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Pictured left-to-right: seated, Colin Lackey, Camille Sheehan, BVEF grant chair Ellie Bricmont, Matt Kralik; back row, Michael Clifford, Colleen DiLallo, Melissa Wolf, Megan Basel, Heather Fanter, Bea Bishop and Anne Ashley. Not pictured are grant winners Patrick Barrett, Eric Caddey, Theresa Flamos, Jason Martin, Amanda McLin, Paula Michaud, Lauren Stanislaw, Kristi Stannert and Elizabeth Tehran.

The Bay Village Education Foundation has awarded $10,826 in nine classroom grants to enrich educational experiences for Bay Village Schools students.

Anne Ashley, Bay High social studies instructor, will use $1,570 to send two students to the National Leadership Conference held at Camp Miniwanca in Shelby, Michigan, through the American Youth Federation.

Bay High English teacher Bea Bishop, principal Jason Martin and library media specialist Melissa Wolf teamed up to win $1,596 for four televisions with Chromecast technology to mount on the school's library walls for student collaborative project work.

Bay High science teacher Michael Clifford will use $1,500 to enter a student team into the Buckeye Regional FIRST Robotics Competition.

Did you know that Cleveland used to be known as the “Forest City?” This was because our city promoted reforestation efforts, improving our urban landscape and tree canopy (the layer of leaves, branches and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above), earning Cleveland the nickname.

But since the 1950s, the city has lost nearly half our street trees. The tree canopy stands at just 19 percent, putting us behind cities such as Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Boston and even New York, some of whose canopies are almost double ours. Removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, improving public health, increasing real estate value, sustaining wildlife … these are just a few of the reasons why we should care about Cleveland’s tree canopies. Our urban forests affects our health, prosperity and the overall quality of our lives.

Nate Cullinen, formerly of Bay Village, has been selected to join the National Youth Boating Hall of Fame. He is pictured here in 2015 as a member of Sea Scout Ship 41.

Nate Cullinan inducted into Spirit of America National Youth Boating Hall of Fame

On Sept. 24, the Spirit of America Foundation announced the establishment of the first National Youth Boating Hall of Fame and Nate Cullinan from Bay Village was selected as one of four inductees. 

In the 24 years of the Spirit of America Foundation's existence, this new national honor has been presented to the first four young nominees for their truly inspiring dedication to boating and water safety education and the manner in which they have gone above and beyond to share their knowledge with others at such a young age.

The existing Landmark store, which recently closed. The location next to the railroad was important for deliveries when this was a coal and feed supply business.

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With the recent closing of the Landmark Lawn & Garden Supply at 677 Dover Center Road, another link to Westlake’s agricultural past is gone. Landmark was a lawn, garden and pet supply business that had served the area for over 75 years. This family-owned operation also delivered bulk landscape supplies for do-it-yourself projects. Landmark Lawn & Garden Supply was located on Dover Center Road, right next to the railroad tracks.

Before it was known as Cuyahoga Landmark Inc., it was the Dover location of the Cuyahoga Farm Bureau Co-Op Association Inc. According to Case Western Reserve University’s Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the Cuyahoga County Farm Bureau was organized in 1915 to provide farmers in the county with a vehicle for collective action in representing, promoting and protecting farm interests.

Bay Middle School’s PTA has a new Green Team Committee. The new committee has the support of Bay Village Superintendent Jodie Hausmann, Bay Middle School Principal Sean McAndrews, and Bay Middle School PTA President Chrissy Morscher. 

The Committee is proud to report many positive changes already this school year: The Green Team Committee purchased permanent dinnerware, cutlery and glassware from Ikea for use during staff meals and meetings throughout the year, preventing a lot of waste from being generated during these events. These events typically produced a lot of waste in the form of plastic water bottles, plastic/paper plates, and plastic cutlery.

A mimeographed copy of the words and music for the Bay High Fight Song from 1946.

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I am moving. I’m selling my house after living in it 48 years. I’m cleaning out my life. When I found this house at 26758 Russell Road, in the horseshoe, I was home. It was perfect.

Over the years I have kept too many things, "my stuff," I call it. So I am leafing through my stuff and I come across a mimeographed copy of the words and music for the Bay High Fight Song from 1946. Then I open some more music and see it is the World War II black music with the white lettering. During WWII, this was the only thing you could buy.

