Sherry Derr-Wille, Published Author – General Meeting, October 9th, 2025

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
October 9^th, 2025

Richard Johnson presided, and called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.

Richard Johnson led with the singing of America, the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Invocation: Ron Shuler, mentioning Kiwanis members in Seattle, the excellent job of the Programs Committee, and the children.

Raffle: Ryan Lewis oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $12 and the big (Joker) pot was $24.
April Wright drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 1918. Congratulations to the winner, Ray Szczepaniak.
The deck of cards has 52/53 cards remaining. Ray Szczepaniak drew the Q♥.

Richard Johnson thanks greeters Dave Figi and April Wright, invocator Ron Shuler, rafflemaster Ryan Lewis, and server Bob Knudson.

Happy Box: Tom Neumann announced he is happy because he is back from New England, and had a great lobster.

Jokes: Steve Skelly had a good joke.

Member Health: Linda Bontly had a status update on Carl and Luci Cramer’s daughter, who had successful surgery.
Linda Bontly had a status update on Bruce Jorenby, who spent 4.5 hours in surgery for a twisted colon. He is now okay.

Other Announcements: Linda Bontly spoke upon the Frey funeral. Thank you, all who attended (Maury supported this).

Committee Reports: Tom Neumann announced Kiwanis International gave a list of members who hadn’t renewed. We need more! Please, be on the lookout.
John Janes announced Truck on Ice sweaters and shirts are available. They will look great during the many upcoming Kiwanis involvements, including the Jolly Jingle parade, for which John would like to see us purchase Davis Citgo’s candy this year. Dale Henning stepped up, and offered a significant sum to cover.

John Janes announced upcoming blood drives, and encourages members to assist via the provided fliers.

Jenny Turco introduced the day’s speaker, Sherry Derr-Wille. Sherry is an accomplished author, with 90 or more published titles to her credit. She was previously a travel agent. Sherry proceeded to communicate to Kiwanians the intricacies of being a published author, from her first novel on to her soon-to-be-published 89^th and ninetieth.

Sherry’s first book was named Summer’s Child, about a 1938 family from Norway.
In her first year published, Sherry had 17 additional contracts, the number of books she had already written.
For many years, all of her books were hand written. At her height, she was writing five books yearly.
Sherry once had a broken wrist, and wrote ten chapters with her left hand.
She wrote a personal title, Family Secrets, after her family members had passed. Details about the book included:
One of her family members who was a bonded servant until she was eighteen,
Her father received his license at, as he told the officer, age 16 (12), and then found a car, and a job,
Sherry’s father had to pay room and board, per meal, at his eighteenth birthday.
After a number of years, Sherry began writing romance novels. She features older heroines. The first was, Coffee, Tea or Love and then A Precious Jewel. The Her Tenant series followed, and “D. O. L. L. S.,” desirable older ladies love specialists.
Sherry wrote a number of Westerns, including a complete Indian line, e. g. Montana Rose.
She enjoyed writing a series about ‘ancient aliens,’ where the Earth is dying, and aliens return.
Sherry researches her titles well.
She wrote numerous fiction with a local setting.
Man in the Lake is about a murder that begins in Storrs Lake. The lead is Rhonda Rose, a female officer that makes detective.
Murder by Mistake is set in the Fourth Ward of Janesville, about a kindly older gentleman who dresses up for Halloween, and has a health problem landing him in the hospital, during which time his grandson is shot and killed.
Who Killed Billy Roger is about a rock star who has always been clean, and is killed, with drugs found in his system.
Kiwanis member John Janes asked, “How do you develop a story?” Sherry responds, “The characters speak to me.” Inspirations include, e. g. the Red Rock Canyon for the Western books.
Sherry edits others’ works. She has various authors as clients.
Sherry recently read a great book from a Beloit author, and edited it. It isn’t available and she isn’t sure if or when it will be.
Kiwanian Tom Neumann asked about publishing. Sherry uses internet publishers. There are no minimum quantities, they can be self-edited, and the publishers send to different venues, including listing everything on Amazon.
The new book will be hard cover, named Savage.
Sherry has at times had three books in progress simultaneously.
Member John Janes asked, “Do you have a title available immediately?” Sherry said, “Generally, yes.”
Kiwanis member Richard Johnson asked, “Do you have any books available on tape?” “It is expensive! One is available, about a werewolf.”
Sherry remarked near the end, backstory is important.

