Upcoming Sara Kaushal Author Events

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More events are likely to be added, but here is the current list of events where you can meet Sara, hear about her books, and buy a few!

  • Murder & Mayhem in Dayton and the Miami Valley Book Talk
    August 29, 10 AM, Charles Lathrem Senior Center in Kettering
  • Dayton Ghosts & Legends Book Talk
    September 24, 6 pm, Jamestown Library
  • Spooky Presentation
    October 3, 330, Brookville Library
  • Huber Haunts Truck or Treat
    October 6, 1-4, Thomas Cloud Park
  • Urban Legends Presentation
    October 10, 11 AM, Vandalia Senior Center
  • Fairborn Halloween Festival
    October 11-13
  • Dayton Ghosts & Legends Book Talk
    October 15, 7 pm Centerville Washington Township RecPlex
  • Urban Legends Presentation
    October 19, noon, Dayton Metro Library Downtown
  • Dayton Ghosts & Legends Book Talk
    October 23, 2 pm, St Leonard’s Community
  • Urban Legends Presentation
    October 28, 6 pm Northmont Library

Another Titanic Voyage

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Real Estate Investor and billionaire Larry Connor plans to take a sub to the Titanic site to prove a point. Along with co-founder Patrick Lahey, Connor plans to take a two-man sub to prove the industry is much safer after the OceanGate implosion, which took the lives of all five on board. Connor contacted Lahey days after the tragedy and asked him to design and build a capable vessel.

“I want to show people worldwide that while the ocean is extremely powerful, it can be wonderful and enjoyable and really kind of life-changing if you go about it the right way,” Connor told reporters with the Wall Street Journal.

Conner told the Wall Street Journal he is confident the $20 million vessel, the Triton 4000/2 Abyssal Explorer, can make the voyage multiple times.

“Patrick has been thinking about and designing this for over a decade. But we didn’t have the materials and technology. You couldn’t have built this sub five years ago,” Connor told the publication.

“You know, what we need to do is build a sub that can dive to (Titanic-level depths) repeatedly and safely and demonstrate to the world that you guys can do that, and that Titan was a contraption,” Lahey told the Wall Street Journal.

Lahey was a critic who declared the OceanGate’s approach predatory. Many whistleblowers in the industry came forward with concerns over the sub’s ability to handle the voyage, as the company opted to skip many safety steps, including certification through the American Bureau of Shipping or Europe’s Det Norske Vertas.

Connor did not specify a date for when the voyage would take place.

The Lady Be Good

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Remnants of a plane at Wright Patterson Air Force Museum hold quite the ghost story. This story comes from Sara’s book Dayton Ghosts & Legends:Lady Be Good – In 1943, 25 B-24Ds of the 376th Bomb Group took off from their base in Libya for an attack against facilities in Naples. All but one returned that night. The one missing was the Lady Be Good. It took nearly 16 years for the plane to be discovered in the Libyan desert. When a ground party reached the plane in March 1959, evidence showed the crew had gotten lost in the dark and flew south over the base into the desert. When the fuel ran out, the men attempted to flee from the plane and head north, back to base.

LBG Journal

Excepts from co-pilot Robert F. Toner’s journal. Source: Lady Be Good.net

A long search for the remains returned eight of the nine crew members. One was located near the plane and seven were far north of the plane. Five of the crew had walked 78 miles before succumbing to the desert and one man had gone 109 miles. Additionally, the men had lived for eight days, which was miraculously longer than the two day survival expectation of men in those conditions. No trace of the ninth man was ever found.
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Local Author: Marshall Weiss

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Author of Stories of Jewish Dayton and Jewish Community of Dayton, Dayton resident Marshall Weiss is also the editor and publisher of The Dayton Jewish Observer, which he established more than twenty years ago for the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton.

He was a past president of The American Jewish Press Association and helped establish the Jewish Scholastic Press Association for high school students. Marshall is the recipient of numerous first-place awards from the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists and Simon Rockower Awards given by the American Jewish Press Association. He received Religion News Association’s first-place Cassels Award for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Small Newspapers in 2017.

More Summer Events

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  • What: Dayton Celtic Festival
    Date: July 26-28
    Where: Riverscape MetroPark, 111 E Monument Avenue, Dayton

  • What: Demolition Derby
    Date: July 29
    Time: 7 pm
    Where: Greene County Fairgrounds

  • What: All Ohio Balloon Fest
    Date: August 8-10
    Where: Union County Airport, 1500 Weaver Road Entrance, Marysville

  • What: Germanfest Picnic
    Date: August 9-11
    Where: 1400 E. 5th Street, Dayton

  • What: Taco and Nacho Fest
    Date: August 24
    Time: 3-10 pm
    Where: 10400 Innovation Drive

Collins School

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For the purpose of building a school, Samuel and Rebecca Collins deeded 1.28 acres of land to Beavercreek Township in 1854. Two brick school houses were built with stone, including fireplaces for heat. Until decreased enrollment forced the school to close in 1944, children were educated from first through eighth grade in the red brick building still standing today.

