Helen Mickens, a member of Lansing Rotary since 1988, is from Kalamazoo. She has a BA from Kalamazoo College, a Masters from Michigan State University, and JD from WMU Thomas Cooley Law School. Helen was a professor and associate dean at Cooley Law School for 32 years. Since she retired she's made time to continue her community service, her family genealogy research, her gardening, and travel with her husband Charles.

 

Helen feels grateful to have come "from a family of story-tellers." It was through that she knew a lot about her family's roots in Kansas. (Her grandfather was a mustanger and farmer out there. Her great uncle worked on the Panama Canal when he wasn't a grave digger and pool hall owner in Southern Kansas.) But a single document would open the door to the story of her third great grandfather Henry Work who, after his being freed from slavery in 1809, plied a trade and raised the resources to buy his wife and seven of their children out of slavery. Henry and his family made the treacherous 700 mile trip from North Carolina (before railroads or even good roads) to Michigan. Helen will share the story of Henry Work's life and her family's saga between the years 1809 and 1850.

Forrest Karl Neumann, 87, of Traverse City died July 9, 2018 at Munson Medical Center with family by his side.  Karl was born on October 7, 1930 in St. Louis, Missouri.  The family lived in Centralia, Illinois where he attended grade school and worked with his father at the local S.S. Kresge's Five & Dime store.

 

Karl graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL.  He then furthered his education at Northwestern University, where he earned his master's degree in Hospital Administration.

 

Karl served our country honorably as an officer in the United States Air Force.  In early September of 1954, a mutual friend arranged a blind date for Karl to play tennis with a beautiful young woman named Erika Stefanie Turkl.  Even though he was soundly defeated in their first match, they became engaged in November and married February 11, 1955.  They raised four children.  After 58 years of marriage, Erika preceded him in death in January of 2014.

 

Karl and Erika moved to Lansing in 1958 where he began his career with Edward W. Sparrow Hospital as assistant director.  In 1962 he was named President and Chief Executive Officer and remained at Sparrow until his retirement in 1990.  During his tenure, Sparrow grew to include residency training programs for physicians in partnership with MSU, breakthrough programs in cancer treatment, kidney dialysis, NICU and various special care programs.  In 1990, Karl retired, and the West Wing was named in his honor, now known as the Neumann Wing.  He genuinely cared about helping people.  After his retirement from Sparrow, Karl became the CEO of the Michigan Hospital Association of Insurance Companies.

 

Karl is survived by his children Tracey (Dennis) Neumann Liberson of Great Falls, VA, Karen Neumann Kruger of San Mateo, CA.  Soctt Neumann of Traverse City, MI and Lisa Neumann of East Lansing, MI.

 

There will be a memorial service in the fall to honor Karl's life.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be directed to the Traverse Health Clinic.

Any individual wishing to become a member of Rotary who is under 35 years of age may request an "Under 35 Membership" from the Membership committee.  You will be required to pay $100 per quarter which will pay the quarterly dues and a portion of the luncheon cost.  The Club will subsidize the remainder.  There will be a 60% attendance requirement.  Also, for continued qualification the member must contribute to each of the following three events:  Christmas, Paul Harris Fund and their Birthday.   Any member under the age of 35 who are currently members can apply for this "Under 35 Membership".  If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact cathy@lansingrotary.com

President Fliehmann called his first meeting as President to order a few minutes early, timing his bell ring to perfectly coincide with the last notes of John Dale Smith's lunch music. He began by introducing Dick Ammons as our Invocator, to be followed by America, The Beautiful.

 

Following that, Dave Trumpie circulated the microphone for the introduction of guests. Helen Mickens began by introducing an entire table of family members who were on hand for the program to be presented by her brother. As she explained a bit about the accomplishments of each, it became apparent that this is a family of high achievers. (We would later learn that they had an excellent example in Charles Pratt, but more about him later.) We were also joined by Justin Jackson, guest of Dave Trumpie, and James Butler, guest of Michael Clark and a highly decorated veteran himself.

 

Next Irv Nichols gave a remembrance report, letting us know that Karl Neumann died on July 9th. Karl joined Rotary in 1963 and maintained his membership in our club even after he relocated to Traverse City. He was President and CEO of Sparrow from 1962 until he retired in 1990. Irv's remarks were followed by a moment of silence in Karl's honor.

 

President Fliehman announced that the club has created a new 'Under 35 Membership” option that enables a member to join and pay $100 per quarter. Those who are interested in (and qualify for) this membership should contact the membership committee.

 

John Dale Smith introduced our special music, a talent new to our area. Kameron Going is from Utah and has relocated to our area because his wife is working on a PhD in Mathematics at MSU. Kameron teaches languages for Michigan Virtual University and has won a role in the upcoming production of Jekyll and Hyde at Riverwalk Theatre. John Dale also commented that Spamalot, supported by a grant from our club, generated the most revenue of any Riverwalk production since White Christmas, which we also supported. Riverwalk was also voted Best Local Theatre Group in City Pulse's recent Top of the Town survey.

