presently Keith Miller has been showing new members some basics of carving on Mon-day’s and Bill Baker does the same on Thurs-day mornings.

RECAP of EARLIER EVENTS

March Rowan & Deborah Messham, and Fred & Shelly Weaver, four new members were the recipients of some teaching tips by Ann Swearingen in carving “Daisy”. The Stifel Center were the recipients a check for $2255 proceeds from the 2016 Christmas Tree project. Duke Jordan spent a lot of his personal hours cleaning up the sharpening room. He removed all obsolete equipment, installed new sharpening machines, added locks on power cords. Added a new cloth polishing wheel, and made it a true sharpening center. New shelv-ing shelves with Velcro secured cloth covering.

May-June Mike Hurdzan, Thursday morning regular carver moved to Lancaster, Oh. due to health concerns. His address is 1682 Carroll Eastern Rd. N.W. 43130, if you wish to communicated with Mike. Result of business meeting was the ap-proval to purchase T-shirts in various sizes to commemorate this Guilds 40 years carving ex-

OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL. 18 ISSUE 2 NOVEMBER 2017 Page 4

istence These will be given to visiting exhibi-tors in appreciation for their participation in our annual Carving Show. Shirts will be sold to the general membership. Contact Clark Adams or Sue Mozena if interested.

July: The scheduled picnic in the Stifel Center was cancelled due to conflict with Stifel program. This needs to be renegotiated for facility usage next year.

September The 38’th Annual Oglebay Woodcarvers Show opened on Friday for set–up with a full amount of much appreciated help, according to Chairman Clark Adams. Many members too numerous to mention here are hailed with a big THAN YOU for all your help. A couple of members need to be mentioned for their on-going dedication that required all their time for two days, they are: Molly Ruminski, door ta-ble. Vicki & Heidiho Logsdon & Joan Nu-gent, Raffle table. Attendance this year was increased thanks to the use of a free bus service that traveled from downtown Wheeling with stops at the ma-rina and the boat regatta then on to Oglebay Park for the Fort Henry Days and finally our carving show. The round trips took about an hour. The bus cost and planning was picked-up with the cooperation of Wheeling area tour-ism agency and the three site managers. This year we welcomed Sherrie & Scott Clark from Bellevue, Ohio, their first visit in a long time. Since Scott’s father Al is very ill they donated 11 file boxes of printed and cata-logued carving patterns which are awaiting our decision of how to use these and keep them intact. The valve of these are great. We owe much thank you to the Clark family. Sunday during the show Scott received word that his dad died , they stayed to the end of the show before returning home for a sad family con-cern. Alvin “Al” Clark was 83 and his wife was Juanita both long time show participants many years ago till health started to go south. . The Saturday evening dinner at Undos was again well attended. Prizes were donated for

the free raffle by member Keith Miller, Robert “Bob” Stadtlander, Carving Supplies, Jim Lukens Quality Hardwood, and Woodcraft of Canonsburg. Again this free admission show did very well with our donation jar.

October The club’s involvement with Oglebayfest at Oglebay Park was highly successful do to a lot of great help from the membership coupled with location and summer type weather. A possible record amount of raffle tickets were sold for the Christmas Tree Project which consist of a 6 foot tree loaded with many hand carved/crafted ornaments that will be raffled December 18, 2017. We are allowed tent space to conduct this project and all proceeds after expenses are donated to the children's projects at the Stifel Fine Arts Center. During the operating hours each day our member Missy Mazeska who is a baker brought some of the sweetest low fat pastry for all helpers. These members need to be recognized due to their many dedicated hours of attendance. Clark Adams, Sue Moz-ena, Jay Nicolella, Keith Miller and John Yancosek.

October “Dayton” Show Five members were able to make a shorter van trip to Wilmington, Oh for the Dayton Club large Show. Although much smaller in size now that they moved it was still a nice show as related by Clark Adams. Travel distance was reduced resulting in a faster return home. Other who accompanied Clark were Jay Nicolella, Missy Mazeska, John Yancosek, and Gary Lappert. Christmas Tree raffle tickets were mailed to all carving members to buy or sell.

November-Future Event The Christmas Tree with the carved/crafted ornaments will be assembled for display in the main entrance of the Stifel Center. Please continue to donate your items for the tree. Items too large to hang will become individual prizes in addition to the tree giving more peo-

OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL. 18 ISSUE 2 NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 5

ple an opportunity to win a prize. Member John Tomaszewski is our usual tree top carver has donated two tops for this year and 2018 project. As you know proceeds are donated to the Stifel Center in appreciation for the use of their facilities.

