Calvary Cemetery will hold a commemorative service on Sunday, March 24 from 2 until 4 PM for all flood victims and survivors with special emphasis on those buried here; Prayers and readings, music and songs by Chaminade-Julienne High School award winning choir, Father Scott Wright presiding; presentations by descendants and others with first hand accounts of the perils and and perishings of the natural disaster; stories of the triumph of the human spirit as heroic efforts are made to rescue others and the community joins together to rebuild an even better Dayton. This event is free and open to the public.
Among the highlights will be:
- Dayton Newspaper writer Mary McCarty and family members telling the story of near death and struggle of her great-grandparents and grandparents who lived on Franklin Street
- Lynn Alejandrino sharing the first hand account written by her Great Aunt Minnie Althoff, who with fellow librarians worked to save the children’s literature collection at the Dayton Public Library from destruction
- Local author and historian Ed Breen relating the story of his father and Aunt Mary Louise as very young children trapped in the Philips Hotel and making a amazing escape to the rooftop of another building as fire and on rushing currents threatened them
- Members of the Hollencamp family displaying a private photograph collection displaying the damage done to their tailoring business located at Second and Market Street; artifacts realting to martial law; their four story building a spot where many citizens were sheltered and rescued from as the flood waters reached their peak;
- Photos and memories from the Barney Smith Car Company and the Hungarian Colony, both of which were changed forever by the natural disaster
- Personal photographs and family memories collected by Tom Finch of odd things the flood did to his family’s home
For additional information, download our event flyer or call Lynn Alejandrino at 937-434-3489.
