"Did You Know This About Geary County History?”By Dr. Ferrell MillerGeary County Historical Society Board Member<figure>
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 </figure>“The History of the JC Breakfast Optimist Club”	In 2021, the JC Breakfast Optimist Club will celebrate their sixtieth anniversary. The JC Breakfast Optimist Club was established on May 31, 1961 when Royce Baerg, an employee of KJCK and a member of a regional Optimist group, partnered with local contractor Edgar Ervin to pull together friends and associates to form a Junction City club. During the beginning years, members were mostly local businessmen and those who worked in the trades. In most cases they were not free for lunch or evening meetings, so an early morning breakfast meeting was the best venue for this group. Initially weekly meetings were held in the dining room at the Bartell, then operating as the Lamer Hotel. In 1969 meetings were moved to the Pancake House on South Washington Street, which later became the Peking Restaurant. 	Club meetings moved again to the Cobb’s Family Restaurant next to the gas station in Grandview Plaza. That business was later demolished, and the club moved to Stacy’s Restaurant in Grandview Plaza. The meeting day was changed from Thursdays to Wednesdays. In 2014, the club moved to the Hampton Inn on South Washington Street where meetings are currently held every Wednesday beginning at 6:50 AM. 	Though there were no rules against it, in the early days of the Optimist Club in Junction City, the membership was made up solely of men. Like other similar organizations then, there was an auxiliary organization for wives called the Opti-Mrs. formed in 1975. However, women united with the men’s club in the 1980s. The first woman to serve as President of the JC Breakfast Optimist Club, Inc. was Luise Kluesner Mathes Richards in 1994. 	Fundraisers have included Christmas tree sales, fireworks sales, casino trips, grant applications, weekly donations at meetings, percentage of meals purchased at local restaurants (Ike’s Place, Freddy’s Frozen Custard, and JC BBQ/Grill); concessions served at City Cycle Sales and the JC Brigade baseball games. 	The club currently donates to 19 different Geary County youth organizations; sponsors the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership attendee from Junction City High School; awards a $500 scholarship to a JCHS graduate who attends a vocational training secondary school; partners with JCHS to recognize “A Student of the Month”; celebrates local firefighters and law enforcement with baked treats and club members volunteer in our community working with and for youth. 	The JC Breakfast Optimist Club meets every Wednesday at 6:50 AM at the Hampton Inn located at 1039 S. Washington Street. Meetings are open to the public.		“Marshall Airfield and Early Aviation In Geary County”<figure>
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 </figure>	The source of this information is from an article written in Set In Stone by Gaylynn Childs and the late Josephine Munson. 		The first sign of the beginning of air travel in Geary County was the construction of the airfield at Fort Riley. In April of 1923, the field was named Marshall Field in honor of Colonel Francis C. Marshall, the Assistant Chief of Cavalry in Washington, D.C.	When the first military aircraft were assigned here, these were not the first airplanes to fly on the installation or around the area. Captain W.W. Pride wrote in his book History of Fort Riley, published in 1926, that “The first airplane to make a local flight was an old fashioned Curtis type plane bought by Herman and Henry Wetzig of Junction City in 1910. The propeller was in the rear and the pilot sat out in space supported by a framework of bamboo.”	The Wetzig brothers were pioneers in the aviation business in Kansas. In 1886, the late Josephine Munson interviewed Herman Wetzig’s daughter, Mrs. Otis Walker. The following information comes from that source:	“Two incidents set brothers Herman and Henry Wetzig to thinking of buying an airplane and getting into the “barnstorming” business. One was the arrival of two Wright planes at Fort Riley and the other was that Bud Mars, a pioneer barnstormer, had received $10,000 for flight demonstrations at the State Fair in Topeka.	The Wetzig brothers eventually learned to fly and purchased their own airplane. They received their first contract for a flight at the Concordia, Kansas fair. The terms called for two five-minute flights for the fee of $1,500. The brothers practiced before their performance at the Marshall Airfield on Fort Riley. The Wetzigs performed at fairs in about every town in western Kansas that had a fairground. When cold weather arrived, they went south through Texas and New Mexico. Repairs and the expense of moving the plane from place to place by train took most of the income. 	The craft was destroyed one day when the wind caught one wing just as the plane was crossing a streetcar line. It hit the top of the trolley pole and the plane plunged to the ground. The Wetzig brothers ceased flying and turned to operating an auto dealership and service station in Junction City. Henry Wetzig died in 1951 and Herman lived until 1974. Both are buried in Highland Cemetery.”

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