Champion News

The wide veranda hardly proved wide enough for the Sometimes Sunshine Porch Band on a seventy-five degree February Wednesday. Often enough comprised of just a couple of enthusiastic amateurs, the band suddenly had two guitars, two mandolins, two fiddle/violins, and two harmonicas. Jeff Bartch brought his harmonicas and his friend Dick Nugent, himself a purveyor of fine harmonics and a talented player. A pair of back forty-fence neighbors picked the mandolins and the fiddles bowed by an opera singer and the bright light of Red’s Slice and Scoop. The General flailed one guitar while the Whetstone Kid played rhythm and lead and learned some music theory from a violinist. Old waltzes and gospel tunes, bluegrass and country songs filled the air. It was a red-letter day, also a red-flag day. We are cautioned to take extra care when it comes to burning. The woods are dry. The humidity is low. The danger is high.

Ruth Fish Collins has a lot of twos and fours in her birthday: 02-24-42. We hope it was a good one for her. Ruth has a beautiful voice and sings, “It was colder than a well-diggers ankle in Cut Bank, Montana” and “Buelah Land.” Skyline sixth grader, Ryanne Harvey shares her birthday on March 3rd with Dennis Schumate, who wears a t-shirt sometimes that says, “Mandolin players fret a lot.” Linda Heatherington may bid a grand slam in her birthday bridge game on the 5th. Sue Murphy’s birthday is March 8th. Hopes are that she is still strumming her mandolin, singing “In the Gravel Yard” and “Jesus is Coming Soon.” Every culture across the world seems to have music of some kind–good medicine.

J.c. Owsley cut a wide loop through Douglas County Wednesday. He lives up in Cross Timbers on a beautiful cow farm where he often photographs the stunning sunrises and sunsets. He always likes to chew the fat with his cousin, The General, when he is this neck of the woods. He enjoyed the music and made sure to secure his copy of Katilyn McConnell’s “Ozark Pie Project and Diary” and his cow bell. He says, “Where else can a person buy a cow bell these days?” His growing collection has mostly been sourced in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another,” said Charles Dickens.  Don Hamby reminds us “The seed of good deeds become a tree of life.”  Emily Dickinson said, “Unable are the Loved to die, for Love is Immortality,” and she said, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”   The precious love and support of family and a beautiful community of friends in sad, hard times is a blessing that an Old Champion hopes for everyone who is experiencing grief.  The world changes.

We have much to celebrate and many reasons to be grateful.  Skyline kindergarten student, Everett Nelson, had his birthday on the 15th.  We remember dear Trish Davis on the 17th and that is the day we celebrate Linda Clark, sweet daughter of Grannie Grunt. Skyline 3rd grader, Perry Banks and 5th grader, Rayleigh Harvey, party on the 18th, also the big day for Champion Pete Proctor and Fox Creek farmer, Madelyn Boehs.  We remember sweet Ruby Proctor on the 19th.  She once said that when she was a kid there would be snow on the ground in Champion from Thanksgiving to Easter.  Mike Powers and Skyline 5th grader, Jaylee Sudderth, will enjoy the 20th of February for their birthday and we sing to Joanna Bell on the 21st.   Native Champion Stacy Krider Cline will be celebrated over in Tennessee on the 23rd.  On the 24th Arne Ahlstedt will likely spend his birthday teaching young folks some gardening tips.  Second grader, Zachary Harvey will party on the 28th. Frankie Proctor, Ruby’s son and Pete’s brother, has Leap Day February 29 for his birthday.  Happy birthday to all of you. Leap about and celebrate.

Folks in Scotland are celebrating having vanquished England in the Six Nations Rugby Championship games in Edinburgh.  Scots might be ready to beat them again with another Independence referendum.  The last time they declined over fear of not being permitted to be in the European Union.  Then they were betrayed by Brexit. We’ve heard the Scottish proverb “Be sure to taste your words afore you spit them.”  That is probably good advice, though holding our tongues can sometimes be a struggle.

As we observe the birthday of George Washingon, Founding Father and first president this week, we remember our own struggle as one of sixty-two countries that can now celebrate independence from Great Britain.  Ken Burns’ documentary on the American Revolution is well worth the look.

