Too Long in the Wind

May 2009

Coming to life

A dragonfly dries its wings after coming out of its larval stage.

[May 31]   We've all found the ghosts of cicadas on the rough bark of elm trees. The empty case, complete with glassy eyes, is a little spooky. Sometimes we find the cicadas themselves after they've shed, with their shiny skin and buzzy wings, and once in a while it's hard to sleep because of the racket they make. The life cycle of the cicada is a fun part of growing up on the plains.

I've never seen a cicada in the act of shedding. It is one of those events that seemed reserved for the zoology chapter in a high school science textbook.

Late last week son Nik were at a lake near our home when he found a dragonfly that had just molted out of its larval skin. The larva had crawled out of the lake and up onto a picnic pavilion where it was dry and sunny. And there it gave birth to itself.

Nik and I were at the lake to go fishing. I rented a flat-bottom skiff for a couple of hours, and we set off. I had never used a rowboat before, being a kayaker and canoer, and it took a while to get the rhythm down (my left arm isn't as strong as my right, so we tended to spin into the bank). My hours on the rowing machine at home began to pay off, and we scooted around the lake, testing the waters here and there for trout.

When I was a whippersnapper, about Nik's age, I loved a book in the Happy Hollisters series, "The Scarecrow Mystery." One scene that has stayed with me involved the older boy rowing his siblings across a lake. Surely it made an impression because having a boat on a lake in the woods was unlike anything around Pawnee Rock. Now I'm free of wondering what it would be like.

I'd like to think that by taking oars in hand I molted out of my larval skin. But the real surprise was Nik, who took a couple of early turns at the oars and finally rowed the whole way back at the end of the evening. And there I sat in the back of the boat, watching my Happy Hollister book come to life.

Nik was happy at the oars.

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State Theater update

[May 31]   Gary Trotnic of Pawnee Rock wrote early this morning with news of the State Theater.

The theater in Larned is now run by volunteers. About an year ago they put in 350 new seats which cost 35,000 dollars. It is open on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. Sunday nite is couple nite for 13.00. You get 2 tickets, 2 medium drinks, and 1 medium popcorn. I bet you can't do that anyplace else. In a few months they are purchasing a new digital projector, which runs about 80,000 dollars.

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Details of what there was

[May 31]   I was impressed yesterday by the level of detail remembered by Ralph Gillispie and Leon Miller when they were discussing movie theaters in Larned and Great Bend. I appreciated their taking the time to write.

Leon wrote back:

One thing you've got to remember about going to the movies 50-60 years ago, this was the MAIN form of entertainment outside of the high school sports venue. No TV, no car races, no reality or survival shows. We did enjoy radio and books however.

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The state of movies in Larned

[May 30]   Leon Miller of Dallas and Ralph Gillispie of Burley, Idaho, remember the State Theater in Larned very well. They both wrote today to straighten out a detail in my posting today and to add a lot of great details.

(Here's a photo of the State from the architecture section of airforcebase.net.)

Leon's e-mail arrived first:

The State Theater you mentioned in today's column was actually the updated version of the old State Theater. The "original" State was slightly to the south of the "new" State. In the old version you walked up a flight of steps (maybe 10-12) to buy your ticket and go inside. This layout made sense in that the seating would be slanted toward the front and you could see over the person sitting in front of you.

Next door to the theater was The Bon Ton Cafe, a soda fountain/cafe which made the best malts and hamburgers in Kansas. It was a tradition to go to the movie, then go to The Bon Ton afterward for food and drink.

Also, there was another theater down the street whose name was The Electric theater. It was considered more for B-rated movies and the facilities weren't as nice as the State. When the "new" State was built after WWII it had many inovative features installed, i.e. copper piping in the sidewalk immediately in front of the theater that would keep the walk from freezing in icy weather, the best sound system available and a wider screen to accommodate the new version of cinematography.

Great Bend's theater "row" included The Plaza, which was on the Main Street, or whatever it was called. I remember my parents taking me there as a child to see features such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." It is also where I saw my first version of "3-D movies" with the weird glasses. I believe the name of the movie was something like "Fort Tichonderoga," a cowboys/Indians adventure. One scene depicted was when one of the characters threw a knife or hatchet at the camera and I felt that it went right into my chest. I never wanted to see that again.

Another time was when the Arkansas River flooded, sometime in the '40s, and the water extended up to the Plaza. We were devastated to have our favorite haunt filled with water, which took several days to dry out. I guess this was one of the issues that created the Dundee dam in later years.

Leon

Ralph mentions the first color movies in Larned and lots of other details:

Reading your "Too Long in the Wind" article this morning and want to clarify/correct some information you gathered from the web.

You stated, "Larned's State Theater, on Broadway south of the courthouse, opened shortly after World War II, according to info I found on the Web."

There were two movie houses in Larned. The State and the Electric. The Electric was a block or so South of the State Theater on the west side of Broadway.

Both movie houses were open and operational well before World War II. I attended them back in 1939.

The State showed mostly the Westerns like Tom Mix, Ken Maynard, Hopalong Cassidy, Buck Jones, etc., along with thrillers such as "The Mummy" and "Frankenstein." They also showed the Little Gang, Shirley Temple etc., along with other comedy films of the era.

The State was on the distribution circuit fed by films from such studios as RKO and Columbia, while the Electric showed films made at MGM and Paramount.

The Electric was the first movie house in Larned to show "color" movies such as Wizard of Oz, and the State was the first to have "air conditioning," and that was circa 1940-41.

Ticket prices for the State, Saturday matinee was a dime for children and a quarter for adults, popcorn was a nickel a box. The Electric was only open for the evening shows, and usually a double feature.

Sure do wish the Tiller and Toiler had archives of that era to post on the Larned Chamber of Commerce website.

Ralph Gillispie
Burley, Idaho

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On Larned's big screen

[May 30]   The culturally curious of Pawnee Rock sometimes strayed to the county seats to find amusement at dramshops, Moonlight Madness sales, and drive-in theaters. OK, the drive-ins are gone with the wind, but we remember them -- especially when we find an old Tiller and Toiler clipping with movie ads on the flip side.

The Great Bend drive-in was in the northeast corner of 10th and Patton on the west side. Anybody worth his salt went to a movie there, and many young men with no salt drove south slowly on Patton hoping to catch a glimpse of the cast from "Night-Call Nurse."

