News March 22

Birthdays: March 22, Greg Hinman, Trisha North, Sr. Martin Stegman, Jenni Rogers, Kay Hardwick; March 23, Crystal Foust, Reva Lloyd, Father Rene Labrador; March 24, William Greenway; March 25, Ron Crawshaw; March 26, Teresa Lovitt, Michelle Swanson; March 27, Tammy Irvin, Suzanne Washington, Lillian McGaughey; March 28, Signe Barnes, Leslie Rogers, Carolyn Sekavec, Bob Fear, Ethan Jones, Kizmin Wilson.

No anniversaries.

Both Bruce Kershner and Greg Hinman turned 60.

Melody Hilligoss and Chezney Kelley, Sand Springs, Oklahoma, were here on Spring Break to visit with Jeanette McCormick. Melody is her daughter and Chezney is her grand-daughter.

Last week I mentioned William Mathewson . Bill was from the state of New York and he decided to go hunting in the Rocky Mountains. He met Kit Carson there and they hunted together. They came back over the Santa Fe Trail and observed there were no stores west of Council Grove in Kansas. Bill said “I will build a store at the great bend of the Arkansas, where I can trade with the Indians. They can bring me buffalo robes for money.” Some people thought Great Bend is too far away, they thought the Indians might shoot him. But Bill was not afraid. He became their friend and learned to speak their language. He built his store there in 1853 on the spot where the city of Great Bend now stands. Each year he took buffalo robes to Kansas City to sell. On the way he found that the people of eastern Kansas did not have enough to eat because there had been no rain, the crops failed, the streams dried up and the grass died. He knew there were millions of buffalo in western Kansas that lived on buffalo grass. In September many wagons came on the Santa Fe Trail filled with farmers but they couldn't get near enough to the buffalo to hunt. Bill offered to do it for them. He had the fastest horse in Kansas named Bess so he was able to hunt enough buffalo to fill their wagons. From Early Days in Kansas by Bliss Isely.

Bruce Hall, the archeologist I mentioned a few weeks ago, has been contact to come to California to work on a movie about the finding of more jars that could have contained Dead Sea Scrolls. There are still other caves that need to be explored.

It was 93* in the city of McCracken, Sunday, March 19.

I read in the Hutch News that Netflix has acquired the global rights to Orson Welles’ “The Other Side of the Wind”. It is a Hollywood satire about a filmmaker attempting a comeback. Its stars include John Huston, Dennis Hopper and Peter Bogdanovich who helped with editing; Producer Frank Marshall will oversee the film’s completition. Frank Marshall and Peter Bogdanovich were both involved in the production of “Paper Moon”.

Jerry, Chuck, Tanner and Jenna Higgins attended the NCAA tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma Friday and Sunday. Saturday Abby Demel, who attends school at Baylor, joined them. She is from Hoisington, a volleyball friend of Jenna’s. Also attending were Dominic and Kayla Weskamp.

Mitchell Jacobs and Kaden Foust flew to Chester, Montana where they were guests of Drew and Nicole VonLehe at Big Sage Ranch. Nicole posted wonderful, beautiful pictures. I’m sure they had a grand time.

John and Melanie’s grandchildren and parents, Sarah and Keil Emerson, Lance and Rachel Legleiter were guests Sunday and left Tuesday of last week.

We received word from Kristin Rose Njoroge that her father, Rev. Alvin Rose passed away last week. He was a former McCracken UMC Minister. While he served here, he and daughter, Kristin enjoyed ringing in the English Handbell Choir. Services for him are Friday, March 24, Brookside UMC, Wichita, Ks.

Abby Demel, Hoisington, attends equestrian school in Baylor. She met Jerry, Chuck, Jenna and Tanner Sunday in Tulsa at the arena and watched the games with them. Abby and Jenna played volleyball against each other two years ago and were friends.

Babe is home! He & I , and our family want everyone that called, sent cards, sent texts, and came to the Hays Med. Center, Wesley Woodlawn, and Wesley Rehab, Wichita to see Babe was greatly appreciated by us. Most of all we are grateful for the many prayers that were said on his behalf. Babe is enrolled in physical and speech therapy for the next 6 weeks at the Hays Rehab Center on Canterbury Rd. His skills continue to improve every day. God had truly blessed him and our family.

