Champion News

CHAMPION—June 15, 2015

A Champion Deluge

        Father’s Day is coming around on the calendar again.  Those fortunate children with a living father can celebrate him with cards, gifts and phone calls.  Those who lost him years ago or just recently will remember the good things about him and perhaps become newly aware of what he was about, how hard he worked and what you meant to him.  The idea of the commemoration was long standing before it became an official holiday in 1972.  One story about the beginnings of the observance of Father’s Day has to do with the Monongah Mining Disaster of 1907, near Fairmont, West Virginia.  An explosion occurred that instantly killed most of the 367 miners working inside the mines.  Coal dust or methane gas was ignited and more than a thousand children lost their fathers that morning.  The exact number of fatalities was never determined, though later investigations in the 1960’s suggested a fairer number to have been five hundred men and boys.  Today there are monuments in Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Fairmont and in San Giovanni in Fiore, Italy from which many of the miners emigrated.  “The sacrifice of those strong men shall bolster new generations,” says the Italian monument.  This terrible accident and others sparked public demand for oversight to help regulate mines and as a result the United States Bureau of Mines came into being.  The celebration honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds and the influence of fathers in society is part of American and World history now.  New generations are encouraged by the examples of those hardworking fathers whose rules and regulations and oversight have kept you in line and shown you the way.  He is always looking out for you.  Thanks, Dad.  Linda Clark has already posted a picture of her dad and his banjo upon the internet.  Celebrate Champion Fathers.

Kindergarten student, Caleb Harden, was joined by parents, students, community members and staff at the first Skyline School Work Day on Friday, June 12th.

        There was a good turn-out for the first Skyline Work Day.  Terri Ryan reported that they were able to give the gym and the stage a much needed coat of paint.  She said “It was great to have parents, students, community members, and staff come together and get things done.”  A grant from True Value came through Cooper Lumber in the form of gallons and gallons of red and white paint. Caleb Harden, a kindergarten student at Skyline, was the youngest participant on Friday.  He was joined in the venture by Sarah, Dana and Lydia Harden, Andrea Strong, Lisa Shepherd, Diane and Xue-Lin Altendorf, Nicky and Scott Johnson, Clayton and Jessica Chlarson, Jocelyn Downs (Skyline’s new third grade teacher), Katie Vivod, Wes Woods, Jeanne and Billie Curtis, Lisa Shepherd, Wilda Moses, and Roy and Terri Ryan.  There is still much to do and hopes are that there will be more opportunities this summer for the community to help to get the little school ready for another great year.  School secretary, Helen Batten, was pleased Monday morning when she came to work to see how bright and clean it all looked.  Daniel Parkes Jr., who will be in the third grade when school starts in the fall, will be nine years old on the 19th of June.  He will have a fresh, bright perspective on the year ahead.  He will know that people in the community care about his education—Champion!

The group painted the gym and stage and had a wonderful time doing it. Look for the opportunity to participate in the next Skyline Work Day to be announced.

        A long tradition of Champion children showing livestock at the fair continues with this generation of youngsters.  Foster Wiseman won the Grand Champion prize over the Jersey’s.  Brixey farmers Jenna and Jacob won prizes for herdsmanship.  Kalyssa Wiseman and Taegan had a wonderful time showing their calves.  They all won prizes and made memories that will build upon memories to make them life-long farmers and family farms are what the Nation needs.

        The television series Gunsmoke frequently figures in the conversation at the Wednesday gathering in the Historic Emporium over on the North side of the Square in downtown Champion.  Strother Martin is a favorite of the actors who played interesting rolls in the series.  His quote from “Cool Hand Luke” gets a regular mention:  “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”  Martin was a swimming instructor in the U.S. Navy during World War II and after the war he moved to Los Angeles and got his start in the movies.  He died young—age 61.  “Island in the Desert” is a favorite of his episodes on Gunsmoke.  “Little Girl” is another favorite, though Martin is not in this one.  Marshal Dillon had to find a suitable home for Charity Gill, a young orphan, after the little girl’s father died when his cabin caught fire.  Charity insisted that she should live with the Dodge City lawman.  He arrived back in town with her to find that the women had all gone to Topeka to fight for Women’s Suffrage.  “If they get it, we’ll all suffer,” said one of the men of the town.  That brings us back to the Historic Emporium down where country roads meet the pavement at the bottom of several steep hills on the wide, wild and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek.  It is 2015, and some ornery agitators, uninformed instigators, still rue the day the 19th Amendment passed guaranteeing all American women the right to vote.  Beginning about the time of the setting of this Gunsmoke episode, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve their goal.  They were murdered, imprisoned, tortured, beaten, starved, force fed, and intimidated in countless ways.  It is a hard-won right.  Considering that only 36.4 per cent of eligible voters participated in the last National election, if all the women in the country were to vote there might be some positive changes made.  The suffragist song, “We As Women” says, “Now then, all forward together!  But remember, every one, that ‘tis not by feminine innocence the work of the world is done.  The world needs strength and courage, and wisdom to help and feed.  When ‘We, as women” bring these to man, we shall lift the world indeed.”