December Merry Christmas. The year will end with a business meeting Monday December 11. The following week Monday evening December 18 is our last social event held in the Stifel Center up stairs dining rooms. This is a bring a dish or refreshment event to share with oth-ers. It is the time for the conclusion of the Christmas Tree Project with the drawing of the winners. Reservations needed with the number of those attending along with the item to share. Please call Sue Mozena (304-277-3535), Ann Swearingen (740-526-0186); or Missy Mazeska (740-827-4955).

New Members We welcome some new interested carving members to our club. Some are beginners and some are experienced. We hope they at-tend on a regular basis as practice makes pro-gress and a continuity of interest.

Dan Martin, Weirton, WV (Mar 2017) Elizabeth Scott, Monroeville, PA (April 2017)

Jan Gray, Washington, PA (April 2017) Ed Horne, Washington, PA (May 2017)

Janet Ellis, Butler, PA (June 2017) Gary Lappert, Bellaire, OH (June 2017) Richard Beekman, Shadyside, OH (Aug

2017) Deborah Sgroi, Triadelphia, WV (Oct 2017)

Greg Sgroi, Triadelphia, WV (Oct 2017)

CLUB ASSETS Many view this organization as a friendly and giving bunch of wood carvers. The offi-cers try to keep this carving friendship alive and well. As a result this club over the years acquire many assets from our past members or friends. Most items donated are from past members who have died. We are very accept-

ing of these donations because we either re-sell the items or put them into use by the gen-eral membership. When Kris Hess passed on a while back we received many large sharpening machines which are still waiting for installation. Since that time the following folks have given this club many items. In January Jesse McHenry’s daughter, a neighbor of Joan Nu-gent, donated a small quantity of carving tools and supplies. The family of past long time member Glenn Wheaton donated many items. April saw Lori Greenlee, widow of Scott donate a very large quantity of carving wood, tools and supplies. Molly Ruminski donated many carving items from her late hus-band Stan , who served as president of the club. Recently Jeannie Shepherd, who was a member a number of years ago decided to give up carving and pursue other activities gave us a quantity of supplies. Some carved items were completed which will adorn our 2017 Christmas Tree. From time to time members drop off wood or other items for use by this club. Thank you cards or letters are mailed to show our appreciation.

Another Member Bio Keith Miller

Each newsletter we try to present a short bio of a member of our club for acquaintance purposes. To date we have covered Agnes Brady, Sue Mozena, Joe Hodorowski and Clark Adams. Wheeling Born Keith Miller has been a carver since 1992 at the age of 15. He was supervised by his brother at this early age and soon became a dues paying member. Keith was a 1995 graduate of Wheeling Park High School and he attended classes at Wheeling Jesuit University where his thesis was about “Organized Crime in Wheeling”. Presently he would like to pursue this further in light of the many colorful stories in this small city. He grew up in a busy family, his father Thomas was a Wheeling Firefighter and

NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 6 OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL 18 ISSUE 2

Peggy his Mom is Human Resources Manager of the local Head Start Program. Now at the age of 41 Keith’s active mind is full of many varied interests His love of carving is on display each Mon-day evening by his active participation. Keith lives alone except for his companions of Bos-ton Terriers and two cats. Keith is employed as a Father Advocate for children ages 3 months to 5 years for the local Head Start program. As a carver he has sold many of his special carving during the club shows and elsewhere presently his interests lie in carving totem pole walking sticks. Sculpting with pipe cleaners, bread wrappers, and foil present some inter-esting fodder for his active mind. Other inter-ests include stone carving, flower carving and bow hunting. This busy man with the patience of “Job” after working with the small kids has time to volunteer at the Laughlin Chapel and he has donated his time and talents for African Ameri-can college students and their art interests. Keith is a busy man on a mission of aid to others.

Bits and pieces Our “sharpening and file room” and our “cellar wood room” are now bright and “shiny” thanks to the efforts of Jay Nicolella and Tom Stoker for installing the rows of new LED fluo-rescent lighting. The club made the purchase of these lights which were on sale to allow us a new outlook when we search for wood or sharpen. Our year end project is to distribute 11 checks to the soup kitchens/food banks in towns where our members reside along with paying for on-going subscriptions of the carv-ing magazine CHIP CHATS to 15 libraries. We receive many thank you notes and com-ments from those receiving aid which brighten our day of sharing some of our assets. The Stifel Center later receive the proceeds from the Christmas Tree projects we undertake every year.

