Social Butterfly
The Paper • Page 3 • September 7, 2017
The
Evelyn Madison The Social Butterfly Email Evelyn at:
thesocialbutterfly@cox.net Meetings/Events Calendar
Palomar Chapter NARFE Special Meeting – A Special Meeting of the Palomar Chapter of NARFE will be held today, Thursday, September 7, from 10am12noon at the Garden Room, Marie Calendar’s Restaurant, 515 W. 13th Ave., Escondido. President Robert Davidson, DVP-1 will conduct this meeting, with District 1 chapters (with any and all officers available). Issues of membership, non-chapter members, legislation/congressional visits and to form the Convention Host Committee for September 19-20, 2017, in Fresno, CA. This meeting will start at 10am for brunch (start ordering by 10:15am) with everyone paying for their own. Space available for about 30 people. For questions about this meeting, contact Doris Roberts, Treasurer, at 760.294.5212, leave a detailed message and your phone number for a call back. This chapter will be dark for a regular meeting in September; next meeting will be October 18; speaker to be announced.
Owney, the Postal Dog Cont. from Page 2
The above notation on Owney’s collar is now on official display at the Smithsonian Museum, at our nation’s capitol in Washington, D. C.
That particular official dog tag was historic in that it established Owney as the “unofficial” mascot of the U. S. Railway Mail Service. This single gesture would catapult the Border terrier to unprecedented heights of recognition. Owney would continue to earn plenty of ink in the newspapers across America. BEST TRAVELED DOG. Owney was decorated with tags everywhere he went. In 1893, Mrs. Winnona Kilbridge of the Los Angeles Kennel Club presented him with a medal for “Best Traveled Dog.” This once-lone derelict puppy was now adorned like a king.
Owney’s collection of collar tags grew so large that John Wanamaker, the United States Postmaster General, presented the dog with a coat to display them all. Wanamaker then announced that Owney was now an “Official Mascot of the Rail Mail Service.”
From once being a ‘rule-breaking intruder’ by being allowed to sleep among the mail bags in the rear room of a post office back in 1888, Owney now was officially made an employee from no less than the Postmaster General of the United States. Amazingly, his dog tags became so numerous that clerks began removing them so that they could be forwarded to Albany, New York or Washington, D. C. for safekeeping.
Hitchcock Thriller at Escondido’s Star Repertory Theatre – An award-winning theater group, North County Players, is bringing a new stage adaptation of the Alfred Hitchcock classic "The Lady Vanishes" to Escondido's Star Repertory Theatre, 329 E. Valley Pkwy, Escondido. Titled "Passage Into Fear," the stage thriller is set on board a transcontinental passenger train traveling from Venice to Zurich, Switzerland, during the waning days of World War I. An elderly woman, Mrs. Lillian Merriweather, boards the train insisting she knows of a sinister plot with vast international repercussions, then promptly disappears. Other characters include a young American woman, a pugnacious 7year-old war orphan, a Member of Parliament and his wife, a Spanish gypsy, a sinister Indian doctor hiding a secret, and a ruthless German countess bent on achieving her evil ends. The play was performed most recently at the San Marcos Civic Center and Patio Playhouse Theatre in conjunction with nationwide centennial observances of the Great War. Shows will be 7pm on September 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, & 16, and Sunday 2pm matinees on September 10 and 17. Tickets are $12/general, $8/seniors, kids, military. Call 760.933.9174 for special pricing for groups of four or more, and check out ½-price Thursdays shows. One-click TIX, reviews, comments and information at northcountyplayers.org. Refreshments will be available, including beer and wine.
