MAREA meetings minutes

The Marshfield Area Retired Educators held their March 17, meeting at the Country Aire Restaurant near Stratford. President Sally Lucas called the meeting to order. President Lucas announced that because of St. Patrick’s Day there would be some trivia door prizes.

The minutes were approved after corrections. Ruby T. explained the treasurer’s report which was then placed on file for audit. Several committee chairpersons were absent. A report was made by Kathleen H. of the Health Issues Committee. She had participated in an online session from the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging where they provided information about “Caring for the Caregiver” which Kathleen shared with the membership. The information used a tool for self-assessment in order to take care of the patient and the caregiver.

Several other items of business included convention update, by-law revisions, and travel reimbursement. This month’s food pantry donations went to CUP Pantry in Colby.

Larry Scheckel, author of “Murder in Wisconsin The Clara Olson Case,” was this month’s guest speaker. Scheckel is a retired physics and aerospace science teacher from Tomah, where he and his wife still live. He has authored articles for The Science Teacher and The Physics Teacher magazines. He also published several science books. He spoke about the Clara Olson murder case and afterwards, Larry did a book signing.

That case was of interest to him because it happened in his hometown area. Scheckel told the story about how Clara Olson met Erdman Olson from a nearby town at a church picnic. She was young, he was older and in college. They dated for 18 months and Clara became pregnant. She wanted a wedding but they plan a secret elopement, before Clara disappears. The search by the whole community is on to find her. The discovery of the body in a hidden grave has everyone horrified by what is found. The details of the betrayal by Erdman to Olson and her family and his family make the background for the inquest and funeral and then the subsequent search for her killer who seems to also have disappeared.

All MAREA meetings are held at the Country Aire Restaurant on the third Monday of each month at 10 a.m. with a lunch following the meeting and the program. For more information about MAREA or about attending a meeting, email Sally Lucas at: sally.lucas@yahoo.com.

mailto:sally.lucas@yahoo.com