By Nancy Bowman 

The Gillis Fund for Self Sufficiency is ready to help adults through programs to assist them in improving themselves through education.

These programs could include those that help to prepare people for high school equivalency certificates, or GED, or adult literacy training.

This will be the first year for grants through the Tipp City Foundation from the Gillis Fund for Self Sufficiency.

The couple said the program is supported by the proverb, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” 

Kelly and Dee Gillis began setting money aside for this fund in 2012 and it now has reached $25,000. That is the amount necessary for the fund to begin awarding grants.

Applicants for grants must be 501(c)(3) organizations.

“Our fund is not for scholarships. It is for people who are already trying to be in the workforce that need something a little better for their family. It is more for adults than someone just getting out of high school,” Dee Gillis said. “Once you are underwater, you need to get a good job. Without a GED, you cannot get a good job.”

Kelly Gillis said the couple started the fund because neither of them finished high school, although Dee Gillis later obtained her GED. “We want to help people who got behind for some reason or other,” he said.

Dee Gillis left high school to attend beauty college in Dayton and then joined her mother in the business. Kelly Gillis worked after leaving school eventually being employed for several years at Dayton Power and Light.

“In that day when we were starting to make our life, you could still get a good factory job or job at DP&L without having a high school diploma. You can’t do that now,” Dee Gillis said.

Kelly Gillis said the fund was started thanks to Dee.

“She came home and talked to me about it. It was her idea. I am glad we did it now,” he said with a smile. “I want people to take advantage of it however they can.”

The Gillis Fund diversifies the Tipp City Foundation’s grant offerings “by encouraging adults to improve their lives by completing or furthering their education or vocational training” said Jim Ranft, OD, of the Tipp City Foundation board.

“We strive to serve all age groups and needs within the community,” Ranft added. 
The Gillis Fund is one of 20 new funds to join the foundation portfolio in the last five years. “Our fund development chair, Heather Bailey, has done a great job of guiding donors through the process of creating funds that will support their unique special interests for years to come” Dr. Ranft said.

For more information on this fund and the Tipp City Foundation, visit tippfoundation.org.

By Nancy Bowman

The Tipp City Foundation’s annual report is brought to life this year with the Hidden Picture Puzzles artwork of area artist Liz Ball.

The Hidden Picture Puzzles have been flowing off Ball’s drawing board for 30 years and now are featured in a variety of publications including magazines, books and on an interactive website.

The special puzzles created for the annual report feature the Balls’ dog, Tico, who is known as “Tipper” in the puzzles as he makes his way around town exploring everything from Tippecanoe Family Aquatic Center to the Mum Festival Car Show and the railroad depot. 

The places visited are among the always growing list of beneficiaries of grants made through the foundation.

Ball said she has known Heather Bailey of the Tipp City Foundation for many years and was pleased when she asked her to work on the art to illustrate the annual report.

“It was really fun, I enjoyed it. I got to learn more about Tipp City, too,” Ball said.

A native of northeast Ohio, Ball came to the Dayton area to study at ITT. She worked in tool and die engineering including at Process Equipment Co. in Bethel Township, where she met her husband, Bob.

They have made their home in the Tipp City area since the early 1970s.

Ball said she has always done free hand art and was interested in writing for magazines and books as well as illustrating books. When she had her children, she was looking for something she could do from home and started working on the Hidden Picture Puzzles. She sent several to a magazine seeking submissions. “One day I walked out to the mailbox, and there was a check,” she said.

She has been creating for magazines since 1991. The first newspaper to publish the puzzles was the Dayton Daily News in 1996. The feature continues to run in the DDN along with many other newspapers in the United States and beyond. She also has done 14 Hidden Picture Puzzle books.

Ball also is doing interactive puzzles with ActiveLiteraure.com. The picture is pulled up and as the viewer finds the hidden items shown in the key, the picture fills in that item in color.

Ball said she still enjoys coming up with the Hidden Picture Puzzles and creating them. She does personalized drawings for individuals, say for a birthday, and for companies.

Ball also knows of doctors who prescribe the puzzles for patients for memory retention and has heard from teachers who said he puzzles help students with spatial skills and communication.

The foundation annual report project was “fun,” Ball said, adding she was glad to be involved in the effort because of the foundation’s support of so many organizations and activities.

She worked on the foundation artwork project off and on for a year. The project had a sad twist when the Balls lost Tico unexpectedly in September.

The foundation’s annual report will be mailed this month to all residences in the 45371 Zip code.

More about Liz Ball and her work is available on her website at www.hiddenpuzzlepictures.com

More information on the Tipp City Foundation can be seen at www.tippfoundation.org.

By Nancy Bowman 

Jesse Chamberlain, a man of many experiences and accomplishments, has added another with the celebration of his 100^thbirthday. 

Chamberlain was recognized earlier this month with a proclamation read by Mayor Joe Gibson during Tipp City Council’s meeting. His birthday, March 30, was designated Jesse Chamberlain Day in the community he has called home since the 1960s. 

“One of the reasons Tipp City is a great place is the people, people who give of themselves,” Gibson said in commenting on Chamberlain’s contributions.

He came to Tipp City on taking a job at a local bank, soon becoming involved on City Council and in many local organizations.

