Elks history & nature photography
The Greene County Historical Society will close March with two programs – on Friday, March 27, learning about the 50 years of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks in the county, and on Sunday, March 29, co-sponsoring a program on the eye-popping nature photography of Jefferson’s Matt Wetrich.
Hollie Roberts, the first female exalted ruler of local Elks Lodge No. 2306, will present the program on Friday in Cooper at the United Methodist Church. The public is invited to this first regular monthly meeting of 2015 for the historical society, and it will be preceded by a light lunch for $8 at the church. Luncheon RSVPs should be made to the Society’s community contacts by Wednesday, March 25. The program at 1 pm is free.
“I was asked to speak about my position with the Elks, and I will,” said Roberts, “but I am also going to talk about what the Elks do and whom they serve. I want to emphasize their precepts, which are Charity, Justice, Brotherly Love and Fidelity. We have a saying that, ‘The faults of our members we write upon the sand, their virtues on the tablets of love and memory.’ That gets to the meaning of being part of a fraternal organization, one with over a million members and one that is at the top of the list for funding college scholarships for high school graduates across the U.S. And I want to talk about the impact we have in the communities, and of course what it was like to become the first female exalted ruler of the Jefferson lodge.”
Roberts, who is employed as foundation director at the Greene County Medical Center, first became active in 2006 in the “Does,” the organization for women that is separate from the Elks but in Jefferson uses the same facilities. Her husband Jerry Roberts is a 50-year member of the Elks, and he served as exalted ruler of the local lodge in 2009-2010. “We were attending a lot of Elks functions together, and that’s how I became interested in becoming an Elk myself,” Hollie said. She joined in 2010.
The Elks lodge in Jefferson celebrated its 50th anniversary last fall, and remains a very strong organization with more than 300 members. It is among the 10 largest Elks lodges in the state, despite Jefferson reportedly being the smallest town in Iowa to have one.
On Sunday, March 29, Matt Wetrich will be showing and discussing his nature photography in a free program at 2 pm at the Greene County Historical Museum in Jefferson.
The Historical Society is co-sponsoring this event with the Tower View Team of the Jefferson Matters: Main Street program. The “TVT” is the group that is working on visually enhancing Jefferson with public art, like the “Sally’s Alley” dedicated last year and the upcoming promotion of art-on-the-rooftops around the courthouse square. They’ll have free refreshments at the photography program, too.
Wetrich, a native of Fairfield in southeast Iowa, is employed as the naturalist for the Carroll County conservation voard. His programs on wildlife, as well as his photography, have become very popular across the area.