In Larned, the drive-in was on the north side of town, if I remember correctly. (Or it was on the west side. Perhaps someone will set me straight.) I do remember it as being somewhat more rustic than the theater in Great Bend.

To be honest, no movie theater was more rustic than Pawnee Rock's. Before there was a tennis court in the city park and while there was still a lumberyard next door, a traveling movie show came once a week, hung a screen, and delivered open-air entertainment. Refreshments were available at the drugstore across the street.

Pawnee Rockers went to movies in air-conditioned theaters as well. Larned's State Theater, on Broadway south of the courthouse, opened shortly after World War II, according to info I found on the Web. The Crest Theater, on the square in Great Bend, opened in 1950.

Here's what was showing at the Larned Drive-in on a summer weekend in 1967. It was, of all things, a Jamie Farr double feature. (The movie plots and cast information come from imdb.com.)

"Who's Minding the Mint," released in 1967

The poster said: With a cast of thousands -- in hundreds, tens and singles!

Plot: A mint worker accidentally destroys some money and decides to break in and reprint it, but find he has some unwanted partners.

The movie starred Milton Berle, Joey Bishop, Bob Denver, Walter Brennan, and Jamie Farr.

"Ride Beyond Vengeance," 1966

The poster said: Robbed and left to die . . . Now the hunted becomes the hunter!

Chuck Connors stars as Jonas Trapp, the Tiger. It also featured Joan Blondell, Bill Bixby, Claude Akins, and Jamie Farr.

"Spartacus," 1960

The poster said: They trained him to kill for their pleasure . . . but they trained him a little too well.

Plot: The slave Spartacus leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman empire.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Howard Fast and Dalton Trumbo.

This movie had a big-name cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Nina Foch, and John Ireland.

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Warm from the feet up

Boys scamper on the east side of Pawnee Rock in July.

[May 29]   Pawnee Rock's residents were reminded earlier this week that they're subject to the mercurial whims of nature when the temperature dived about 20 degrees in a couple of hours as a storm front came through. Imagine being a kid and suddenly not only does the swimming pool close but it's also too chilly to wear shorts after Memorial Day.

Those of us who moved from the hotlands often miss the dry heat of our home county, and we notice when the Great Bend temp craters but is still higher than it is wherever we live now.

Right now, where I live, it's 41 degrees and there's fresh snow on the mountainside 1,500 feet above my head. But I'm wearing shorts these days because I've waited all winter to do just that.

One of the things I liked most about taking my sons to Pawnee Rock a few years ago was letting them scamper around on the baked sandstone of the Rock at midday on July 5. Like generations of children before them, they got to feel the heat through their sneakers and, when they sat down, deep in their thighs. They ran but weren't sweaty, thanks to the convection oven atmosphere. They were thoroughly warm.

And that's what summer is all about. At least, that's how I like to remember it.

Fond memories of Pawnee Rock:   A warm note arrived yesterday from Ralph Fry, a Pawnee Rocker who moved some time ago.

Here's what he wrote:

I only recently became aware of the website and must commend you on the fine work you are doing.

I can't think of another more important effort to memorialize the town and promote it than what you are doing.

I have so many fond memories of the town and my friends and classmates from the area.

So many are no longer with us and others have moved away. Perhaps I will be able to visit next Memorial Day and make your acquaintance.

If I can figure out how to do it, I'll send some photos.

Ralph Fry
Class of '51

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A farm's best friends

[May 28]   The old dog was named Shep, even though there may not have been a bit of shepherd in her. The little dog, her pup, was Puppy, and Puppy's most endearing trait was peeing on the porch whenever she was happy or frightened.

Shep was my hunting partner while I was in junior and senior high. We chased rabbits in the fencelines of the pasture and milo fields of my Unruh grandparents' farm northwest of Pawnee Rock. I was armed with, at various times, a slingshot, a bow and arrow, and a bolt-action .22, but Shep was a better hunter than I was. She had caught enough food to know which way the jacks and cottontails were going to turn, and one gray November she held down a rabbit for me so I could shoot it for her. She got the meat and I got the pelt, which I scraped clean of fat and left to dry for several years atop the swamp cooler at home. It was the last rabbit I shot.

Shep had many litters, although we never got to meet the proud fathers. They may have come from the closest neighbors -- the farms of Durward Smith, Paul Schmidt, Elrick Smith, and Earl Allen Schmidt. Grandma and Grandpa never kept any of the pups. They all were given to other farms, where they could run free with the dogs taken from children who lived in town.

But at some point, a few years after Grandpa died, Grandma decided that Shep was losing a step to time, and so she selected one dog from what turned out to be Shep's last litter and for a while Grandma had two dogs. Shep taught Puppy the ways of the farm, and Puppy was an eager learner and a comfortable, if messy, companion. This photo was made in the mid-'70s, and Puppy and Grandma lived together for another 10 or so years until Grandma was moved to the nursing home.

For a long time, dogs and barn swallows were the only animals that were allowed on the porch. At some point, Grandma mellowed. Maybe she just tired of farmhouse discipline, or perhaps she wanted more companionship. One of the barn cats -- a feral mob of undistinguished heritage -- took up residence on the weathered porch. Its pointed ears are visible behind Shep.

A couple of years ago I visited the site of the old farm, now owned by Durward and gone to cattle. As sad as it was to see the house gone, it was just as sad to walk into the yard and not be met by a dog, a smiling mutt with matted hair and the light gait of a predator that could run down a rabbit and then chase a pickup all the way to the end of the driveway.

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Have stamps, will travel

Stamps from my days as a travel editor.

[May 27]   At my wife's recent request, I was sorting through boxes of junk I had saved from my newspaper career and from my childhood. All was going well -- the "to the dump" pile was growing -- until I came across a nondescript manila envelope marked "Stamps."

In it were dozens of foreign stamps I had collected during my years as a travel editor. Among the treasures: the queen of England and Canada and New Zealand, a bird from Honduras and another from Belize, fantastic scenery from Singapore.

They had all been affixed to envelopes by writers hoping to appear so exotic and worldly that I would be induced to buy their stories and photographs. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes I just kept the stamps.

These were not my first stamps from the great big world.