Zumba Classes & Events – Escondido classes are at Park Avenue Community Center, 210 E. Park Avenue, at 7pm Monday & Wednesday; 8:30am Saturday (no class on Sept. 30). Registration at oasisnet.org. All Escondido classes are SilverSneakers/FLEX which means if your health insurance provides this benefit, classes are free after payment of the Oasis trimester fee of $15. New payment options: all purchased classes are valid through December 20th. Class #660 starts with 5 classes @ $8/each, thru Class #664 for 25 classes for $6/each. Lake San Marcos classes are held at the Lake San Marcos Fitness Center Gallery Room, 1105 La Bonita, San Marcos, at 5:30pm on Tuesday & Thursday; 10:30am on Saturday.
The number of commemorative dog tags and tokens soon exceeded a staggering 1,017. AROUND THE WORLD. The Universal Postal Union allowed Owney to extend his travels abroad. In 1895, the celebrity terrier enjoyed an around-the-world trip, riding with mail bags aboard trains and even steamships.
Starting in Tacoma, Washington, on August 19, 1895, Owney boarded the steamship, Victoria and traveled over 4 months throughout Asia and across Europe before returning to the United States on December 23, 1895. He landed at New York City, then commenced to journey to his home route at New York’s state capitol at Albany. Though he was an Eastern dog, by birth, the Left Coast knew of him as a citizen of the world and belonging to all Americans. The Los Angeles Times newspaper reported in expansive and loving detail, Owney’s visit to Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East.
Another report claimed the Emperor of Japan awarded the dog two passports and several medals bearing the Japanese coat-of-arms.
Owney’s arrival in Japan was a humorous one. Knowing that the U. S. Mail dog was an official employee of the American postal service, the Japanese custom officials did not know how to process his incoming papers or his personal belongings. Owney had his own little suitcase which contained, among other things, a comb, a brush, his favorite dog biscuits, small toys to play with, and tiny ribbons for his collar.
Registration: 10 class card for $90 or monthly membership to the full fitness schedule of 29 various fitness classes per week. Contact Pam at phepler@lakehousehotelandresort.com for details.
MiraCosta Horticulture Club Meeting on Saturday – On September 9th, at 12:30pm, the MiraCosta Horticulture Club will meet at MiraCosta College, One Barnard Dr., Oceanside, Student Center Bldg. 3400, Aztlan Rooms A & B, 2nd floor. Member Salli Blakesley will lead a round table discussion of our favorite tools and why they are our favorites. Bring your favorite tool to show. The main speaker, Stephanie Shigematsu, Curator of Horticulture, San Diego Zoo, is a 35-year veteran of the horticulture profession, serving 18 years as a Director of Horticulture at Sea World before joining the SD Zoo Safari Park in 2012, moving to her current position in 2015. She is responsible for the zoo’s prominent botanical collection of more than 700,000 plants spread throughout the 100 acre facility. Her presentation will focus on the plants being installed in the new $69 million, six venue “Africa Rocks”, the latest and largest ever zoo project to be completed by the end of the year. We are delighted to have Ms Shigematsu, she’s a great speaker with encyclopedic knowledge of plants. After the speaker, there will be a plant raffle. Meetings generally finish around 3pm. The meeting is open to the public. For more information, call 760.721.3281. Keep May 26 and 27, 2018, open for our annual plant sale! EAP September Events – The Escondido Arts Partnership Municipal Gallery September events include the annual “West Coast Fiber Exhibition” and other categories that relate to that, September 8October 7. Meet the artists, see spinning wheel and loom demos with the Palomar Hand-Weavers Guild, visit the 2nd Saturday artists receptions on September 9th, from 5:30-8pm. Learn embroidery techniques with Andrea Zuill and Jean Benelli on Saturday, September 23, from 1-3pm. Welcome to Robert Rose for joining the
The Japanese officials had no alternate rule-sheets to apply to a dog, so Owney was issued an imperial passport which contained conventional restrictions for normal human beings. According to the manifest, while visiting Japan with his postal worker escorts, Owney would not be allowed to “Ride a horse to a fire,” and also he could not “Rent a house” while in the country.
