Excerpt from the Spring 2022 issue of The Extension
Marlene Bireley
It is fitting that Marlene Bireley was awarded the Lewis K. Shupe Faculty Service Award. During her term as president of WSURA, she appointed Lew Shupe Historical Preservation Chair and encouraged Lew to work with the library archivist to encourage him to move copies of our minutes and newsletters to the Archives. That led to conversations that produced the Oral History Project, one of the most significant accomplishments of WSURA. Marlene served on the board of WSURA for 20 years, 10 of that as editor of the Extension. She also served the board for many years as chair of the Sunshine and Membership Committees. Her primary community service project is reading scripts for the Dayton Playhouse Future Fest. She and her fellow committee members read between 150 to 200 scripts each year. This year the committee read 370 scripts which they pared down to the 15 that went to another group that selects the final six plays that are staged each summer. This task takes 15 to 20 hours a week between October and March. And, no doubt, she attends each of the plays she worked so hard to select. Marlene’s fingerprints are on so much of what makes WSURA what it is today. We owe her a huge debt.
Editor's note: The six plays that make up Future Fest will be performed between July 15 and 17 at The Playhouse at 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave. Watch the Dayton Daily News for ticket information.
Barb Weinert-McBee
Barb Weinert-McBee, the recipient of the Richard A. Johnson Staff Service Award, is generous with her talents and her time. An accomplished and well-known photographer and print-maker, she regularly donates art works to help such events as the Arts Gala at Wright State and The Contemporary (formerly DVAC) raise money.
She recently gifted WSURA with a stunning photo highlighting Dayton’s aviation heritage. It is not unusual for bidding wars to break out over some of her pieces. One year at the DVAC annual fundraiser, her small print of a tree valued at $100 went for $350.* She had a well-attended one-woman show at Yellow Springs Brewery in 2019. She is active in the Dayton Print Co-Op, serving as historian for the past 10 years. She has taught at Rosewood Arts Center in Kettering and volunteered with school art programs at Eaton, Northmont, Dayton City, St. Luke’s, and Xenia, as well as the Salvation Army after school program. She was a long-time 4-H advisor and a CCD teacher at Sacred Heart Church, both in Champaign County. Along the way she earned her BFA while working at Wright State and raised three successful children.
Editor's note: I am the proud owner of seven of Barb’s pieces, including the “Live Oak Tree” which I can see from my bed. At $350 it was still a bargain.
Photo capion: Marlene Bierely, Judi Engle, and Barb Weinert-McBee
By Mary Kenton