Champions were much delighted with a rainy Valentines Day.  We learn from Edgar Allen Poets that long before chocolates and roses, Valentine’s Day had a far darker beginning. The holiday traces back to Saint Valentine, a Roman priest who lived in the 3rd century under Emperor Claudius II. According to legend, Claudius believed single men made better soldiers and banned young men from marrying. Valentine defied the order and secretly performed weddings for couples in love. When his actions were discovered, he was arrested and eventually executed on February 14, around 269 AD.  Another story claims that while imprisoned, Valentine befriended–and possibly healed–the jailer’s blind daughter. Before his death, he allegedly signed a letter to her “from your Valentine,” a phrase that may have inspired the modern tradition of love notes.  Over time, the Church honored him as a martyr.  Later, medieval poets connected the date with romance and courtly love. Eventually, the legend transformed into the celebration we know today. So, behind every red rose lies a story of rebellion, sacrifice, and a love that refused to bow to power.”  In 1959, which some of us remember, Connie Francis sang, “Stupid Cupid, stop picking on me!” Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Calvin Chambers said, “Things will not always go as planned, but even the unplanned can be beautiful.” Of course, we had planned for a mild January with a little warm rain every now and then. Instead, we are being dazzled as the sun catches and bedazzles the one drop falling from the crystalline icicle drooping from the roof. Then we ponder the number of Purple Finches at the feeder with the many Cardinals and observe that the Blue Jay and the Red Bellied Woodpecker are not friendly with each other. Before it all melts, we will marvel at February’s full moon lighting up the deep snow still lingering. This is not what we planned, but it is beautiful.

Some planned activity of making an inventory of their canned goods and dealing with all those empty fruit jars has some Old Champions grateful for the bounty of past gardens and hopeful for the growing season ahead. Edie over at the L and E Organic Farm said, “Might be lots of snow outside, but that means get dirty inside! Potting up for cold frame planting!” She is ahead of her Champion friends who have lots to learn from her.

Sandra Powell will have a birthday on February 13th. Her mother, Eva Powell, gave us a good tip about dealing with dogs that want to aggressively chase your rig out our country lanes. Her tip was to just slow down, way down. The dogs get bored and lay down in the shade. The 13th is also the day Claire Shannon celebrates. In times past she was a violin student and performed in “The Nutcracker.” Imagine having your birthday on Valentines’ Day. Shelby Ward can claim that distinction. We hope you are all well celebrated and appreciated for yourselves and for the parts you play in the lives of your friends and families.

What is the best idea for a Valentine gift? Candy and flowers can hit the spot, but so can lots of other things. They say a man who can cook is adorable, but the man who will wash dishes is irresistible. “I love you for a hundred thousand reasons, but most of all I love you ‘cause you’re you.” Jim Reeves put those beautiful words into music. Music as a purveyor of romance can hardly be beat. So, sing to each other. You know your song.

The General was unusually brief in his announcement that the Vanzant Jam was a ‘go’ for Thursday the 5th with hardly any superfluous information except that part where he talked about having been isolated, presumably due to the inclement weather, during which time he “made some cupcake size pot pies using hummingbird livers and gizzards using the recipe my cousin from Cross Timbers, MO gave me. They were delicious. Thanks J.c.” It turns out that The General is kin to any number of Champions, most of whom are happy to see him coming. Cousin J.c. Owsley plans to be back in these parts one of these days to buy his copy of Kaitlyn McConnell’s “The Ozarks Pie Project Diary” at the Champion Store. One time, a few years back, around 2016, he visited Champion riding a big white mule named Dot, an animal borrowed from a friend. He shared a story: “An old friend of mine once raffled off a dead horse and I asked him if it made anyone mad. He said, ‘only the guy who won, so I just gave him back his money.’” J.c. likely has many yarns to spin around the old stove, and his Champion friends will always be glad to see him coming.

Leo Buscaglia said, “Be careful about giving advice, for wise men don’t need it, fools won’t heed it, and you’ll wind up talking to yourself.” That sounds like some of the lyrics that singer, songwriter Jesse Welles from Ozark, Arkansas might write. When asked about how he felt about being nominated for a Grammy Award for his music he said that he had an innate feeling of a duty to be optimistic and to have faith in the future. He thinks it is the duty of artists not to grow cynical. He sounds like a Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.”  We translate Robert Burns’ words as “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”  Ain’t it the truth?  Robert Burns, born January 25, 1759, turned that phrase.  Volodymyr Zelenskyy, born January 25, 1978, is in a continual struggle with the plans and schemes of his people struggling for peace.