During our Labor Day Carving Show we welcomed some new visiting exhibiting carv-ers who offered a new and fresh addition to our show. John Broughton, Dayton, Ky after a few years absence returned with his array of mostly animal carvings. Sherrie Clark, Belle-vue, OH also a returning carver displayed some intricate carvings. The aquatic carver Martin Schnur, Comstock, Mi, joined Janet Ellis, Butler, PA for a nice variety of carvings they were joined by Bridges Dillehay, Madi-son, TN. for some new carving displays. As mentioned earlier in this newsletter in July we lost a fellow carver James S. Ingram, 81, who lived in New Martinsville, WV. Thanks to the kindness of his family we have received a number of donations to our wood-carving club in memory of Jim’s love of this organization. A note of thanks was sent to all who donated and we are most appreciative of this gesture. Jim’s friends stretched from around the country not just local. Do to health concerns long time friend, club officer, and carving member Jim Showalter no longer be an active member. Please re-member Jim and his family both with your thoughts and prayers. His friendship is missed. Club member and friend Ray Branch of the North Carolina carving club recently under-went some major heart surgery but is now re-couping and getting back to promoting their clubs Christmas Tree Project modeled after ours. Stan Muklewicz a member since 2014 re-ceived a nice tribute from his son Mike about family values on Fathers Day. The local Ohio Times Leader newspaper featured an article about how the father Stan nearly lost his life due to circulation health problems. This writer emphasizes the importance of a loving support of a son who thought highly of his talented fa-ther who was always their to support his son. Eventually Stan lost his leg and is fitted with

NOVEMBER 2017 PAGE 7 OCCASIONAL CHIPS VOL 18 ISSUE 2

a prosthesis and now able to return to carving. Stan is very talented with some unusual com-pleted carvings. Renda, Stan’s wife is a carv-ing member and they both participate in our Shows. NOTICE: to those who are delinquent in their $5.00 yearly dues please stop by or send to the: Oglebay Woodcarvers Guild, % Stifel Fine Arts Center, 1330 National Road, Wheel-ing WV 26003. To check if you are paid up look at the address label of this publication. The num-ber indicates paid-up year. We carry members names on our active roster for 3 years then if back years are not paid they are dropped. This year all 2014 will be dropped. Also if member activity is non-existent mailing of this newsletter is stopped sooner. Travel from New Martinsville, Washington, Weirton, Dillonvale, and Roscoe, PA are many miles from our Wheeling headquarters but many members make the trip on Monday eve-nings or Thursday mornings just to join the group carve. Some who make the trip from these towns are John Tomaszewski, Ed Horne, the Romanyak’s, Tom Stoker and Chick Gosney. We appreciate you dedica-tion. Greg and Deborah Sgroi, both new mem-bers became interested in joining because fate saw that they were positioned next to our carv-ers tent at the Oglebayfest event. They build and sell furniture and the close association brought them to join and try a bit of carving. The club roster is composed of over 100 paying members most are of the local area within driving distance but it seems that only a very tiny percentage try to make it to carve with us on Mondays or Thursdays. Stop by, we need to see your face to match it with your name. Gary Lappert, a new member who has

about 4 sessions experience displayed a unique mushroom house he carved and fin-ished during our luncheon at Perkins recently. A good start Gary, keep up the carving adrenalin. With sadness we acknowledge the loss of the husband of our club member Joyce Butts. Bob Butts who passed away recently was a professional NFL football and local player. He was an accomplished and well liked educator. Also the 1 year old granddaughter of George and Maureen Predragovich was taken by the angels to a better place after a quick virus destroyed her life. Remembrance and prayers for the surviving parents and grandparents. She was loved by all. It was nice to see Pete Conklin and Wayne (Buzz) Miller back attending the Mon-day sessions. We all enjoy the stories from Pete about any subject at hand while Buzz keeps a low profile. Pete shares a table with Gary Harvey, Dave Crunelle, Clark Adams, and Duke Jordan when he is able to attend. Those who are seated nearby are exposed a vast amount of great knowledge and more. This guild needs to acknowledge and ap-preciate the dedication of Joan Nugent, our Librarian who spends a lot of her carving time sorting and cataloging the vast amount of books contained in the file cabinets. The past many years of purchasing and receiving carv-ing books as over filled our space. Joan is re-moving all of the duplicates and offering them for sale at a reduced cost. Those not claimed will be sold during the next Carving Show. Remember If you wish removal from all mail-ings email me j hodo5@comcast.net

Remember to check the club website: www.oglebaywoodcarvers.com to check if anything is new especially the photos because from time to time new activity pictures are added.

Thank you.

Joe Hodorowski

Oglebay Woodcarvers Guild

% Stifel Fine Arts Center

1330 National Road

Wheeling, WV 26003

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT THE SOLDIERS WHO KEEP US FREE

SO WE MAY CARVE

39’th annual carving shoW Oglebay park

Sat. & sun. September 1 & 2, 2018

2017 SCHEDULE

Carving Show September 2 & 3

Meeting September 11 Oglebayfest October 5-7

Meeting December 11 Christmas Party December18