        Will Harley ever get his hay in?  These are unsettled days weather-wise.  Good luck to all you farmers out there.  Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood indicates that the 17th and 18th and the 24th through the 28th will be good days to plant crops that bear their yield above ground.  “Plant three rows of peas:  Peas of mind, Peas of heart, Peas of soul.  Plant three rows of squash:  Squash indifference, Squash selfishness, Squash hate.  Plant three rows of lettuce:  Lettuce be kind.  Lettuce love one another.  Lettuce grow our own food.  Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.  There is so much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.”  Cindy Winchester of San Antonio, Texas shares this thoughtful poem by email at champion@championnews.us.  Share yours that way or by snail mail at The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or in person down on the wide veranda at the Historic Emporium.  Look across to the South Side of the Square and marvel at the Behemoth Bee Tree.  It seems to be sprouting a few limbs way up at the top.  Look in on www.championnews.us to see more of Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 8, 2015

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        June is the month for weather just like this.  It has been wet and it is humid.  Soon it will be the very definition of hot.  A few short months ago what we see now as green and verdant was white with brown brush, defoliated tree trunks and some pines and cedars sticking up in it and covered with it.  The word of the day was, “Brrrr!”  Now every kind of wildflower seems to be blooming and some domesticated plants seem to be blooming for the first time in years.  Vegetable gardens are already copiously producing beets and greens, cauliflower and broccoli.  Imagine how incredible the place we know every day as ‘home’ must seem to new arrivals.  They have entered into a wonderland.  Welcome to Champion!

        A community work day is scheduled for Friday, June 12th at the Skyline R2 School.  This little institution has been serving the community well since the 1950s.  It currently has about a hundred local children enrolled from prekindergarten to eighth grade.  It is a solid little institution offering all the things a student will need to move forward in the world.  Local merchants have donated paint to paint the gymnasium and skilled painters, as well as people who just like to paint, are encouraged to come out and lend a hand with the effort.  Bring your brushes and rollers.  The work day will start at 8:00 a.m., but there is no time clock for the volunteer.  Anytime you arrive will be a good time.  For people who would rather work outside, there are landscaping projects, ball field maintenance and the opportunity to explore, tend, and extend the nature trail that heads up between the greenhouse and the outdoor classroom.  Bring your rakes, shovels, nippers or any other favorite appropriate tool.  The many alumni who live in the area are encouraged to come back to school for a day of fun and accomplishment.  Newcomers are invited to get acquainted with the school, the administration and their neighbors as the community comes together in service of the school that is preparing the productive citizens of the future.  These future citizens will be running things soon and this is an excellent opportunity to set an example for community service.

        Every day is the birthday for a lot of people.  The number representing the world population is becoming sizeable.  June the 2nd was the birthday of a local archeologist whose recent interesting report on the mitigation phase of the archeological investigation at Lake Gilmer in Texas weighs almost four pounds.  Margie Cohen up in Stroudsburg, PA celebrates on June the third.  She is a skilled artist in, among other things, yarn, glass, paint, clay, music and life.  Wayne Sutherland was 85 years old on June 7th.  He is a Champion from way back and has stories to tell that are worth a listen.  His wife, Frances, and daughters, Laine and Greta, helped him celebrate.  Skyline 7th grader, Destiny Jeffrey also celebrates on the 7th.  She will be thirteen.  Ms. Powell’s lovely daughter-in-law has her day on the 9th.  Skyline student Jacob Shannon will be five on June 10th.  Glenn Dylan Ford graduated from Skyline this year.  He is off to the 9th grade and will have his 14th birthday on the 13th.  Zachary Coon will be a 4th grader in the fall.  He enjoys his birthday on June 15th.  Foster Emmet Wiseman will be ten years old on the 16th.  The years pass quickly as old folks watch the young ones grow up.  They can all remember being that young and it did not seem to be that long ago, relatively speaking.