Last week’s birthday blowout for favorite Champions could have included Edgar Allen Poe, January 19, 1809, who gave us “The Raven” once upon a midnight dreary. With “The Tell Tale Heart” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Poe reshaped literature with psychological dread, unreliable narrators, and a haunting sense of the macabre that still echoes through horror, mystery, and pop culture today.  Janis Joplin born January 19, 1943, sang “Me and Bobby McGee.”  She became a prominent figure in 1960s rock and blues, known for her powerful, emotional mezzo-soprano vocals and electrifying stage presence. Pete Buttigieg born that day in 1982, a US Navy officer, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and 19th US Secretary of Transportation emphasizes optimism, activism, and freedom in his speech.

Last Monday there were 23 folks at the McClurg Jam, among them 11 musicians playing “Arkansas Traveler,” several sweet waltzes and an old Jimmy Rogers tune.  Tom Peters cancelled this week’s Jam asking everyone to stay warm and safe.  He says they plan to resume the weekly jam and potluck supper on Monday, February 2nd, Groundhog Day.  Champions will be looking for a groundhog to give us hopes of an early end to winter.

February 1st is the birthday of Champion Glen Cooley (1940), Champion grandson Zack Alexander in Springfield, and Sarah Cloud over in Cabool.  Groundhog Day is for Zack’s Aunt Angie Heffern, for Charlene Dupre in Norwood, for Catherine Mallernee, and quilter Connie Grand over on the other side of Cowskin Creek.  It is also the day we remember Felix the Farmer’s grandmother, dear Judy Sharon.  February 3rd is for Skyline prekindergarten student Hayden Trujillo.  The 5th is for Skyline middle school teacher Angela McKay and for Fox Creek Farmer Jason Boehs.  Joyce will make sure that Jackie Coonts will have a lovely day on the 7th.  Skyline kindergarten student EmberLeigy Miller celebrates on February 8th and fifth grader Makenzie Jonas will have the 9th for her big day.  Birth anniversaries give us the chance to acknowledge people for their importance in our own lives.  Happy birthdays all.

The General shared some important information online on Saturday: “VANZANT DATELINE: From the local Space Station First Alert Accurate Weather Report Team and Misinformation Center. Due to the temperature, it appears the rain previously forecasted will come in the form of snow, and likely will stick on grassy surfaces and anywhere it lands. One of the neighbors was out this morning listening to the chirping birds and seen a hummingbird under a dandelion. He said, if the snow flurries continue he would put a hubcap over it to provide better shelter. Long range future cast: A probable chance of above normal temperatures for a few days in July.”  We count ourselves lucky to have such good neighbors in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Champion’s birthday extravaganza celebrating Betty Henson, Dolly Parton and J.C. Owsley drew friends from far and wide.  Ethel Leach furnished the fabulous chocolate cake again.  She had just shared one on a recent Wednesday—yummy.  Kaitlyn McConnell brought her amazing Apple Crumble pie and her stalwart traveling companion Mike O’Brian.  Mike is in wonder that Kaitlyn seems to know every interesting spot in the country. The long table was full of pies and cookies and snacks adding to the sweetness of Saturday midday out on the Bright Side!  Good wishes and expressions of genuine appreciation for the good humor and hard work required to keep our precious community hub spinning arose from near fifty friends and neighbors gathering to sing that song.  Betty’s Skyline friends shared a “Go Tigers!” shirt with her in appreciation for all her support of our vital little rural school.  Carissa Rene sang “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.”   She had planned to sing it for Betty at Christmas, but for various reasons had been delayed.  Her beautiful voice is a gift she shares happily.  As the crowd left the store keeper was seen going about her regular work.  Thank you.