 

But back to Kameron. He sang two tunes – If I Loved You from Carousel and Fight the Dragons from a lesser known musical, Big Fish. We look forward to hearing more from Kameron!

 

President Fliehman turned the podium back over to Irv Nichols, who wanted a few minutes to defend his good friend, Dave O'Leary. Even our newest members will have noticed that the jabs that began at his Presidential roast many years ago continue on a regular basis, even though Dave has been quite unassuming. (As opposed to the behavior of the absent Kelly Rossman-McKinney, who was not content with the notoriety of becoming the first pregnant Rotarian, but went on to attach her name to her firm and is currently working on a campaign to have her name on a sign in every area yard.) Irv produced a gallon of a new paint brand – Vintage 30 – whose label features Dave's picture with a statement that the paint is hard working an performance driven, “just like our dad”. So much for unassuming!

 

President Fliehman turned the podium over to Helen Mickens, our Chair of the Month and Chair of the Day. Helen told us a bit about her brother, James, and his many accomplishments and shared how his pursuit of military history had resulted in a family trip to Italay where the 366th Infantry Division served during World War II. They found that their family was welcomed everywhere that the 366th had been.

 

Dr. Pratt began by pointing out the photos on the walls around the room and invited us to examine them more closely at the conclusion of the meeting. He began his research as an effort to document all of the soldiers in the 366th who died while they were in the service. Surprisingly, there was no list of these soldiers to be found. As a result of this research, he discovered over two dozen names that do not appear on the WWII Memorial in Washington.

 

He explained that the 'colored' designation doesn't mean that all members of the division were African American; rather they were soldiers who had dark skin. The division included soldiers who were Asian as well as African American. He also noted that the 'separate' designation didn't mean that they were segregated from other divisions; rather it meant that it included all of the services necessary to operated independently – medical, motor pool, etc.

 

As he worked to build the list of soldiers who died during their service, attempting to locate a photo of the soldier and his grave, he also did a lot of research into the soldiers in this division who returned from the war. He learned that many of them went on to do great things in their communities. Several had ties to Michigan and the Lansing area. Hondon B Hargrove (1916 – 1994) was a resident of Lansing and a member of the Michigan Parole Board after the war. He attended college as a member of ROTC and was involved in a number of organizations during that time. He served in the 366th for 2 years before transferring to the 92nd Division, also known as the Buffalo Soldiers. He received a citation for saving a life and authored books as a well known military historian.

 

John Thomas Letts (1912 – 2002) was born in Big Rapids, raised in Lansing (and is brother to Richard Letts), and returned to Grand Rapids from the war. He also attended college as a member of ROTC and served as an officer in the 366th. At one point, he was wounded, but rejoined his unit a few weeks later. After the war, he continued his studies and became a lawyer. He was a prosecutor in Kent County and was asked to run for a judgeship. Although he was a black man running against a Dutchman, he won convincingly and became one of the first black judges elected in Michigan.

 

Lorenzo Nelson (? - 1994) was born in Greenville, TX, attended high school in Chicago and college in Tennessee. He was a doctor who worked in several hospitals in Chicago before joining the 366th's medical corps. After the war, he located in Baldwin, Michigan where he had a medical practice that served all members of the community. In 1952, he was elected President of the local AMA. He received an award from Governor Milliken and has both a road and an elementary school (now closed) named after him.

 

Charles Pratt (1909 – 1989), father of our speaker and Chair of the Month/Day, attended Howard University where he was a member of ROTC. He attended law school, graduating in 1935. He loved the Army, serving from 1932 – 1968, joining the reserves after the war. He located in Kalamazoo after the war, opening a private law practice to serve everyone in the community. In 1968, he ran for the Sixth District Court, where he won overwhelmingly, even though the population was only 2% black.

 

Rothacker Smith (1923 - ) was an enlisted soldier, joining the Army right out of high school. He was born in New York, but moved to Detroit at a young age. He was captured in 1944 by the Germans and taken to a POW camp in Austria. He wrote a book, No Way Out, about his experiences as a POW. After the war, he took full advantage of the GI Bill, attending at least five colleges or universities. He became an educator and taught students from junior high to graduate school.

 

There were also three soldiers from the 366th executed in Europe for crimes. In total, there were 70 executions from 1943 to 1946, and 55 of those soldiers were black. There were many colored service units during WWII, but the 366th was the only combat unit when it was formed. The 92nd was formed later.

 

President Fliehman presented Dr. Pratt with a Rotary Medallion containing thee Four Way Test and let him know that we would be making a donation to a Bio Sand Water Filter project in the Dominican Republic in his name.

 

Next week we will be back at the Lansing Center for a program presented by Helen Mickens titled “Meeting the Four Generations of Slaves in Our Family”. President Elect Pat Hanes will be presiding in President Fliehman's absence.