When I was a kid in Pawnee Rock, stamps were my magic travel machine. Because Dad bought me bags of foreign stamps, I learned what the queen of England looked like, that a bunch of countries were behind the Iron Curtain, and that there were toucans and exotic Asian faces and wonderful temples with curlicue roofs.

Instead of putting the stamps in albums -- it was hard to get pages for other countries' stamps -- I'd spread them out on my bed and mostly I'd just hold them because they were such jewels.

They represented beauty and science and glory. They were little pieces of the world a long way from Pawnee Rock. When I started high school, the stamps were put on a shelf, and later they went with the albums into a cardboard box.

Like the box of newspaper souvenirs, the box of stamps is in my garage. As it turned out, I have seen some of the world, and my stamps came with me.

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Learning what I learned

In 1962, the line for the bathroom was just too slow, and that's when I learned that the school kept a spare pair of jeans for kindergartners.

[May 26]   The Class of '77 got a few hours to walk through the Pawnee Rock School last Saturday afternoon as part of its reunion weekend. It had been decades since most of them had toured the building -- especially with classmates -- and it evoked many memories. (Read Cheryl Unruh's piece about old ties.)

In 2006, I had much the same experience on a solo visit to Pawnee Rock. I wish I had had friends with me, but being alone did let me linger in high school rooms I hadn't visited since 1972 and grade school rooms I hadn't been in since the 1960s.

What struck me at the time was that I felt like I was trespassing. Even though the school was still public property, it wasn't my building anymore. But it was my school -- it was where I spent great slabs of childhood and where I was set on my path.

I tried to soak up every detail, because I didn't know whether I'd see the building again in that condition; the sale was coming. The bricks and tile and yellow louvers and chalkboards were holy, and although I recognized that being there meant a lot to me I may not understand even now how much it meant.

For an hour, I relived my boyhood with its joys and frustrations. And maybe that's an experience best endured alone.

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Ceremony and a reunion

[May 25]   The annual Memorial Day ceremony begins at 11 a.m. at the Pawnee Rock Cemetery.

Afterward, the Pawnee Rock school reunion will commence at the depot in downtown Pawnee Rock. Lunch will be served, and donations will be accepted. (More on the reunion)

The weather forecast for late this morning is for lots of clouds and a light southeasterly breeze. The temperature should be around 70 degrees. There a 30 percent chance of rain, which could be in the form of a thunderstorm.

Also: Our friend and frequent correspondent Leon Miller of Dallas has been in the hospital with an infection, says his sister Connie Miller Wilson of Hays, and he will miss the reunion this year. Please remember him today.

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Reunion of the Class of 1977

The class cake is cut by Marilyn Stimatze Murphy, Darla Dirks Clarke, and Jeanette Ater Corbett. (Cheryl Unruh took these photos.)

Placemats were created by Darla's first-grade class in Hoisington.

[May 25]   The Class of 1977 didn't graduate from Pawnee Rock High School, which was closed in 1972. But the hardy band did make it through ninth grade, so by one definition it was high school.

Like the rest of us from that time, they split up between Great Bend, Macksville, and Larned (and maybe Otis-Bison). After 32 years, because of the determination of Rick Clawson, Darla Dirks Clarke, and Jeanette Ater Corbett, they had a reunion Saturday at the school and then at the Perkins restaurant in Great Bend.

Cheryl Unruh, my sister, sent us photos. One is of three classmates -- Marilyn Stimatze Murphy, Darla, and Jeanette -- cutting the reunion cake. Another shows a placemat drawn for the occasion by first-graders in Hoisington, where Darla teaches. I think that's the coolest thing. (Cheryl's notes on the reunion.)

These classmates attended: Donna Smith Boese, Tracy Bright, Gloria Crist Callaway, Darla Dirks Clarke, Rick Clawson, Jeanette Ater Corbett, Bill McCord, Karla Mead, Marilyn Stimatze Murphy, Craig Smith, and Cheryl Unruh.

Two classmates who died were remembered: Dianne Clawson and Rodney Mead.

Back in Nevada last evening, Rick sent an e-mail to his classmates. It expresses the anxiety and joy that comes from meeting the long-separated friends with whom you spent your childhood.

Here's what Rick wrote:

Sorry I'm late posting a message to everyone. I feel like it was something I should've done earlier. As usual I've been on the road all day today, like most days in Nevada. Never a moment of rest, but for this time in this place I have enjoyed every moment I have been in Kansas. The first day back paid for the trip in the things I saw. Perhaps it was the fact of being home again that gave me a real peace of mind.

Saturday was probably the best day of my life in the past 20 years, maybe longer. A dream, a wish, a longing that I've had for so long came true, made possible by all of you. I can never thank you all enough for giving to me the opportunity to see you again. I had goose bumps walking up to the school with all of you standing there watching me, stalking me with your eyes as I approached. I was wondering what all of you were thinking. Would they accept me; would they be friendly; would they even speak to me?! Thanks, Cheryl, for breaking the ice, and reaching out to me. I thought, "Maybe they will accept me!"

Those who did not attend missed a real opportunity to connect with the "Ghosts from the Past." I hope that they will choose to attend the reunions in the future. They were greatly missed this time.

I have to run now (like usual), but I'll send another note soon. In closing, I'd have to say I had the best time of us all. I had the chance to fulfill a chance of my lifetime, to visit such important, special people from my life on a very special day! Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
Rick

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Klaxon outside the classroom

This klaxon was on a hallway wall in the former Pawnee Rock High School.

[May 24]   The use of the word "klaxon" must have fallen out of favor after World War II, even though it later appeared in novels written by people who grew up then. Every war movie had a klaxon horn of some sort -- like the aaaooo-gah alarm heard on a submarine before it dived. (Klaxon on Wikipedia.)

By the time I made it into school, these shrieking red horns were known politely as "alarms." My guess is that it was easier for little kids to understand, so that's the word the teachers used. And "klaxon" itself sounded too funny to be scary, until you heard one. And maybe people who heard the name confused it with Ku Klux Klan.

However it was known, this red horn and others like it in the Pawnee Rock school were meant to provide for our safety in times of fire and tornado, but their sound was by itself something to fear. I'm sure I wasn't the only little kid who, after hearing the horns for the first time, walked on the other side of the hallway when I passed them.

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More men identified

[May 23]   Brenda Girard writes that the unidentified man in the photo of the American Legion rifle squad could be her older brother Michael.

