Shown is Barry Stevens as Ben Franklin. America didn’t yet exist, so the British flag was prominent. Photo provided by Chautauqua-Wawasee.

By Mark Knecht
President Chautauqua-Wawasee

SYRACUSE — Wawasee High School hosted Chautauqua-Wawasee’s annual patriotic speaker program Sunday afternoon, June 23, which featured Ben Franklin, who was portrayed by Barry Stevens. The presentation, titled “Ask Ben,” was educational, humorous and appreciated by the audience of more than 130 people.

Stevens shared the many facets of Franklin’s life. Ben loved to read books, and found creative ways to borrow them, and in some cases buy and return. This was the beginning of the library concept. His parents aspired for him to be a minister but when they heard of his idea of rewriting the Bible, they knew he’d have to take a different career. Because of his eyesight, he needed glasses to read and different ones for seeing long distances. Having to change back and forth constantly, spawned the idea of bifocals.

Asked by one of the attendees, “How/why were you so involved in so many important aspects of America’s early history,” Barry/Ben answered, “Providence … it had to be providence.” On another topic, asked about his experiments with lighting, he said, “At the time, many thought I invented electricity which of course I didn’t.”

Another eye-opening comment was his point that it took written correspondence about eight weeks to travel across the Atlantic; this fact alone impacted the value of espionage from America back to Britain. Another person asked, “What is your most significant accomplishment?” He simply replied, “The United States.” Prior to the revolution, all the states functioned independently.

At the conclusion of the program, many people remained to discuss additional questions with Stevens. The feedback from attendees was unanimously “excellent speaker … great information.”