Too Long in the Wind

April 2012

Followup on the play

[April 30]   Jared Smith of Arizona knows about the play Susan Vondracek wrote about last week:

Hi Leon, As for the Wizard of Oz production, if I remember right the 5th grade boys were cast as the Flying Monkeys and we all thought that was pretty cool. . . Jared

Thank you all for your patience. I've been away at a conference and didn't answer mail very well or update the site.

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The basketball boys

[April 24]   Our friend Susan Vondracek has made sense of another school photo from the 1970s. This shot appeared on the homepage.

She also remembers the grade school's production of The Wizard of Oz. Does anyone have a photo?

Here's what she wrote:

I can ID most of the players in the picture of the BB team. This would be the 76-77 school year. My youngest brother was in that eighth-grade class. I may embarrass myself but I don't see him in the photo.

(Names L to R)

Front row: Jon Blake, Kevin Schmidt, Curtis Schmidt, Darin Haberman, ?, Johnny Hill

Second row: Larry Smith, Kris Myers, Howard Johnson, Rick Lohr, Victor Jacobs, Wade Wilson, Lonnie Houck

Third row: Coach Mike Simmons, Terry Stiles, ?, Frank Symack, Kenny Marbut, Tommy Unruh, Coach Gary Smith

I have been wondering if you remember when the entire grade school put on the production of the Wizard of Oz? I was a sixth grader. All of the teachers helped Mrs. Sutton Schmidt make costumes and prep everyone. Mrs. Sutton-Schmidt played the wicked witch and the night of the show had her long gray hair flowing down her back. She was awesome. Paula (Stiles) Polly played Dorothy. I would love to have some pictures of it if anyone has any. I do believe it was the last year the high school was in PR.

Sincerely,
Susan

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Elevator along U.S. 50

Paul Schmidt's photo of the elevator in Pawnee Rock.

[April 23]   Barb Schmidt, daughter of the late Paul Schmidt, has a trove of historical photos that Paul made and processed in his home darkroom. She sent this note:

Attached is an old photo my dad took of PR in about 1951 that made me scratch my head for a long time. The reason is that it sure LOOKS like the old grain elevator on U.S. 56 passing through PR, but the highway sign says US 50. Finally I did a little Internet research and learned that parts of U.S. 56 in Kansas used to be U.S. 50, until the late 1950s when some highways were renumbered/realigned as adjustments were made in the Interstate Highway System. So this one really is a "glimpse back in time." Plus, I love the Coca-Cola billboard to the left, even though it barely made it into the photo.

And, yes, the top of the photo is cropped crooked -- couldn't figure out how to fix it in the scanning without losing the top of the elevator. Oh, well, I never promised perfection. . . .

Hope all is well with you in Alaska -- spring has finally arrived in Seattle, warm weather, trees blossoming, lots of sneezing.

Barb

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On second thought . . .

[April 13]   A follow-up note from Larry Boston (and it should be noted that the "air base" headline goof is mine, not his):

Chalk it up to a foggy memory, 67 years from the event: I should have remembered it was Claude Welch (not Scott) who was superintendent (not principal) of Pawnee Rock schools in 1944-45. Mrs. Esther Zieber was our 6th grade teacher that year, and if I remember correctly (?), she served as grade school principal, as well. Her assistant was Miss Sutton. The correct terminology, of course, is Great Bend Army Air Base, not air field.

While several of my remembered details may have slipped, the pleasant memory of those school days firmly remains.

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Remembering Dr. Cade of Larned

[April 12]   This note arrived from the very nice Gwen Cade:

I wanted to reminisce about my childhood summers spent in Larned with my Grandparents and was pleasantly surprised to find your site. Thank you for mentioning my Grandfather Dr. Cade. He was an incredible influence in my life. He didn't get to eat many meals with us because he was truly "on call."

I live in Estes Park, Co. now. Occasionally my sister and I go to Larned for a swim at the pool in the middle of summer!

Thank you for the memories.

Sincerely,
Gwen Cade

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'A menace and a protection to travelers'

Pawnee Rock in about 1919. This photo appears in the Larned Tiller and Toiler 1919 Wheat Edition and was scanned and sent to us by Larry Mix of St. John.

[April 11]   A note and photo arrived from our friend Larry Mix, who runs the Santa Fe Trail site in St. John. Here's what he had to say about his discovery:

We were going through a bunch of old stuff that we've bought over the years and found this photo in the "Supplement to the Tiller and Toiler 1919 Wheat Edition" book. The Publisher was Leslie E. Wallace. The book is dated Thursday, August 28, 1919. Sorry for the poor scan but it is an old book on poor paper.

