Erna was in Florida


President Cindy Kintop presents Award to Erna's daughter Karen Fobbs, who quickly called her Mother from the podium. Was Erna excited!

The Hats Off Award is presented annually to a person who makes many and significant contributions to the community but does so in such a quiet way that many people are unaware. To those outside the world of art, this fits Erna Mastney to a T.

Citation
This year's Hat's Off Award goes to a lady who has been an active member of the Valley City community since 1930. She was confirmed and married at the Emmanuel United Church of Christ in downtown Valley City. Over the years she has served on church council and many other activities of the church.
In addition, she has been a member of the Valley City Garden Club for many years - since 1953 when she dressed in her "Sunday Finest" to attend her first meeting. She was intrigued by what she was learning; each placement had its own pattern. She has been instrumental in assuring the continuance of the oldest garden club in Ohio. She held the group together and built the membership up in lean years and led the group to success during years of high participation.
As an avid organic gardner, Erna Mastney has been President of the Garden Club five different times. She help the Club take First Place eight out of eleven years at the Ohio State Convention and made a mark for Valley City on the statewide level! All the while, she was working behind the scenes as an artist whose work is celebrated not only in Valley City, but throughout Ohio, the United States and most of the world. This pursuit was a passion for Erna that she has shared with countless other people through teaching, speaking and demonstrations. She knew her heart as well as she knew the passion of dreaming to be an artist in a medium that is almost as old as the civilized world - china painting.
The next step was to take this critical eye for floral arrangements to its next logical step; the ceramic crafting, for which she would have to sacrifice her time, and stretch her small amounts of free time into the many endless night classes that demanded near perfection. After several years, Erna was ready to take the next step that led her to china painting involvement which evolved into her passion for porcelain artistry.
Over the years her artwork and her writing have been published many times in state, national and international publications. She has been a generous donor of her artwork for various benefit auctions.
Erna (Lauerhaus) Mastney has lived the better of her 80+ years in Valley City. Erna and her husband Edward have four children; 12 grandchildren and 15 ½ great grandchildren (all boys). They reside on West Law Road during spring, summer and fall. They spend the winter months in Florida.



Accepting the award in Erna's stead were daughters, L to R, Dianna Csikos, Carol Wagner, Karen Fobbs, Shirley Mastney.