        Don Bishop is a frequent visitor at the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square in Downtown Champion.  He grew up around these parts but has wound up way over in the general area of Vera Cruz.  He lives up on a hill out on Highway 14 somewhere near a big pile of firewood.  Last Wednesday at the regular noontime confab he said a while back his wife had gone to town (or somewhere) and he was sitting in the living room reading the paper (or something) when he heard a backfire/gunshot/explosion (or something) out in the kitchen.  When he investigated he found that a can of biscuits had been left out on the counter and had blown up.  It blew all the way to the ceiling and some biscuits were stuck up there.  The rest were all over the place.  The incident brought on a number of other biscuit can stories and admonitions to be sure to use them before the expiration date.  A certain popular farrier had a bear story to tell that happened around Thornfield somewhere.  It sounded like it was going to be an interesting story, but overlapping conversations and fabrications obscured it.  Hard- of-hearingness seems to plague persons of a certain age while others just do not seem to be able to defer to another, perhaps more interesting, storyteller.  The show-and-tell portion of the confab had another gadget that worked with steam.  Dave Partell and Bob Leach were studying it.  It was a smallish, cubical thing easily held in the hands, but its purpose was not revealed.  Last week a fine pair of silver plated six shooters was on display.  Their purpose was clear.

        ‘Relatively speaking’ is a way to make comparisons.  Considering all the difficulties that are present in completing any enormous project, any amount of accomplishment is significant.  Expectation is a recipe for disappointment.  Haymaking is one of those things.  Considering how much rain has fallen, how few dry days in a row, how heavy the hay, the condition of the equipment, the availability of help and a dozen other variables, the quantity and quality of hay that will be put up is wildly unpredictable.  So it is in life.  One cannot look at a work in progress and estimate the time of completion without knowledge of the capricious nature of the work itself.  It is true of people as well.  Some people are open books and it is easy to tell how they are–when they have lost at scrabble or won.  Others are opaque and may never reveal that they are suffering ill health, disappointment, struggles or grief.  It seems that joy is harder to conceal, but knowing what is going on with another person is not necessarily discovered just by looking at him.  That is where nonjudgmental compassion comes in—a truly Champion concept.

        Compliments came in emails to champion@championnews.us concerning the “continuing genocide of indigenous peoples”.  Ms. Ayne Thrope is appalled that Apache holy land may be given away by Congress to a mining company owned by Australia and Britain which will, if they get their hands on it, make an open pit, thousand foot deep mine.  She references a song by a well-known Cree songwriter/singer:  “Now here you come, bill of sale in your hand and surprise in your eyes that we’re lacking in thanks for the blessing of civilization you’ve brought us, the lessons you taught us, the ruin you brought us, Oh! See what our trust in America’s wrought us!”  The give-away is in the form of a rider to a must-pass military funding bill.  Opposition to the rider can be voiced to your Congressman.  It is said that those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.  Living in the past is a favorite amusement for some who see their prime to have been back then.  Flag Day is coming up on the 14th of the month.  The Stars and Stripes will be proudly on display on the wide veranda at the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square across from the monolithic bee tree that shows some small sign of sprouting new growth high up.  Champion–Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—June 1, 2015

        Memorial Day gatherings and reunions of families and schools have brought many wandering Champions home to look around and remember.  A treat down at the old Champion Store is often a favorite memory that comes with an image of Ed Henson or Anna behind the counter in the dimly lit little building with cardboard on the walls and the floor boards worn thin and smooth.  Ed’s birthday was May 27, 1903.  He was born in Douglas County, the son of Fred and Rebeca James Henson.  He was a merchant in Champion for 58 years.  There are many stories connected with this gentleman who was curious about everything and judgmental about very little.  His legendary memory of faces and families and keen, mischievous sense of humor keep him in high regard among his Champion friends long after his passing in 1998.  How lovely it would be to be pranked by him again.

        Wayne and Joann Anderson celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary over at Denlow on the 26th.  They were just kids when they married.  She was seventeen and he was nineteen.  That must be why they still look so young.  It could also be that they are the great grandparents of triplet infants about four months old, which must be hilarious.  Barbara & Harley Krider, another youthful pair, have a big anniversary coming up, their 50th.  The party will be on July the 3rd.  Pete and Bonnie Mullins will have their 60th on October 7th.  That will be just after Pete turns 88 on the first of October.  Pete is in fine fettle yet but a good conversation with him included the information that when you are younger and are able to be of some real help to some old guy, it makes you feel good—very good.  When you become that old guy it is important to let the younger guy help.  It is a favor to him.  It makes him feel good.  The gist of it being:  recognize as soon as possible when you need help and give the gift of allowing your loved ones to help you.  It is a challenge that all will face sooner or later.  Watch how graceful people do it and try to remember it.  Meanwhile, The General sends out messages to the out of state holiday visitors, “There are rules and regulations about transporting livestock over state lines so if you have by accident or design unlawfully transported some of our ticks, well, come and get the rest of them!”