My family was very music oriented. My grandfather bought my mother a baby grand piano for her 14th birthday and it sat in the living room of our house. She could play anything in the popular music genre. My sisters, Barb and Gay, and I took lessons from a lady, Miss Quinn, at Cook and Detroit roads in Lakewood. Barb could really play the piano. She went to Chicago one summer to take lessons under Dr. Rudolph Ganz at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. I still have all of her classical music books plus a few John Thompsons.

When we last sat down and discussed the status of Cleveland sports, I expounded on how the Browns had won back the hearts of Cleveland sports fans and how exciting the Browns were. I also suggested that it would be quite some time before the Cavs were relevant again and to get ready for a prolonged stretch of losing.

Well, at least I was right about the Cavs. Hey, nobody's perfect. Besides, 50 percent accuracy ain't bad. Heck, it's almost half.

Bay Village and Westshore veterans organizations (VFW Post 9693, American Legion Post 385 and Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 249), combined with support from the City of Bay Village, The Bay Village Foundation, and the Bay Village Kiwanis, have joined to establish an ongoing tribute to Bay Village area veterans and established members of the three local veterans organizations.
 
A Veterans Honor Wall will be dedicated on Saturday, Nov. 10, 11:00 a.m., at the Dwyer Senior Center, 300 Bryson Lane. Bay Village veterans and residents are invited to attend.

Cuyahoga Community College will examine human impact on wildlife and the ecosystem during a “Learning for Life” lecture series program on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at Corporate College West.

The free program will focus on mankind’s footprint on the world and the cumulative effect of seemingly small actions, such as spraying garden pesticides. The discussion will include tips on how people can reduce their environmental impact.

Don Knepper, Bob Goddard and Michael Frye. Photo by Terry Schordock

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Clague Playhouse’s holiday show will be “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!).” Instead of performing Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday classic for the umpteenth time, three actors decide to perform every Christmas story ever told. A madcap romp through the holiday season, the play is written by Michael Carleton, James FitzGerald and John K. Alvarez and is directed by Robert Gibb. Our cast features Michael Frye, Bob Goddard and Don Knepper.

The show runs Friday, Nov. 9, through Sunday, Dec. 9, on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There is no performance on Thursday, Nov. 22. Limited tickets are available. Show tickets are $18 for adults, $17 for seniors (60+), and $10 for students (any age with a valid ID) and may be purchased by calling the box office at 440-331-0403 Wednesday through Saturday from 1-6 p.m. or visiting clagueplayhouse.org.

Ice skating at Crocker Park last winter.

The annual Chanukah celebration at Crocker Park will include a run at Crocker Park's ice skating rink. The event takes place on Sunday, Dec. 2 – the first evening of Chanukah – at 4:00 p.m.

The yearly celebration, hosted by Chabad of the West Side, has become a staple of Jewish life on the West Side and is expected to be attended by hundreds of locals.

The program, which will be based primarily out of the Hyatt Hotel in Crocker Park, will include lighting a giant Menorah, strolling entertainment and lots of fun for adults and children alike!

Troop 41 Eagle Scouts Sam Warren, Matthew Hengelsberg, Dylan Gubanyar and Max Schell.

Scout Troop 41 of Bay Village held a ceremony on Oct. 28 at Bay Middle School to honor four Scouts who recently earned the Eagle Scout rank. The four recipients were Dylan Gubanyar, Matthew Hengelsberg, Max Schell and Sam Warren.  

The Eagle Scout rank is the highest achieved rank in Scouting. In order to reach this rank, each Scout earned a minimum of 21 merit badges, demonstrated leadership and service within the troop, and designed and implemented a local service project, also known as their Eagle Project.

The "We Care" Christmas Toy Drive will be held Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 1 and 2, at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 27993 Detroit Road.

The church will be collecting new toys for children in foster care in Northeast Ohio, as well as for children at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital. A truck will be parked in the church parking lot, and everyone is invited to stop by and drop off a toy.

CHILDREN

• Mondays (10 a.m.) Toddler Storytime – ages 19-35 months
• Tuesdays (10 a.m.) Toddler Storytime – ages 19-35 months
• Tuesdays (6:45 p.m.) Family Storytime – for all ages
• Wednesdays (10 a.m.) Baby and Me Storytime – ages birth-18 months
• Thursdays (10 a.m.) Preschool Storytime – ages 3-5 (not yet in kindergarten)
• Fridays (10 a.m. and 11 a.m.) Family Storytime – for all ages

Thursday, Nov. 15 (4 p.m.) American Girl: Kit (Grades 2-6) – Learn about the times and cultures represented by the dolls. Feel free to bring your doll to the program if you have one.

