Champion News

To mark the swift passage of time we learned that the sunset at 8:01 pm on August 18, 2026, was the last one that will occur after 8 pm until April 29, 2027. August 18, 1920, was the day the 19th amendment to the constitution was ratified by congress. Several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied and practiced civil disobedience to change the Constitution so that American women were legally guaranteed the right to vote. It took a long time to accomplish this milestone and even longer, all the way to the 1960s, for all American women to be able to vote.

The Prairie Moon Nursery will sell a packet of 750 Sweet Everlasting seeds for $3.50. In the aster family, it grows one to three feet tall and is known in these parts as Rabbit Tobacco. The Prominent Champion brought some to the Bright Side for exposition recently. Native Americans and Appalachian folk traditions used the plant to treat colds, coughs, sore throats, fevers and asthma. It was brewed in teas and smoked in pipes and may well have been the first experience with smoking for many young folks around here.

The Skyline Fire Department is proud to announce that it has been selected as one of 150 volunteer fire departments nationwide to receive a $10,000 grant through the State Farm Good Neighbor Firefighter Safety Program. With these funds, Skyline Fire will acquire thermal imaging cameras, a vital technological capability. We pay our dues to the Skyline VFD and are grateful to the volunteers for their service.

The school year is off to a great start at Skyline. The popcorn-open house on Thursday gave teachers and staff the opportunity to show off the recent enhancements to the building. A generous donor by the name of Ann Onomus has provided funding for beautiful new vinal flooring in the kitchen and pantry together with several other significant improvements up and down the halls. For the second year in a row breakfast and lunch will be free for all students. This is through Provision 2 of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and through the efforts of Superintendent Donnie Luna who seems to be a magnet for the good things that have been happening at our great little rural school in recent years. Tuesday marks the first day of school. Go Tigers! A Skyline alumnus has taught us a new word. It is susurrus. It means a soft, low murmuring, whispering, or rustling sound as in the susurrus of a River Birch.

Newcomers and anyone with history or family ties or just a curiosity about this lovely spot at the end of the pavement, you are welcome to come out on Saturday, September 5th to the annual Reunion in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

While the weathermen say we are likely to have a mild winter, the thought of some cool days in December is a refreshing one. Meanwhile we will hydrate and contemplate with gratitude the air conditioning. Many people got their start in life in December and are celebrating their birthdays these days. We remember Bernice Wiseman on August 20th. She loved gospel music and her Champion grandchildren. Champion Teahna Oglesby celebrates on the 22nd. She went to school at Skyline where Carolyn Wilhite has taught second grade for a long time. Carolyn’s birthday is August 23rd. That is also the big day for Champion grandson Tennessee Drason Kline whose Champion cousin, also in Tennessee, is Dakota Watts with a birthday on the 24th. Champion nephew Daniel Cohen in Pennsylvania also celebrates on the 24th. The 25th is for Skyline seventh grade student Lauren Collins and for Champion Barb Krider up in Illinois. Barbara’s sister-in-law, Reta Krider, lives nearby her and has her birthday on the 26th. Felix the Farmer will probably sing to his papa on the 26th. Eddie Hanson is a fiddler in Edinburgh with a birthday on the 28th. That will be a Friday so the Captains’ Bar will be full of patrons ready to serenade him. The 29th is for lots of people: for Skyline seventh grader Brantley Kilgore, second grader Chaseton Shelton, 6th grader Jason Smith, for a Champion great grandson Alister in Georgia, for Mini Jo Henson in Springfield, and for Steve Moody, Skyline school board president. We remember Champion Wes (Bill) Smith on the 29th and we remember Lane Sutherland on the 30th. Lori Cline Cox somewhere up around Kansas City will have Johnny Cox singing to her on the 30th. Champion granddaughter Kalyssa Wiseman and Champion FFA Dairy Production Proficiency winner, Jenna Brixey, both celebrate on the 31st. Daniel Bean has a great singing voice and also has a birthday on the 31st. So, we sing, “Happy birthday” to our family and friends, present and past and wish them every success. We are reminded that success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Lena Wagner tells us that sometimes we misreport birthdays. She also said that she was one up on her brother in their Wednesday Scrabble game that has been going on for fifteen years or more. Kaitlyn McConnell and Mike O’Brien stopped in for a pleasant visit on Wednesday. We remind them and Lena’s brother of the Champion School Reunion scheduled for Saturday, September 5th in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