        Waist high grasses waving in the breeze and forecasts for several dry days in a row have haymakers poised for action.  The countryside will be humming with mowers, rakers, tedders and balers.  “It was the hardest work for the least pay in my life,” said one erstwhile Champion of his hay bucking experience toward the end of the last century.  Big round bales are more popular these days and are probably more energy efficient to produce, though one wonders, looking at a hayfield recently harvested, how many miles of driving it takes from the time the fertilizer is spread until the hay is in the barn.  Farmers will be taking a rest out on the wide veranda at the Historic Emporium discussing weather prognostications, machinery maintenance and repair, and yield.  They will likely harken back to earlier times with stories of adventures out in the field with snakes and armadillos and will express some gratitude that, while it is still hard work, it is much improved.  June is the month when all the feeding, weeding, hoeing, and controlling of insects pay off with a thriving, healthy and productive garden.  Look for Linda’s Almanac up in Norwood at The Plant Place, at Henson’s Downtown G&G and on-line at www.championnews.us.  Now is the time!  Rascal Flatts sings, “In a book in a box in the closet/ in a line in a song I once heard/ in a moment on a front porch late one June/ in a breath inside a whisper beneath the moon.”  The red rose is the flower for the month of June and the pearl is the birthstone.

        A pleasant woman in Minnesota who happens to own stock in the McDonald’s Corporation recently had a big agriculture company buy land in her neighborhood to grow potatoes for her company’s famous French fries.  The topsoil there is shallow and sandy and made suitably acid for the growing of potatoes by years of decaying pine needles.  The company cleared all the pines, poured on the fertilizer and crop dusts once a week to control pests.  The neighborhood, once adjacent to a lovely pine forest, is now enjoying blowing soil and chemicals from the fields as the aquifer is simultaneously being depleted and poisoned.  When she attended the stockholders meeting of the corporation to address these issues she was denied entry.  She is upset.  Her investment has proven as detrimental to herself as it has in years past to the indigenous Yanomamo people of South America who were relocated to concentration camp like ‘reserves’ or slaughtered outright so that the rainforest could be bulldozed to make room for corporate cattle production so there would be burgers to go with her fries.  While the corporation struggles with its public image across the world with its charitable activities, its minimal adjustments to the pay scale of its employees and cosmetic adjustments to the menu for the illusion of healthiness, Ms. Stockholder is becoming aware that the decisions she makes ranging from her investments all the way to what she has for lunch can have far reaching implications.  Ethics are tricky.

        On the subject of trickiness,  “At the very last minute, Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake just snuck a provision into a must-pass military funding bill that gave away holy Apache land to an Australian-British mining company that plans to turn it into 1,000-foot-deep crater.  It is the first time in American history that Congress has handed over a public, sacred Native American site to a foreign owned multinational corporation.”  According to Lydia Millet, author and contributing opinion writer, this deal is an impressive new low in congressional corruption and it is unworthy of our country’s ideals.  The rider should be repealed unless people figure that as long as it is not ‘our’ holy ground, it does not matter.  Then there are those that think retirement age should be raised to 68 or 70 so we can ‘lower the deficit.’  Social Security does not add a single dollar to the deficit.  If you do not like the government, change it with your vote.  Figure out who is really looking after your best interests.  Register and vote.

        On June the 12th the Skyline R2 School will have a community work day.  It will start at 8 in the morning and go on until ‘whenever.’  There is painting, landscaping and work on the nature trail to be done.  Feel free to bring whatever tools you might like to use.  This is the little rural school that is educating the children who will be running the world before long.  It is a good investment.  Look for an announcement on the bulletin board down at the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square in thriving downtown Champion.  Share your June music and poetry at champion@championnews.us or at The Champion News, Rt. 72 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Tell your haymaking stories there or get political out on the spacious veranda overlooking the world’s most limbless bee tree.  Like golden arches, optimism is a brand in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—May 25, 2015

Joann Anderson snaps a photo of Wayne Anderson and Linda Anderson Clark
at a family grave in the Denlow Cemetery. It turned out to be a beautiful day.