John and Melanie Zeller attended HEART at the Stiefel Theatre in Salina on Friday. They ate at the wonderful MARTINELLI Restaurant.

Ty and Quintin Elias celebrated their March birthdays visiting Carolyn and Dave Davenport. On Saturday they spent the day visiting the Exploration place in Wichita. Quintin was very interested in where the fires had been since he followed on the news so before we went to eat a fire tour was given. We ended up at Quintin's favorite restaurant, Pizza Ranch. Ty got to pick his favorite restaurant at lunch.in Wichita.

Melanie Zeller visited with her mother, Ruth Axman in Great Bend on Sunday. Melanie, Ruth, Verlin and her sister Kathy Rossman enjoyed Beauty & the Beast at the Show House.

Remembrance from Zeke: The Petz family has always been my secondary family. When Francis and Julia went on the road on a square dance trip, Don and Ma Petz would let me stay with them and help or hinder with chores milking over a hundred cows. They treated me like one of their own, even family haircuts. Kirby was the one who was like the brother I never had. Bill was 8 years older than I. We both went to Goodland to carpentry school andmy first year we were roommates. Later on in life I moved to Austin and stayed with Kirby, Joy and Eric till I could find a place off my own. Kirby was Best Man at my wedding, and we worked together at Flame Engineering, till he recently retired. He was my best friend and I will miss him forever.

History Notes Hampton 1887

Howard Barnard, who has been in Rush County some two years, will shortly go to New York on a visit to his old home. A heavy snow fell in part of God’s vineyard Saturday. There was a temperance meeting at the Hampton school house Wednesday night. Speeches were reported to be good; music was by the Hampton band. Jared Metz and his two sons, Peter and Isaac, own a farm and half section of the Hampton road, about three miles from McCracken. They are Pennsylvanians and have been here nine years. In a large square house south of the road resides one of the more prosperous farmers of Rush County, Jacob Forbes. When he reached this country ten years ago from an Indiana home, his was the only house between here and Hays City...now he is surrounded on all sides by tillers of the soil and the “iron horse” can be seen speeding over the prairie and is within three miles of McCracken.

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News - Pat Petz

For some people Spring Break is a time for cleaning, visiting family and friends, or traveling. I was fortunate enough to do a little bit of everything mentioned. Drake Timson, my grandson from McPherson, stayed with me until Friday. We spent Monday and Tuesday picking up branches in the yard and cleaning out the hot tub. I'm sure we would have done many more things, but because of the cold weather, we spent most of the time inside the house reading books, playing games, and watching movies.

My daughter, Angie Timson, and I had an enjoyable weekend on a mother-daughter excursion. Unfortunately, my mom was not feeling well, so she was not able to go along with us. My daughter absolutely loves dogs, so our first stop was touring the Greyhound Hall of Fame in Abilene, KS. We were greeted by the resident greyhounds, Ginger and Gary, who are retired greyhound racers.

One of the most memorable stops was at the Seelye Mansion in Abilene. A New York architect was commissioned to design this Georgian style residence for Dr. and Mrs. A.B. Seelye, who build it in 1905 at a cost of $55,000. Today, the Mansion and its contents are worth several million dollars. The mansion contains original furniture, Edison light fixtures, and many other items purchased or ordered at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. This home has 25 rooms, including 11 bedrooms, the ballroom, the bowling alley, and the kitchen areas. The Patent Medicine Museum contains many artifacts of the medical company founded in 1890. More than 100 products, from cure-alls to processed vanilla, were sold over a 14-state area.

For lunch, Angie and I had to visit the Brookville Hotel once again. The menu consisted of their famous family style chicken dinner, mashed potatoes and gravy, cream-style corn, biscuits, relishes, and ice cream. This is a restaurant that you must visit if you love fried chicken!

Our final stop for the evening was at the Prairie Band Casino in Mayetta. Although luck was not on our side, Angie and I had a fun time together and enjoyed the wonderful buffet dinner, the room, and just being together.

Upon leaving the Casino on Sunday morning, Angie and I had a fun time shopping in the Topeka Mall. It was fun seeing all of the shops especially when there were two floors of shops! When we reached Salina, Trent, Angie's husband, and the boys, Drake and Grant, met us at Red Lobster. We all love the crab legs, lobster, and fish that they serve. What a way to end our Spring Break!