That lovely country lane the County calls 76-239 is known as the “High Road” by some and as the “Dairy Road” by some on account of the pretty Jersey cows that live along there. There is a pleasant section of it called “Valery Lane.” That is on account of her sweetheart (who just had a birthday on the 7th of August) who can maneuver a road grader with the precision of a skilled surgeon. Down on 76-237 there is a section called “Jamie Lane.” This is because her sweetheart (who has a birthday on August 14) keeps the winding pathway and all its creek crossing clear of obstructions for her. It would seem that those ladies have chosen well in the sweetheart department.

And about those Jerseys up on the Dairy Road: Jenna Brixey is the Missouri FFA Dairy Production Proficiency winner and she is a finalist for the National FFA Dairy Production Proficiency award. She will attend National FFA Convention in October to go on stage with 3 others from other states to pick a winner. She has worked hard to earn this honor. She loves her cows.

We had choices to make in the election when 16.3 percent of the Douglas County’s 10,129 registered voters came out to exercise their franchise. Someone said, “If you don’t vote you can’t gripe.” We can gripe if we want to, even if we vote. It is part of our inalienable rights guaranteed in the First Amendment. Thanks go out to the poll workers who put in a long day which starts with taking the oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The Second Saturday Skyline Swap Meet at the Brushy Knob Church on the corner of Highway 76 and C had fewer vendors this time, most likely because the two previous months both were hampered by inclement weather. The weather was lovely this time and the garden produce and farm eggs, the baked goods, and craft items were well received. The next event will be September 11 and 12 and will feature a free clothing swap. The idea is to bring your unwanted clothing and look for some you might want. It is a free clothing swap. To make donations or for more information text or call Jill (503) 867-1113.

Dawn Henson writes in to ask about the Champion School Reunion. Once again, it will take place on the Saturday of the Labor Day Weekend—this year September 5th. Last year there were thirty-seven names on the sign-in sheet at the reunion with a dozen or more unsigned. The alumni are few, but the old days are called up in rich nostalgia. We have much to learn from history and much to appreciate in our good community.

About three o clock on Sunday afternoon the Skyline Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to East Champion out on CR 234 where they found a mobile home fully engulfed. The occupant had run through the flames to escape and was transported by ambulance to the Mercy Hospital Burn Unit with serious burns. The dog and the horse were ok. Neighbors are grateful for the Skyline VFD, for their speedy response and efficiency. Thank those valiant first responders who are out there protecting our property and our lives. We have abundant reasons for gratitude in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

On that seriously hot Monday at the end of July an East-Champion woman was on her way to town when her car slowed down and stopped out on the grassy edge of 95 highway somewhere up on the north side of Prior. Roy Crouch had seen it happen and reckoned that something was wrong, so he turned around, drove back and asked the driver if she was alright. She was okay, but her car was not. Roy took her on into town where she was able to arrange to have it towed into Simons Automotive. Roy was already a hero in the community for his good work with the Eastern Douglas County Volunteer Fire Department. Add a feather to his cap for being a kind good neighbor willing to help a stranger. Bravo.

Beethoven said, “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.” Music lover Dean Upshaw has a birthday on July 13th. That is also the birthday of Skyline School’s kindergarten teacher Sarah Goss. Morgan Johnson was in the 8th grade at Skyline last year and has a birthday to celebrate on July 14th. That is also the day all of Champion will celebrate Blaine Denlow’s favorite old cowboy, her dad, the patriarch of the Wolf Pen Cattle Company. On the 15th we remember Mary Graham. The 16th is for Lee Borders who will be in the 5th grade at Skyline this year. Somewhere between 9,800 and 10,000 people are born in the United States every day. Welcome citizens, and happy birthday.

