Champion News

A Champion son refers us to a quote by Marcus Aurelius: “Don’t be overheard complaining…not even to yourself.” The reign of this Roman emperor from 161 AD to 180 AD continued an age of relative peace, calm and stability that had started in 27 BC. He had lots of things to say like, “The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.” We have lots to think about these days.

A “Mayday” alert is used for life-threatening situations which may well apply this Sunday night as the weather forecast seems more exciting than we might like. Otherwise, May Day observances are more pleasant to contemplate. May first is celebrated as International Workers’ Day stemming from the 1886 campaign for an 8-hour workday. May Day also marks the return of spring and the beginning of summer when there may well be folks dancing around a Maypole somewhere. Skyline fifth grader Holden Johnson, first grader Claire Wangsgard and Skyline art teacher Danielle Campbell all celebrate their birthdays on May 1st. Dovie Dooms has her party on May 2nd, as does our friend Lee Mastin who has moved to North Carolina. Linda Heffern will celebrate on May 6th. She lives up in Springfield but has real Champion connections. Kenneth Anderson is well acquainted with Champion and will most likely be sung to at the Vanzant Jam on the 7th, though his birthday is on the 8th. On the 9th we remember Bonnie Brixey Mullens and that is the big day for Skyline first grader Mikel Kolterman-Young. Second grader Wesley Boyd will celebrate on the 11th. Your friends and families all wish for you to have beautiful birthdays and good memories.

For manicured lawns in cities and towns, Bermuda grass may be a lovely thing. For vegetable gardeners out in the country, it is a pain in a variety of places. It must be wrestled with and pulled carefully because the least little part of it left in the ground will sprout anew. We are reminded of another quote by farmer who worked behind mules as a girl and was known for her ability to throw up terraces in dry land farming out in west Texas. Exer Hector would say of anything awkward, unnecessarily complicated and difficult, “It’s like trying to put a side-saddle on a hog.” Calvin Chambers and a bunch of his buddies saddled up their four wheeling mules and made a sashay through Champion on Saturday. Hopes are he and other equestrians will join Bud Hutchison’s Memorial trail ride heading up on the Bright Side on May 6th. We are full of gratitude and optimism in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Champion Jenna Brixey received her State FFA Degree at the 98th Missouri FFA Convention in Columbia on Friday. She won State Dairy Production Entrepreneurship. Jacob’s team also received recognition, and the family made a holiday of it visiting Rock Bridge State Park and having photos taken under a 400-year-old Burr Oak tree. Congratulations to the Brixeys and to all our future farmers. We will always need you.

Glorious springtime brings ticks and with the Lone Star variety comes the alfa gal syndrome that requires keen attention to diet. The Yes Honey Company of Norwood makes sodas, sauces, syrups and dressings that are healthy alternatives to products that can cause serious health problems. Aspiring fiddler Mena Dutton has taken a job with Yes Honey, right up the road, and has good things to say about the products and the organization which innovates and advocates for a healthy, transparent approach to food. Managing dietary needs or just looking for some natural sweetness, it is nice to support local businesses.

We celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd. This has been going on for the last 56 years. The theme this year is “Our Power, Our Planet,” focusing on accelerating the transition to renewable energy for a sustainable future. Our world is changing fast in a variety of ways.

Exciting things have been going on at our Skyline R2 School as the school year is rapidly coming to a close. The last day will be May 1st. Before then Skyline Prekindergarten student Eloise Weller will have her birthday on April 23rd. Mushroom and arrowhead hunter, tree guy Jacob Moffett celebrates on the 24th. Fiddler Mike Satterfield is the proud father of Miss Willow Rose and has his big day on April 25th. We remember Gary Proctor, a Vietnam Veteran and Champion on his birthday on April 26th. Juniper Wiltse lives in downtown Champion and is an equestrian and talented guitarist with a birthday on April 28th. Champion granddaughter Taegan Krider has April 30th. Juniper is already a veteran of Bud Hutchison’s Memorial Trail Ride. It will take out of Champion again at 10:00 am on May 6th. Andrew Harden heads up the ride and keeps many good memories going for Champions—Looking on the Bright Side!

Something pleasant can happen on any day in Champion. Wednesday the pleasantries included a visit from Kaitlyn McConnell and her traveling companion Mike O’Brien. She opened her basket to reveal an Impossible Pie. (Page 47 in her book The Ozark Pie Project Diary, available at the store.) She joined the acapella porch choir singing “Victory in Jesus” and bought some pie supplies before she and Mike headed off to Rockbridge for lunch. J.C. Owsley stopped by later for a brief visit while out on an adventure through Douglas and Ozark Counties. He was in a hurry, so he did not buy a cowbell this time.

Thursday had jammers appreciating the updated Vanzant Community Building. The music was good and the potluck was amazing as always. Doug and Margery Larrabee are regular attendees. Doug asked about the morrell mushrooms referenced in The Champion News. His had not reappeared to his satisfaction. He should take lessons from young Blaine Woods, who had her picture taken with about half a bushel of them on Easter Sunday.

