Champion News

We are dismayed. May is over. It seemed to have gone by fast with well over twice the usual rainfall for the month and lots more hail than necessary. Farmers and hay makers might be having difficulties with the unsettled, uncertain weather. In the few dry days between deluges, they are working hard to get things done. With rain and thunderstorms predicted for the week ahead, we will wish them luck and thank them for all the work they do to keep us fed. Calvin Chambers says he is ready for the rain. His hay is rolled.

Felix the Farmer will be celebrating his grandfather’s birthday on June 2nd. June the 3rd is a special day for Maxine Bruce over in Brushy Knob, and for Theresa Howard who lives in New Vienna, Ohio and has ties to Champion. Banjo player extraordinaire David Medlock shares his birthday on the 6th with Ozarks Alive, Kaitlyn McConnell. Ava Hurt will be a sixth-grade student at Skyline when school starts again. Her birthday is on June 8th. Fourth grade teacher Sydney Fox has a birthday on June 9th, a day she shares with Champion Amy Powell. Frank Martin of West Plains’ Daily Quill fame lives over in Peace Valley. His birthday is June 10th. Blaine Denlow’s old grandpa has a birthday on the 11th. Fiddler David Scrivner celebrates on the 13th. He is a regular and a mainstay at McClurg’s great jam. Marideth Sisco, Ozarks’ storyteller folklorist, another former journalist at the West Plains’ Daily Quill, will be celebrated on the 15th. Birthdays give us the opportunity to express our love and appreciation for our friends and family. We can do that at any time, any day of the week, but happy birthday to all you Champions.

The Muddy Creek Corral and Music Hall opened up in Sparta in May. They have live music, Karaoke, trivia, bingo, all kinds of food and drinks and, wouldn’t you know it? Tom Peters has been there already. He shared videos of the Lonesome Express playing “San Antonio Rose,” “Time Changes Everything,” “Wichita Lineman,” and other tunes on Saturday. Sometime during the week, he had been at the Old Field Opera to hear “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” played beautifully on guitar, fiddle, banjo & bass. Monday night and the McClurg bunch were singing “On My Way to Boston,” and Ruby Adams was waltzing with Stephen Assenmacher. On the first jam in June forty-six came out on the beautiful evening. Facebookers say thanks again to Tom for sharing the fun.

What joy it is to sit still and quiet in the garden on a sunny early summer Saturday with birds’ sweet soothing songs and the stillness that gives us rest. Being torn between an obligation to be informed as a citizen and trying not to worry about things over which we have no control is the very definition of stress. Stress relief can come in the form of prayer, meditation, exercise, alcohol, food, music and many other things, especially gardening. The growing season is still young so there will be time yet for reaping what we sow, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Genealogy, a hot topic in Champion, had The General and The Prominent Champion at odds. They are kin several times ‘removed,’ but both were still there on Wednesday. Idaho sojourners, Darcy (Upshaw) and Ron Cecil, bunking temporarily at The Chateau in downtown Vanzant, figure significantly into the family. They are in town to visit family and to attend the Denlow School Reunion. Big rains and power outages altered the gathering but by no means cancelled it. The pavilion, turned kitchen and dining hall, saw thirty-five alumni, descendants, family and friends enjoying good food, each other, and sweet memories. They came from all around Missouri, from Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas and Idaho with reports of folks back home and remembrances of these beautiful hills and hollows in the days of their youth. Logistics interfered with an auction, but not with the laughter. Surely the weather will be better next year for the big 40th Denlow-Fairview School Reunion to be held in the same sweet spot.

Worldly possessions can pose a burden on heirs uninterested in the old folks’ stuff. We may spend the first half of our lives accumulating things and the last little portion trying to get rid of them. People who have lost everything in house fires lament most the loss of family photos. Names and dates written on the back keep them from being mysteries to heirs if they survive to be passed along. Darcy Cecil works for a big auction outfit in Boise, Idaho. She has stories. Among many other things, an Upshaw anvil will go on the block over in Mt. Grove on Saturday the 14th, part of the Vernon and Elgin Upshaw estate.

Somewhere on the White River Electric Co-Op line, a tree fell across the line and the creek was so high thereabouts the linemen were unable to get to it until the water receded. The power was just out from eight in the morning until five or so in the evening. During that time with no lights, telephones, television, or internet, while filling the oil lamps in anticipation of a long dark night, thoughts came of the many across the world without these luxuries because they have been disrupted by natural catastrophes or war or lack of development. A small inconvenience that many live with continually sparks a little compassion.

