About Town

By Ida and Doris Lessenden

December 12, 2003

Bill Woelk was one of five school board members from across the state who were honored at Colorado State School Board Association conference in Colorado Springs last week. Bill who was nominated by Superintendent Smith received honors as an "Outstanding School Board Member."

Paul and Renee Zimmerman flew back from Georgia where they were welcoming their new grandson, Dawson Patrick Pent. The grandparents took care of granddaughter, Morgan for a few days. The happy parents are Rachel (Zimmerman) and Patrick Pent.

The Eads High School Chapter of the National Honor Society donated canned goods and toys for boys and girls to the Kiowa County Department of Social Services. The NHS Chapter also donated several dozen cookies for the Annual Christmas Chili supper December 2^nd which was sponsored by the Fire Department and the EMT’S.

Our sympathy is extended to Joyce (Lowell) Johnston of Arlington. Joyce’s mother, Bonnie Darnell, passed away recently. She was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Lincoln County.

Dr. Catherine Anderson called to say that her elementary teacher at Arlington died recently. She was Cleta (Herbert) Rixse who later moved to La Junta where she taught school for about 20 years. Cathy Lou attended the funeral last week. She said she had Thanksgiving dinner with her niece and family, Cindy Himenez, in Cheraw.

Martina LeGrand was the honored Senior Citizen at the first home basketball game Friday. Martina currently has two grandsons in the Eads schools now and her four children, Tom, Elaine, Dale, and Lois, and five grandchildren, Chris, Sandy, Hollie, Laura and Tim, have graduated from EHS. Martina has been an ardent fan of the fine arts and sports through the years. Congratulations to Martina.

The Prairie Queen 4-H Club members met Sunday afternoon to prepare painted coffee cans of baked goods to deliver to folks about town. They also cooked a roast beef, mashed potato supper for their parents. This has been a tradition of their club for many years. Doris was blessed to have meal plates brought to her by Terry and Arêta Laird with a variety of salads and desserts too. Now that was truly Christmas sharing.

The Community Christmas Cantata Concert will be presented Sunday evening December 14^th at 7:00 p.m. at the Eads United Methodist Church. This tradition has been occurring since the 1940’s or early 50’s. Director Philomene Liesen has been instrumental in organizational leadership and playing the piano or organ at all these cantatas since the l950’s. She is a highly esteemed person to many of us and we are so thrilled that she has been able to give another year of her talent and leadership to bring such joy to people of many communities who come to sing and to those who come to hear the joyous message of Jesus’ birth. Philomene is so pleased because there are about 45 adult and teen singers and about 25 children in the youth choir.

Last Tuesday evening was a wonderful time to dine on chili made by Konda Howard and desserts and beverages served by the hospitable firemen at the Eads Firehouse. Honeybelle Dixon was the photographer for photos of Santa Claus with children. The Town Council members fixed sacks of candies, peanuts, and oranges for this event. The highlights of the night were when Mayor Larry Micheal presented a plaque for the "Volunteer of the Year" to Gail Crawford for his work on the golf course and at sports events. His grandchildren, Brooke and Jaxon Crawford were here from Kit Carson with their parents, Mike and Sara. Then Marilyn Baxter of the Chamber of Commerce presented the "Citizen of the Year Plaque "to Faye Barber. Marilyn read a very impressive resume of Faye’s work with the Senior Citizens, the AARP, the Area on the Aging Counsel, her church, her Linus Quilt donations and donations of clothes and goods to the Joy House in Denver for abused families. Faye’s daughter, Shirley Byrne, drove down from Denver to be with her mother for this nice award.

Officers and other members of the United Methodist Church met for the Annual Sunshine District with their District Superintendent, Brenda Lear, who was accompanied by her husband, Doug, Saturday morning in Eads. They had lunch with the New Generation young women group who served a marvelous lunch of four choices of soups. Teresa Witte, Konda Howard, and Debbie Kliesen were the cooks and organizers for this fundraiser meal. They were grateful to other members who donated items to be sold to help earn money to remodel the kitchen.

The Eads Eagle Basketball teams traveled to Fowler Thursday afternoon where they played the Grizzlies. Saturday afternoon Pueblo Park Hill Christian Academy came to town to play the junior high teams and some high school teams. The only other home game in December will be Friday, December 12^th beginning at 4:00 p.m.

Caleb Korrel, grandson of Bill and Charlotte Woelk of Eads, surprised them and his parents, Mike and Char of Cheyenne Wells by flying home to Colorado from the Naval Training Center in Chicago for 10 days. In January Caleb will be stationed in California.

We would like to write on behalf of the residents at the Eads Home on Maine Street. There are four men and one lady and three staff members who would be most pleased if some people would remember them with foods or goodies or gifts at Christmas time. If readers would like to know their names or more details, you may call Doris.

Congratulations to Casey and Lindsey (Baxter) Sheridan of Eads who are the parents of a tiny baby girl, named Kyra Lee Sheridan.

The Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) took their annual field trip to Colorado Springs on Friday, November 21. A group of 14 members attended a presentation about the aspects of operating a business presented by the manager of Joyrides. Afterwards, they enjoyed some of the rides and games. Joan Hawkins is the sponsor of this club.

Folks at the Kit Carson United Methodist church hosted three funerals and three funeral dinners last week. They have such a good plan up there, if people want to donate foods or money to buy the main dishes for a funeral, they can just call Mary Wilson at Mary’s Market. Our hearts go out to all the dear people who are living through grief these days.

The Eads FFA Parli-Pro Team traveled to Karval last week where they competed in the District contest where they won 2^nd place.

Thanks to Harvey and Sandie Kelley and Cardon and Joyce Berry the wooden painted Christmas characters are on display at the Eads Road Side Rest Park. This brings lots of cheer to travelers and local folk who drive by on Highway 287 and 96.

The Eads Senior Citizens will be having a ham dinner at noon on Wednesday, December 17 at the Center. Citizens may bring side dishes. They will plan their Christmas party and News Years party for later in the month.

Laverne and Ilene Eder of Eads enjoyed a trip with their daughter, Marilyn and grandson, Tyler Popejoy, from Liberal , Kansas to Thanksgiving dinner in Albuquerque, New Mexico with their granddaughter Kimberley Eder Stokes and family, then on to Lake Havasu and Yuma, Arizona, to visit nephew, Danny Wagner and family and other friends.