Doug was also curious about our birthday celebrations. Perhaps his name will wind up in our birthday book eventually. That is what happened to Mena Dutton. Her birthday was Friday, April 10th, which happened to be the day our first hummingbird scout showed up at an Old Champion’s feeder. We are reminded that the recipe for hummingbird nectar is one part granulated sugar to four parts water. They say boil the water to help dissolve the sugar and then to let it cool completely. Experts say never to use red dye, honey or brown sugar, as these can harm the birds. We are grateful for the entertainment they provide and for all the natural beauty we are privileged to enjoy in this part of the world.

Saturday was the first Skyline Swap Meet of the year. It happens on the second Saturday of the month from now through the summer at the corner of Highway C and 76 Highway from 8:00 am to noon or there abouts. Find baked goods, eggs, small animals, crafts of various types, garden plants, and garage sale items. It looks like the next one will be on the 9th of May, just the day before Mother’s Day. We celebrate our Mothers every day here in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Days slip by quickly in Champion.  Spring is all over us and we are dazzled by the red buds and dogwoods.  The little bit of rain has lifted our spirits and our hopes particularly as the morels are up in profusion. It is easy to lose track of things.

Pete Proctor reminded us of March 29th Honoring all who served in Viet Nam.  151,000 Missourians served. 1,141 of those soldiers are memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

We remember dear Beverly Coffman Emery on her birthday on April 7th.  Her spirit of fun was matched with her kindness, and her many friends miss her yet.  Margie Carr also has April 7th as her birthday, and she has undisclosed family connections to The General himself.  Lindsey Short celebrates on April 8th.  Felix the Farmer will probably sing to her and make her a special card.  He is good at that.  Champion grandson Dylon Watts has a birthday on April 12th, and it is rumored that he will soon be a father.  Studebaker Bob Berry will rev up his beautiful red 1946 Studebaker pickup truck on his birthday on April 14. Skyline prekindergarten student Wesley Wangsgard also celebrates that day.  April 15th has been income Tax Day for a long time.  Champion son-in-law Dustin Cline celebrates that day and remembers his wife’s aunt Vivian Floyd with whom he shared the day.  Many remember George Gary Jones that day, a Veteran and as good a friend as anyone could ever hope to have.  John Jolly’s birthday is also Tax Day.  We remember sweet Myrtle Harris on April 19th and her beautiful flowers.  One of our favorite Fox Creek Farmers will be old enough to get his driver’s license on April 20th.  So, happy birthday to all you who are still with us and to those who are not, we are grateful to have had you in our lives.

In our Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it we watched the Easter bunny hippity hop fun for our young ones.   The religious significance of the holiday gives us hope for a loving peaceful world in the future.  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

A Tuesday afternoon found an Old Champion sitting on the front porch listening to the birds and marveling at the approach of Spring even as the persistent drought has things thwarted so far. The promise of rain in the coming week will liven things up considerably. The big sound of the tiny Black Capped Chickadee filled the air though the little critters were nowhere to be seen. A pleasant warm afternoon became more pleasant with the arrival of a couple of big noisy road graders. Bobby Emery on one was showing a new hire to the road crew Cold Springs Road and giving him some good instruction. With several hundred miles of dirt/gravel roads to maintain it is a red-letter day when Bobby and the road guys can come our way.

It was smooth sailing down to Champion for the Wednesday Jam on the wide veranda. Thursday’s Vanzant Jam was on hold for the week as significant upgrades were in progress on the Community Building. Good things can happen at any time. Among those good things are birthdays like that of Skyline fourth grader Frederick Smith who celebrates on April 4th. The 5th is the big day for Fox Creek Cow Farmer Mandi Boehs. Carissa Rene of Hero’s Rest may tune up her mandolin and sing that song to herself on April 6th. We remember Bud Hutchison on his birthday on April 8th. He headed up a trail ride out of Champion in the spring and fall for years. These days it is called Bud Hutchison’s Memorial Trail ride and Andrew Harden has kept it going. Donnie Luna keeps our wonderful Skyline School going. He shares his birthday on April 9th with Candace Mayberry, Skyline’s SPED coordinator. Happy birthday to all of you. Enjoy your special days.

Saturday was a special day for seventy-seven stalwart citizens of Ava who were among the more than eight million people who took to the streets of the Nation to exercise their right to free speech. While opinions may vary widely on any given subject, the right to express them is one that was secured for us by the efforts of many generations of our brave forbearers—Champions—Looking on the Bright Side!

Champions determined to get the potatoes in the ground on St. Patrick’s Day determined that the next day would be close enough since it was forty degrees warmer the next day. One of the almanacs says the 18th will be poor for planting. Time will tell. Until time to get seeds in the ground there are plenty of springtime things to do. One old Campion is on a window washing campaign trying to get the special ones done before the hummingbirds arrive, which could be any day now. Wild peaches are blooming and mushroom hunters are surely out. Time flies.