In early 1970, Chamberlain was asked by former Tipp City Foundation president Penny Finch to fill a vacancy in the foundation secretary position. That began 50 years of foundation involvement that concluded in 2020.

To salute Chamberlain, the foundation board made all grants awarded for the first quarter of 2021 in his honor. His family is suggesting a birthday tribute to Chamberlain to be a gift to the foundation in his name. Gifts can be sent to the Tipp City Foundation, P.O. Box 626, Tipp City.

Chamberlain also was involved in Tipp City Rotary, Tipp City United Methodist Church, Tipp City United Way and many other organizations. Chamberlain was the Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year in 1986.

He has four children, one deceased; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren, said his daughter, Lauren Czehut.

He remains active in leasing and acquisition of supplies and giving tours of family farms in Logan County, she said.

The family is pleased with his love of Tipp City and the foundation, Czehut said.

“He absolutely loves the town. From the minute he moved in, that was his town,” she said.

Plans were to hold small gatherings for the 100^th birthday celebration due to COVID-19, along with a Zoom celebration for those across the country and beyond, said daughter Janet Chamberlain. 

Longevity runs in the Chamberlain family, she said, noting Chamberlain’s parents both lived into their 90s and his grandmother celebrated her 100^th birthday.

Her father, Janet Chamberlain said, “stressed the importance on continuing to educate yourself always and to participate in life, and to accept change.”

Growing up in North Lewisburg in Champaign County, Chamberlain attended Antioch College before being drafted into the Army during World War II.

He trained as a medic and served in the anti-aircraft battalion known as the “Fighting 440.” The group landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day+3. Its mission was shooting down low-flying enemy aircraft and protecting bridges and roads leading from the beach. 

He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge and narrowly escaped the Malmedy Massacre in 1944 when German soldiers killed American prisoners of war in Belgium. 

He was recognized for his service by the French government in 2015, with the award of the French Legion of Honor. The medal is the highest distinction that can be given by the French government.

By Bruce McKenzie

One thing I’ve come to realize is that “quality of life” begins in our homes and starts with our families. It’s our parents, siblings, and children that typically shape our lives. In addition, it is our next-door neighbors, our extended family, our fellow churchgoers, our coworkers, and of course, our friends. These individuals are usually formative in the qualities we come to possess.  From our homes, those qualities build out into the streets and carry over into our communities. It’s how we showcase that “quality” of life that makes our community the place to be. Perhaps that’s why we refer to the community we grew up in as our “hometown”: it brings both the home and the community together as a homogenous unit.

This same “quality” was the impetus behind the Bethel Community Fund, which was started in 2013 by the four children of Kenneth and Fairy Bowman. After their parents’ passing in 2010 and 2011, Sandra Bowman Dunham, Carl Bowman, Anita Bowman-Hamber and

JoAnn Bowman Moyer wanted to carry on their parents’ example of giving back to the community. Coming from a family of strong ideals, and looking to make a good community great, this fund honors their parents to this day.

Kenneth and Fairy worked diligently to help develop and grow the Bowman and Landes Turkey Farm on Ross Road in Bethel Township, which still bustles to this day. We’ve all come to know the place, most of us having visited it many times, especially at Thanksgiving. Besides being customers, many students from Bethel High School and countless members of the community had stints working there during the busy fall season. This is just one place where their determination to build the quality of community was a legacy in the making.

Kenneth served on the Bethel School Board for many years, investing his time in a community where he was born, graduated, and even drove a school bus his senior year. Both Ken and Fairy were dedicated to being involved in and supporting school activities with their children, each of whom graduated from Bethel High School

In addition, both Kenneth and Fairy shared in leadership roles and outreach activities with the West Charleston Church of the Brethren, a central hub of activities for the family. This even included bringing refugees to the United States after WWII and the war in Bosnia. They set a lifelong example of giving back, which was recognized by their children.

It was the giving of their time, talents, and resources to the Bethel community throughout the years that the children remember as forefront in their family: the care their parents held for the area in which they lived, and their participation in fostering that commitment in each of the children. It was through this lifetime of memories that the Bethel Community Fund was established. As a member at the time of the Tipp Foundation, it was Anita Bowman-Hamber who first proposed the idea to her siblings. With three of the Bowman children still living in Bethel Township, the idea was an epiphany, and to this day continues to build a stronger Bethel community. Mary Bowman, wife of Kenneth and Fairy’s son Carl, is honored to serve as a representative on the Tipp City Foundation, which oversees the fund, and advocate for the Bethel community. The purpose of the Bethel Community Fund is to support Bethel Schools, Bethel Hope, Child Care Choices, and any other worthy cause to strengthen the Bethel Community.

As we reflect on the people who have invested time into our lives—parents, grandparents, neighbors, schoolteachers, scoutmasters, pastors, and the list continues, may we hold close to our hearts how a great community is built on those we come in contact with on a regular basis. These women and men are rightly called our mentors, family, friends and neighbors. All of their labor and commitment might not be recorded in the annals of the local library, written on the walls of the community building, or highlighted in town in any shape or form, but one thing is for sure: there is no community history without them to look back upon. May we be the guiding force to foster a community where strong relationships like these continue to shape the future.