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Church celebrates generations of moms
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Local inspirational speaker Liz Barnett spoke to the group about leaving a "Legacy of Love" to the future generations of their families.
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Each year, the banquet honors the youngest and oldest ladies present at the event. This year, the "youngest" prize went to nine-month-old Ava Mechling, who received a pinwheel for the honor. She celebrated with her mom, Lauren Mechling (top) and grandma Michelle Sadlak.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .For the Mother-Daughter banquet on May 1, men were welcome at the church, but only in the kitchen. The men that happily helped out the moms and daughters smiled in the kitchen that afternoon.
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The Austintown Community Church event was a multi-generational celebration. Counting herself, Elsie Eurst (center) brought four generations to the banquet. Her family is, from left, Madeline Miller, Barbara Moransky, Eurst, Marlo Moranski-Miller, and Xiu-Xiu Miller.
By SARAH FOOR
Austintown Community Church has welcomed countless generations of women to celebrate motherhood since its Mother-Daughter Banquet began in 1944. For the 67th annual celebration on May 1, mothers, grandmothers and their little girls gathered for dinner, games and reflections on the importance of love and family.
Susan Roberts, who helped organize the event, hoped the banquet was a simple, but still meaningful, celebration.
“Besides the fact that it is a longtime tradition at our church, it’s simply nice to invite friends and family that we may not see that often. It’s important to honor and be thankful for those special ladies in our lives,” Roberts shared.
Men from the church’s congregation handled the kitchen during the event and served the ladies a light dinner, before church member Mary Caroline DeVille provided some mid-meal entertainment.
DeVille brought guests under 12 up to the stage for a fashion show, recognized the oldest and youngest mothers and daughters in the audience and quizzed the crowd with questions about famous mothers.
The event is a longtime activity for DeVille. Arthur Swinehart, a former reverend for the church, and her late father, was the man who originally began the event in 1944.
“I’ve attended years and years of our banquets and I’ll continue to. As women, we have in common that we all have mothers and we are all daughters. We need to teach each generation our knowledge, kindness and good deeds,” DeVille shared.
Local inspirational speaker Liz Barnett then shared a program that asked the guests what kind of legacy they would like to leave. Barnett shared the tools to help the guests leave “A Legacy of Love.”
“We’re very proud of this tradition,” DeVille said as the event closed. “We intend to be celebrating it for another 67 years.”