        Memorial Day, Decoration Day and late spring reunions of families, communities and schools combined for a nostalgic whirlwind of social commotion amid weather that had been unsettled for days.  Americans who died while in the military service were duly and respectfully honored with flag ceremonies.  Ancestors, long gone, and family and friends recently departed were remembered and commemorated with flowers and gatherings to tell the old stories and remember.  This was the scene across the whole Nation and certainly Champion neighbors over in Denlow made a sterling showing of their combined commemorations.

The General Robert d’Hood Upstart demonstrates Hula hoop magic in hand made, croched multi colored faux lederhosen.

        The Denlow/Fairview School Reunion deserves a paragraph of its own.  There were off and on showers and almost continuous drizzle until early afternoon when the sun appeared to lighten the mood of the crowd, which was by all definitions of the word, pretty ‘light’ already.  Hula hoop contests replaced the traditional hula dance contest, as some are more conservative these days.  General Robert d’Hood Upstart officiated in his custom made crocheted multi-colored faux lederhosen and initiated the action with a demonstration of how it is done.  Fortunately, there were many grandchildren about who were able to more accurately depict the correct moves.  There were some dazzling displays of colorful hoops circling slim oscillating torsos exerting the necessary torque for the centripetal force to keep the thing up and going round and round.  The General shooed the children away with the admonition to ‘grow up’ and then instigated a dead heat contest among himself, The Kentucky Wonder and the Twister Sister.  It was a three way tie.  With the foolishness over, Lavern Miller, who was on his way to a horse auction in St. Louis, took charge and auctioned off a great variety of donated objects, the proceeds from which go to perpetuate this annual affair.  Among the items was the last quilt top that Ruby Proctor had made.  The family had it quilted and donated it for the auction.  Geneva Proctor, down from Oregon for the occasion was the successful bidder.  In spite of some overeager and yet incompetent help, Lavern did his usual good job.  The grassy hillside parking lot was full of cars and trucks with people coming and going all day visiting the cemetery with umbrellas, flags and flowers.  There was reported to have been in the neighborhood of 120 people in attendance.  There was also reported to have been an extraordinary plate of fudge on the desert table, but no evidence of it survived.  Those who enjoy The Champion News on line can read reports of the Denlow School Reunion in the archives on these dates:  June 2, 2014; May 25, 2013; May 28, 2012; May 29, 2011; May 31, 2010; May 18, 2009; May 26, 2008; and May 28, 2007.  These archives only go back until August of 2006, so before that time a person will just have to rely on memory.  There are some sweet ones to be had.

Proctor sisters Geneva, of Oregon, and Alice, from Iowa, are shown here with the quilt Geneva bought in the auction at The Denlow School Reunion. The last quilt top that Ruby Proctor made was finished by the family and donated to the auction. Now it is a family heirloom.

        The Proctor Family gathered at Denlow on Sunday for their reunion.  Pete has been working on getting this together for some while.  They came from Oregon, Kansas, Iowa, Oklahoma and other distant places to the home spot where the heart is.  There were lots of pictures being shared around and a display of ancestral photos going way back.  Jerry Proctor made good presentation of some family history:  “Wiley Proctor, my father, was told by his grandfather, Thomason Clingdon, that when Ransom [Proctor] and five of his six sons left Webster County Kentucky (Andrew was too sick to travel), they were planning on going to relatives that lived in central Missouri.  However, when they got to the Mississippi River, they were told that there was a lot of sickness and fever in that part of Missouri so Ransom then decided to go straight on west.”  That is how the family came to Douglas County.  Jerry has had DNA testing done which reveals that the Proctors can be traced back to the founders of the Jamestown Colony in 1607.  He said, “I tell my grandkids that when the pilgrims arrived in 1620, your ancestors were already here to tell the pilgrims where to ‘park’ the boat!”  “Family” is a beautiful word and this bunch fully exemplifies all the best qualities of the institution.  Moreover, their generosity of spirit is inclusive of strays hungry for a good family feeling otherwise unavailable to them currently.

Jessie Mae and Lavern Miller enjoy the Denlow School Reunion.

        Larry Hicks was at the Proctor reunion on Sunday.  During dinner he received texts from his family at home northeast of Oklahoma City to the effect that a great deal of rain had fallen in a short period of time causing dangerous flooding in his neighborhood.  Areas that have been in severe drought for a number of years are experiencing some devastating results from sudden deluges.  Picturesque riverfront towns have been all but washed away in Texas.  Lives have been lost and others changed forever in the matter of a few minutes.  Gratitude for our own good fortune comes with compassion for those suffering natural and man-made disasters and strife.

