Santa visits the recreation center and Kiwanis Dinner follows.

WILLIAMS—Santa will be busy in Williams on the 15th and 16th with Santa’s World of Wonders on Saturday and the Kiwanis annual dinner on Sunday. In addition the Save-Meant to Rescue organization will host a wine and beer tasting event to benefit the Williams animal rescue effort.

On the 15th, Santa will visit the Williams Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. where there will be games, prizes, treats and family fun.

At 6 p.m. the animal rescue group Save-Meant To Rescue will host a wine and craft beer tasting event with hors d’oeuvres and live music at the historic “Yellow House” near Safeway. Tickets are $30 and are available thru MTR members or call 928-635-1571

The annual Kiwanis Dinner will be held December 16th at Doc Holiday’s in the Holiday Inn. The event will run from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. The Kiwanis holds the annual event with a visit from Santa and prizes for the kids. Everyone is invited.

Eugene Smith, county resident and Tuskegee Airman, passes away

Eugene Smith, famed member of the Tuskegee Airmen who fought for his proper recognition and honor, passed away on Wednesday, November 21st, at the Harrison County Hospital in Cynthiana, Kentucky.

Eugene Smith had lived in Switzerland County for nearly 20 years, retiring to a houseboat moored at Turtle Creek Marina in Florence. He was very active in the community while residing here, including membership at Patriot Baptist Church and was a regular attendee at the Senior Mealsite in Vevay.

Born in Ohio in 1918, he was a 1939 graduate of Withrow High School in Cincinnati; and then earned his bachelor’s degree from Kentucky State University.

When World War II began, Eugene Smith volunteered to serve his country, enlisting in the Army Air Corps to become a pilot.

That’s where his unusual story of heroism begins.

Because his parents were of mixed origin with Native American ancestry, the doctor who delivered Eugene Smith listed on his birth certificate that he was “colored”, even though he was fair skinned. When he was accepted into the Air Corps and was about to begin his flight training, the Army found that his birth certificate listed his race in that way, so the Army declined to send him to flight school with “white” soldiers.

Read more at the Vevay Reveille Enterprise