From Champion, going north on Cold Springs Road it would be easy to miss Orville Hicks’ old barn on the left side of the road. Vines and trees have overtaken it. In recent years it was a roosting place for buzzards. Long years ago, it stored the hay and served all the purposes of a barn on the farm. East of Fox Creek and the OK Corral out on Highway 76 the place we call the old Coffman place is almost invisible now. Driving by it twenty years ago, we saw the sturdy log construction and an interesting stone structure beside it–maybe a cellar or well house. Ranson Proctor built the house sometime in the 1880’s according to one of his distant kinfolks, a great nephew of a couple of his wives. Ranson went off to Washington state in later years where he operated a hotel. Perhaps it was his first wife or his second one who planted the flowers that still bloom there every spring. By next spring those flowers will be the only evidence that anyone ever lived there. There is mystery and rich history in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Kirby Clark played the National Anthem on the fiddle as the American Legion post 30 Honor Guard presented the colors at the Up‘n At’t 4H picnic. We have to thank Pete (Lyman) Proctor, Doug Larabee, Phyllis Long, Billy Lee, and Francis Marler for their service and for their civic service providing this important ceremony. The wonderful music, fun and games and lots of good food make this a great affair. Seeing folks that you haven’t seen since this picnic last year is the icing on the cake.

We remember Elitta January on her birthday, August 1st. She passed away in 2011 but is often remembered for her kindness as a hospice nurse and remembered well by many friends and especially by her bridge friends who knew her to be a fierce and fun-loving competitor. Champion grandson, Seamus Heffern celebrates on August 2, and the 3rd is for sparky Clark Shannon and for a guy Gary Jones called “RD” who was said to have been 66 in 2018. We will be voting on August 4th. Be sure and thank the poll workers. They put in a long day. Genesis Castillo will be a fifth grader at Skyline this year. Her birthday is August 5th and the 6th is for seventh grader Jaxton Harley. Whetstone Band’s own Gina Hollingshad and Ron Shot of the award-winning Wright County Journal also celebrate on the 6th. Joy’s friend Michael Morris has a birthday on the 7th and Champion Roger Wiseman enjoys the 8th. Lynette Cantrell may strum her mandolin and sing on her birthday August 9th. Birthdays mark milestones and give us good reasons to acknowledge and celebrate family and friends. We are alert to the swift passage of time.

Good advice we remember from an Old Champion concerning the air conditioner in the truck or car. When you get where you are going, turn the ac off before you turn the key off. Every time. He said it was hard on a rig to start the engine up with the air-conditioned on or that it would reduce the life of the ac or something. He also said it is not good to have a lot of heavy stuff on the key ring. He said it was hard on the ignition. The heat is hard on everyone. We are grateful for air conditioning and for good advice. Feel free to address any good news or sound advice to The Champion News Rt. 72 Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717. Some good news is that Sarah and Andrew Harden are now somebody’s mother-in-law and father-in-law. Some good advice out of that family is “Turn something annoying into a blessing reminder.” Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Among the birthdays we have neglected are those of Woody Guthrie and Sharry Lovan, both extraordinary musicians. Guthrie was born July 14, 1912, the year the Titanic sank and on the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille in France in 1790. He is considered one of the most significant figures in American folk music. Sharry’s birthday is July 19th and in addition to being an extraordinary cook and fearless motorcycle rider, she is part of Stringed Union, the local band involved in good works all over this part of the world. Every year they come to our Skyline School to introduce students to the various instruments and to perpetuate the love of music. The 19th is also the birthday of Ethan Alexander and Champion Zee Heffern a couple of interesting young men. We use birthdays to celebrate and to be celebrated.