        On a quick trip to Norwood the other day a Champion saw cows, horses, dogs, cats, turkeys, deer, doves, turtles, armadillos(dead), squirrels (dead and alive), wild geese, crows, a great blue heron and multiple turkey vultures.  Additionally, there were deep fields of lush grasses undulating over the hills and wildflowers of many kinds.  The forest’s boughs are heavy now hiding mysterious dark alcoves running with seasonal springs.  Pilgrims home for a visit are overcome with the beauty of the place they remember.  They arrived from paved roads and dirt ones by way of old home places.  Some have not been back since the Historic Emporium had its Recreation and Grand Reopening back in 2011.  They have precious memories of Ed Henson and his good memory for faces.  His seemed always the same.  Pilgrims reported that at the same time they miss the Old Champion Store they are very much pleased with the replacement.  The art work, photos and memorabilia on display there and the same wood stove that warmed their forefathers let them feel at home again.  Bonnie Mullins was so happy to see the ramp at the west entry.  She was able to get out on to the wide veranda to gaze across the Square at the Monolithic Bee Tree on the wide, wild, and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek. In 1823, John Howard Payne wrote, “Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.  A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, which seek thro’ the world, is ne’er met elsewhere.  Home! Home! Sweet, sweet home!  There’s no place like home.  There’s no place like home.”  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION–May 18, 2015

A Champion Fog

        School is out!  It is hard to imagine a year going by so quickly.  Bridge playing friends arrived at the school parking lot early for their rendezvous on Saturday evening and took the time to take an unguided tour of the greenhouse that has been a great learning tool for the Skyline R-II School students this year.  There are neat rows of lettuce and spinach in custom made planters inside the structure and outside an attractive collection of plantings in several beds.  Visitors will hope for a student guided tour next time.  The greenhouse is a modern efficient design that looks like it will serve the school well for years to come.  Heidi Strong will be in the 4th grade when school starts again.  Her birthday is on May 22nd.  She shares the day with Teresa Wrinkles who makes Esther’s pies still, spends quality time in school herself and routinely steps up to every need in the community.  Dale Thomas has his birthday on the 28th.  He is getting ready already for the Pioneer Descendants Gathering in October over on the Edge of the World.  Betty will be sure he has a good birthday.  Joey Kennedy will be a big second grader at Skyline next year.  His birthday is on the 29th.  Summer will fly by and soon he will be back in class.  He and all the fortunate students at this great little school will know that what B.B. King said was true:  “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”

        A Champion friend from over around Brushy Knob shares a story.  This is “A story about Mr. P., a beautiful male peacock who entered our lives a couple of days before Thanksgiving-2014.  It was a great day when Mr. P. showed up here looking thin and ragged tail.  He seemed lost and no one seemed to know where he came from, as we contacted country neighbors.  He gradually came to trust us and came closer so he could eat some cat food and cracked corn.  He took up residence and roosted in a tree right in front of the house.  The cats grew to accept him as the dog Victor did.  He wintered here and became a big part of our lives.  Sometimes he’d stay on the deck and almost be covered with snow.  As spring came on he became restless.  He started spreading his tail and dancing for us and vocalizing a lot!  In fact he called off and on all day and night.  By this time he had become such a part of our lives.  He ate his cat food out of my hand and we had long talks.  One of our talks I asked him if he could be a little calmer at night and not talk so much after the tv went off.  This had worked a couple of times before but this night he didn’t call all night.  I even woke up a couple times and thought boy my talk really worked.  Well, the next morning, May 8th, I got up and he didn’t come to eat when I called him.  I know he was lonesome for his own kind!  So on May 8th he walked out of our lives just like he walked into it in November…  Nicholas and I were honored to have him with us during the long winter.  He was such a blessing!  I hope he finds his way back home to his own kind.  Good-bye Mr. P.  We love you and miss you!”

        The Denlow School Reunion takes place the Saturday of Memorial Day week end, the 23rd.  Alumni, family and friends gather for an ample pot-luck lunch at about noon and then hours are spent visiting and enjoying music and fun out in the pavilion.  This year promises to be extra special as Proctors will swarm in from every direction.  They will have their family reunion there the next day.  The General will likely officiate in some capacity and so it is a given that amusement and at least some hilarity will ensue.  Quite a number of Champions are old enough to be getting invitations to their 50th high school reunion.  Some older folks got those invitations last year.  Meeting fellow students from all those years ago can be an eye opening experience.  Some are unrecognizable; some have changed their names several times; some have matured and some have not.  Attendees are reminded as they go by the mirror that everyone is better looking with a smiling face.  How pleasant it can be to renew those old acquaintances and to harken back to hearty, optimistic youth.  At the time of it most were not aware of their youth.  They were looking forward to the future from which the fortunate can now look back.  Smile if you can.  The exciting week of palindrome dates will be over on the 19th.  5-18-15 backwards is 5-18-15.

