March 21, 2018 News

Birthdays: March 21, Robert Higgins, Hannah Enslow; March 22, Greg Hinman, Trisha North, Jenni Rogers, Ray Hardwick, Martina

Stegman; March 23, Rene Labrador, Crystal Foust, Reva Lloyd; March 24, William Greenway; March 25, Ron Crawshaw; March 26, Teresa Lovitt, Michelle Swanson.

No Anniversaries.

Randy and Janell Ryan, Scott City have renewed their membership in McCracken Jail/Museum and have given a donation in memory of Thomas and Charlotte (Rice) Ryan. Thomas and Charlotte Ryan were the parents of the Ryan clan who came from Pine Knot, Whitely County, Kentucky to Rush County. Both died so after arriving near McCracken. For a while they were buried by the homestead of William and Sarah (Stephens) Ryan on the county line. When McCracken was established and designated a City Cemetery, their bodies were disinterred and taken to the new cemetery. They are buried just south east of the center flag pole. Another son Francis Marion Ryan and his wife Susan Stephens Ryan settled first on the quarter where McCracken is located. In 1906 he moved to Scott County, Kansas. There are many descendants in Scott County. Both Susan and Sarah were the daughters of Solomon and Rachel Stephens. Many of the Stephens migrated from Whitley County to Rush County also.

There was an interesting item on Facebook about the Quaker church that was originally in Hargrave. It was moved to a farm north of Hargrave. It is in disrepair and is scheduled to be torn down. In the 1880 census of Rush County which they have at Barnard Library you can check out the families who lived in the Hargrave area. Also there is a Quaker cemetery called Sand Creek.

Congratulations to the University of Kansas and Kansas State University for getting into the 16.

Mike and Shannon Keith were here for the weekend. The winds last week blew the windows out on the south side of the ranch house so Mike had to board them up. Shannon will leave on Tuesday for Atlanta with the Wildcat band for the tournament. Susan went with the Ellsworth band to Branson and Silver Dollar City. They are due home on Tuesday.

Clay North was one of six FFA members from Ellis High School to attend the State Leadership Conference in Junction City.

Sunday it was voted to start ‘Sons of American Legion Chapter for the West-Burch Post #59’ in McCracken. Since the deaths of Bill Zeller and Dennis Elias there was a void that needed to be filled, thankfully the young men in our community stepped up to the task.

Kayla Weskamp, Springfield, motored to McCracken Tuesday where she spent a couple of days. She left Thursday at 5:30 a.m. to catch the KU – Penn State game and made it.

We thank Jaden Jacobs for his expertise in ‘maneuvering’ the back hoe to remove the stumps in front of the house on 501 West Beech. We also thank Mitchell Jacobs for the use of the ‘hoe’. A job well done!

The ‘lake’ on the east side of my house had water Monday morning. This was the first time since the first of October in 2017. Thanks be to God for the rain.

Tammy Horesky spent the week end in Eudora visiting Cameron, Courtney and Elliott, returning home Monday. John Horesky and his crew are back in Kansas after spending a week in the north east US helping with the power outages.

I read on face book about the vandalism in the Alexander High School and there was damage in the Liebenthal Church. I cannot understand our society. It makes me sad.

McCracken Sports History:

2/1905 A practice game of football will be played at Walnut Grove Saturday. Nothing is ever out of season in Kansas unless it is the weather; 10/1905: The LaCrosse and McCracken football teams met yesterday in contest on the grounds in the east part of the town. The line consisted of some of the best material to be found in the two towns and the game was well contested from both sides. LaCrosse: Little, Draney, Freme, Bob & Vic Menely, Walker, Brice, Redman, Harper, Hall, Moser, and Reser. McCracken: Scott Yawger, Frank & Burt Irvin, Staten & John Lovitt, Wm. Tanck, Ralph Starrett, Clay Farwell, Ora Ware, Ed Hunt. The result of the game was in favor of McCracken five to nothing. 11/1905 The McCracken football eleven played the Great Bend eleven in a game at Hoisington Sunday afternoon and from the score it is hard to see where Great Bend was in the game. Our boys had the thing their way from the start and when the finishing touches were put on the score showed 32-0 in favor of McCracken. McCracken took the gate receipts which amounted to between forty and fifty dollars. From the Hoisington Dispatch: On the football game played against Great Bend last Sunday, McCracken made six touchdowns and kicked two goals. Great Bend played a fairly good game in the first half but in the second did not offer much resistance to the sturdy farmers from McCracken than a row to ten pins, and they tore through the Great Bend line at will. The funny part of it all was the Great Bend team was afraid that the McCracken team was not strong enough to interest them and wrote the McCracken manager to bring the best team. 5/1905: The Fairview nine played the McCracken nine here Tuesday. The game was well contested by both sides considering the fact that the clubs were composed of young fellas, many of whom were under eighteen. Some of the lineup for McCracken were W.& O. Coffman, C.& P. Stephens, S.Yawger, M.Juvenal, E.Prior, B.VanWinkle, R.McKnight; For Fairview: George & Henry Ree, Oscar Elias, Billy Metz, Clare Brewer, Cal & Ral West, C.Albright. The game stood 8 to 11 for McCracken

