Independence Sister City
Committee

Exchanges

January/February
2011 Issue

Peggy Hausheer RecognizedT

he honoree of the 33rd Anniversary, Peggy Hausheer, was the first president of
the JSCC after the official signing of the City’s
Sister City association with Higashimurayama
in 1978.
Known as Peg by those that know her well,
she is an initiator, a planner, an administrator,
an educator, a collaborator— all excellent andimportant qualities for leadership. Beyond justbeing a pleasure to work with under good andbad circumstances, she is tenacious and tough;determined to get the job done. A quality
sometimes necessary to initiate and fire up anew program such as the Sister City between
Independence and Higashimurayama.
In the early 1960’s and 70’s, Peg and herhusband, Dr. Herman Hausheer, were involved
with the People to People hosting program. In
1962 Lana was appointed by the governor toorganize a Japanese Sister State/Sister City
program in the Kansas City area. She also wasworking under the auspices of the Japanese
Consulate in San Diego. Somewhere in thatspace of time, two of the Hausheer children,

now both doctors in Japan, decided to travel
on one of the first student exchanges sponsored by the new Sister City program. Thisis how Peg and Lana became acquainted.
Together they worked with the city officialsof both Independence and Higashimurayama to establish By-Laws, programs, and afriendship that has lasted over three decades.
Peggy has participated in all past anniversaries, dedication parties, adult visitations, exchanges and fund raising events.
She has been a good friend to Lana in thepast years and together they set a standardof friendship.
Carolyn Weeks, Secretary of the JSCC
for over two decades, knows Peggy’s history
and took the time to write about her accomplishments, now on the city web site.
Www.ci.independence.mo.us/sistercity.
Special thanks to Peggy for so many
great years of dedication and passion as anAmbassador for Independence and theInside this issue:
JSCC Alumni Party

2

Annual Anniversary

3

Guest Visitor From

4

Jr. High Sis. School

4Special Person Spot!
Rosie “Chiyoko” SmithI

f you have ever wondered why
the food area at the Cherry
Blossom Festival is named after arose then you haven’t met Rosie,
who for many years directed thecooking of Japanese food.
Though she has retired from thecommission Rosie has not
stopped serving her wonderfulfood at different functions. She isbest known for her wonderful
cakes and their decorations.
Recently, she and Sharon Wilson planned and prepared for the33rd Anniversary party. She isalso known for teaching Country
Line Dancing at the Western Parties, and always sharing a big
smile and lots of hugs as her family supports her. Above Mallory
Flippin is enjoying her friendshipwith Rosie.

Exchanges

Page 2Alumni Meet During the Holidays
While students take abreak from studies, alumni gather at the Independence Diamond Bowl onthe Square. There, JoshSeeley, Paloma Segura andSusan Peoples (left) sharea greeting . Right, Shayla
Jarmin, red ball in hand,aims for the pins. Lower
left: Jared Seeleyplans for a spare since he left afew pins standing on his priorthrow. Center: Marie Mader,
after enjoying her stay in Japan,
befriends the St. Mary’s HighSchool, AFS student from Thailand. It was an international occasion too, with three suchteenagers joining the crowd.

Right: Lizzie Polina is glad tobe with her friends. Far right,
are Anna Price and Dana Masters, alumni and host to many
Japanese students, joined in
the fun by taking part in theburger bar that Diamond Bowl
provided for everyone . Below
Anna Price is very pleased
with the event.
Right: Emily Tanner stops infor a friendly visit. Left: Anna
Price is excited about future
possibilities. Going to Japan
did so many things for everyone that it has created acommon bond between thestudents, Student’s work andstudies are put out of mind
for a few hours of fun andrelaxation..

