RCNews August 13

McCracken Alumni class of 1974 received a thank you from the family of Lon Wells.  I have it at my house, please tell me who to send it to.  Shirley
 
A memorial has been given to the McCracken alumni in memory of Emmett Sloan from Marjorie Sloan.
 
Megan Townsend is leaving for Costa Rica on Monday to participate in a field study with the Office of Tropical Studies Duke University.  She will be living in various biological stations around the country doing research until December.  Megan is a junior at Wellesley College in Boston.  Jacob Townsend is a senior this year.  He has been doing conditioning for football all summer and two a day practices started Monday; just in time for the 90 degree weather in Saline, Michigan.  His school will start after Labor Day but they have a couple of football games before school starts.  Megan & Jacob are the children of Kim and Dan Townsend. Bet and Jeanette McCormick were there for a visit last week.  They came on Thursday and left early Sunday morning. 
 
Jerry Higgins has started a new job as principal in Mt. Hope.  He has grades K-8.  Mt. Hope is in the same district as Haven and around 7-8 miles east of Haven.
 
Hal and Sandy Towns, LaCrosse, brought a picnic lunch to the home of Arline Rues this past Thursday.  Arline met Sandy several years ago as they are 3rd cousins once removed.  They enjoyed going through their genealogy. 
 
Cameron Horesky left for school in Garden City last Thursday.  They open their football season at home against Cisco, Texas, August 29.
 
Saturday Francis & Roberta Wierman went to Salina to the Tri Rivers Fair Draft Horse Show and to watch Jennifer Wierman perform in the Horse Drill Team.  Also there was Ray and Laura Wierman, Marilyn and George Sommers of Silver Lake, Rita Brethour, Park City, Kansas.  Rita retired from the postal service after 32 years and moved back to Park City.  When they went to Braum’s to eat after the show, they saw Rena Ryan formerly of Brownell and had a nice visit with her.
 
We welcome Charmaine Wolfe as substitute postmaster while Judy Moran recuperates from her surgery.
 
Lorraine Ryan appreciates her relatives and friends who surprised her on her birthday Friday evening at the Methodist Church.  Lorraine’s birthday isn’t until September 11, but since her daughter, Cathie Shapiro, Jessica and Lauren were here they decided to have it early.  She really was surprised.
 
It was nice to see Jim Schafer in church Sunday morning.  We are glad he is able to be ‘out and about’.
 
Bruce Davis has a crew re-roofing his building.  They are welding the tin or whatever to the roof.  The next time the wind blows it will probably lift up the whole building.
 
Tanner Higgins has enrolled as a freshman at Hutchinson High School.  Gail Dennis, sister-in-law of Carolyn Thompson ‘helped’ him enroll. 
 
This is a nice and easy dessert that is very good.  1 carton of lite yogurt, part of a carton of cool whip; mix all together and freeze. I used peach yogurt and sliced in a fresh peach.
You may pour the mixture in a graham cracker crust.
 
The golf club had a great glow ball Tournament and pot luck dinner Sunday evening at the McCracken golf course.  Winners in the 1st fight - 1st. Tony Harp & Sean Peters; 2nd Chris Irvin and Bryan Baalman; 2nd Flight - 1st Glen and Shannon Herrman; 2nd Mike & Sharolyn Legleiter.  Nine holes were played at 6 P.M. with the pot luck dinner afterwards. The food was out of this world. The Glow ball 9 holes began at 9:35 P.M.  A total of 19 players played in the tournament.   There were three places on the golf course to buy water, beer and pop.  These were manned by Cory Molloy, Norman McNair & Rogers McNair. Jeanette Albers got things ready at the club and also did the clean up.  It really takes a group to make this all happen and we give a big THANK YOU to everyone. We hosted another successful tournament!! 
 
Tammy Irvin and Kyra motored to Norton Sunday evening and spent a few days with Kayla, Lindsey & Nicole Tacha. 
 
Cathie Shapiro arrived the weekend of July 25th & 26th and attended funeral services for her aunt Joan Ryan Buster. Her daughters, Jessica & Laurene Shapiro arrived last Tuesday to be with family.  Jerry Waldschmidt and Marilyn Dalton joined them Friday for Lorraine’s birthday party, they all went home Sunday. 
 
Lora Faiman, Clay and Rae were guests last week of Jeff & Kathy Hurd, Eric, Audra and Austin in San Diego. They were joined at sometime during the week by Brad Lovitt and his friend Laura.
 
Renewing members of the Jail/Museum are Al and Judy Hugh, Edith Moses Blair, David and Carolyn Davenport and Katherine Ryan.
 
Memorials to the Jail/Museum in memory of  J. G. and Ruth Yawger, J. B. Yawger and Joyce Yawger from Al and Judy Hugh; in memory of  Erman Oelkers and Fern Oelkers Zimmerman from Lee and Debbie Oelkers.
 
A coffee grinder owned by William Ryan, Sr. was donated to the Jail/Museum from the Lorraine Ryan family.  It is a #1080 one pound coffee mill - Challenge Fast Grinder with steel alloy buhrs manufactured by the Sun Manufacturing Co, of Columbus, Ohio.  William Ryan, Sr. lived first west of McCracken on the county line and then in what is now the bottom of Cedar Bluff Dam.  He died in 1908.
 
