About Town

By Ida And Doris Lessenden

October 17, 2003

Phyllis Vanderwork was so thoughtful to bring me the prettiest white and red angel bear whose mouth and wings move when it sings, "You are the Wind beneath My Wings". She is kind to come across the street to visit me and others in the Weisbrod Hospital.

Marshall and Greg Ure were here last week from Kansas to visit their dad, Maurice, while he is in the hospital. My husband and sons always liked to do business with him at the grain elevator.

I (Ida) am really favorably impressed with the nurses here. Some of them I don’t know because they come from Lamar, Las Animas, and other places, however, there are many who were students or are students at Eads High so I recognize them. They are all very nice to me.

Bobby Bush is one of the veterans who has lived here for three years. He was a WW II pilot and has many interesting stories. He likes to sit on the veranda much of the time and looks forward to Friday evenings when Joe, Janie, and Joe Andrew take him to Our Place Restaurant for his favorite pizza.

Margaret Mays was beaming Saturday afternoon. Her daughter, Roberta Hines, was here from Canon City and had taken her shopping and out to dinner in Lamar which was a real treat for them. I could tell that Margaret along with lots of other folks really liked the challenge of playing horse shoes. Rachel Buck was the activity helper that day and unfortunately they ran out of "money" in the supply purse. So Ruth Koch donated money out of her cache so the games could continue.

When I received a letter from Hazel Sheperd of Palisade, I couldn’t think of who I knew over on that side of the mountains. It turns out that she still gets the Kiowa Press after moving away from here in 1939 and being married for 63 years. She was born to the McDaniel family and her sister, is Rosemary McDaniel Taylor who used to love to come back here to the county fairs. She said Rosemary is in a nursing home now. Both ladies love to read Ida’s "About Town News" and they still feel that this is "home" after all these years.

Our sincere sympathy to Carole Doak Spady whose aunt‘s funeral was Monday. Several of the Doak family graduated from the Haswell School.

Jon De Lorenzo reported that The Wes Borns Memorial Challenge at the La Junta Rifle Club had 99 registered shooters. The event earned $7,000.00 to donate to the Hunt of a Lifetime Foundation. People around here will know De Lorenzo as the UPS man.

The Westender Senior Citizen group took a bus drive to see the lovely fall colors and the ghost town, St. Elmo. They had dinner in the oldest building in Salida which was quite antique and interesting. Those folks surely do know how to have fun.

Betty Shotton has been entertaining her friend, Carl Yoshida, from Hawaii. Carl spent some great times with Rich Hockett hunting. Betty brightened Friday afternoon for some folks here at Weisbrod who went to the dining room to hear her and Doris sing and play around the piano before some of the residents played a table ball game directed by Tonya Lane.

Faye and Joe Schmitt and Marsha and Pam Mousel from the Aurora and Strasburg area came down last week to get Doug Rouse. They do this monthly to take him to and from Denver to a medical specialist. Faye especially enjoyed lunch at the cafe with her sister, Ruth Miller, and the family.

Pete Stoker of Haswell was honored last Wednesday with a "Farewell" reception at the Center. Pete has lived over 80 years, mostly out on the hill west of town, so this is a big change in his life as he moves to La Junta where two of his sons live, Bert and Eldon.

Justin McLoud who is a senior at Emporia State University in Kansas was home recently to visit his family. He travels with the golf team and expects to graduate next spring.

Saturday the Eads Schools hosted a Middle School Volleyball tournament with a number of schools. The Eads A-Team won the championship. The girls received nice large medals on red-white and blue neck ribbons.

Many communities have store display windows for National 4-H Week. We commend the fine 4-H program in Kiowa County. The Haswell 4-H Club will be hosting the fall banquet in Eads on November 7^th.

The Rostvit twins sang two songs during the First Christian Church service Sunday and then gave a concert that evening. These ladies have beautiful harmonious voices and lovely expression when they sing. The audience was so impressed with their quiet accompaniment and renditions of hymns.

Sue Fox and Carole Spady are the Knowledge Bowl sponsors this year at Eads High School for about 36 students. The families and students are so grateful that these ladies are taking time to sponsor this worthy group. The teams have competed at Plainview and Swink this fall.

L.G. and Phyllis Vanderwork said that Saturday the 11^th was such a nice day for the very impressive burial of their only son, Dr. Vernon Vanderwork at the Eads Cemetery. Phyllis said, Rev. Townsley came up from Springfield to conduct the service. "He has a way of saying just the right words of comfort." Their niece, Diana Meyer came from Moline, Illinois, Vernon’s, sister, Sheila and Joe Sheilds, and Stephanie Sewell and family were here and had lunch at Our Place Restaurant. They had a nice afternoon of visiting.

Thursday evening Doris Lessenden was the "Honored Senior Citizen" at the Cheyenne Wells-Eads Volleyball games. On Friday the honored senior persons at the Volleyball game were Kerissa Sicklebower’s grandparents from Holly and at the Football game, Larry and Karen Watts were honored. We apologize for possibly missing names of people honored in the past, so I will do some research on persons who may have been honored in past weeks. This is such a nice honor that Principal Christy Graham instituted several years ago.

Although I couldn’t go to the party, the celebration lunch for Virgil and Wanda’ Lessenden’s 40^th anniversary was wonderful. Their kids cooked two cream cans of food on an outside fire (potatoes, carrots, beef ,brauts, cabbage, and ears of corn). It was quite a feast with salads and cakes. Their daughter, Glenda, made them a remarkable quilt wall-hanging with blocks of colored photos transferred to fabric of their three children and their six grandchildren at different stages in their lives. It is sewed in ivory and fall color leaf fabric around the border and blocks Shannon and Shane and their spouses also helped with the decorating and cooking.

Carli and Char (Woelk) Korral were glad to see their aunt and cousin, Carol and Lori Shallberg come over from Sheridan Lake for the Cheyenne Wells-Eads game.

We heard that Bill Howard is back in the hospital, Bill, along with many other folks, need the prayers of their friends and acquaintances.

Our sympathy to the family of Dorothy Cox of Kit Carson who passed away last week. She was a teacher at the Eads schools at one time and is the sister of Mary Louise DeChant of Kit Carson.