        Coal oil, soot, sugar, turpentine and sulfur were listed as some of the medicines that were responsible for many people in this part of the world having survived their childhood.  The subject came up as part of the general conversations at the Wednesday Confab in the Meeting Room of the Recreation of the Historic Emporium.  The mean age of the participants is such that health and its decline are often the subjects of discussion.  Reference was made to Little Jimmy Dickens and his song, ‘Country Boy,’ where he says, “Ma doctored me from youngun’ hood with Epson Salts and Iodine, made my diapers out of old feed sacks, my ‘spenders out of plowline.“  Little Jimmy Dickens had been part of the Grand Old Opry since 1948 and made his last performance there just after his 94th birthday back in December.  He passed away in January.  Elmer Banks said that he saw Dickens there the last time he attended the Opry.  Back to the health issues, which are many, Elmer asked one of his friends at the table, “You know how you can get to feeling better, don’t you?”  There followed some questioning looks, some reflection and a few seconds of silence before he answered the question he had asked, “Why, take you a shot of morphine!” The laughter hung in the air, but nobody asked just where a feller might find such as that hereabouts.

        The wonderful rain is having an excellent effect on the garden. Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood says that the 21st and 22nd will be most favorable for planting corn, cotton, okra, beans, peppers, eggplant and other aboveground crops.  The next good time for planting will be the 28th through the 31st.  Just now it is too wet to mow or to plow, but those weeds are almost willing to jump out of the ground with just a little pulling.  Solitary time in the garden is a good time for serious thinking.  Certainly, as Ray Charles said, “The world is in an uproar. Danger’s all around.”  Violent weather all around the Nation, and violent conditions and political upheaval all around the world has many millions of people in dire circumstances.  An abundance of appreciation for being spared these woes mixed with compassion for those unable to avoid them can keep a head full of serious thought.  One thought is that the small amount of welfare fraud perpetrated by a few is so egregious to some that they are willing to deny any assistance to the many who desperately need it.  Share your serious thought, your peacock stories, your gardening tips, and music at champion@championnews.us.  Take a gander at the archives at www.championnews.us and see Champion!  Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—May 11, 2015

        Mother’s Day in Champion was sublime.  It was written 5-10-15.  Young people showed up.  They called.  They Skyped.  They acknowledged the dear lady with enthusiasm and flowers and with the humility that accompanies genuine gratitude.  Emotion ran high all day, sweet and sentimental.  The internet was overladen with nostalgic photographs of mother and child in years gone way by.  Recognition, if only annually, is a Champion notion and it made the old girls smile.

Bud Hutchison’s Spring Trail Ride.
Sixteen riders left the square and sixteen returned, tired and happy with stories to tell.

        Bud Hutchison’s Spring Trail Ride was an excellent adventure for sixteen horsemen and women.  They took out of town just after ten in the morning—just after Wilma had them all lined up for another great picture.  Look for it in the papers sometime soon.  They ambled back into Champion around two in the afternoon, tuckered out but glad for the ride through the beautiful countryside in great weather, glad for the companionship, and glad for ice cream at the end of the trail.  They relaxed on the spacious veranda and looked out over the Colossus of Champion.

Betty Henson Appreciation Day had the Square busy most of the day on Saturday. The card says, “Dear Betty, Thank you for all the things you do. You are THE Champion!”

        The Betty Henson Appreciation Day in Champion on Saturday was long in the planning, but short on the advertising.  Having an event be a secret for surprise purposes and well known at the same time turns out to be a trick.  Regular customers and visitors to Henson’s Grocery and Gas, (a.k.a. Henson’s Downtown G&G, the Recreation of the Historic Emporium and The Champion Store) frequently enough say to each other, if not to Ms. Henson herself, that they are glad to have such an amenity in the area and are amazed at how much the hardest working woman in Champion gets done.  Friends and neighbors and customers were in and out all day, happy to have the chance to say, “Thanks for all you do!”  Those who missed out on the occasion, which featured lots of good visiting and free hot-dogs grilled on the spot, will still be able to express their appreciation with their patronage.  When she says, “Thank you,” while handing them their change, they can say, “No, thank you.  Thank you for keeping this wonderful place alive and thriving!”  Champion!

