School & Community News

Robert Roden and Simon Kenton History

Part II
+ Simon Kenton 1937 to 2011 Robert R. Roden 1949 to 1975 History is the Light to Our Future. Let each class of
Simon Kenton join in this endeavor to help our school and the music department.

23. Mrs. Setters has sent this to Mr. Popham and it will be done to promote the DVD
24. Congratulations on the award as the "Outstanding Principal" in the Commonwealth, which is quite wonderful for you and the school system. You asked me if I had any family in the school, well when I was doing the research I ran into one of my grandchildren Peyton Johnson who is a senior and speaks very highly of Simon Kenton. I wish him well in his studies. His mother, Holly is one of my three daughters and she and her husband Bill are both dedicated parents.


25. We finished the DVD on the History of Simon Kenton High School and a look back at all the annuals and history from 1937 to 2011 and to even an earlier history with 92 year old Ms. Watson. A look and honor to all the bands and chorus and their leaders including Robert R. Roden for whom we have made a plaque to honor him in dedicating the Simon Kenton Music Facility in his memory for his 26 years of service. I am hoping that many classes which have reunions will use the DVD as part of the reunion events and continue to support the school music program.

26. The program will be airing:
In Campbell County on Ch. 21
The show will run for at least four weeks on each channel.
Insight (Warner) Cable
Thanks to the Northern Kenton, Campbell and Boone County Cable Boards and Insight Cable The Simon Kenton History and Music History Show, Executive Producer Dr. John Stephenson Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Commonwealth of Kentucky. To Robert R. Roden and all Band Director’s and Music and Chorus Leaders during the History of Simon Kenton

Tuesday November 1st at 2 PM. In Campbell County
Wednesday Nov. 2nd at 12:00 P.M. (noon) In Campbell County
Saturday Nov. 5th at 2 P.M. In Campbell County

It will be airing on Channel 21 and for Cincinnati Bell customers on channel 811

27. In Kenton County on Channel 22 Program will air on Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. And on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and on 811 for Cincinnati Bell Customers. This will run for four weeks.

28. In all three counties on Channel 422 Insight (Warner)it will air at 12:03 A.M. until 3:30 a.m. on Friday and 12:03 A.M. on Saturday for several weeks.
29. The Bank of Kentucky has agreed to allow the branch in Kroger’s and Nicholson to hold for sale at 20.00 each the DVD.
30. The show is three hours and fifth teen minutes long and is my contribution after hundreds of hours of work to our school systems across Kentucky. Let us take a look back to 1937 and follow the music and school history through 2011 where we just had our principal named the best in the commonwealth of Kentucky. (Martha Setters) In many ways they all have some of the same characteristics and they are all loved by many citizens. We all say thank you for what we have in America and the gift of love and life however, the freedoms we abuse we tend to loose and the one’s we fail to use we tend to loose. This thank you to, my wife June Geiman-Stephenson for her help and Simon Kenton my Class of 1961 and all the students and staff and band and chorus directors, administrators and citizens and anyone else who makes a school system function to give the gift of love and knowledge so that we may see the light of the Lord.
God Bless you and America
Let us all make the music of love around the world.

John Stephenson
Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Commonwealth of Kentucky

31. The price of the DVD is five dollars, but anything you pay over that goes to the scholarship fund for Robert R. Roden Memorial. We have set a price of 20.00 dollars so that the bank will know the cost and deposit that into the account without confusion. Donna will return the cost of 5.00 to John Stephenson for each of the DVD’s.

32. Donna Watson has 15 copies which she can also sell for the 20.00 plus shipping cost.
33. Marvela Haggard Marzan I will drop 15 off to Marvela today November 4, 2011. She will try to sell 20.00 plus shipping.
34. The Winter Band Concert will be December 15, 2011 at 7:00 P.M. and we will make presentation shortly before the concert. Details to be worked out with Ms. Setters and Mr. Milner. In the Spring Chorus Concert presentation with Ms. Martin in May 24, 2012 Evening time 6:00 ? I will have to confirm this date.


Thank you,
Dr. John Stephenson
Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Commonwealth of Kentucky
Class of 1961 + size of plaque to fit page

Faith and Fight Page 2

. While that marriage is currently in separation, the father is a Math teacher in Cincinnati and my niece is an artist and is certified to teach special education. Their four beautiful children have all excelled magnificently against all odds. The oldest son has graduated from Harvard with a Masters in Urban Design. The two other sons are attending Clark University, Boston and doing extremely well. Their only daughter, my great niece, is a senior at University of Cincinnati and continuing her education in counseling and therapy. Each has excelled in academically. But what makes them so special are they each in some way or other, find it extremely important to be involved in community service, locally and internationally. Shortly, my sister’s family, (the grandmother of these great kids,) in a joint effort with the city of Erlanger, will place a granite bench on Dixie Highway in Erlanger to honor my sister, Barb Brandner and her World II husband Jay Brandner, who was on one of the first ships, the U.S.S. Suwannee when it was attacked by kamikazes. This bench will honor Barb as a teacher and community volunteer and Jay for his military service.