January/February
Sharon Wilson and Rosie
Smith took the responsibility of setting up the Truman Memorial Building forthe 33rd Anniversary
event. Pictured to the rightis Sharon, Rosie and Peggy Hausheer, Lois Anderson, Carolyn Weeks, BillShaw, Joanne Shaw, LanaWhite, Sue Hammett, Major Hammett and Gerald
Hancock. Sharon and Rosie spent Saturday havingtables and chairs set up,
white lacy table cloths
spread on the banquet
tables and lugging in coffee, hot tea, cold tea, wa-Page 3Count On It– Anniversary Party InJanuaryter, ice and all the condiments and paper productsto serve a large gatheringof friends of the JSCC. To
top the day off Rosie baked
and decorated not just a
chocolate cake but a special lemon cake as well.
She froze mint ice cubes forher punch and then directed Debbie Lovewell andSandy Peoples into assembling all the drinks in theirproper places. Lovely decorations were brought out ofstorage from Glendale forthe tables and walls so thatthe environment had a special Asian touch. Each member of the JSCC brought very nice dinner
foods such as meatballs, roll-ups, onigiri, sushi, vegetable trays,cheese/cracker and fruit trays etc... until each persons plates wereoverflowing with tasty foods. After the group photograph left was taken
by Sandy Peoples, cake was served with the punch. Gerald Hancock
had a slide show set up and it ran during the whole party. Prior committee members, adult trip attendees, host families, and alumni attended the event as well as over half of the students for the 2011 trip. Carolyn Weeks performed the dedication to Peggy Hausheer and as
Jeannae Segura-Brown filled everyone in on what had happened in
the year. Alreda Adams shared Sister City Jr. High news.

Independence Sister CityCommittee
Contact Jeannae Segura-Brown 816/833-3109
Jeannae_Segura-Brown@indep.us.org
Write to the City Hall Independence
www.ci.independence.mo,us/sistercity

Below: Dana Masters Talks toOur 2010 Japanese Guest!

2010 Japanese Students Send a Collective
JournalThe exchange students returned to Higashimurayama and wrote a collective journal. It is full of photos of their trip and memories and comments, and the student
dedicated pages to their family that they stayed with. The exchange allows for ten
Japanese students to get to know ten American students for four weeks as they
participate in a wide variety of activities to understand each others culture. In theprocess, a true heart connection develops. Staying in a hotel would never sufficefor all that is gained by belonging to a family from another country. Thanks goes tothe families of 2010 who shared their home, food, transportation and hearts withthe students. The 2010 Host Families were: Caudillo Family, Trotter Family, Jeffries Family, Snethen Family, Thompson Family, Seeley Family, Longstreet Family, Moxley Family, and the Gall Family, (Gall family hosted the escort: Hiromi Tanguchi pictured below in white & royal blue) .

Ayami Sakurai, former Exchange Student with
the Moxley Family, came to see them andHost Sisters while staying with the Lovewell
Family who had earlier hosted her sister
Norimi. Their mother is active in HIFA .

Shiwori Katayama will befeatured in a Japanesemagazine (left) for her
new monochrome baby
photographs . (above)

Sister School Jr. High (Above) Mr. Ngaoka, Kohei Yoshikawa, Moeka Shimizu,Chiharu Sasagawa, Yukino Hachisuka, and Ms. Taniguchi reported in a newsletterthat they went skiing for three days. (below) The newsletter is attached to our Web
site on the Pioneer Ridge Sister School page. Look it up!!

UPCOMING EVENTS
Look for exchange student fund-raising events to come up in the next
months as they prepare for their trip this summer. Exchange will happen the middle of July to the middle of August.
April 17th, Sunday, 11:00 to 4:00 join us for the CHERRY Blossom
Festival at the Sermon Center at Noland and Truman Roads. Contact
Jeannae Segura-Brown for more information, 816/833-3109
Host a student this year! Join in the fun parties, pot lucks and eventsand see your hometown through the eyes of someone else. It is avacation like none others. Contact John Seeley 816/796-6316
Learn Japanese on Monday nights at Glendale School 6 PM to 8 PM