Speaker Series

The 2024/ 2025 Speaker Series is Scheduled! 


 

Monthly Speaker Series 2024 - 2025 

Third Tuesday (usually) of the month   **   Free & open to the public!

RecPlex West Theater (Rec West)
965 Miamisburg Centerville  Rd.

 Reception 6:30 p.m.        Program 7:00 p.m.

Enjoy refreshments and historical education. 

Donations welcome and appreciated.

**NOTE -- Please enter on the south side of the building using the east doors that are closest to the theater. Park between the Subaru dealership and the building for the shortest walk.


2024/2025 Speaker Series Schedule (pdf)

September 17, 2024 Watch the presentation on YouTube
Angie Hoschouer Berghuis
 Patterson, Kettering, Cox and Wright Brothers: The drive & passions of Dayton's most eccentric men

This program follows the book The Grand Eccentrics by Mark Bernstein. It highlights the lives of John H. Patterson, Charles F. Kettering, Gov. James M. Cox, and Orville & Wilbur Wright. Discover the drive and passions of Dayton’s most eccentric men and how they acted and interacted with one another. Angie Hoschouer Berghuis is a historian, public speaker, community volunteer, and a lifelong Daytonian. She is a member of the Heritage Committee at First Baptist Church which is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2024, and is currently the neighborhood liaison for Grafton Hill Neighborhood Association and Preservation Dayton.  

October 15, 2024  Watch this presentation on YouTube
Sara Kaushal 
Dayton Ghosts & Legends

All towns have their legends and Dayton is no exception. Author Sara Kaushal will share facts surrounding some long-told ghost stories and legends from Dayton featured in her new book, Dayton Ghosts and Legends. Highlights may include tales from the Sorg Opera House, stories of phantom truck drivers in Englewood, or reports of the famed Butter Street Monster roaming Germantown. Hear these and other stories along with the facts behind some of Dayton’s most fascinating tales. As a native Daytonian and avid historian, author Sara Kaushal has enjoyed uncovering little-known facts about Dayton, its history, and its residents. Her first book, Murder and Mayhem in Dayton and the Miami Valley, was initiated through researching for the blog ‘Dayton Unknown’, founded in 2014. Her second book, Dayton Ghosts & Legends, is a compilation of thorough research of Dayton area ghost stories and other legends. 

 

November 19, 2024
Ken Serey
What’s the Story: Soldiers War Memories!

‘WHAT’S THE STORY?’ is a collection of first-hand stories from Ohio veterans who answered the call when our country needed them in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. True stories from the Veterans who were there:

The first man to land on Omaha Beach.
A detailed account of the Battle of the Bulge from a member of the 101st. Airborne “Band of the Brothers.”
A pilot’s description of the firebombing of Japan.
The treasures found at Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest hideaway.
A Merchant Marine’s story of surviving a torpedo attack.
The soldier who took on a Panzer tank-without ammunition - and won.
German POW camps in Ohio.

Ken Serey is an author and proud husband of almost fifty years with two grown children and five grandchildren. He lives in Tipp City, Ohio. Ken and his brother had an independent business to help thousands of blind and visually impaired men and women by giving them the capability to see, read, and resume normal life. As he worked with veterans, he invited them to share their personal, moving, dramatic stories.

 

 

  January 21, 2025
Andrew Lloyd
Joe Desch – WWII Codebreaker –
Oakwood’s Unsung Hero

 Local historian, Andrew Lloyd, shares the historical significance of Joe Desch during World War II.

Joseph Desch (1907-1987) was a engineer and inventor at National Cash Register (NCR) in Dayton. His contribution and leadership in developing a cryptanalytic machine, or "codebreaker," played an integral part in U.S. military's intelligence against Germany during World War II.

 

February 18, 2025
Mike Williams
The Rise & Fall of George Remus, America’s First Millionaire Bootlegger

 

March 18, 2025
Jim Charters
1913 Dayton Flood

 

April 15, 2025
Don Aukerman
Discovering the Industrial Town of Woodbourne

 

May 20, 2025
Tom Morrow
The Rise & Fall of Dayton’s Streetcars

 


Previous Presentations available on YouTube:

 Enjoy videos of our 2020/2021 speakers on YouTube