Years have passed without hearing from self-proclaimed Champion, Eulalia Jasmin. Older now, she writes to The Champion News and some of her observations are close to the ground. Turtles. She says she is saddened to know that barbaric turtle races are still going on in country fairs and picnics. The box turtle is the official state reptile of Missouri and can live as long as 50 years. The Conservation Department says many box turtles are captured by people and taken home to be kept as pets. “Such captive conditions are in direct conflict with the biological needs of these turtles; they may slowly starve to death or grow abnormal shells, claws, and jaws if not maintained and cared for correctly.” They should not be kept in captivity. Their shells are living; a porous tissue filled with blood vessels and nerve endings. “Don’t paint them,” Eulalia says because paint toxins seep directly into their bloodstream. Thousands of box turtles are killed annually while crossing roads and highways. If you want to assist a turtle, move it in the direction it was going. “And leave them alone,” she says. “Certainly, don’t soak them in coffee and send them out to race for your folly.” Eulalia is pretty wound up over this issue. She says our box turtles are to be admired by humans for their symbolic characteristics of slow, steady progress, longevity and resilience. As reptiles go, she says they are Champions. Her mail never has a return address on it, but she claims to be a Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Just for the fun of it, here is another of her letters from July 23, 2020.

“What a wonderful time to be living!” extols Eulalia Jasmin in her recent letter to The Champion News at Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717. She says the current upheaval of the whole world gives us a chance to recalibrate, to reorganize, to rebuild in a better way. She is excited to be alive right now and hopes she will live long enough to see an improved world. Her return address is always a mystery. Use the search engine on the www.championnnews.us website to see her observations, advice and council over the years. Wherever she is, she says she considers Champion her home, though we do not know if she has ever been here. “A line from my friends is like balm to my soul,” said Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Macon in November of 1821. A handwritten letter is always welcome. The USPS is a necessary institution for grandparents marooned from the smartest, most talented, best looking children in the world. Businessman, Louis DeJoy, heads up the outfit now. Postal patrons hope he will use his 35 years of business experience in reverse, as his expertise heretofore has been in labor analytics—the art of eliminating as many jobs as possible. Those voting by mail because of COVID-19 did not have to have their absentee ballots notarized, but they had to arrive at the court house by the 23rd. (You can still vote absentee by going to the court house up until August 4th.) The system that has been trusted with our Social Security checks, our medications, and letters from grandchildren should be able to handle the National Election, if left unimpeded. Maybe Mr. DeJoy will join Ms. DeVos on one of her yachts and they can sail off into the sunset and have some kind of redemptive adventure before they incuriously reach the edge.

The 60th annual Vanzant Community Picnic has garnered rave reviews on all fronts. Nigh on to a thousand people spent a couple of evenings together exemplifying true community. That number includes a small army of firefighters and their families from the Eastern Douglas County Volunteer Fire Department and all the surrounding volunteer fire departments—Skyline, Squires, Brixey Rockbridge. They did all the hard work that let the rest of us have a good time. Roy Crouch could be seen everywhere riding loose herd on the whole wonderful event. He emphasizes the crucial role of the sponsors: ZZ Insurance, Farmers Ag, Vanzant Baptist Church, Wright County Land Services, Grove Portable Buildings, Jason Macpherson, Stockmens Bank, Feld Fire and others. The American Legion Post presented the colors both evenings. Along with all the games, bingo, cake walk and excellent picnic food, other attractions included The Butterfield Stagecoach, the Blood Mobile and the Quilt Show. The music line-up was superb, as usual, and the fireworks at the end of the evening rivaled any to be seen anywhere in this part of the country. A favorite venerable Old Champion often said, “When things are good, say so.” It was good. It is good to catch up with friends who only see each other at this event year after year.

John Webber has a grandson named Thomas who lives way out west somewhere. His grandpa’s birthday is on July 25th. Wade Day was at the picnic and his birthday is July 27th. Reba Bishop and Skyline fifth grader Joey White share a birthday on the 28th. The 29th is for Karen Ross, who cheerfully delivered our mail for years in Champion, and for Skyline School’s amazing music teacher Cheyenne MacIntosh. If you have an extra ukulele lying about, Cheyenne can put it to good use. Last year Warren Appling was a prekindergarten student at Skyline and Rayven Castillo was a first grader. They share a birthday on July 30th.

More concerning what is good: A gentleman (one who can play the accordion but doesn’t) happened to have an air compressor handy to assist a neighbor with a flat tire. A good neighbor is a treasure, and the wide veranda was full of them on Wednesday. They visited and shared news about family members far and near and about local fairs and livestock shows, about gardens and history. Friday brought another Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!