A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
5
August 16, 2018
C
ANTON
- P
LYMOUTH
Local veterinarian is honored
Teens plan charity walk
Shakespeare Festival
continues on Canton stage
four-plus-year window. That's followed by
township primary roads at approximately
seven-eight years.
He said local neighborhood streets will
begin to see relief in 2019-20 but will take
the entire 20-year millage life to reach
objectives.
Williams added, “The final attainment
of the Roads Task Force goals can only be
achieved with incremental / additional
and continued efforts with our roads part-
ners at Wayne County and MDOT
(MichiganDepartment of Transportation).
Millage
FROM PAGE 1
Mary BethLeininger, DVM, a veterinar-
ian for more than five decades and the
first woman president of the American
Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)
has been named as the seventh
#Germinder20#PowerofPinkHonoree.
Leininger has designated the student
scholarship fund at Purdue University
College of Veterinary Medicine to receive
the $1,000 cash prize that comes with the
award.
“Dr. Leininger is beloved by her col-
leagues, she excels at everything she does,
and her love of veterinary medicine
knows no bounds. My gratitude to this
amazing honoree deepens with every
passing year. She epitomizes all that is
right with veterinary medicine, never
wavering from her core beliefs. We all still
have somuch to learn fromher,” said Lea-
Ann Germinder, president, Germinder +
Associates, Inc.
Leiningermade the decision to become
a veterinarian in second-grade, she said,
and kept that focus. She said that while
today there are more veterinarians who
have made that career decision later in
life: they either found out about the veteri-
nary world during college, or they made a
second career choice.
“Regardless of when a person finally
makes the decision that this is the path
that they're going to pursue, most of us
stick with it. There is no other option. This
is going to be what we're going to do….
Period,” she said.
She grew up in Ohio but attended
Purdue University College of Veterinary
Medicine during a time there were only a
few female veterinarians. She said that it
simply never occurred to her that she
couldn't be a veterinarian and she had
strong support from her parents who
believed in her and her career choice. She
graduated from veterinary college in 1967,
one of only sevenwomen inher class of 55.
She and her husband, Steve, also a vet-
erinarian, owned a small-animal practice
in Plymouth from 1971 until 1999 prior to
their retirement. She said seeing genera-
tions of pets with the same families was a
fulfilling experience.
“Most of us practitioners are drawn to
veterinary medicine because we love ani-
mals, but - in fact - it was the people that
made our practice so fulfilling.
Extraordinarily loyal clients. Clients that
loved us. Clients that trusted us. One of the
great things about veterinary practice is
that you get to have such meaningful rela-
tionshipswith your clients,” she said.
Her advice to veterinarians today can
be applied to nearly every profession.
“I think veterinarians need to remem-
ber that the words we use matter. When
you're talking to clients, we shouldn't
expect them to understand medical jar-
gon: we need to make our explanations as
simple as possible,” she said
“We need to be careful how we phrase
things: explain things in the simplest way
possible, make it easy for clients to under-
stand, and help them agree with our diag-
nostic and therapeutic recommendations.
And today's clients are going to question
our advice. Clients are much more med-
ically sophisticated now than they used to
be,” she added.
Germinder and Leininger first met
when Leininger was the president-elect of
the AVMA and Germinder presented
“Pets Need Dental Care, Too!” to the pub-
lic relations council. Later the two worked
together on dozens of media interviews
during Leininger's tenure as AVMA presi-
dent, as spokesperson for National
Veterinary Month and later as Leininger
oversaw the Mark Morris and Leo Bustad
Award programs for Hill's Pet Nutrition,
Inc.
“It is so generous of Lea-Ann to include
me as one of her Germinder20 Power of
Pink Honorees! I have treasure the many
years we have worked together and am
grateful to call her my friend,” said
Leininger.
Leininger retired last year as vice pres-
ident, Veterinary Relations for the
Hartville Group. She now plans to devote
considerable time to volunteerism
focused on the student debt issue.
Most recently, Leininger served on the
American Veterinary Medical Association
Council on Education, 2012 to 2018. She
was president of the AVMA from 1996 to
1997. She served the AVMA Board of
Governors from 1995-97 and was on the
AVMA Executive Board from 1995 to 1998.
She served on the council on public rela-
tions from 1985 to 1994 and was chair
from1987 to 1988.Leininger held several
other high-profile positions. From 2009 to
2011 she was project manager for the
North American Veterinary Medical
Education Consortium, (NAVMEC) an ini-
tiative of the Association of American
Veterinary Medical Colleges, Washington
DC. From 1999 to 2009 she was the direc-
tor of professional affairs for Hill's Pet
Nutrition, Inc.
Mary Beth Leininger
A group of students from local high
schools have organized a Walk for
Warriors that will take place from 5-9 p.m.
Aug. 24 in Heritage Park in Canton
Township.
This family-friendly event includes a
walkathon around the Heritage Park
pond, entertainment, speakers, and a chil-
dren's booth.
All proceeds from the Walk for
Warriors will be donated to The Wounded
Warrior Project, a nationally recognized
non-profit organization that provides aid,
bothmental andphysical, to current veter-
ans.
Speakers include Merrill Griffin,
newsletter editor and past president of
Michigan Military Moms . Entertainment
includes live music from local high school
students in the Plymouth-Canton commu-
nity. For more information, visit:
.
The Michigan Shakespeare Festival at
The Village Theatre at Cherry Hill will
continue for only another two weeks. The
24th season will bring Shakespeare's The
Tempest, Measure for Measure, and The
Rover by Aphra Behn, the first profession-
al womanplaywright, to theCanton stage.
The Tempest, Shakespeare's final play,
is a stirring fairy tale of depraved royalty,
foolish clowns, languishing lovers, and the
quest to make things right in the face of
terrible wrongs. The Tempest is directed
by Artistic Associate Robert Kauzlaric, an
award-winning director and actor whose
previous productions (As You Like It,
Cymbeline, Love's Labour's Lost, She
Stoops to Conquer, Tartuffe) have all been
crowd favorites. Performances are sched-
uled for 7:30 p.m. today, Aug. 16 and at 2
p.m. Aug. 18. Measure for Measure is one
of Shakespeare's most contentious come-
dies, which rings true with legal, social,
and political issues still occurring today,
all tempered with a darkly-comic wit.
Performances are set for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17
and 3 p.m. Aug. 19.
Aphra Behn's 1667 bawdy comedy, The
Rover, rounds out the season. Translator,
playwright, poet, and spy, Aphra Behnwas
one of the first English women to earn her
living through writing. Amid duels and
disguises, set against the backdrop of a
nation-wide party, the couples navigate
duty, conflict, jealousy, and love in this
vibrant 1677 restoration comedy. The final
performance is set for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 18.
Ticket prices range from $16-$40, dis-
counts are available for AARP and AAA
members, veterans, firefighters, police
officers and teachers. Purchase tickets
online at
or
by calling (734) 394-5300. Tickets can also
be purchased at The Village Theater Box
Office onehour prior to show time.
The Village Theater at Cherry Hill is
located at 50400 CherryHill Road, Canton,
MI 48187 For more information about
Michigan Shakespeare Festival 2018
Season, visit
theater.org, or call (734) 394-5300.