Also, when you looked beyond the squad, you may have noticed the man who looked as if he is dressed for a day at the office.

Kay Steed of eastern Kansas knows him:

"The man in the background (I'm almost 100% sure) is my dad, Jim Peters, in the suit, holding a hat. No way to prove it but if it's not him, I'll eat MY hat. My folks never missed a Pawnee Rock Memorial Day service on the Rock and I've attended quite a few myself.

"I have fond memories of staying with Vida Ross and putting lots of peonies in coffee cans to take to the cemetery, such a ritual. I still do it to this day, here in Gardner. I hope everyone enjoys the three-day weekend and remember those that went before us."

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Class of '77 meets today

[May 23]   The Class of 1977 meets today, starting with an afternoon tour of the school and concluding with an evening meal at Perkins Restaurant in Great Bend.

Town reunion: The Pawnee Rock reunion is Monday. It starts with the Memorial Day ceremony at the cemetery and moves to the depot for lunch and reminiscing.

Pawnee Rock isn't the only town having a reunion this holiday weekend. The Hutch News reports that residents and past residents of Kendall -- up the Arkansas River and southwest of Garden City -- are gathering as well. (Read Kathy Hanks' story.)

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Where the road never ends

[May 22]   In Pawnee Rock, we grew up with stop-sign intersections. Stay on any road long enough, and you'd come to a stop sign. That's how we did traffic.

I'm not saying west-central Kansas didn't have excitement -- but our most entertaining intersections were Trail Street and U.S. 56 in Larned and Railroad Avenue and U.S. 56 in Great Bend. And the curve at Darcey's corner. Woo-hoo.

We were an upright people. We obeyed fences, and we obeyed the section lines. We were so strict about it that the asphalt road that runs west from Pawnee Rock is known as the Correction Line, our apology to the Great Mapmaker for drawing outside the lines with U.S. 56.

And even U.S. 56 had stop signs.

Because you grew up along those roads, you can imagine -- and may remember -- how exciting it was for us in the 1960s when the interstate highways were built. Long four-lane roads without stop signs. Freeways. Rest areas. One-way traffic. Cloverleafs!

Oh, I was so excited the first time our family headed to Arkansas by taking I-35 south from Wichita to Tonkawa. I couldn't wait to see a cloverleaf. Think of it: being able to drive in a circle on a paved road and come out going a different direction. But then the reality of Kansas became evident.

There would be no cloverleaf interchanges. Kansas was true to its soul, and we got an efficient structure called the directional interchange. Leave the interstate by driving up a ramp until you reached a stop sign. Heck, we could do that at home.

Eventually, I got to drive on a cloverleaf. Maybe it was in Wichita or Topeka or Lawrence or Kansas City, and definitely in Texas. I remember being thrilled, and I hope you won't think less of me for still wearing a little smile when I see a true cloverleaf.

Over the years, I've nailed a few highway coonskins to my wall. There's the Mixmaster in Dallas, an I-5 nightmare in Seattle, and this out-of-towner's thrill ride in Denver. (My favorite, for its soaring simplicity, is this I-20 interchange in Arlington, Texas.)

I have gotten used to freeways and ramps, and I like them. On our county roads I've seen wrecks; I've had friends in those wrecks; I've read too many newspaper stories about a grandparent or a teenager who, like a jackrabbit, waits and waits and then picks the only wrong time to pull out onto the highway. The interchanges I dreamed about as a boy make me happy; the intersections I knew frighten me more than I ever expected.

It may surprise you -- as it did me -- to learn about the great variety of interchanges. They're not all good or elegant, and I'm sure that none of the complicated ones was the child of a uncluttered brain that grew up on the plains.

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The riflemen

[May 22]   Roger Hanhardt of Hays identified three of the four riflemen in yesterday's homepage photos (now in the Gallery).

The men are, from left to right: Keith Mull, Lanny Unruh, don't know, and John Boyd.

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Stephen J. Williams

The Williamses: Stephen, 1850-1933, and M. Roxetta, 1857-1944.

[May 21]   The "Biographical History of Barton County, Kansas," which never met a family it didn't think highly of, lists among the "best known in this part of the state" the Williams family of early Pawnee Rock.

Perhaps the Williamses were truly nice. It's clear that they were industrious, and they were prolific. Stephen Williams held county and township office and was a member of the school board.

The sketch mentions that he married Myra -- it looks as if she went by Roxetta instead. That is who Stephen is buried with under the cedars along the south fence in the Pawnee Rock Cemetery.

Stephen J. Williams

Stephen J. Williams was born in Hawkins County, Tenn., October 17, 1850. He resided in his native state until 1866 when he moved to Iowa where he remained for ten years before coming to Kansas in 1878. His parents came here four years before his arrival and the Williams family is one of the best known in this part of the state.

Mr. Williams bought railroad land three miles east of Pawnee Rock and at once began the development of the soil. For a number of years he lived on a rented farm and farmed it in addition to his own. Then he bought a half section north and east of Pawnee Rock and about five miles from his home place. He farmed for a number of years, and seven years ago moved to town and now lives in a nice residence in Pawnee Rock.

He was married in August, 1867, to Miss Myra McDavid and they are the parents of eight children as follows: Margaret M., 36 years of age, is now Mrs. S. P. Hill of Pawnee Rock; Mary L., 34 years of age is now Mrs. G. E. Conkle of Colo.; Lydia C., 31 years of age is now Mrs. James A. Lowhorne of Wichita; Andrew E., 29 years of age is farming near Pawnee Rock; William E., 26 years of age lives in Pawnee Rock; John S., 23 years of age and Thelma, 16 years of age and Esther, 13 years of age, are also living in Pawnee Rock.

Mr. Williams served his district as county commissioner for four years, has held township and school board offices and is one of the best known men in the county. He is one of the men who helped to make this county one of the best in the State of Kansas.

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Pawnee Rock, in higher definition

[May 20]   After years of low-resolution images, Google Maps has finally gotten around to showing a satellite view of Pawnee Rock that looks like Pawnee Rock.

View Larger Map

The Google images aren't as sharp as Terraserver-USA's black-and-white views, but they are in color and more recent and you can use Street View along the highway.

