SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2011 Lake Life Editor David Wilcox ■ 282-2245 ■ david.wilcox@lee.net ■ Twitter @drwilcox THE CITIZEN, AUBURN, NEW YORK

LAKE LIFE COMMUNITY

C3

PORT BYRON AND MENTZ

Early reading system has local tiesThe new year will bring changes to the

office of the historian. Starting in Janu-ary, I will be steppingdown as Mentz histo-rian due to inade-quate funding. Iwould like to thankPeter Marshall andthe Mentz townboard for supportingmy vision as theirhistorian over thepast two years. I lookforward to continuingas your village histo-rian and welcome thenew Mentz historian

once appointed.One of my last projects as Mentz his-

torian was to assist the descendants ofEdward Ferguson for their homecoming.They expressed great interest in findingthe family farm, which was located at theintersection of Halsey and Henvy roads.The family is often listed as being fromThroop, due to being close to the townborder. Edward came to Cayuga Countyfrom Ulster County. We believe he leasedthe premises and later purchased thefarm from Porter P. Wethey per a deedfiled on March 1, 1892. The farmhousestill stands and the oil painting from anearlier date reflects the warmth of thisparcel. If you look closely, you can see thefamily dog waiting at the entrance towelcome you.

In working on their inquiry, this familysuffered many tragedies. However, Ifound something very unusual that Iwould like to share. My search revealedthat an author from New York City dedi-cated a book to this family. TheodoreDwight Kellogg created an early studymethod to teach children how to read.His first book was a phonetic reader. Thesecond was a transitional lesson to pre-pare students for leisure reading at home.The home series was known as the “won-

der books.” Their purpose was to promotereading at home to become proficientreaders without extended classroominstruction. It is the first book of thishome series that is dedicated to the Fer-guson family.

T.D. Kellogg was an advertising agentbefore developing his reading program. In1877, he advertised a “reading in fiveweeks or no pay” class. The programserved two focus groups. The first was forpupils between the ages of 10-14 havingfour to seven years of prior instruction.The second was a primary grade, definedas students with one year or less of les-sons. There were no grades between andnone after. The program’s goal was toachieve self-teaching of reading usingphonetics. Kellogg used his system at hisprivate school on Sixth Avenue in NewYork.

How widely this program was used inCayuga County is not clear. However,there are newspaper articles reflectingsome support of the program in Cayuga

County. It is not known how these twogentlemen were acquainted. However,Theodore is related to the Kellogg familyof Kelloggsville.

What a blessing to find such a won-derful public acknowledgement to one ofour local families. The Fergusons will for-ever be attached to an early reading sys-tem that helped to shape education inrural America.

I would like to close by wishing every-one a joyous and healthy holiday. I sendspecial greetings to all of our servicemenand women that defend our nation toensure safety for us all. Many of you maynot be able to unite with your loved onesthis holiday season, so on behalf of ourcommunity, we thank you for your tire-less devotion. Happy holidays!

Dawn Roe is the Port Byron and Mentz histori-an. She can be reached at 776-8446 or on the web

at www.portbyronhistory.com

Dawn

ROE

• The Auburn Hockey Club seeks volunteers for its thirdannual Pucks on the Pond outdoor tournament. Thetournament will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday,Jan. 28, at Hoopes Park. Volunteers would help serverefreshments, shovel rinks, set up and clean up. Much ofthe proceeds from the fundraiser support the club's Learnto Skate program for children. For more information, callTracey Walsh at 729-6443.

• The Cayuga County Veterans Van is in need of a volun-teer driver to transport veterans seeking medical treat-ment from the Syracuse Veterans Affairs Medical Center.To donate one day a week of time, call 253-1281 or emailveterans@co.cayuga.ny.us.

• The Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency seeksvolunteers for its Free Clothing Program to help sortdonations for sharing with the community. The agencyalso needs volunteers for its Head Start program. Partici-pants can assist teachers and interact with children bysinging, playing a musical instrument, dancing, reading astory or putting to use any other talents that can be sharedwith children. For more information, call 252-0038.

• Literacy Volunteers of Cayuga County is seeking volunteersto be trained as basic literacy and English as a second lan-guage tutors. Participants do not need any teaching experi-ence or fluency in another language. There is an18-hour tutortraining workshop, and an annual commitment of 60 to 75hours. Participants are asked to meet with their student for atleast two hours a week. For more information, call 253-5241.

• The SCAT Van service seeks volunteers for the wintermonths. For more information, call 253-0996.

• The Cayuga County Office for the Aging seeks volun-teers to deliver lunch meals to homebound seniors inAuburn. Volunteers would work one day a week for anhour and a half. For more information, call 253-1427.

• The Finger Lakes SPCA of Central New York is seekingvolunteers to assist at one Spay/Neuter Clinic per month.This clinic will be held on the first Friday of each month(in addition to the regularly scheduled clinics which areheld on the second and fourth Friday of each month).Clinics are normally 12 to 14 hours in duration; shifts areavailable. Training is provided to anyone interested in thislife-saving activity.

• Mercy Health and Rehabilitation Center is seeking vol-unteers to pick up residents from their rooms and trans-port them to: occupational therapy from 8:30 a.m. tonoon or 1 to 3 p.m.; physical therapy from 9 a.m. tonoon or 1 to 4 p.m.; and beauty shop appointmentsbeginning at 9 a.m. Mondays through Fridays. The centeralso seeks friendly visitors to work with residents at anytime during the week; volunteers to assist with recre-ational activities; and people to work in the gift shopfrom 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. or 12:30 to 3 p.m. For moreinformation, call 253-0351 ext. 310.

