A full house of about 65 people attended the Annual Meeting of the Franklin County (Ohio) chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Monday night, Oct. 19 in Columbus. It was a wonderful event full of some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.
I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker of the evening. Accompanying me were my brother Bob and co-worker Mary Alice Wenzl. The subject of the presentation, that included two videos and slides, was, of course, the great Chic Harley and his nearly lifelong struggle with mental illness. For the hour-long talk, the audience seemed intently interested in learning about a man who they all had heard of, but knew relatively little about. By the comments received after the talk had concluded, people seemed to be truly amazed and interested in keeping the flame and memory of Chic alive. Several people expressed strong interest in doing what they could to work with Ohio State University and the community in moving forward with the idea of a fitting memorial in Chic’s honor.
That’s one or our main goals!!
More will be said about our visit and future plans in the days ahead.
If you want ot join in our effort to come up with a plan to properly honor Chic, email us with you thoughts and ideas or give a call at 847-561-3382.
And on a related note, this coming weekend is Homecoming Week at Ohio State. I plan to be there at three book signings. Two Friday starting at noon at Conrad’s Gifts and later at Sports Collectibles. Then on Saturday morning at about 9 a.m. at SBX Books on High Street. Stop by and say hi. We’ll have life-size cut-outs of Chic. Get your picture taken with him!
There may be more to announce in a day or two.
—Todd Wessell