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Make a landmark photograph

Monument Rocks Natural Area

[May 19]   Jeanette Corbett must know that many of us are, because of our Pawnee Rock, interested in landmarks. So the former Pawnee Rocker sent this news from the National Park Service:

Natural Landmarks Photo Contest

The sixth annual National Natural Landmarks photo contest is under way. The National Natural Landmarks Program, administered by the National Park Service, was established to identify and recognize outstanding examples of our country's natural history. It is the only natural areas program of national scope that recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in both public and private ownership.

There are 586 National Natural Landmarks nationwide. Deadline to enter the contest: June 30. (Park Service site)

Kansas has five national natural landmarks: Baldwin Woods and Baker University Wetlands, both in eastern Kansas; Big Basin, in Clark County; Rock City, north of Salina; and Monument Rocks Natural Area, near Scott City.

Check out all the landmarks on a U.S. map.

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Class of '69 has super turnout

[May 19]   The reunion of the Class of '69 was THE place to be Saturday night.

Barb Schmidt sent this early report:

Our Class of '69 reunion this past weekend was wonderful in all respects. Most of our classmates were able to attend in person, with folks coming from all over Kansas, plus Arizona, Florida, Oregon and Washington. We also had lengthy video calls with one classmate in Tennessee and another who was visiting Salt Lake City for her son's law school graduation, plus a very long, long-distance call with another classmate in North Carolina. And our two remaining classmates had previously sent information about themselves to the entire class.

That sounds like 100% "reconnectivity" to me.

So I hereby challenge all other PRHS classes to match the reunion record of PRHS '69! And, yes, Leon, we will send you some good photos to post in your new reunions section (great idea) once the dust settles.

I did not personally take photos at the reunion (way too busy visiting) but at least three other attendees (including Coach Jerry Snyder's delightful wife, Margaret) took kahzillions of photos and have promised to share.

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A correction

[May 19]   A sharp-eyed reader, Heather Dombroski, noticed that a caption in the Gallery had the Class of '77 having its reunion on the wrong day. The caption is fixed now and matches the date that's elsewhere on the site -- the Class of '77 meets on May 23.

Thanks, Heather, and thanks, Jeanette Corbett, for passing along Heather's note.

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One hand in the water

Sam's hand wasn't what I expected to find in my cell-phone photo, but it's appropriate.

[May 18]   Yesterday afternoon, on a cloudless Sunday, I took son Sam to a lake not far from our home. I figured we'd hike a little and then spend some time throwing rocks into the clear water -- a time-honored father-son pastime.

Our hike took us through a mostly deciduous forest and into a field in which the hay was just starting to show. Sam wondered, as he frequently does, where in the world a similar landscape might appear. We settled on Scandinavia, Siberia, Wyoming, and Colorado, where birches and snow-topped mountains might be found next to agriculture.

Sam is trying to fit his personal world into the bigger picture. We all do that, I suppose, although perhaps we don't recognize it for what it is. All of that subconscious deep thinking went away, nevertheless, when we strolled down the path to the remains of a small dock.

While I took snapshots with my cell phone, Sam strode out via a log to a two-inch-wide crossbeam that had been left a few feet from shore. He discovered a school of minnows -- or trout fry, he suggested -- and was soon lost in the natural world.

I handed him a grab bag of pebbles, and he carefully placed each of them one at a time in his palm and lowered it into the fishes' view. They nibbled at the pebbles and at his hand -- looking for algae, he surmised.

Nothing interfered with his research. Not my question about why seven flies were on the white part of his shirt and none was on the yellow part. Not the family 50 feet away that was noisily catching 20-inch trout. Not the mosquitoes, although he did squash one, weight it down with pebbles on his palm, and lower it to feed the fish.

You and I might remember this kind of perfect day. You and I played with the minnows -- or were they carp fry? -- in the sandbar backwaters of the Arkansas River. We teased them in the sandpit with a bit of bait on a hook. As we played, we learned how fish act. Maybe it makes us better anglers today, or maybe we just enjoyed the sensation that nature, in the streamlined shape of a minnow, trusted us and found us interesting.

Whatever Sam gathered yesterday among the birches and at the lake's edge probably won't become clear to him until he becomes an adult, and that's fine. He had fun. He will fit yesterday's handful of thoughtful and accidental discoveries into his developing view of the world, and he'll remember that I was there with him.

As for me, it was enough to watch Sam and think about my own hourless days on our Arkansas. I will not deny, however, that I wished I had brought my fishing pole.

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New reunions section

[May 16]   A rush of reunion news this month got me thinking about how PawneeRock.org could help keep our school's alumni connected. To that end, I've started a new section, Reunions.

The section contains news about upcoming reunions -- when, where, and who to contact.

It also has photos of previous reunions. OK, at this moment it contains just one large set of nice photos by Roger Hanhardt, Class of '64, who took them last summer at the reunion at Ed Crosby's farm northwest of Pawnee Rock. I will add the photos from the 2008 Memorial Day reunion at the Depot.

I want you to send photos and captions from this year's reunions, with as many names as you can provide. Size the photos to 650 or so pixels wide and attach them to an e-mail you send to leon@pawneerock.org.

History will thank you.

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Class of '69 meets today

[May 15]   The Class of 1969 is meeting this afternoon and evening at the Highland Hotel in Great Bend. Friends and the curious can drop by between 2 and 5 p.m. The class shouldn't be hard to find -- look for the blue and gold.

E-mail issues: My regular e-mail is on the fritz. In technical terms, it's "Internal Server Error. Premature end of script headers: php: Please check / usr / local / cpanel / logs / error_log for the exact error." In real-world terms, that means I can't open anything sent to that address until Bluehost.com fixes the problem.

I still want your e-mail and reunion photos. For now please send them to leon@unruh.org. NOON UPDATE: My regular e-mail (leon@pawneerock.org) is now fixed.)

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The crew of D&B Truck Bed Co., probably in the late 1940s.

Hello, Dean Blackwell

[May 15]   Pawnee Rockers of a certain age know the Blackwell family, who lived on South Centre Street, and that's why it was such a pleasure to get this e-mail from Dean. He and his wife, Nelda (Smith), now live in Scott City.

Roy Blackwell and Darrell Drake had a business in downtown Pawnee Rock, on the west side of the street. My dad's first job was as a carpenter for D&B Truck Bed Co. Later, Roy was the janitor at the school, and Dad set up his own carpentry shop across the street.

