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Christmas in October

Local nonprofit hopes art, jewelry auction is hot ticket

Kent Bell, who will serve as the auctioneer, looks on as Charles Lang (right) talks about his deceased sister Mary Sue, whose art and jewelry collection will be sold during the October 23 auction to benefit the East Liverpool Area Community and Learning Center. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)

EAST LIVERPOOL – A local woman’s most prized possessions will be auctioned to help support the community center that she loved so much.

Mary Sue Lang had died at age 83 in spring 2019, and her heirs have decided there is nothing that she would want more than for the city’s Community and Learning Center to benefit from her love of the arts.

During Tuesday afternoon, her brother Charles, who serves on the center board, spoke to a group of city Rotarians and shared a little about his late sister and the upcoming benefit.

“The auction is designed for everyone to have a good time, and hopefully get bargains when benefiting the center. It is coming just in time for Christmas shopping this year,” he explained, adding wine and cheese will be served at the event.

Auctioneer Kent Bell, who is a licensed and experienced auctioneer, is volunteering his time for a benefit auction to be held at 5 pm. Friday, Oct. 23 at the center. A limited amount of tickets are being sold (only 150) in order to satisfy pandemic protocol of distancing, face masks and disinfecting.

Tickets will be $5 each with the intention of only those interested in purchasing at the auction being invited. “Everyone with a ticket is entitled to deduct his ticket price from his/her successful bid at the time of payment,” Charles explained, adding that prior to the auction, a drawing will determine 13 ticket holders who will enjoy additional credit against their final purchase price.

Those ticket holders also will receive a paddle with the ticket number on it to identify the winning bidders.

Cash and checks will be accepted for payment. (No credit or debit cards).

All 80 items may be viewed at the center during its regular business hours, noon to 5 p.m. daily, prior to Oct. 23.

There will be no reserve, or minimum bid, to assure that the items end up in the hands of people who will appreciate them. All proceeds after minimal expenses, such as printing and advertising, will be donated to the non-profit HHH Foundation that runs the center.

It seemed an appropriate tribute to his sister, who was a bit of a Renaissance woman in her own right.

Mary Sue Lang earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and had artistic visions in her head. However, her attorney father reminded her that wouldn’t pay the bills, and she learned that he was right. So after a brief career in education, she earned her law degree in night school and joined her father’s law firm back in East Liverpool.

However, though she racked up many accomplishments along the way both professionally and in her community, art remained her passion.

Whether designing murals throughout her community or traveling the world, snagging pieces for her growing personal art collection, Mary Sue Lang took that passion seriously.

“(By the time) she passed, Mary Sue had accumulated quite a collection from around the world and loved the community center,” so “her heirs decided it would be fitting for her collection of art pieces and jewelry to benefit the center,” Charles Lang explained.

For information on the benefit auction and getting tickets, call the East Liverpool Community and Learning Center at 330-303-2110 or visit their website at www.eastliverpoolcommunitycenter.com. The center is located at 110 Maine Boulevard in East Liverpool.

Her brother concluded, “Mary Sue loved parties, and she would love what the center plans to do with her collection.”

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