Owney’s triumphant world tour was recounted when he returned to American shores and his 132-day world tour was covered by newspapers across the United States.
HIS LEGACY. If it never truly happened, no one would have believed such a legacy that stretches the boundaries of imagination and challenges credibility. Especially for a dog, nonetheless, during the ultra-conservative times almost 130 years ago.
There remains no historical precedent which can compare with Owney’s. No barometer to measure him by. He was pioneering history, and his only reference was himself.
Along his journeys he was showered with great love and affection, perhaps the hand of providence making atones for his early cruel abandonment that made him a pathetic orphan as a mere puppy.
During his time, Owney, had truly become – officially – the most famous dog in the world. An unbelievable ascension from a poverty-struck beginning. From the debris of his early puppy existence, when he was found only skin and bones, Owney, somehow, miraculously built a kingdom never before seen in the canine world.
EAP Board, and to Patrick Brown, the new EAP Gallery Manager. On Sunday, September 10th, from 1-3pm, join in where Poets Inc. (Inland North County) and EAP hosts a Literary Series. Bring your own work, or that of some favorite authors; tell what is on your reading list, or hang out in the gallery and listen to the words flow for two hours, with special guest Chris Vannoy. Reception at 12:30pm, with light refreshments. Volunteer needed for Saturday, September 9th – 2nd Saturday, from 5:308pm. If interested, email mail@escondidoarts.org. The Gallery is located at 262 E. Grand Ave., Escondido; 760.480.4101; mail@esconjdidoarts.org; gallery hours are Tues. 11am-6pm; Thurs. to Sat. 11am-4pm.
Brandon Gallery Events – Remembering 9/11/2001, patriotic-themed art that honors the military, first responders, and the USA, exhibited September thru September 29th; a “People’s Choice” judged show. Vote at the Gallery now thru September 10th, during regular gallery hours. There will be a Reception on Sunday, September 10th, from 2-4pm. Congratulations to Leslie Sweetland, winner of People’s Choice on Dog Days of Summer exhibition. Workshop on Acrylic Color Mixing with Joe Oakes, on Sunday, September 17th, 10am-4:30pm. Information and/or to register, contact Joe at joeaoakes1@gmail.com. Call for entries for the 11th Annual Exhibition of Small Works, November 1-30. For a prospectus and entry form, contact the Gallery at 760.723.1330, 105 N. Main Avenue, Fallbrook, open Tuesday-Saturday 10am4pm, or info@fallbrookbrandongallery.org or www.fallbrookbrandongallery.org. Read Local, Shop Local! With Library Card – The Escondido Public Library card provides discounts at local businesses. September is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. To celebrate, the Library is promoting the advantages of owning a free Library card by launching Read Local, Shop Local!, a discount program that provides exclusive
Social Butterfly Cont. on Page 7
Before or since.
DEATH AND HONORS. As the world-decorated dog aged, post office management slowly came to believe that his traveling days were over. Mail clerk, J. M. Elben, of St. Louis, Missouri, agreed to take him in.
During Owney’s old age when he became less alert and failing in his eyesight and deteriorating physical condition, one individual who – some say never liked dogs and was jealous of his world celebrity – condemned Owney in strong terms. The powerful and influential Chicago manager of the Railway Mail Service used openly insulting language and referred to Owney, on record, as nothing more than a “mongrel cur.” He even went so far as to ask his employees not to allow Owney to ride on future mail trains. This acrimonious directive did not sit well with national postal employees. In St. Louis, Missouri, for example, letter carriers resisted this “executive order” and in the summer of 1897, Owney boarded a train for the last time. By this time, the legendary dog had traveled more than 143,000 miles in his lifetime. It was the only life the dog knew and loved. It was now taken away from him, in his old age.
Though most postal employees continued to applaud and salute his accomplishments they, nevertheless, agreed that Owney was now too old and decrepit to continue his travels. It
Owney, the Postal Dog Cont. on Page 5