Dean and Nelda are listed now on the Friends of Pawnee Rock page.

Here's what Dean wrote:

Hi. Dean Blackwell here. I was reading your news and was just stunned to learn who your father was. I knew him when he worked for my Dad (Roy Blackwell) and Darrell Drake. He was a very young man at that time and of course he was picked on in a kind way by both of them. I just remember that he was a very nice guy who was nice to a very young boy. In later years I would see him working in his shop or walking down to the post office remember that after my Dad died that he helped my Mother on many occasions. It's nice to know that his Son is taking after his father. It's nice to see Pawnee Rock remembered in such a great way.

It was a great place to grow up in the '50s. Leon [Miller] was my neighbor for most of those years! What a small world we live in.

Dean

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Pawnee Rock woman to help new Swedes

[May 14]   Pawnee Rock's Nicolette Unruh will be one of 36 students greeting incoming freshmen this fall at Bethany College in Lindsborg, according to a press release from the school.

The candidates for orientation leader submitted an application and were interviewed by seniors and an associate dean.

Nicolette is majoring in theatre and communication.

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Phone book follow-up

[May 14]   Leon Miller, who remembers the 1950s perfectly well, helps us out with a couple of questions I had about the 1956 Pawnee Rock phone book.

Here's what he wrote:

A little deciphering of a couple of names mentioned in the phone book, i.e. Bright's Service Station and Busboom and Rauh. Bright's Service Station was operated by Jess Bright. Jess died of a heart attack in the spring of 1956.

My dad, Cobb Miller had supplied the station with Mobilgas and when I came home from school for the summer he asked me if I would like to try to run the place as it had been closed since Jess' death. I took him up on it and was therefore indoctrinated into the business world. I did O.K. until a "gas war" late in Great Bend killed my gas sales. At the end of August I had a "fire sale" if you could call it that, selling all the merchandise I had left at give-away prices, packing up and leaving to go to KU for the next four years of my life.

Bright's Service Station was formerly Stella's Cafe on the northeast corner of Centre Street and US 56. Apparantely it was torn down and replaced with the antique store/shop/whatever. That's the same place that had a fire in the past year.

Busboom and Rauh was the name of the general contractor who was building the new Pawnee Rock school at the time. My dad also supplied fuel to them during the construction of the school.

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YUkon 2

[May 13]   In looking at just one page of the Pawnee Rock phone book of 1956, we get a glimpse of what our town was like 53 years ago. (Bigger view -- click here, then click on the image)

We had:

• A rail connection: Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Depot, 4342
• A petroleum company: Amerada Hess, 4394
• A gas station: Bright's Service Station, 4353
• A business of some sort: Busboom & Rauh, 4389
• A lumber yard: Clutter-Lindas Lbr Co. 4332
• Lunch in Radium: Cross County Cafe, 4492

And skim the personal names, many of them now preserved in granite:

Orville Avery. Darrell Batchman. Roy Bauer. Roy Blackwell, Don Bowman, Earl Bowman. LaVern Bowyer. J.D. Carpenter. A.B. Clawson Jr. Howard Converse. H.E. Crosby. Jas J. Darcy. Bennie Deckert, Leslie Deckert. Mrs. Gladys S. Delaplane. Eldon Dirks, Harvey Dirks, Laurel Dirks. Darrell Drake. Doyle Foster. Earl French, Gwen French. Fred Fry, Rolla Fry.

Read straight up, the phone book seems to say Pawnee Rock had few women. We know, however, that wives and single women generally weren't listed. Widows could be, either by their names or by their late husband's.

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Strike up the band

[May 12]   Barb Schmidt sent a couple of photos of the Pawnee Rock band -- a fancy invitation to the Class of '69 reunion this Saturday.

Here's what she wrote:

With all the PR class reunions this month, it's too bad we don't still have a school because maybe we could lure the high school marching band to tromp down the street and play the "Fight Song" just one more time while we all sing along. Now what were the lyrics again . . . ?

These photos were taken September 7, 1964, when the band took part in the Labor Day parade in Hoisington. That's Emily Mull leading the band, and you might spot Anita Avery in the front row -- both from the Class of 1968. This edition of the band included students from the classes of 1965 through 1969. Marching in Hoisington was our dress rehearsal for the State Fair in Hutchinson later that month. Isn't it great to see the "Brave" on the back of the unforms again? And those soft golden plumes?

If there are any old PR band players in the area with nothing better to do between 2 and 5 p.m. this Saturday (May 16), how about stopping by the "open reception" that the Class of 1969 is holding at the Highland Hotel on West 10th Street in Great Bend? There will be lots of football and basketball players (and track stars) present and maybe even a PR Hall of Fame coach (plus the Pep Club, of course!). But we need a few more musical types. And if you've still got your old tarnished trumpet or flute -- bring it along. We're going to have fun!

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Who the Class of 1977 is

[May 12]   Jeanette Ater Corbett has identified her classmates in the Class of 1973-74 photo shown yesterday on the homepage.

Top row: Mr. Bob Stone, Mrs. Darlene Werhahn, Bill McCord, Diane Clawson, David Bowman

2nd row: Karla Mead, Gloria Crist, Cheryl Unruh, Rick Clawson, Erlene Chism

3rd row: Randy Graver, Marilyn Stimatze, Tracy Bright, Craig Smith, Tony Kasselman

4th row: Keith Reimer, Donna Smith

5th row: Rodney Mead, Kim Myers, Jeanette Ater

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Reunion reminder

[May 11]   Keep up with the one thing so many of us have in common -- our days in the Pawnee Rock schools -- at one of the reunions planned this month.

May 16, Class of '69 -- The Pawnee Rock Class of '69 will celebrate 40 years with a reunion this Saturday at the Highland Hotel on West 10th Street in Great Bend. There will be an open reception from 2 to 5 p.m., and the class is having a dinner in the evening for classmates and guests.

May 23, Class of '77 -- The Pawnee Rock Class of '77 will meet May 23 -- the Saturday before Memorial Day -- at the Perkins restaurant on West 10th Street in Great Bend. The get-together is at 7 p.m.

May 25, Memorial Day, all classes -- Memorial Day reunion: The first event of May 25 is the annual 11 a.m. ceremony at the Pawnee Rock Cemetery. Afterward, the reunion will commence with lunch at the depot on Centre Street.