Thirty eight years later, Helen Bryson Brantley (great granddaughter to Samuel and Rebecca Collins) and her husband Virgil purchased the property to restore the schoolhouse, which had deteriorated and been vandalized. They rebuilt the pony sheds and privies on their foundations. Collins School was rededicated on August 30, 1986.

Two teachers were enlisted to research and organize a curriculum. Later that fall, students were invited to attend to experience a day of the 3 Rs; “readin’ ritin’ and rithmetic’” as it would have been experienced during the schools operating days. Today, roughly 2,400 students and adults experience Collins School each year. They learn citizenship, read from McGuffey Readers, practice writing on slates, and play period appropriate games in the school yard. Collins School is located in Xenia at 2804 West Enon Road.

Fun Fact: Sara and Bethany both went on field trips to Collins School when they were in elementary school!

Civil War Veteran John Deis

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If you visit Calvary Cemetery, you will see the name John Deis carved into the base of a cannon in the soldiers’ section.

Deis was born in Baden, Germany on March 21, 1837, the oldest of five children to parents Philip and Franciska. They came to this country when John was 11. As soon as he was old enough to vote for president, John voted for Abraham Lincoln. Soon after that election, Lincoln called for volunteers for the Union Army. John immediately organized a company of men from the Dayton area then marched them to Fort Dennison, near Cincinnati. They enlisted and became Company M, First Ohio Volunteer Light Artillery with Deis as commander. He soon became 1st Sergeant and served until the end of 1864.

Deis’ military career included the battles of Pittsburgh Landing, Shiloh Corinth, Stone River, Atlanta, and Jonesboro, serving under Tecumseh, General Sherman, and William S. Rosecrans. John’s younger brother Philip had also joined but was unfortunately killed in Georgia during General Sherman’s March to the Sea.

When he returned to the war, he organized an officer’s club called the Old Grand Post #23, Grand Army of the Republic. He was Grand Marshall in many parades and took charge of Memorial Day. Deis helped to get the cannon erected in the soldier’s section of Calvary Cemetery. It was dedicated on May 30, 1901. His name was carved on the base as tribute.

John married Elizabeth Belm in 1861. Together they had 13 children with at least 6 living to adulthood. Deis was a member of The Knights of Columbus, St. John’s Society, and Holy Trinity Church. He also helped secure the site for St. Joseph’s Orphanage. John died in 1923 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in a family plot along with his brother Philip.

Local Author: Ken Serey

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Tipp City resident Ken Serey is a husband of 50 years, father of two grown children, and grandfather of five. While running an independent business with his brother helping those with visual impairments to live normal lives, Ken worked with veterans, inviting them to share their personal stories of war.

Ken’s book What’s The Story? is a collection of first-hand stories from Ohio veterans who served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. The stories come straight from the foxholes with 20/20 vision, recounting their experiences with Omaha Beach, the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler’s Hideaway, German POW camps, and more.

Upcoming Summer Events

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We hope you’re having fun this summer! Here are more events.

  • What: Americana Festival
    Date: July 3-4
    Where: Kickoff at Centerville High School, up Franklin Street

  • What: Firefly Party
    Date: July 5
    Time: 8:30 PM
    Where: Russ Nature Preserve

  • What: Seltzer Fest
    Date: July 6
    Time: 5 PM
    Where: The Greene, 4452 Buckeye Lane, Beavercreek

  • What: Dayton Mac and Cheese Fest
    Date: July 13th
    Time: 5 PM
    Where: Yellow Cab Tavern

  • What: Friends of SICSA Garage Sale
    Date: July 18th and 19th
    Time: Starts at 8 AM
    Where: The Old SICSA Building, 2600 Wilmington Pike, Kettering

      • Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley

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      Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley has received some recognition recently. The Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley Women’s Clinic was dedicated at the Dayton VA Campus on June 12. This will be her second namesake honor. On April 27, 2023, Fort Lee in Virginia was officially renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams.

      Charity Edna Adams was born in Kitrell, North Carolina in 1918. Her father was a minister, and her mother was a former teacher. When she was a young girl, her family moved to South Carolina, which she later considered home.

      Charity was intellectually gifted and started school in second grade. By the end of elementary school, she was tested and scored ready to start high school. Her parents decided not to advance her any more grades since she was already a few grades ahead of her age group in school. Charity graduated school two years early as valedictorian. At Wilberforce College, Charity majored in Latin, Math, and Physics. She held a part-time job and was involved in many student activities before she graduated in 1938.

      During WWII, Charity was the first African American female officer in the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC, later called WAC). She led the 3rd Training Regiment, made up of two white and one black platoon. At Fort Des Moines, she was promoted to Major, which made her the highest-ranking female officer at the fort and one of the highest-ranking WAC officers in the country. She then deployed to Europe and led the first Black WAC unit to serve overseas. For her work in Europe, Charity was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, the highest possible rank for WAC.
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