Rcnews July 19

Jeff and Anita Butler had a house full rodeo weekend. After hosting the visiting royalty Friday night they did a quick turnover and were excited to have mom ( Marlene Funk), spend the night as well as daughter Ursula, her boyfriend, Nate Pohlman and their new puppy Mack. They all enjoyed cruising around town Saturday afternoon with Arlene Gilbert and snapping pics at all the fun photo opps around town. Later that day they received a call from a Darkes cousin coming thru for a funeral. Kay/Kathleen Sass has many fond memories of McCracken while visiting the Zellers. She and her husband were so pleased to have the opportunity to stay out at the Darkes-Wilson Homestead and sleep in the rebuilt bedroom of what would have been her Grandma Mayme Darkes' room. Sunday John Zeller came out for a good visit as well. Needless to say Jeff and Anita were pretty pooped Monday!

Marci Penner and WenDee Rowe’s 2nd book, “The Kansas Guidbook 2” for explorers is available at the Barbed Museum in LaCrosse.

Another Alumni/Rodeo golf tournament is in the books, from what I understand it was a good one. Thanks to all that attended. Championship Flight: First – Trent Wittham, Dylan Gross, Sean Peters; First Flight: First – Scott Foos, Jeff Werth, Taylor Yohe; Second Flight – Dennis Shell, Lance McCormick, Mike Stull; Third Flight – Kevin Anderson, Jason Pavlu, Amanda Showalter. Other players were: Tanner Higgins, Joe Dower, Dave Dwers, Zach Higgins, Clint Swan, Brent Tuzicka, Scott McKechnie, Ken Foster, Jeff Jennings, Frank Foster, John Horesky, Kody Burns, Kyle Sramek, Garrett McCormick, Chris Venegas, Chance Kuehler, David Kaster, Mike Stull, Tanner Elias, Tayler Stull, Ty Elias, Cole Kershner, Jusey Woods, Cody Lee, Jack Garcia, Dylan Gross, Zach Caresio, Dustin Bain, Cory Webber, Trent Witthuhn, Jed, Josh and Vicky Bain, Ryan Webs, Dustin Matal, Nate Tuzicka, James Webs, Chad, Crystal, Anton and Kaden Foust, Matt Peach, Tyson Pivonka, Jason Showalter, Dale Snyder, Lane Pfannenstiel, J.D. Bell, Larry Kraft, Matt Kraft, Smoky Fairbanks, Zach Schweitzer, Bryan Bozarth, Dustin Myers, Chad Oberhelman, Ryan Martin, Curtis Albers, Adrian Ramirez, Devin King, Landen Fellhoelter, Darby Schwartzkopf, Michael Felder, Butch and Tony Harp, Bryan and Treva Bergquist, Devon Ghumm, Lincoln Brungardt, Rolin Foos, Shane Miller, Jake Reifschneider, Brian Legleiter, Rebekah Gonzalez, Derek Derr, Ryan Burton, Bryan and Tanner Yohe, Bryant? Ross?, Erik Ellis, Weston Vogel, Bryan Scheib, Scott Irvin, Dustin Kibel, Erik Willer, Tyler Trauer, Kellye Irvin, Amanda Showalter, Jerrica and Melissa Berg, Matt Cantrell, John Showalter, Kyson, Sam, Clayton Kershner, Frank Seidel, Ryan Wegner, Ryan Feltwanger, John Booze, Drew and Preston Pfannenstiel, Travis Rein, Brett Corsair, Dennis Brungardt, Paul Werth, Brandt Rogers, Weston Vanderp?, Corey Liebl, Kade Hogans.

Winners Friday for the baseball trivia basket were Taylor Doornbos and McKaylee Day! Congratulations girls, they spent quite some time looking around the museum for the answers! Austin McGaughey was the winner of the Saturday drawing. The gift baskets were donated by Jon Birky who manages the Klema Store in Russell. Jon’s wife is the granddaughter of Dell Klema.

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-Pat Petz: July 17, 2017

Several stops were made on Thursday when my mother-in-law, Dolores Petz, and I traveled to Hays. We decided that fried chicken sounded very good for supper so we picked some up at Dillon's and had a delicious meal when we returned home. Later that evening we had a fun time looking at some genealogy records.
 
I picked up my mom, Mary Steitz, Friday afternoon and we traveled to Greensburg.  After we checked in to their very nice Best Western Motel, we looked up my cousins, Rick Schaffer, and Doug and Kerri Ulrich.   Both of these families were living in very nice newly constructed homes, since theirs were destroyed by the terrible tornado back in 2007.  We had a nice evening meal at "The Mule" and spent our time visiting and looking at the beautiful sculpture that was created by Kerri in remembrance of the devastating day and in honor of rebuilding for the future.  The buffed stainless steel structure is located on Main street and is beautifully lit up at night. 

Saturday morning, mom and I were ready to set up for the "Greensburg Christmas in July Craft Show" at the newly rebuilt Recreation Center. After the show, we had time to take care of an item that was on our bucket lists.  Did you know that one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas was in Greensburg?  The Big Well is a large historic water well in Greensburg that was built in 1887 at a cost of $45,000.  It provided water for the Santa Fe and Rock Island railroads, and it served as the municipal water supply until 1932.  It is the largest hand dug well in the U.S. and measures 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter.  On May 4, 2007 a tornado hit Greensburg destroying the Center.  The Big Well reopened on May 26, 2012 costing 3 million dollars in reconstruction.  It is a beautiful site to see.  

On Sunday, Mom and I attended mass at St. Michael's and then decided to make a trip to Hays and eat at the Golden Corral.  Later we did some shopping before we returned home.  It seemed like a nice day for visiting so we headed to Locust Grove.  We spent the next couple of hours visiting Viola Enslinger, Leonard Hepp, Bill Baus, and Elenora Moeder. Our next stop was at the home of my cousins, Maurice and Debbie Haas.  We had a delightful evening of visiting and looking at a large assortment of pictures that Debbie was trying to sort through.  Mom and I had a very enjoyable weekend!