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Holding Mom's hand

Out go the memories.

[May 10]   Last evening I was walking past the school in my neighborhood and found a cheap hand-painted cabinet waiting between two trash bins. It was literally painted by hand, the work of a first- or second-grade class full of above-average children.

Man, I thought. Who could dispose of such a memento?

It occurred to me as I walked on that all the teachers in those grades here are women, and in my experience they're all mothers or grandmothers. What kind of heartless mother could throw out their kids' work?

Teacher mothers are different from other mothers, I guess. For all their empathy and generosity toward the students, teachers know that teaching is a business. This batch of kids will go out the door and a new collection will arrive freshly dressed in the fall.

They can't keep everything, and maybe this most individualistic cabinet has already been painted a dozen times over the years and is simply worn out.

Moms make those choices about what to toss and what to keep, and I suspect that dads are generally glad to cede that responsibility.

Moms are the historians of the families. They see the same things we all do, but they're the ones who sort it out and make sense of it. They maintain the records that tie us together -- my generation, the kids' generation, and I hope the grandkids' generation.

Sometimes they do throw things away, making tough decisions that keep our homes livable. They throw out the bad stuff and help us remember the happiest accomplishments.

As the years passed, my own mom revealed bits of treasure she had saved from watching over Cheryl and me.

My wife is a saver too, despite her protestations that "we've got to get rid of stuff." My wife has saved tubs of little-boy toys and papers from each boy's classes. The papers and paintings will be sorted someday and passed along to fill up shelves in the boys' garages.

Year in and year out, like our local schoolteacher, moms set out a new memory cabinet for kids to decorate. Moms teach as much as they can until finally the kids say they don't need her to hold their paint-covered hands anymore -- but they know perfectly well that Mom is still there, and they're glad.

Leon, Cheryl, and Anita in 1961.

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Alice Ingram has died

[May 10]   Alice Ingram, who lived for many years in Pawnee Rock, died on April 24 in Independence, Mo. She was 101 years old and had been born in Max, Neb.

Mrs. Ingram was married for 66 years to Kenneth Ingram, who died in 1999. They were the parents of sons Jared and J.D. and daughter Jewell. In Pawnee Rock, they lived on the northwest corner of Flora and Rock and drove a Mercedes Benz, the only one in town. (Obituary)

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The plains life

[May 9]   When I lived in Pawnee Rock, I complained about the wind and the dry air and the dust as much as any kid my age. And I lived in town among the elms.

I don't know why I didn't catch on when I saw pictures of the settlers' homes. Treeless farms on windswept plains. Tall grass, short grass, no grass. Unpainted barns. House-high snowdrifts.

Life was hard in the time before shelterbelts.

That's not to say it's always easy now; lenders, for example, are only slightly less predatory. But a hundred years ago, a hundred twenty years ago, life was hard in elemental ways. There was disease, hard work from dawn to dusk, spotty formal education, and no electricity.

From the people who survived all that come you and I. Let's be worth it.

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What is it worth?

[May 8]   The Chevy Apache for sale for $2,900 got Leon Miller's attention.

"The irony of the price this guy is wanting for his truck is that was about what it cost new WITH motor and transmission in 1960. My first new car I bought was a 1961 Ford Falcon that cost $1,450.00. A full-size Ford fully equipped was about $1,000.00 more."

My first new car, a Plymouth Gold Duster from Marmie Motors, set my parents back about $3,000 in 1974. My next car, a Datsun 310GX hatchback, cost me $9,000 new in 1982 or '83, and that's what my Honda Civic hatchback cost when I bought it used in 2005.

There's just no accounting for the price of cars.

On the other hand, one thing doesn't change. In Jim Dye's photo, you can see all that bright green grass erupting skyward after the rains. It's spring, the earth is happy, and there's no charge.

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The blue truck is calling us

[May 7]   Yesterday we had a request from Gary Ward to help find a blue Chevy van-looking vehicle in southwestern Pawnee Rock. The intrepid Jim Dye has done so, sending us photos of a grassy lot holding trucks and truck accessories.

The star of the show appears to be a 1960 Chevy Apache 30, a panel van that looks much cooler than present-day SUVs although not as streamlined. Let's remember, though, that the Apache was built when "sport" didn't modify "utility vehicle."

Jim also sent a photo of a sign bearing a phone number. I did a Google search on the number and came up with this page, which shows that the Apache is without an engine and on the market for $2,900.

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Odd Day

[May 7]   I see you all made it through Square Day -- 03/03/09 -- with your sense of math intact. Today, I assume you're in the mood to celebrate an event that will happen only six times in this century.

It's Odd Day -- 05/07/09. The date has three consecutive odd numbers.

If you have to skip today's celebration, you can catch it again on 07/09/11, 09/11/13, and 11/13/15.

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Traveler seeks information

[May 6]   This e-mail came Tuesday from Gary Ward, whose business-card information at the end of his letter says he works in energy procurement for a company called Burns & McDonnell. I can't answer his question about the vehicle, but perhaps one of our readers can pass along some information either to him or to the owner of the vehicle he's looking for. His address is gward@burnsmcd.com.

"3-4 wks ago I passed through Pawnee Rock on Hwy 56 coming from Gardner City. If I remember right, there is a Grain Elevator on the Southwest side of Pawnee Rock, South of Hwy 56.

"The questions is, if this is correct I recall a couple of cars 100 yards west of the grain elevator. The one car in particular was a Chevy, blue in color being in the early 60's era (I think) van?

"If this is the right location, can you confirm with a possible contact? I should have stopped but, of course, I wasn't alone and we had to get back to the city.

"I would appreciate any information that you could provide me. Thanks again for your time and it returns memories or my town of 750 in 1969."

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Ricky Trinka dies

[May 6]   Ricky Trinka, known to many for his years of service as Pawnee Rock's maintenance man, died May 2 because of a vehicle accident near Pawnee Rock. He was 56 years old.

He was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and found his way to Kansas. He married Konny Welch Ritchie, the city clerk, in 2004, and they lived near the west end of Bismark Avenue.

Besides Konny, his survivors include stepsons Brandon Ritchie and his wife, Jill, of Pawnee Rock, and Blake Ritchie and stepdaughters Brooke Ritchie and Bailey Ritchie of the home. His parents-in-law are Lynn and Judi Welch of Pawnee Rock.