Without the help and dedication and sacrifice of people like Georgia Powers, who chose the high ground with her faith, we all might not have ever seen a Barrack Obama as President. It takes fighters like Senator Georgia Powers to open the doors for our citizens to vote for the person for whom we think will take the country in the right direction, and not because of the color of their skin. I pray and hope someday we will not have to close our eyes and we will see that the color of our skin should not send a negative message to any of our hearts. As I look out my window this snowy Saturday afternoon, I realize that each snow flake is different, but in some way, the same. So are we all.

Our country is great, but we can be far greater if we will but take God’s message to heart “and My people who are called by My name; will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14. It has taken several lifetimes for many organizations to open their bronze doors of fear. The Masonic Order, for which I am a lifetime member, just recently, by edict of the Grand Master, is barring any form of discrimination against membership and they are now working on reciprocal acceptance of the Prince Hall Black Masons. This was a result of the efforts of several. I am honored to be counted in that number. Because of my conviction as a Mason, against such discrimination and other personal related concerns, I publically spoke out against the organization’s longstanding rule at a statewide Masonic Conference. As a result, I was personally attacked in the lobby of the Galt House. Rules alone will not change a person’s heart, but sometimes it takes a spiritual two by four to the brain to get one’s attention with regard to injustices. Georgia Powers had such a two by four and she knew how to make it work. Thank you for your courage Georgia Powers.

John Stephenson
Simon Kenton Class 1961
Former Supenintendent of Public Instruction Kentucky

Faith and Fight

"Faith and Fight"
"I've had a long life and I've enjoyed what I've done," she said. "I wasn't thinking about a legacy. I was on a mission and I will fight until the end of my life for equality." These are the words of former Senator Georgia Powers from Louisville, Kentucky. “The Bible puts forward two different kinds of faith. The one kind--bold, childlike faith--impressed Jesus, and several times such faith from the most unlikely sources "astonished" Him.” Another kind of faith, Philip Yancey writes about in his book, “Prayer” is called fidelity, a “hang-on-by-the-fingernails” faith; “against all odds, no matter the cost”, kind of faith. Abraham, Joseph, Job, and others of God's favorites in the OT demonstrated this faith, and their tribute can be found in Hebrews 11 honoring them.” Senator Georgia Powers showed both kinds of faith in her life. “Scientific studies have amply proved the value of positive, hopeful faith on overall health. A belief in healing, in transcendent power, has a salutary effect on the body's actual cells. Millions can testify to that effect. For others, however, there comes a time when it seems clear that no amount of faith will gain the desired healing.”
I began following Senator Powers and her efforts from the time I took the very first Black history course taught at the University of Kentucky. It was during the years 1968 and 1969 that Ms. Powers began serving as the first black and first female senator in our Commonwealth’s history. These Black history courses set me on a trail through life to recognize that laws and regulations alone will not change how we feel about each other, but they are needed to protect us from the evils within ourselves. Every person has good and evil in their hearts and minds, which somehow comes out in our life experiences, exploding to the forefront even before we have a moment to process a real thought with consideration. That is why I define a real friend, someone for whom you can think out loud in front of without fear of repercussions.
It was people like my Mother Garnett Bingham who taught me and my siblings about the love of Jesus and His love of all children. These life lessons planted the seeds in me to participate in these wonderful college classes and to follow with admiration, the “faith Senator Georgia Powers from Jefferson County” continuously demonstrated; both kinds of faith as a leader and as a victim.

I recall as a teenager hitch hiking home from my sister’s home in Erlanger, walking down through Sandfordtown just outside of Covington, Kentucky. A large group of people, standing in an assembly, in white sheets were burning three crosses. I had no idea what was going on except I did experience a frightening, sick feeling; experiencing the evil in their misguided demonstrations. I felt this evil later when I taught the first black history course in a public high school in 1970 at Erlanger Lloyd and when I defended my neighbor and his right to live in Boone County, and later I nominated him to be the first on a Democrat committee. I remember sending my son to a nearly all African-American school, Douglas Elementary in Lexington because it was our neighbor school. That was an experience for him and me as two sides of the issue of discrimination surfaced as my son was the only white child in his class.

I can say that I have never been locked in a box, having supported and voted for George Wallace at one time, Jessie Jackson at one time and Barrack Obama for President, all for unique and different reasons. However, it was not until my niece married a black man that I truly came to grips with God’s true message when He told me to close my eyes and to feel the pulse of this young man’s arm and ask myself the question, “Does he not have a pulse just like yours? Does it know any ethnicity? Does it know any race? Does it know any particular faith? Does it know any political party? Does it know any gender?” It is easy to conclude that it does none of these, but when you open your eyes and see his black, white, red, yellow or multicolor skin, all sorts of thoughts run through our minds as we are a product of our environment; the good, bad and the ugly and yes, also the glorious. There we sat, my brother and I praying with this young couple in the basement of a row house on the floor, because there was no furniture. Trust me when I say it was our objective to make sure they both were of sound mind and understood the wall they were about to climb in life.

I have seen that niece and her parents (my late sister Barb) go through hell in their lifetimes and I wonder if humans will ever come to terms with their own prejudice and fears. I come back to the conclusion that we all must have hope that the good in us will always win out if we but close our eyes and ask God why He gave any of us the gift of life, if He did not mean for us to accept His greatest gift of Love. While that marriage is currentl