Other items received recently by the museum were a prescription written by F. A. Latimer, M. D. on August 13, 1927; a Kansas Centennial Coin issued by First National Bank of Wichita, and a packet of checks from The Citizens State Bank, McCracken, Kansas.
 
Two van loads of members of Sternberg Museum took a tour of Greensburg on Saturday.
They visited the Meteorite Museum in the morning and viewed the restoration of Greensburg in the afternoon.  They saw, the 5.4.7 Arts Center, built by students at KU, the silo home, a Habit of Humanity home, the Big Well, the high school, the courthouse and Incubator – an office and retail building.  They had lunch at the café.  They were made aware of all the “green” efforts in restoring the community.  95% of the town was destroyed by the tornado.  Trailers are still being used for the school, hospital and county buildings, but progress is being made on all the buildings.   The football field is ready for use, but there were no stands.   John Deere has a splendid new facility on the east edge of town.   Plans are for a wind farm at the south edge of town.  The Arts Center has three wind turbines, solar panels and are heated and cooled by geothermal wells.  They are 28, 300 foot deep geothermal wells on the court house property.  To watch the progress, visit www.greensburgks.org about the continuing rebuilding process.  Sternberg Museum has plans for more field trips.  Contact them about future trips and memberships.  One of the staff members going with us was Brad Penka. 
 
McCracken History Notes
August 1909
Many of our teachers have secured schools.  Miss Etta Bullock will teach district 60, Florence Neal and Ruth Curtis will teach the Hargrave School, Ada North will teach at Cottonwood, Effie Neal will teach district 37 south of Alexander, Hester Neal and Milla Wilson have schools near Bison, Tena Rixon will teach at Sunnydale and Ralph Stephens will teach at Redwing.
 
Fifty-eight teachers received their certificates in Rush County to teach first grade:  McCracken:  Hattie Plotner, O. J. Weir, Nellie Norlin, Ruth Wagner, Florence Neal, G. L. Nickel, Elmer Murphy; Brownell: Grace Green; Bazine: Rose Hearity and George F. Walker; Third grade: Raleigh Irvin, T. H. Sutton, Ada Lovitt, Rose Sweeney, G. R. Brenner, John Farley, Ralph Plotner, Florence Carter, Vella McGimsey, Frank Hardwick, Jesse Curtis, Kat Wharton, Earnest Landon.
 
August 1939
Harry Tanck, who was recently kicked by a cow, says he doesn’t go near that cow anymore.  He lets his wife milk her.
 
The Hunt drug store is taking the balcony out of their dance room and enlarging the dance platform to 20 x 30 feet.
 
August 10, 1939 Article about the Mail Routes:  George Edwards doesn’t believe they ever had a large stage at Dodge City.  The Ft. Hays – Ft. Dodge line did not have a stage.  They drove a three-seated hack.  It had a two-seated trailer hitched on behind.  The back seat could be removed for baggage, George Edwards says.  In the play, “Dodge City” they had a large stage.  He doesn’t believe that.  On some early routes they rode horseback.  The carrier would load the sacks on one horse if the snow came then go ahead and break the snow.  The routes followed the ridges.
The homesteads in Northwest County were taken in 1877 to 1878.  There were people abandoning the claims and leaving so it gained slow in population.  In the early eighties it reached the highest population, says Edwards.  Those that came before 1878 and still stay are:  Mr. and Mrs. Levi Darkes, Mr. and Mrs. Lon Irvin, Frank Start, Will Metz, James Littler, Ben Yawger, Sherd Edwards, Mrs. E. C. Brackney, Ben Whitehead, Harry Saunders, G. W. Edwards, John Saunders and Peter Metz.  As the country became more populated they started Tyler twelve miles southwest of Hays; Gilliam seven more miles south with J. C. Littler as postmaster; Hampton then Oswell with Isaih Peters as postmaster; Keimfield was named after Keims with L. K. Hain, postmaster; Alexander named after Alexander Harvey.
In the fall of 1881 they began a route from Danby, 16 miles southwest of McCracken.  It topped the Ft Hays – Ft. Dodge routé at Hampton and also carried mail to two intervening offices.  They started another route in 1882 from Rush Center to West Point, to Keimfield, Oswell, Hampton and Rolland.  Capt. Edwards took this route.  He carried it in summers and his boys, George and Sherd in winters.  Finally George quit and started to farm. When this route was started the Ft. Hays – Ft. Dodge route was discontinued.  Then the Hays City – Ness City line was established.
A circular route was established from LaCrosse north and west.  Charles Swisher had the contract and his sister carried the mail.  She had another girl with her.  They tell a funny story about the girls.  They thought they ought to lay off on the 4th of July so they did.  In those days there were no vacations and they and everyone else looked for them to get fired.  A government agent came out to investigate and just before he left he said the girls could stay with their jobs.
 
August 1959
Sunday beginning at 7:00 a.m. McCracken Golf Club will host a tournament in their new club house.  Championship Flight 27 holes ---others 18 holes.  Open flights for all golfers. Entry Fee $2.00.  Coffee, doughnuts and lunch will be served.  (The golf tournament was postponed until September 20 because of rain.  96 golfers had played their first nine holes).
 
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Irvin left Monday morning for San Francisco and will start from there on a round the world tour.  They will be gone about four months.