• Volunteers are sought to prepare free basic tax returnsthrough the United Way of Cayuga County’s CA$H pro-gram. Volunteers will work three hours per week fromJan. 17 through April 15. Training is provided for IRS cer-tification. There is no personal liability. For more infor-mation, call 253-9741 or email kkrasniak@unitedwayof-cayugacounty.org.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

ZONTA

January is Earhart Fellowship monthThe Zonta Club of Auburn had its holiday party ear-

lier this month. Many thanks to our members andguests who raised more than $1,800 at our holiday auc-

tion to help provide local familieswith holiday gifts and meals. As wemove into the new year, we arethinking about the women and fam-ilies in local shelters and will bebringing personal care products toour January and February meetingsfor them.

For our January meeting, I will bewearing my Zonta hat of District 2Foundation ambassador and speak-ing to our club about Amelia Earhart(our most famous Zontian) and thefellowships we give in her memory.Since the program's inception,Zonta has awarded 1,333 Amelia

Earhart Fellowships, totaling $7.5 million, to womenfrom 65 countries. Here is what one fellow had to sayabout the fellowships:

The Amelia Earhart Fellowship is more than a fellow-ship that helped me financially while conducting myresearch. I met so many wonderful women in all walksof life that are truly engaged in helping women toadvance and succeed, the spirit of which I will appreciatefor a long time to come.

— Peihua Jing, China, Amelia Earhart fellow, 2002and 2005

Established in 1938 in honor of famed pilot and Zon-tian Amelia Earhart, the Amelia Earhart Fellowship isawarded annually to women pursuing Ph.D./doctoral

degrees in aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering. The fellowship of $10,000, award-ed to 35 fellows around the globe each year, may be usedat any university or college offering accredited post-graduate courses and degrees in these fields.

Women of any nationality pursuing a Ph.D./doctoraldegree who demonstrate a superior academic record inthe field of aerospace-related sciences and aerospace-related engineering are eligible. Please note that post-doctoral research programs are not eligible for the fel-lowship. Members and employees of ZontaInternational or the Zonta International Foundation arealso not eligible to apply for the fellowship. Current fel-lows may apply to renew the fellowship for a secondyear and will undergo the same application and evalua-tion procedures as first-time applicants.

The fellowship applications are judged by formerAmelia Earhart fellows who have become leaders intheir fields and who have joined Zonta to give back toother women. The application deadline was Nov. 15, andwe look forward to hearing about and meeting a newgroup of fellows who will go on to improve our worldthrough their studies and research.

Meet two Amelia Earhart fellows:• Cecilia Carmen Larrosa, United States, aeronautics

and astronautics at Stanford University: Larrosa willuse her second fellowship to continue to study the pre-diction and management of the health of aircraft com-posite structures using embedded sensors. This pastyear, she designed and conducted experiments to inves-tigate and develop a method to classify and quantifydamage from sensor data. She has successfully run 10tests and is evaluating the data. This integrated healthmanagement technology will make aircraft safer and cutmaintenance costs significantly. This year she joined

the Stanford Young Astronauts program, which is ateam of aeronautics and astronautics graduate studentswho go to local elementary schools and teach third-graders about engineering and science. Ms. Larrosa’slong-term goal is to become a professor and have theopportunity to conduct research and promote theimportance of science and engineering to students.

• Morgan Heath Nunn, United States, chemistry atU.C. San Diego: Nunn is interested in the amount andorigin of water on the moon. The existence of lunarwater was debated for many years, and in 2009, it wasproven to exist by the results of the Lunar CraterObserving and Sensing Satellite mission. Ms. Nunn’swork will be the first attempt to quantify the amount ofwater and determine details of where it originated. Shewill do this by measuring the isotopic rations of oxygenin the water extracted from lunar samples using a spe-cial high-precision system that she has developed andbuilt. The information obtained will be useful forunderstanding the origin of the solar system and futurelunar exploration. Ms. Nunn volunteers with publicoutreach organizations that focus on science education.

If you’d like to help Zonta help women in our com-munity and around the world, please consider a dona-tion to the Zonta International Foundation. The foun-dation is a 501(c)3 organization, which makes donationsto Zonta deductible to those who itemize their deduc-tions. To find out more about donating or Zonta mem-bership, please write to us atauburn@zontadistrict2.com or visit www.zonta.org.

Thank you and happy holidays to all from Zontiansand the women we help.

Gloria Stootman Wristen has been a CPA in Auburn since 1982and a member of Zonta since 1989

Gloria

Stootman

WRISTEN

Dec. 27, 1921

No Dec. 25 edition

The cancer death rate in the U.S. shows a big increase. Therewere 73,000 cancer deaths in 1920.

Dec. 26, 1956

No Dec. 25 edition

Five children of Mr. and Mrs. Eric Wilkinson, 123 ChapmanAve., wore smiles of anticipation as they gathered around theguest of honor at the annual Mercy Hospital party for chil-dren recently. The boys are Timmy, 3, Jimmy, 9 and Pat, 12.The girls are Kathy, 5, and Mary Ann, 7. Santa (Jack Procino)delivered gifts from a large sack he carried.

— Compiled by Linda Simmons

LOOK BACK AT THE LAKES

Photo provided

This painting depicts the Ferguson farm, home of Edward Ferguson and family.

Photo provided

This lesson contained in one of the “wonderbooks” illustrates how to learn to read usingphonetics.

Photo provided

A dedication page from the first of TheodoreDwight Kellogg’s “wonder books.”