Randolphites Help Celebrate

Randolph physician Milton Fowler takes part in a ceremonial food preparation as part of folk-style Ukrainian entertainment during a picnic hosted by the Mirgorod Rotary Club. It was Dr. Fowler's seventh trip to Mirgorod. (Herald / Marjorie Drysdale)

10th Anniv. of Ukrainian Rotary

By M. D. Drysdale

Randolph’s sister-city relationship with the city of Mirgorod, Ukraine was renewed early this month with a visit by four Randolph residents and a former town manager.

The visit also celebrated the 10^th anniversary of the founding of the Rotary Club of Mirgorod. Randolph Rotary President George "Sonny" Holt conferred official greetings from the local club, including a slide show about Randolph Rotary, in both English and Russian.

Both the sister city relationship and the founding of the Mirgorod Rotary were the handiwork of former Randolph Town Manager Gwendolyn Hallsmith. Hallsmith joined the Randolph delegation last week with her father Wes—80 years old but still an indefatigable traveler.

Hallsmith was enthusiastically welcomed on her return to Mirgorod, as was Dr. Milt Fowler, who was making his seventh trip. Dr. Fowler is also greatly admired in Mirgorod, for his many kindnesses to the hospital there, and he was given the rare honor of a homestay with two physicians. The other members of the delegation were, Dick Drysdale on his second trip and his wife Marjie on her first.

The occasion for the visit was an invitation from the Mirgorod Rotary Club to Randolph Rotary to help it celebrate its anniversary, along with delegations from seven other clubs in Ukraine.

Two days of festivities were planned, including an afternoon-long picnic at which the travelers were entertained by an accomplished troupe of Ukrainian folk musicians and dancers—who also insisted on involving the Americans in some of their comic routines.

Also part of the Rotary celebration were visits to the nearby birthplace of Russian/ Ukrainian author Nicolai Gogol, and a notable horse breeding farm—where another set of musicians entertained at a luncheon.

The Randolph visitors found that long dinner celebrations, richly spread with meats and dumplings and richly lubricated with vodka and cognac, were the rule—although those who do not drink, like Holt, were accommodated gracefully.

The longest of the dinners—the 10^th anniversary celebration—ran six hours, from 6 p.m. to after midnight, incorporating dozens of formal toasts.

Renewing Bonds

Following two days of Rotary-sponsored events, the Randolphites spent another day visiting organizations with which the town has established a special relationship.

One of these is a regional school for deaf and hard-of-hearing children. The school had been the recipient of 150 hearing aids several years ago, thanks to the leadership of Randy Garner. They were the first hearing aids the school had ever been able to give out and were greatly appreciated. The school’s directors noted that most of those hearing aids are being used by graduates, so that the school needs a new infusion of them from some source.

Holt said one of his special memories is of the multiple translations—"from Milt’s English to our interpreter Sergei’s Russian, and then to sign language for the children."

Another trip was to the town’s small but excellent music school, an after-school affair for several hundred children. A group of children and teenagers performed a variety of music—classical, Ukrainian folk, and "American Idol" style pop—to great acclaim. They were answered by an introduction to American folk music—"Oh Susannah" and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See," and then a sing-along of the campfire song "Vive l’Amour."

Reflecting on the events of the weekend, Holt concluded, "Randolph could not have picked a better choice for a sister city," even though Mirgord, Ukraine, at a population of 50,000, is ten times as big as Randolph.

"Thanks to Gwen Hallsmith and all the earlier Randolphians who solidified this relationship," he said.

After the time in Mirgorod came an afternoon touring the big capital city of Kiev, which was once the capital of all of Russia. A ballet at the exquisite Kiev Opera House (tickets were $10), and then light dinner with a former minister of the environment (a friend of Hallsmith’s) concluded the visit.

Sidebar:

The Essence of Cultural Exchange

I will long remember my discussions with Vasilly Loban and his daughter Sasha on the last day of our visit.

He was a former fighter pilot for the Soviet Air Force and I was a former navigator/bombardier in the B-38 supersonic bomber. His job, of course, was to shoot down airplanes like the B-58 if the U. S. and the Soviets had ever gone to war.

We were both very proud of our mutual military heritage, and there is a common bond among military professionals. But we were both thankful that the cold war never erupted into hostile action.

And our common bond today is that we are both Rotarians, endeavoring to make the world safer for all nations and pursuing common goals like polio eradication, educating our youth, and supporting cultural exchanges. — Rotary President Sonny Holt