September 2023

Michelle Lynette Burkett, age 68, of Alger, passed away on Saturday, September 16, 2023, at 2:15 a.m. at her residence, surrounded by her family. 

She was born on May 20, 1955, in Lima, Ohio to the late Byron and June (Houchins) Osborn. On April 24, 1975, Michelle married James Burkett and he survives in Alger.

VOLLEYBALL: Ehlinger, Wagner lead team to 3-0 sweep of Bluffton 
The No. 23-ranked Ohio Northern volleyball team opened the home portion of its 2023 schedule with a 25-16, 25-13, 25-16 victory over area-rival Bluffton on Wednesday night at the ONU Sports Center. FULL STORY at ONUSports.com

MEN’S SOCCER: Team falls 1-0 at Ohio Wesleyan
DELAWARE—The Ohio Northern men's soccer team opened a five-game road trip Wednesday evening with a 1-0 loss at Ohio Wesleyan. FULL STORY at ONUSports.com

By Cort Reynolds

The Ada High School football team battled hard but came up short against unbeaten Leipsic in a 55-24 shootout Friday night, September 15, at War Memorial Stadium in an entertaining Northwest Conference matchup featuring several big offensive plays.

The Bulldogs hung tough early and had visions of a possible upset after seizing a 10-7 lead early in the second quarter. But the Vikings responded with two long touchdown drives to regain control and take a 21-10 lead into the halftime break.

Spunky Ada fought back with two third-period touchdowns, but speedy Leipsic answered with three long scoring drives of its own in a seesaw third quarter.

The Bulldogs ran out of gas in the fourth quarter as the weather cooled considerably, but Ada stayed close for 36 minutes. After Ada scrapped back within 28-24, the speedy Vikings reeled off 27 unanswered points to pull away and win.

Columnist Bill Herr taught high school mathematics and science for 32 years before serving as a volunteer and then as a staff chaplain at two nursing homes. In this series of articles, he writes about his experiences with elderly residents. He does not use the residents’ real names.

By Bill Herr

In this series of articles, most of the experiences I relate involved nursing home residents experiencing some degree of dementia. The purpose is to show others ways to make their visits with such individuals as pleasant as possible.

There are about 15,000 nursing homes and 29,000 assisted living facilities in the United States, housing 2.1 million residents. One third of all Americans who die in a given year spend all or part their last six months in a senior care home. Nearly 80% of nursing home residents receive fewer than one outside visitor per month. Loneliness, hopelessness, loss of dignity and a lack of real purpose in living at an advanced age are among the primary emotional and spiritual issues that residents feel.  

Nursing home residents are blessed when they receive visitors. I met a new resident, John, who was outgoing, friendly and liked to talk.  He had a plaque on the wall of his room that was given to honor him when he retired as fire chief in his local community.