TEEN

Wednesdays, Nov. 7 and 14 (3 p.m.) Teen Zone – Grades 5 & up: Hang out with something fun to do after school – gaming, art, movies, technology and more! 

ADULT

Friday, Nov. 16 ( 10 a.m.) BAYarts Book Discussion – Join friends, neighbors and library staff for this monthly book discussion on the BAYarts campus. This month's title, "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas, is available at the library and BAYarts one month before the discussion.

Please register to attend the featured programs online at cuyahogalibrary.org, call us at 440-871-6392, or stop in to the library at 502 Cahoon Road and register with a librarian.

Thursday, Nov. 1 (1-7 p.m.) American Red Cross Bloodmobile

Thursdays, Nov. 1 and 8 (6:30-8 p.m.) and Wednesday, Nov. 7 (4-5:30 p.m.) Bow Wow Books – Stop by Youth Services to sign up for a 10-minute reading time with a reading therapy dog. Registration begins each Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and Thursday at 6 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 1 (7-8 p.m.) Teen Meditation – Achieve mindfulness through meditation! Meditation has proven helpful with concentration and navigating the challenges of being a teen. Grades 7-12. Registration begins Oct. 25.

Friday, Nov. 2 (4-5 p.m.) Got Science? – Join us as we delve into the world of science. This month’s topic: Apples! Grades 1 and 2. Registration begins Oct. 26.

Saturday, Nov. 3 (10-11:30 a.m.) Beginning Coding for Adults – Learn the basics of coding through self-paced online modules. An instructor will be on hand to help get you started and to facilitate lessons. Please register.

Saturday, Nov. 3 (10-11:15 a.m.) Tai Chi – Discover the healing effects of this movement therapy. Wear comfortable clothing. Please register.

He wants to be referred to as a member of AA.

At 49, he sports a Paul Bunyan beard. He has blue eyes, is calm and kind. He tells a story how years ago, he drove out of his driveway and woke up a killer.

He first got drunk at 13, typical of most alcoholics he knows.

In high school, he drank on weekends. At 18, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. In Desert Storm, he worked two days on, two days off and every other weekend. The off-days were one big party.

Although both Google and my mobile phone service provider try to identify unwanted incoming calls, the number of such calls has increased exponentially.

Unwanted emails are called “spam emails” and these unwanted calls, including computer-dialed “robocalls” that deliver pre-recorded messages, are also known as “spam calls.”

At least with spam email, your email provider and/or yourself (the latter through creating what are known as rules to categorize email as spam depending on criteria such as message subject) can redirect suspected spam email from ever coming into your inbox.

Sidney Heaton helps young shoppers at last year's Kids Shopping Day.

The BAYarts holiday season kicks off on Nov. 17 and 18 (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) for the Holiday Shop open house weekend. This is the first chance the public gets to see the expanded shop decorated and new merchandise. Coffee, hot chocolate and homemade bakery items will be offered in the Fuller House, with the addition of a photo wall with props. 

For those who can't make those November dates, the entire shop is open through Christmas. And on Thursday, Dec. 6, the annual Holiday Trunk Show will take place from 6-9 p.m. Featured that night will be colorful hand-sewn pillows, purses, bags and creatures; beach glass jewelry; and hand-painted wooden signs.

Join the Bay Village Historical Society in discovering one of Cleveland’s finest hidden gems, the Dittrick Medical History Museum.

The museum opened as the Allen Memorial Medical Library in 1926 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. While it began as both a medical library and museum, it is now an interdisciplinary studies center of the College of Arts and Science of Case Western Reserve University. The Dittrick Medical History Museum holds one of the most comprehensive collections of surgical instruments and medical equipment in America. Its holdings include an immense variety of artifacts, rare books, archives and images.