More birthdays to celebrate are those of Skyline sixth grader Paxton Elgie and the amazing Brenda Massey on January 22nd.  Brenda seems to be in the middle of many good works in the area, generally adding an unexpected element of fun. Eighth grader Blake McIntosh has the 24th for his big day.  The 25th will be celebrated worldwide in honor of Robert Burns who tells us in verse, “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”  That line comes in a 1786 poem, “To a Louse, On Seeing one on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church.”   He also gave us “Auld Lang Sine,” where we are encouraged not to forget our old acquaintances.  Joyce Coonts will party on the 26th.  Jackie will make it a good day for her.  Shannon Alexander will do that for Skyline alum Kay Alexander on the 27th.  Dax Loveless is a prekindergarten student at Skyline with a birthday on January 28th.  We remember Dwane Collins on the 29th.  The 30th is the big day for dairy farmer James Brixey who was reported to have been 40 in 2012.  The 30th is also party time for the lovely Loneda Bennett.  We wish you Champion-style birthday extravaganzas one and all.

Karen Ross joined the fun in Champion Saturday remembering the ten years she carried the mail to us here on her 122-mile route, always carrying dog treats for our friendly canines.  She retired at the end of the year with 26 years of service on her three different routes for the post office.  Kirt Dooms had been her postmaster in Norwood.  She enjoyed seeing him and Judy at her retirement party on January 3rd.  She said her first postmaster was also there to welcome her to retirement.   Hopes are that she will have time to meander back this way often, though retirement often marks the start of really getting busy.  Her friends here will just count ourselves lucky when we see her coming.

News has come that Eva Loyce Henson Phillips passed away on January 5th.  She attended all eight years of elementary school at Champion, graduating in 1949.  She had been living with her son in Nashville for a while.  They enjoyed coming to the Champion Reunion usually held on Saturday of the Labor Day weekend.  Her son said that she was very much looking forward to this year’s event.  Her brother down in Houston, Texas, Kenneth (Hovie) Henson, is now the last of the Ezra Henson children living.  He says he is the last of his clan now.  Hovie has had health problems of his own, but hopes are that he and Dawn will make it back home for the festivities this summer.

Football fans enjoying the weekend games get to hear the National Anthem performed by a variety of talented people.  In these tumultuous, troubling political times it is worth the effort to listen to the words of our song to reflect on whether we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave.  One Old Champion who has heard that song often in his eighty-plus years says that none of them lately have done nearly as good a job as David Richardson does.  David is a busy guy, a genuine local talent, flying around and still playing basketball in his 60s (early 60s) and making music all over the place–Mansfield, Norwood, Mountain Grove, Dora, Vanzant and sometimes on a Wednesday in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Early January finds Old Champion purging last year’s no longer necessary financial records and addressing the decades of accumulated correspondence in filing cabinets, crates and shoe boxes full of memories and mysteries.  Can we save everything? Every memento of family and old friends?  Will we forget them if we pare down?  Will any of this be meaningful to our heirs?  It makes for a difficult sweet and sad activity on a cold sunny winter day.  The reminder that these items are tangible, unlike our memories, makes us more likely to save them.

Kaitlyn McConnell and Mike O’Brian popped into Champion Wednesday (with a cranberry pie) and sat around the old wood stove a spell before carrying on with one of their forays into our beautiful Ozarks.   Tim and Sara Tamborino were welcome visitors at the Vanzant Jam Thursday.  Tim has a site on the internet called “The Midwest Bluegrass Directory.”   Therein is a nine-minute-long video of the jam on July 26, 2013.  It was precious to see Norris Woods again and Jerry Wagner in the circle, and Sally Jo Prock dancing and Dwight Collins’ smile and others we miss.  Yet many of the musicians on that video are still playing regularly in jams all around the area.  Thank you, Tim, for some lovely nostalgia including Sherrie’s five pounds of possum on her big bass fiddle.  Tim and Sara are planning a move out west in a couple of years.  They want to be at a higher altitude which will make Tim’s arthritis less unpleasant. He has had three hip replacements, a knee replaced and sundry other titanium instillations.  We are all grateful for modern medicine and grateful for all the work Tim does to preserve the music we love.

Champion Miley Schober and her cousin Reese Kutz celebrate birthdays on January 16th and 17th.  Their grandmother, or maybe great grandmother, is also one of Blaine Denlow’s great grandmothers.  Lucky them!  The 17th is the birthday of Skyline prekindergarten student Natalie Lynch.  Skyline seventh grader Railynn Dixon celebrates on the 18th along with state qualifying archer Jacob Kyle Brixey & Mary Beth Shannon.  For some reason Mary Beth’s sweetheart is called Sparky. He will be sure she has a good time on her big day.  Skyline bus driver Robert Hall shares his day with Champion’s own Betty Henson and with J.c. Owsley of Cross Timbers. Your Champion friends and neighbors expect you all to have wonderful parties full of laughter, goodies, gifts and fond reminiscences.