His funeral will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Bryant Funeral Home in Great Bend. (Obituary)

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Memorial Day reunion and golf event

[May 5]   Glenn Mull wrote yesterday afternoon with news of the Memorial Day school reunion hosted by the Pawnee Rock Alumni Association.

Memorial Day reunion: The first event of May 25 is the annual 11 a.m. ceremony at the Pawnee Rock Cemetery. Afterward, the reunion will commence with lunch at the depot on Centre Street. A free-will donation will be accepted. (See photos from last year's ceremony and reunion.)

Golf, chat, and eat: Later in the summer, the second annual golf event is scheduled for August 22 at Stoneridge Country Club in Great Bend. Last year's event had about 100 attendees, Glenn wrote, and the committee is hoping for about 300 this year.

The golfing event will have 18 hours of golf starting at 8 a.m. The expected cost is about $45.

The alumni and their guests will reconvene poolside at the Black Angus motel on West 10th in Great Bend at 4 p.m. for conversation and at 6 p.m. for a brisket and fried chicken meal catered by Wheatland Cafe of Hudson. You don't have to play golf to attend the meal, the invitation says. The cost of the meal is $20 per person. (Download the whole letter as a PDF to get instructions on making reservations with Ed Crosby or Roger Hanhardt.)

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Class of 1977 plans reunion

[May 4]   Rick Clawson writes to say that his Pawnee Rock Class of 1977 (had the school been open that long) will have its reunion later this month:

My class of '77 reunion is going on May 23 at the old Black Angus restaurant in Great Bend, now called Perkins. We are inviting anyone from our "era" to drop by visit at 7 p.m.

If people want to they can contact me at enrickue@aol.com or Darla (Dirks) Clarke. Her e-mail address is dclarke@usd431.net.

It will be great to see everyone again after 35 years.

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Will there be a school reunion?

[May 4]   Leon Miller wrote about the Class of 1969, which was featured yesterday:

I met some of those people (1969 graduates) at the Memorial Day reunion last year. Glenn Mull and a couple of others told me about my dad, Cobb Miller giving candy and bubble gum to the kids around town; something he (my dad) never mentioned to me.

PS I plan on going up there Memorial Day weekend. I wonder if they're having the reunion again this year? If so, you might post it on your website with the details.

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Class of 1969 plans reunion

[May 3]   Barb Schmidt, of the Class of '69, issues this invitation to her classmates and to anyone who would like to hang out May 16 with a great bunch of people:

The photo is of our class on graduation night in 1969. The graduates are:

(Back row, left to right: Leland Miller, Terry French, Dennis Ritchie, Mike Dunlap, Jerry Kastler, Rick Tutak, Phil Flick, Robert Schmidt, Larry Smith, Mark Dirks, Glenn Mull, Doug Weathers, Noel Shank, Gary Kroeker, Tony Kraisinger.

(Front row, left to right) David Steinert, Karen (Miller) McBray, Cheryl (Behrens) Naugle, Barbara Schmidt, Jolene (Dirks) Hetzke, Edna (Kasselman) Dutton, Barbie (Manley) Marrs, Clifford Riddle.

Forty years later, we are holding a reunion on Saturday, May 16, 2009, at the Highland Hotel on West 10th Street in Great Bend. We will share a private dinner in the evening (just for '69 classmates and their guests). But you are all invited to stop by and say "hello" in the afternoon.

Specifically, our class will host an OPEN RECEPTION from 2 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 16, at the Highland Hotel -- in the Heritage North Meeting Room, which is in the hotel's conference center. If you knew us way back when or have any other connection to anyone in our class or are simply a pawneerock.org fan who would just like to come on down for a friendly visit, we would sure love to see you at the reception.

Sadly, two of our graduates have passed away (Mike Dunlap and Gary Kroeker). But everyone else in the photo (plus about half a dozen other former classmates) have already reconnected, thanks to an "online reunion" that started about 8 months ago after 3 classmates ran into each other at a PR Lions Club coffee one Saturday at the old Depot. And amazingly, it turns out we all still like each other!

Also, if you were a member of our class at any point from kindergarten starting in September 1956 through graduation in May 1969 and have not yet reconnected with us, please send an email to barbaralschmidt@comcast.net to get into the loop. Over 60 students passed through our class at one time or another, and our "impossible dream" is to find them all.

We're expecting a big turnout at our reunion -- so please stop by on May 16, say "hi" and test your skills at matching the 1969 faces in our graduation photo with their 2009 versions!

Oh, and thank you, PR Lions Club, for holding those Community Coffees. What a great way to help old pals reconnect!

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Farms on the lost horizon

A former farmstead north of Dundee.

[May 2]   As we drive through central Kansas, we've all passed where farms used to be. There is nothing in the half-section wheat field but a cluster of cottonwoods, maybe a granary and a few bricks from the foundation of a home.

I'm enough of a romantic to try to imagine the farm. I like two-story farmhouses with big porches and a matriarch who runs the show. There are eight or ten kids and a few cattle in the pen between the barn and the chickenhouse. There's a new tractor with big steel wheels and a farmer who shows it off with as much pride as his plain religion allows. I see the young kids climbing the elms and honey locusts in the yard and the teenage sons and daughters walking on the ridge line, the breeze in their hair.

But the war came, then the Depression here on the edge of the Dust Bowl, and the bright lights of Wichita and the next war called, and the family farm became the place where only Mom and Dad lived until Dad had a heart attack and Mom hung on for another twenty years. And finally the place fell apart and one of the sons knocked down the buildings so his cattle and wheat would have a few more square yards. Sometimes the trees were knocked down.

Not all the roots were torn out, though, and saplings grew in the low spot where the foundation stood and water collected. Now, as I drive by, the elms and locusts are again tall, a monument to the families of the plains, the families cast to the wind.

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Wood shop rewards

[May 1]   Ray Randolph remembers wood shop:

Great photo and description. Back in wood shop ("Industrial Arts") in 58-59, I made a four-foot-tall bookcase out of hard maple. Today, it sits in my office/den and its four shelves hold a good part of my library. Still solid as the day it left the shop, it has stood the test of time that has included several moves.

Thanks for the memory boost.

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Sell it

Advertise here to an audience that's already interested in Pawnee Rock:

Or tell someone happy birthday.