Tony Chow, opera coach and accompanist of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, with opera students Diane Schwann, Magdalena Kuzma and Dae Won Seo. Photo by Robert Pearl

On Tuesday, Oct. 16, the Westlake-Westshore Arts Council hosted its semi-annual FYI Opera event at Westlake Porter Public Library. Tony Chow, opera coach and accompanist of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, presented opera students Diane Schwann, Magdalena Kuzma and Dae Won Seo. Ms. Schwann and Ms. Kuzma are sopranos; Mr. Dae Won Seo is a baritone. The three promising singers performed arias from "La Boheme," other operas and songs from the Broadway show "Wonderful Town."

Always a crowd-pleaser among Porter Library patrons, the FYI Opera series has been presented by the Westlake-Westshore Arts Council, a 501(c)(3) organization founded 34 years ago to promote arts and culture on the west side of Cuyahoga County. All of W-WAC's programs, including FYI Opera, are free and open to the public.

Various greens decorated with large berries, white icicles and burlap bows are the basis for this holiday centerpiece. A gold mason jar with light inside forms the focal point. The arrangement is 24″ long and 12″ wide.

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Bay Village Garden Club’s annual Christmas Greening Workshops will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Dec. 4 and 5, at Bay United Methodist Church, 29931 Lake Road. This is the 36th year that the club is offering fun workshops to help people make beautiful fresh holiday arrangements. 

There will be four new designs – a centerpiece, a boxwood tree, a wreath and an outdoor/indoor arrangement that can be used on a porch, or perfect on a hearth. The outdoor/indoor is not as large as previous outdoor arrangements. The fee for each workshop is $35.

Neale Donald Walsch will visit Unity Spiritual Center on Saturday, Nov. 17.

Each fall, Unity Spiritual Center Westlake holds a fall program in which the entire community studies a spiritual book for a period of seven weeks. This year, the community is reading Neale Donald Walsch's book, "What God Said."

Neale Donald Walsch is the author of the "Conversations with God" series of books, seven of which have made the New York Times bestseller list. Neale has written 29 books on spirituality and its practical application in everyday life. "What God Said" is based on the 25 core messages from the "Conversations with God" series.

An assortment of jewelry is available at Clague Playhouse's annual fundraiser.

Our ninth annual Jewelry Heist fundraiser is being featured once again this year during performances of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!)." At this event you will find an ever-changing assortment of beautiful and unique jewelry and accessories donated by friends of the theater. The displays are restocked daily so you never know what treasure might await you. A special feature this year will be a Pearl Extravaganza!

The IRS-sponsored AARP Tax Aide Program is looking for volunteers for the 2018 tax filing season. AARP Foundation Tax-Aides provide free personal income tax assistance and tax form preparation for low and moderate income taxpayers, with special attention to those age 50+. During tax season, we set up tax preparation sites, many of them at public libraries and senior centers in the area. Last year, about 34,600 volunteers across the country helped prepare more than 1.5 million free federal tax returns at over 5,000 sites.

Chris Cullen

A few years of accounting work at Sherwin-Williams positioned Chris Cullen for a comfortable career with the Fortune 500 company, his future as bright as the paint giant’s boldest colors.

“I had everything you could ask for,” Cullen said. “I was in a great job with a great company, with plenty of opportunity and mentors. I was set.”

But he wasn’t fulfilled. Cullen had always envisioned himself in a job helping people. He wanted to be a doctor, a healer … somebody who made a difference. “In the hustle and bustle of life, I lost sight of that,” he said.

So he turned to Cuyahoga Community College to reinvent himself.

The Westlake Women’s Club will be presenting its 29th annual Basket of Treasures Marketplace and Craft Show. It will be held on Saturday, Nov. 10,  from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Westlake High School, 27830 Hilliard Blvd. All types of crafters and artisans will have their creations for sale, from seasonal and holiday items and home decor to jewelry and pottery. Lunch will be available as well as a raffle and bake sale featuring many delicious home baked goods.

This is the Westlake Women’s Club primary fundraising event and the success of this show provides scholarships for local students and grants to local nonprofit organization. Admission at the door is $3 for adults and free for children under 12. No strollers please.

Maestro James Feddeck will lead a chamber ensemble on Nov. 19. Photo by Terry Johnston

The Rocky River Chamber Music Society continues its 60th anniversary season with a gala evening of serenades by Antonin Dvořák and Johannes Brahms. Maestro James Feddeck, former assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, will lead a chamber ensemble of 21 members of The Cleveland Orchestra and friends on Monday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church, 20401 Hilliard Blvd. in Rocky River.