About Town
September 19, 2003
Rex and Sharon Barlow of Chivington were delighted to have their daughters home for the Fair Parade Saturday with their little ones. Audrey and Ranee were here from Oklahoma and Hallie and Melissa came from Lamar. Their youngest daughter, Amanda, came from Fort Collins. It was heartwarming to watch the reunion of the Barlow sisters and the greetings of the little cousins.
Vi Koch’s home has been a main stop on Maine Street for numerous family members and friends to watch the Fair Parade through the years. There was quite a gathering there this year.
Benny and LaVerne Fischer entertained three of his nephews, Chuck and Jeannie Lamb of Anchorage, Alaska, Ron and Nancy Lamb and Bob Pitts of Seattle, Washington, during the Fair this year. They took them and their daughters, Sherry (Chuck Bowen) and Bobbie Ann (Ted Abrams) on a tour of the homesteads around Galatea and Haswell of where the nephew’s mothers and other acquaintances grew up. Benny made two marvelous collages of black and white photos of Galatea homes, storefronts, schools, the railroads and other pioneer scenes which were of great interest at the County Fair. This 82 year old citizen is an amazing resource of Kiowa County history and humor. Benny called Monday evening and said, "Do you know what those kids all did? They bought LaVerne and I a new television!"
James and Cleta Englehardt always do such a super job of displaying the 4-H projects. They did a lot of extra research and brought in antiques, gathered pretty garments made years ago by 4-H members. Their daughter, Cindy, made large posters of photos and news articles from the ‘50’s to more recent years.
About 80 people registered for the Brandon School reunion which brought people from a wide area to visit with former classmates. Committee people, Joyce Mayo, Dorothy Courkamp of Lamar and Mr. and Mrs. Glen Beach of California arranged the event. People came and went all day Friday to visit at the IOOF Hall. Faye Barber said that you wouldn’t believe all the food! Ben and Fern Lacy came from Canon City, and John Pearson came from Olathe, to entertain for a while. The oldest person there was 87 year old Earl Copland of Olathe. Joyce said she and Pat Lacy and Leon and Wilma White were the younger folks there.
Faye Barber and Ilene Eder were glad to have their brother, John and Ester Walker come from Eckert, for the Brandon reunion. Because of the snows in the mountains, they couldn’t return as soon as they had planned.
Marlene (Jacobs) Rouse hosted a reunion for the Class of 1968 at her home on Maine Saturday. They enjoyed her good food and hospitality.
Carl and Zelda Peterson attended the wedding of their granddaughter, Amy Billings, to Jimmy Danley in an elegant ceremony at the famed Stanly Hotel in Estes Park on September 13th. Amy is the daughter of Gary and Charlotte (Peterson) Billings.
It has been quite a while since I have seen floats representing our Senior Citizens and the Museum in the parade. Their designs and participants on the floats were designed as "Pages from the Past." Those on the Senior Citizen float were Bill and Shirley Crum, Laverne Eder, Lorene Richardson, Victor Will, and Faye Barber. On the Museum float we saw Sis Howard washing clothes and Amy Weirich and her children , Emilee and Taylor stoking the pot belly stove.
There were many lovely quilts displayed at the county fair. Among those were five quilts that Hazel Krueger had exhibited also at the State Fair. She also showed a large friendship garden quilt. This master quilter has made numerous banners for several churches.
Benny Fischer brought in two beautifully hand quilted quilts made by his mother, Ida Kopline Fischer. One embroidered quilt won a blue ribbon back in 1927 that still had the ribbon pinned on it. The other quilt had names of ladies who belonged to the Home Service Circle in 1934. Doris Forsyth mailed Benny and Deb Lening a brochure from Idaho with the names of 80 ladies who belonged to this club. Doris’ mother-in-law, Emma Forsyth, compiled this historical information when she was the club’s president. Ben says a person just needs to read this brochure to appreciate all the happenings during the 50 years that the club was in existence.
I witnessed a heartwarming reunion of Kenny and Elaine Lindholm’s children during the parade. It looked as if daughter, Laura, had just returned from Trinidad State College with brother, Chris and Erin, also from Trinidad. Daughters, Holly and Sandy were home from Westminster, teasing little brother, Kevin as they waved to brother, Kelly, who was on the FFA float. Sandy’s friend, Donnie Fecko and Eunice Lindholm were with the family also. What a lovely family they are, so active in church, 4-H, sports and so many community activities.
I’m glad to hear that Cindy (Englehardt) Pittman has a new job at Swink Schools. She is using her expertise there to work with an autistic student and other special needs youth.
Congratulations to the new Kiowa County Fair Royalty: Queen: Hollie Watson, Junior Princess: Addie Siefried, and Tiny Tot Princess: Tanaia Hanson.
I really do appreciate all the cards and calls and visits from folks who greeted me for my birthday. Many of my family members came over after the county day rodeo to celebrate my 91st birthday with me by bringing cakes, ice cream and lovely flowers.
A new attraction at the fair Saturday night was the Antique Tractor Pull which also featured some pick-ups pulling sleds with weights. It was chilly as a steady rain shower fell but that didn’t deter the interest according to some on-lookers.
Congratulations to the two Parade Marshals "Citizen of the Year" - Ruthanna Jacobs and "Volunteer of the Year" - Kim (Crow) Richards. These are two very worthy wonderful ladies who do so much for our community and county.
This year I had to stay inside so much that I didn’t get to enjoy visiting at the Fair. But I did get to see some of the county rodeo by sitting in the car and what could be more enjoyable than watching the children. A great huge tip of the hat goes to sisters, Dawn Rae Watts and Darla Hansen for their leadership and organization of the Thursday Rodeo and Games. Thanks also to the youth and adults who did so much physical work with the equipment and animals.
Although I didn’t get out to my most favorite fair activity…the breakfast, Virgyln , did bring me a plate of food which was definitely the best breakfast I had all year. Thanks to the Chamber of Commerce and all the volunteers for this fine hospitality.
Sunday afternoon was a warm day for the Demolition Derby which is a good fundraiser for the FFA Chapter for expenses. The FFA members put a lot of work into this. The Fair Board and Commissioners are glad that the FFA members collect the admission money at the two gates for three days. This takes a lot of working hours on the part of the boys and girls. Fair Board members are: Lance Jagers, Arêta Laird, Dale Butler, Violet Lane and Milton Watts.
Cardon and Joyce Berry were delighted to have their daughter-in-law and little Maigen Berry come from Cheyenne, Wyoming to spend the Fair weekend with them.