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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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Some people don't know the details behind the City of Victoria's logo. Some people are unaware of how the logo came to be. Some people are passing out false information about that logo, even in black and white, which lasts a very long time. The Victoria Gazette knows the truth of the matter, for I interviewed the designer of that logo back in 1983 and again in 1993 and wrote the true story in the Gazette. Hilda Caspers is 90 years old today. Here are the facts. In 1975 Victoria had a Bicentennial Committee that sponsored a contest for residents to design a city flag. There was no city flag or logo prior to 1975. Hilda Caspers won the contest. Simple as that! The Victoria City Council unanimously adopted Hilda's design for the official City of Victoria flag at their December 4th, 1975, city council meeting. Virginia Harris, who was Victoria's Clerk-Administrator at that time, wrote a letter to Hilda notifying her that her design had won the contest. Then Hilda hand-created the large flag that is still evident in the background at all City of Victoria council meetings. It has a royal blue background, and a city seal is located in the center of it. "I had offered to sew the flag no matter who won," Hilda had said. "I wanted to do something for the Bicentennial." The Victoria City Council took Hilda up on her offer and so she pieced the fabric and stitched the flag in its winning design. For the sake of review and definition, the Bicentennial year of 1976 celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. That Declaration was a unanimous decision of the 13 original colonies to become the United States of America, free and independent of Great Britain, signed on July 4th, 1776, "with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence." On June 14th, 1976 -- Flag Day of the the Bicentennial year -- the City of Victoria dedicated the flag designed and sewn by Hilda Caspers as the official city flag. "All the members of the council thought it was beautiful," wrote Mayor Jerome 'Chub' Aretz to Hilda at that time. Shortly after that dedication, the seal in the center of the flag became the city logo. Because Victoria's motto is the "City of Lakes and Parks," Hilda had included in its design a lake, the greenery of hillside grasses and trees, and even some feathered friends in the sky above the landscape. Also on the seal, off to the side, she placed a little church with a tiny cross on top of it. "You see a church no matter what direction you come into town from," Hilda had said, explaining why she included it in her design. From the south you see the St. Victoria Catholic Church, from the west you see the Lake Auburn Moravian Church, from the east you see Faith Lutheran Church. Holy Cross Lutheran Church in the north also became part of the Ecumenical Victoria Community. Today, in 2011, the city seal is even more appropriate for we now have Christ Victorious Lutheran Church on one edge of town, Waterbrooke Fellowship on Lake Wasserman, and Mount Olivet Lutheran Church on Schutz Lake, while Westview 7th Day Adventist has replaced Holy Cross Lutheran. It might not be politically correct to say that Victoria is the City of Lakes and Parks and Churches, but it is factually correct regardless of one's politics or beliefs or concerns. Christianity speaks to the founding of our city as well as the continuing growth and development of our city. Removing that church and its cross from the city logo would be like removing its lakes and parks. If the lakes and parks are Victoria's heart and soul, the churches are its life-blood for they carry the oxygen that feeds the community's heart and soul. In case you don't realize it, it's all part of that "small town feel" that everybody talks about trying to preserve. I don't understand that our current good mayor would consider spending taxpayer dollars to have the city attorney research the legalities of a church or cross on our city logo. What is the new element in town making waves below the surface? Why would it be given feet in Victoria? It should take a tsunami to wipe out the historical logo of our little city, not a splash in the bucket. If and when a tsunami occurs, what washes ashore will not be pretty. It never is. There is not neutral ground here. Removing Christianity from the city logo and replacing it with the modern "V" brand would not be a neutral thing to do. It would, in fact, be a hostile thing to do and I hope it never happens. Modernism did not give us the freedoms and civilization that we have today. Christianity did. Victoria's mayor in 1976 said the design was beautiful. Today it is more than that. It is our historical blueprint. I'm glad we're keeping the seal on our city park signs. Considering Christianity's powerful role in human history -- not just in the history of our city and our nation -- it's one of the most global things we can do. Cool! |
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October 2011 |
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