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Patricia Petz:

This last week was such a very busy week!  I started the week by subbing at the Middle School/High School on Monday and then the Elementary School on Tuesday. 

Wednesday I had time to prepare for a weekend visitor whom I met on Wednesday evening in Great Bend.  Mom and I traveled to the Great Wall and met up with Angie, my daughter, and her two boys and had a nice evening meal.  McPherson started their Spring Break on Thursday of this week, so Drake, age 7, wanted to spend some time with me out at the farm.  We spent cleaning up some dead branches and leaves in the tree row Thursday morning and then played the rest of the afternoon with my new puppy named, "Boomer."  Thursday evening we ate with Grandma Mary at Tracy's and then we all went to the High School play entitled "Guess Who's ComingTo Supper?"  We thought that the High School students did a very good job on the play and we had a very enjoyable evening. 

Drake and I spent Friday in Hays.  Of course, our first stop for lunch was at McDonald's. Then we headed for the Sternberg Museum.  The rattler exhibit is still on display (which is one of Drake's favorites), and the Museum is gearing up for a new exhibit.  The Discovery Room is always a hit with many of the kids and it was very busy that afternoon.  Our plans were to play putt-putt that afternoon, however, the wind, dirt, and cold weather changed our minds.  We met two of my other grandchildren from Hays, Kallynn and Kameron Petz, after they got out of school, and we played a couple of sets of bowling. I loved being with the kids. Although I won the first set, I lost the second set. Oh my!  I guess my lucky streak only lasted for awhile!  The Petz kids had other plans for Friday evening, so Drake and I were the only ones that got to enjoy the Lenton supper at the VFW.  He really liked the shrimp, fish and noodles, and even "grebble" seemed to be a big hit, even though he couldn't remember the name of it! 

After picking up Grandma Mary in La Crosse, we spent most of the day on Saturday in Rush Center.  We attended the 29th anniversary of the St. Patrick's Day Celebration.  The sloppy joes in the Township Hall were delicious and the Irish music was a big hit.  After lunch, we bought several tickets for the cake walk and had a fun time.  I won a green top hat filled with bags of the most "delicious" cookies that I have ever eaten and Drake won a pan of chocolate cupcakes.  We toured around the car and antique tractor show and then had fun watching the parade.  Drake was excited to pick up a nice assortment of candy that was thrown from the parade.  Later we took Grandma Mary home and then we headed to McPherson.  That evening we rented a couple of movies.  One was "Rock Dog" and the other was "Wonder."  If you haven't seen this movie it is well worth the time to watch it.  

I attended mass Sunday morning at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in McPherson.  When I returned to the Timson home everyone was getting ready for a delicious lunch that Angie had prepared.  After lunch, Trent, Angie, Tyler, Drake, Grant, and I headed to the Hartman Arena in Valley Center.  We were entertained for several hours as we watched the circus that was performing.  They had elephants, tigers, ponies, and dogs that performed in many of the acts.  There were amazing motorcycle riders inside a contained cage, tight rope walkers, flying acrobats, jugglers, clowns, and even a human shot out of a cannon at the end of the show.  The boys got to ride the ponies and even had their faces painted, which they thought was very cool!  That evening we went to an awesome Japanese restaurant called "Sumo by Nambara." The food was deliciously prepared right in front of us and the entertainment by our chef was extraordinary! We had a very good time and we were stuffed when we left the restaurant!  It was very late when we arrived back in McPherson and Grandma Pat was extremely tired.  Tomorrow will be another day and I will be heading back to Mc Cracken with my other grandson, Grant, so that he can spend a few days with me this week! I just wonder what we will be doing this week to keep that four-year-old entertained, especially since there will be no playing outside in the mud!