Jenny Turco thanked Sherry Derr-Wille for speaking and presented her with a Kiwanis Parker pen and coffee mug.

Richard Johnson adjourned the meeting with a ring of the bell at 10:50AM.

On this day:
1769 Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand for the first time near present-day Gisborne on the East Coast of the North Island. A misunderstanding, possibly over a ceremonial challenge, causes the English to shoot and kill Ngāti Oneone leader Te Maro.
1860 Telegraph line between Los Angeles and San Francisco opens
1871 Forest fire destroys Peshtigo, Wisconsin, killing between 1,200 and 2,500 people, making it the deadliest wildfire in recorded history
1871 The Great Chicago Fire kills an estimated 300 people and destroys over 4 square miles (10 square km) of buildings and the original Emancipation Proclamation
1887 Phillies set a club record with 16th consecutive victory
1892 Sergei Rachmaninoff first performs his “Prelude in C-sharp Minor” in Moscow
1904 Vanderbilt Cup, the first major trophy in American auto racing, is conducted on public roads in the Nassau County area of Long Island, NY; the inaugural winner is American driver George Heath in a Panhard
1927 “The Second Hundred Years” silent short film is released, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the first Laurel and Hardy film with them appearing as a team
1942 Comedy duo Abbott and Costello launch their weekly radio show
1945 American inventor Percy Spencer applies for a patent for the microwave
1958 Swedish cardiac surgeon Dr. Ake Senning installs the first pacemaker in 43-year old Arne Larsson, in Stockholm
1962 North Korea reports 100% election turnout, with miraculously, 100% voting for the Workers’ Party
1976 EMI signs British punk rock band the “Sex Pistols”
1978 Ken Warby sets the world water speed record at 275.97 knots (511.10 km/h; 317.58 mph) on Blowering Dam, Tumut River, NSW, Australia
1988 Finishing a 741-week stay, Pink Floyd’s album “The Dark Side of the Moon” makes its final appearance (of its initial run) on the Billboard 200 Albums chart
1992 Pioneer Venus Orbiter (first Venus orbiter, 1978) crashes into Venus
Emergency Nurses Day is observed next on Wednesday, October 14th, 2026. It has been observed the second Wednesday in October since 1989.
National Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work and School Day is a day to bring your stuffed bear to work and school. Whether you are young or old, the day is an excuse to take your teddy bear wherever you go for the day. The teddy bear was named after the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. In November 1902, Roosevelt, an avid hunter, went on a hunting excursion organized by Mississippi’s governor, Andrew Longino, in Smedes, Mississippi. Roosevelt was accompanied by some aides, other hunters, and reporters, as well as a hunting guide, Holt Collier, and his hunting dogs. After a few days without success, Roosevelt and the hunting dogs were on the trail of a black bear. Having thought that they had lost the bear, Roosevelt went back to camp, but Collier and his dogs kept searching. Collier and his dogs found the 235-pound bear, and the dogs circled it and began biting and attacking it. The bear killed one of the dogs, and Collier clubbed the bear over the head and tied it to a tree. He bugled for Roosevelt, who found the bear mauled from the dogs, and refused to shoot it. He also forbade anyone else from shooting it, but as the bear was so injured, he had the bear put out of its misery by having it be killed with a hunting knife. A few days later, a cartoon titled “Drawing the line in Mississippi”, which showed Roosevelt refusing to shoot the bear, was drawn by Clifford Berryman and appeared in the Washington Post. Rose and Morris Mitchom, store owners in New York City, saw the cartoon and were inspired to create the teddy bear, which they originally called “Teddy’s bear.” They eventually founded the Ideal Toy Company which produced the bears and even allegedly wrote to Roosevelt asking his permission to use his name for their bear. About the same time as the Mitchom’s debuted their bear, Richard Steiff of Germany created a stuffed teddy bear as well, which also became very popular.