The story to go with the photo is:

Pawnee Rock, a Menace and a Protection to Travelers in the Early Days

Pawnee Rock, one of the points of historical interest in Kansas, today lies in the smiling sunshine and there is little to remind the traveler of the menace that surrounded it in the early days when emigrant wagon trains crept past it in apprehension on their way to the Far West along the Santa Fe trail. Two bronze cannon, pointing to the east and the west, are grim reminders of those early days. A shaft of Vermont granite, six feet square at the base and twenty-eight feet high, surmounts the Rock.

The Women's Kansas Day club, the W. R. C., the D. A. R., the Federation of Clubs, and the W. C. T. U. deserve credit for the monument.

In 1908 the Women's Kansas Day club determined to acquire Pawnee Rock for the state. The Rock and five acres of land was presented to the club by Benjamin Unruh, the owner, on condition that funds be raised to purchase a road and improve the park. $3,000 was raised. Towards the end, when it seemed that the fund might fail, business men of Larned contributed several hundred dollars to make up the deficiency, and thus made possible the perpetuation as a shrine of historical Pawnee Rock.

The money raised was used to improve the park and erect the granite shaft, which surmounts the rock. This shaft was unveiled May 24, 1912, with appropriate ceremonies.

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Hello from the air base

[April 6]   These great memories arrived from Larry Boston of San Francisco:

I was one of a lucky busload of children from Great Bend Army Air Field who attended school in Pawnee Rock, 1944-45. It is one of the happiest memories I have. Mrs. Zieber was our 6th grade teacher, and Mr. Scott was the principal.

The Pawnee Rock children, the townspeople, and the school staff were all wonderfully kind and welcoming to us outsiders, who had come from every part of the country during wartime.

Pawnee Rock women staffed the school lunchroom downtown, and turned out hearty meals that I still remember. I have lost contact with all who would have been members of the Class of 1951, but I think of them often.

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Walt McCowan has died

[April 5]   Walt McCowan, who owned Santa Fe Mercantile Antiques in Pawnee Rock, died Tuesday at the hospital in Great Bend. He was 71 years old and had lived in town for almost 30 years.

Mr. McCowan, a personable man, had served on the city council. A few years ago, in December 2008, his well-stocked store was severely damaged by a fire. A small version of the store was reopened, and construction on a new building had started.

Mr. McCowan is survived by his wife, Linda, as well as by daughters Dorian Frances of Pawnee Rock and Sara Boyer of Colorado.

Walt's memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, on 5851 Eisenhower in Great Bend. The family suggests memorials to the Healing Hearts Ranch in care of the funeral home. (Full obituary)

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Hail the Jayhawks!

[April 3]   My dedicated son Nik sat with me Saturday and Monday nights, watching the Beloved Jayhawks beat Ohio State and then lose for the second time this season to Kentucky. I'm afraid he learned more than he should have about what I think of passing the ball into a herd of long-armed Kentucky players.

But still we have our Jayhawks, our happy-to-be-here Hawks. When the season ended, they were the second-to-last team standing.

A lot is made over KU's rivalries with K-State and Missouri. I suppose it's possible that those are real rivalries, but I suspect that the hatred is puffed up by newspapers and ESPN. It seems as if KU is more at home on a much bigger stage, the one where the national powerhouses run. Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio State, Syracuse -- those are the teams Kansas meets when the title is on the line and blood is in the air.

Of course, my argument would be a lot more convincing if Kansas didn't lose predictably to puddle-town teams -- Davidson, Northern Iowa, Bucknell, Virginia Commonwealth, and other nightmarish squads.

Now we'll wait to see who buys the best players for next season.

After Monday night's game ended, Nik and I put on coats and boots and went out before dark to throw the football in our packed-snow driveway. Basketball will come again, but we have a lot to do in the meantime.

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Larry Marshall has died

[April 2]   Larry Marshall of Pawnee Rock died March 28 at a hospice in Wichita. He was 73 years old and had lived most of his life in Barton and Pawnee counties.

Mr. Marshall was a tobacco salesman, delivered the Hutch News to western Kansas, managed Marshall's Pit-Stop Barbeque, helped at a car sales company and helped his son on wrecker calls.

He is survived by a son and daughter, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. He also had a dog, Snickers.

Mr. Marshall's funeral will be at 10:30 this morning at Bryant Funeral Home in Great Bend, and he will be buried in the Pawnee Rock Cemetery. (Full obituary)

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