Saxon Club honors 2 members as man and woman of the year

YOUNGSTOWN — Gertrude Prest was honored as Lady of the Year and Dr. John Boehm Jr. was named Man of the Year when the Saxon Club had its annual goulash dinner April 5.

Presenting the awards were Helen Fotiuk, president of the Ladies Branch 22, and David Stryffeler, president of Branch 30.

Mahoning Valley Button Box Players provided dinner music, and John Gabriele provided dance music. The Saxon Ladies Branch 22 served dinner.

Prest, a daughter of German immigrants, grew up in Youngstown. She and her husband, Albert “Pinky,” who is deceased, had five children. Six grandchildren and three great-granddaughters complete her family circle.

She is an active member of the Saxon Club and the Ladies Branch 22, where she has been involved in flea markets and fundraising. She is a member of Faith Community Church and has belonged to a card club for more than 50 years.

Because of her interest in the German language, Prest has visited relatives in Germany on a number of occasions. Recently she returned from a family visit to Florida.

Born in Transylvania, Romania, in 1941, Boehm came to the United States in 1952 from Germany. His family lived on a farm in Wisconsin for two years before moving to Youngstown.

He joined the Saxon Club in 1954 and became active as a junior, youth coordinator and youth choir organizer, sang with the Saxon Singing Society and bowled with the Saxon Traveling League. He also was vice president and president of Branch 30 and, since 2002, has been a trustee on the national board of the Alliance of Transylvania Saxons.

Boehm attended Youngstown and Kent state universities and the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and earned his doctorate at Vanderbilt University. He was a university marshal, a professor of German and a language coordinator at Jacksonville University in Florida.

From 1978 to 1984, Boehm served on the board of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, S.C., and for years was an agency evaluator for the United Way in Jacksonville. Since retiring, he has continued to teach German on a part-time basis at YSU.

Boehm and his wife, Patricia, have three children and one grandson. His parents, Maria and John Boehm, were honored 20 years ago as the Saxon Lady and Man of the Year.