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May 13, 2004
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May 13, 2004 |
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Goodies, friends celebrated at 45th annual Calendar Tea Villagers might attend this Sunday’s First Baptist Church Calender Tea to indulge their sweet tooth, or to celebrate Yellow Springs’ diversity. Either reason, or both, are good enough to come, says one organizer, who extends a welcome to everyone, regardless of race, age or religious affiliation. “It’s the big diversity happening, a good place to see people, greet old friends and enjoy the goodies,” Isabel Newman said in an interview Tuesday. She should know — the event has taken place each spring for more than four decades, and she’s only missed “one or two,” Newman said. The 45th annual Calendar Tea will take place this Sunday, May 16, from 3 to 6 p.m., in the Yellow Springs High School gym. The tea is being coordinated this year by Sandra McKee Smith, Sherry Johnson and Bernice Kirk. Because this year’s event has historical significance, photos and articles about past teas will be on display. While the event is the biggest annual fundraiser for the First Baptist Church building fund, organizers do not charge an admission fee, but rather place plates discreetly on tables for donations, Newman said. Those who attend will find 12 large tables, each representing a month of the year and decorated according to seasonal themes. Each table also features a variety of cookies, cakes and sandwiches, along with punch, tea and coffee. All of the sweets are baked by First Baptist women, Newman said. Newman and her sisters, Naomi McKee and Evelyn Hill, are coordinating the table for June, which will have a wedding theme, said Newman, who reported that just that morning she baked four dozen pecan cookies and Mexican wedding cakes. Of course, she said, the table will hold lots of other sweets and sandwiches, and that’s just one table out of 12. “Don’t eat dinner before you come,” she said. The first Calendar Tea was the idea of Oteria O’Rear, who encouraged the church to hold one large fundraiser modeled after an event she had attended, according to Calendar Tea archives. There were doubters at first as to the event’s desirability, but they were soon won over, and each year for more than four decades the church has continued to follow O’Rear’s advice. The roster of table captains — those who oversee each table’s food and decorations — over the years is a who’s who of First Baptist women, along with many men, including Newman, McKee, Hill, Myrtle Brown, Susie Brown, Margaret Goodson, Bertha and Harvey Roberts, James and Louise Johnson, Ruth Wright, Betty and Neal Hairston, Goldie Crawford, Louise Calloway, William Schooler, Willa Jean Blackmon, Mildred Douglas, Gail Simpson, Abbie Clement and Goldie Taylor. More recently, table captains and hosts include John Gudgel, Veda Gudgel, Victor Baxter, Joyce Goodson, Norman Bass, Donna Brown, Michelle Dixon, Ruth Bayless, Rosaline Howze, Dorothy Sneed, Ruddnette Jefferson, Tracy Jefferson, Gail Simpson, Michelle Hairston, Helen Sparks, Brenda Potts, Anne Keys, Louise Johnson, Bernice Kirk, Sherry Johnson, Shonda Sneed, Tonya Nooks and Pastor James Nooks, Dora Baker, Rhyan Smith, Early Lawhorn, Stephanie Robinson, LaRita Faulkner, Robin Byrd, Vuran Wilson, Irma Bass, Cathy Hill, Robin Henry, Helena Baxter, Hattie Baxter, Joan and Ron Dungey, Margaret Jackson, Demica Jackson, Teresa Greene, Madeline Harshaw, Peggy Garnett, James Looney, John Clark, Nina Upchurch, Mary Willett, Dorothy Call, Marilyn Dowdell, Tracy Jefferson and Sandra Smith.
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