The month is called May because it may rain, it may be 70 degrees or 30 degrees, it may snow, there may be hail and tornadoes. By the time this is in ink, perhaps the rain will have stopped, and neighbors will compare tallies as things may begin to dry up. It is said that one can recover from dehydration, but not from drowning. Water is a powerful force. Highways 95 and 76 were strewn with debris following Friday’s big hailstorm that cut a narrow path through the area. Downtown Champion was spared, but farmers and gardeners north and east were pummeled. A dairy farmer said his hay field looked like a brush hog had been over it. Gardeners up on Cold Springs Road had potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and beans broken and beaten down. It is early in the season so there will be time to replant some things. The almanacs indicate that the 28th and 29th will be good for planting crops that have their yield above ground. The thought that everything will recover and will be ok again is one that gardeners and concerned citizens cling to when it seems that reason itself has tripped over a turnip and perished.

Tom was pleased to report 36 at the McClurg Jam Monday, with 10 percent of them in his own blood line. Some of the uplifting, toe tapping tunes included “Kennedy Rag” and “Last Train Home.” Alvie Dooms was seen in the audience enjoying Jimmy Rogers’ “Hobo’s Lament,” sung by Dawn Larson. Music is such a gift, like medicine. It inspires, encourages, uplifts, comforts and consoles in all its many forms.

Help! We are in a palindrome! That is when the date reads the same backwards and forwards as in 5-25-25. We had to look that word up. Other interesting things to look up are “Hanlon’s Razor” (Hanlon’s razor, also known as Hanlon’s principle, is a rule of thumb that encourages people to consider the most likely explanations for actions, favoring incompetence, ignorance, or mistakes over malice. It essentially states: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”), and the term “Cockwomble” (according to the Urban Dictionary, ‘Cockwomble’ is derogatory British slang for a person, usually male, who is prone to making outrageously stupid statements and/or inappropriate behavior while having a very high opinion of their own wisdom and importance). Looking up the history of Memorial Day and its beginning as Decoration Day we find the 1868 quote of Union Army Maj. Gen. John A. Logan: “Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten, as a people, the cost of free and undivided republic.” We remember in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Friday’s exciting weather had Champions grateful that it was not worse here and sorry for those suffering catastrophe and loss. We start a new week being ‘weather aware.’ By the time this is in ink we will know all about Monday’s storms. We hope for the best for everyone.

Birthdays to celebrate include Skyline kindergarten students Levi Johnstone born on May 21st. The 22nd is for coconut cream pie maker Teresa Wrinkles. Her pies are as famous now as those of her Mother-in-law, Esther Wrinkles who, like Teresa, raised copious amounts of money for good causes all around the area. Fifth grader Keller Boehs out on Fox Creek also enjoys the 22nd. Second grade Skyliner Jennings Harley celebrates on May 24th and Chase Cauthron’s mother Mandy enjoys that day as well. We celebrate Lena Bell Wagner on the 25th. She routinely trounces her brother in their Wednesday Scrabble. Skyline counselor Leslie Top shares the 26th with John Webber, who is a frequenter of the Junction Coffee Clatch. We remember Ed Henson, born May 27, 1903. He might ask a newcomer if the whippoorwills hollered ‘after dark’ up at their house. Champion Paula Mudd also has the 27th for her big day and the next day is for her great granddaughter Brylee Clark. Third grader Presleigh Miller enjoys that day too. Wheelwright Dale Thomas was born May 28, 1939. He and Betty started the great Pioneer Descendants Gathering down in Yates. Jesse Mae Miller’s birthday is also May 28th. She always enjoyed the Denlow School Reunion. The 39th annual reunion will happen there on Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend. Alumni of the Denlow and Fairview Schools, their families, descendants and friends from Arkansas, Kentucky and various parts of Missouri will gather for lunch in the basement of the church. Ed Williams will prepare his specialties of fried chicken and fish and other things. Attendees will bring side dishes and desserts. After lunch everyone will repair to the pavilion for visiting and fun. The auction that supports the event is always a hilarious affair and the spirit of community is everlasting.

Tom Peters says 21 intrepid souls made it to McClurg on Monday’s stormy night playing “Angels Band” and “Sugar Tree Stump” among others.

Memorial Day, formerly Decoration Day, is the holiday set aside for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the Armed Forces. These days approximately 0.4% of the American population is serving in the active-duty armed forces. About 6% of U.S. adults are veterans. We honor those who have died keeping us safe and we appreciate all those who have signed up to do that past and present. While we are at it, we pay homage with flowers to other dear ones at rest in cemeteries across the country. We remember Champions—Looking on the Bright Side!