Among items in the ‘purge’ was a scrap of newspaper with an item from Clever Creek dated March 2, 1898.  It said, “Archie Hancock accidentally shot himself through the hand while monkeying with a pistol in the post office one day last week.”  We only have a vague notion of where the Clever Creek Post Office was, but The General can probably clear that up for us.  Recent events remind us of George Orwell’s “Newspeak.”  It was a clever use of words to encourage conformity and control reality, as in “a war of peace.”  Instead of the word ‘bad,’ they would say ‘ungood.’  ‘Doubleplussungood’ would mean ‘terrible.’   While we consider history and pay attention to what is going on in the world, perhaps we can say, “Doubleplussgood is what it is these days in Champion”—Looking on the Bright Side!

Champions ushered out the old year with a rather ragged rendition of the Happy Birthday song to The General.  Chuck and Karen Peterson from over by Mountain View made their first trip to the Bright Side and neglected to tell us that Karen’s birthday was to be on January 3rd, otherwise the song may have had more gusto. There was gusto aplenty though with Skyline neighbors joining in on banjo and violin.  Mena is getting good encouragement in her aim to transition from violin to fiddle.  Dairy farmers from up on the High Road and ranch hands from the Fox Creek Beef operation joined the usual bunch of Wednesday loiters enjoying the music and the chatter.   Champion Elizabeth Johnston Lawrence has a birthday on January 9th.   Bob Liebert down on Teeter Creek celebrates on the 11th.  That day we also remember Champion Wilburn Hutchison.  The 12th is for charming Jamie over in Ava doing good work at Jean’s Healthway and for master gardener and herbalist Edie Richardson out Norwood way at L and E Organic Farm. Diane Wilbanks down on Bryant Creek will party on the 13th.  That is the day we remember Norris Woods who played banjo and sang “Hot corn, cold corn bring along a demijohn.”    Skyline School’s PE teacher Shane Gray and school secretary Jamie Woods also celebrate on the 13th.   Happy Birthday to all of you.  Your Champion friends wish you and the rest of us the best for the new year.  The big Wolf Supermoon peaked Saturday—a beautiful way to start.

Out with the old and in with the new!  “Lang may yer lum reek!” Is a traditional Scottish Hogmanay greeting. “May you never be without fuel for your fire.” It translates “Long may your chimney smoke!”  Black eyed peas on the New Year’s table says you will eat at least that well all year.  They go well with ham hocks and collard greens or make a nice Texas caviar.  The New Year’s Possum Drop was erroneously attributed to half a dozen Denlow guys about a hundred years ago by one of their descendants given to hyperbole.  Extensive research reveals the practice to have started in 1990 with the drop of a ceramic possum from the roof of the Clay’s Corner convenience store somewhere in rural North Carolina.  Little country stores seem to be where good and interesting things happen.  Look at McClurg.  While no longer a mercantile, the old store is still in the business of Monday Music, thanks to Tom Peters.  He shares Saturday’s Oldfield Opera online as well as Monday’s magic. This week it was “The Prisoner’s Lament,” “The Last Train Home” and “Goldrush” as well as others.  Hopes are that Mena Dutton can connect with some of those fine young fiddlers over there and with David Scrivner, the fiddle teacher who learned from Bob Holt.  Roy’s Store in Dora is another excellent example of music and goodness.  Enjoy Bertie’s pies which are legendary and enjoy her great songs like “Lady Muleskinner” and “Arkansas.”  We thank Gina Hollingshad for her music with the Whetstone Band and for the effort it takes to organize the Tuesday Jam there in Dora.  Then there is Wednesday in Champion, Thursday in Vanzant under the leadership of The General himself, and Friday at Red’s Slice and Scoop in Norwood where Herbie Johnston might show up to illustrate extraordinary fiddling for Mena.  Music is good for community.  Community is where we feel connected, protected, and respected the way it is in Champion —Looking on the Bright Side!