From the March 18, 2007 issue of The Champion News at www.championnews.us we read, “The expected large turn-out for Champion’s First Annual Unorganized, Unauthorized and Unannounced St. Patrick’s Day Parade was a no show. Oh, there was the usual Saturday parade of regulars in and out of The Store throughout the course of the day and there was, no doubt, a mention of the Irish here and there, but the throngs of revelers were nowhere to be seen. Most of them were out in their potato patches doing what has to be done at this time of the year to make potatoes happen. It was the digging and seeding and the mulching that kept people off the street. There were frantic calls for newspapers from various farmers. Ed Henson was quoted by several regarding the use of newspapers to keep the dirt out of the eyes of the potatoes so they could see to come up. It has been suggested that a Champion Parade Committee should be organized so that a better showing can be made next year. The example set by the Spotted Hog community as reported in the Spotted Hog Yearly Gazette of a number of years ago is one to be emulated. It might be the good luck of Champion to secure Cletus Upshaw’s services as Grand Marshall. He was the official Director of Traffic at the now famous Spotted Hog Christmas Parade and clearly has more parade expertise than any who have so far stepped forward. It will be taken under advisement by the, as yet, unformed committee.”

Julie Heir lives up in a suburb of St. Louis or Kansas City and visits in Champion on her way to her family’s country place somewhere southwest of here. She shared an interesting book, “Mystery of the Irish Wilderness,” by Leland and Crystal Payton. It is a good read about the land and legend of Father John Joseph Hogan’s lost Irish colony in the Ozark wilderness. Julie called the other day asking about the ticks. She hopes to bring her four year old granddaughter down on her next visit, but would not like to return her to her mother with a tick bite. It was suggested that she speak with the Missouri Department of Conservation for whatever information they might have on the subject.

March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, is also the birthday of Skyline School’s assistant cook Jenifer Trujillo. The talented young Scotsman, Charlie Macsween, has his birthday on the first day of Spring! On March 23rd Skyline kindergarten student Georgia Proctor will share her birthday with appliance doctor Donald Powell, with The General’s fair daughter Elva Upshaw, with true morel hunter Judie Pennington, and with Seahawks fan Susan Perry. On March 26th we remember Champion Troy Powell who loved gospel music. He was born in 1926 and passed away on his birthday in 2001. Skyline fourth grader Aliyiea Trujillo shares her birthday on March 27th with first grade teacher Joycelyn Downs. Tucker Johnson is in the seventh grade. He shares his birthday on March 30th with third grade teacher Melissa Wilhite. March ends on the 31st with a celebration of Morag Edward, artist, musician, scholar and intrepid sailor who not long ago crossed the wide Atlantic from Portugal to Argentina under sail. Happy birthday to all you exciting, interesting people.

With more good weather, the Sometimes Porch Band might convene on the wide veranda again and Ms. B. Denlow’s Saturday Coloring Club will likely produce some excellent renderings. Good things happen all the time in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

The wild vicissitudes of weather and of life in general keep Champions on their toes. They are not tiptoeing through the tulips, but are awash in daffodils, and big fields of grass seem to have turned green overnight. Spring is almost here even as we have sprung forward in time. Folks with jobs and students are having to adjust for the time change, while old, retired people are hardly bothered at all. Garden planning and preparation is well underway. In the absence of a good yard dog, constructing a fence tall enough to discourage deer takes some serious effort. Living in the country includes serious challenges and daily delights. Lucky us.

Kay Dennis may still be making brooms. Her birthday is March 9th. Skyline third grader, C.J. Castillo, celebrates on the 11th. The 12th is the day we remember Champion Geoff Metroplos and Cathie Odneal. Geoff was a master of many trades. One of his old friends said of his own carpentry that Geoff would be the only person who would see that it was out of plumb or not level. Cathie and her sister, Myrtle Harris, were regulars at the Vanzant Jam. That is where J.R. Johnston could be found with his banjo every Thursday. March 13th was his birthday. Skyline seventh grader, Trinity Castillo, will party on the 13th and fifth grader, Lillith Jeffery, will do that on March 16th, as will Elizabeth Mastrangelo Brown. Meanwhile, over in Scotland, Ursula Donnely and Sam Sonite will share the Ides of March for their big day. Sam is exactly 30 years older than his distant cousin Jacob Masters, who lives around Houston Texas and has a serious background in baseball. Skyline eighth grader, Grace Spence, will have her birthday on March 18th, and her Champion friends and neighbors wish her and all our celebrants happy days and good memories.

“Camp Learn A Lot” at Skyline on Thursday evening was full of adventure, literacy and math exploration with hands on learning. And Friday students and staff gave a big shout out to Mr. Bud. He is the maintenance engineer that keeps the place running smoothly, fixing problems and keeping the building safe and ready every day. He can be seen taking care of the grounds and taking care of the buses and doing all the everyday things that keep our great little rural school going. What a Champion! Looking on the Bright Side!