        Bonnie Brixey Mullins had her birthday on the 9th of May.  She is planning a trip to Denlow for the Denlow School Reunion in a couple of weeks.  It is always the Saturday before Memorial Day.  This year that will be 23rd of May since Memorial Day is on the 25th.  Her friends and family will be happy to see her.  The Proctors will have their reunion that Sunday and the whole week end looks like it is going to be full of the good stuff.  Good stuff will be happening for a bibliophile, Elizabeth Heffern, who celebrates her birthday on May 15th.  Her Champion granddad says she is a great lover of books.  She was born in 2007.  Time is slipping away.  Linda Cooley shares Elizabeth’s birthday, but in an earlier year.  The sixteenth is shared by Skyline VFD Auxiliary worker, Friend of the Library, and grandmother to many, Karen Griswold, and by the father of Alexandra Jean and Zoey Louise, Champion granddaughters.  He is a busy man, but took time out to call his Mom on Sunday.  His grandmother, Exer Hector Masters, who would be 102 this year, and his cousin Rachel Cohen, still quite a young woman and a dynamic one at that, share their birthday on the 18th.  The seventeenth will be the big day for Meikel Klein.  He is a kindergarten student at Skyline School.  It is still acceptable to be excited about a birthday when a person is of kindergarten age—or any age.

        On Friday the 15th, the Douglas County Health Department will be at the Skyline School doing cholesterol checks for the community.  The service is free of charge.  A person wishing to have the test done will need to arrive at the school in the morning fasting since midnight.

        Loiterers who watched Bud’s bunch clippity-clop out of town included The General, who says he has not been on a horse in many years.  He drives a truck that looks quite a bit like a truck that a well-regarded farrier drives and like one of a youngish rascal in the area.  The trucks are similar enough that The General gets accused of being places where he ought not to be.  That is the story he tells anyway.  Busy days in the garden kept some home on Wednesday.  Weeds are responding with gusto to the rain and mild weather.  Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood informs that the 16th and 17th will be good days for planting root crops and good days for transplanting.  Gardeners will try to get ahead of the weeds to join in next Wednesday’s Champion Confab that often enough includes politics.  It is easy enough for some to construct a narrative that is supported by facts that are cherry-picked out of the wide range of media.  People believe what they want to believe regardless of reality, present or past.  Revisionism is the practice of rewriting history books to present a preferred version of what happened.  In his work, ‘Isms’, Nouveau Champion Alan Von Altendorf references Winston Churchill who said, “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.”  It did turn out that way.  The glory of victory easily overshadowed some of the darker aspects of the gentleman.  Participate in the process or quit your bellyaching.  Making an effort to be informed and exercising the hard won voting franchise is the best hope for writing a good narrative or one that suits you.

        Johnny Gimble passed away over the week end at age 88.  He was one of the most famous and influential fiddlers to ever pick up a bow.  He fiddled with everyone from Bob Wills to George Strait, including Marty Robins and Willie Nelson.  More sad news comes with tales of twisters and terrible weather around the country in every direction.  Champions acknowledge their own good fortune and hope for relief for those suffering elsewhere.  Marty Robbins sang, “After the storm comes the sunshine.  The clouds are gone and the world is tame.  Into each life there will be showers, but don’t the world look brighter, after the rain?”  Frog, crickets and whippoorwills join in with old-folk’s tinnitus to make soothing evening music in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION—May the 4th be with you, 2015

Spring Greens…Champion-style

        By the time Bud Hutchison’s Spring Trail Ride bunch leaves out of Champion on Wednesday morning and gets back in the afternoon, the regular Wednesday Confab in the Meeting Room of the Historic Emporium will have assembled and dispersed after politely addressing history, current events, current events related to history, philosophy, agriculture and speculation on a wide range of subjects.  The creak of saddle leather and aroma of horse liniment will herald the return of the adventurers.  J.C. Owsley is planning to make the trip.  Maybe he will be on that big borrowed white mule, Dot.  His Champion friends are looking forward to the chance to visit for a spell out on the spacious veranda overlooking the monumental stump.  Bud’s trail rides have been going on for a long time now.  Perhaps this year someone will ask the questions about when they got started doing this and how long they figure they will be able to keep it up.  No one will ask why.

        You do not have to have had one to be one—that is to say, a good mother.  Friday evening the appreciative children of an underappreciated child, now seventy, threw a lavish surprise party for their mother.  Friends from all around the Ozarks gathered to celebrate the goodhearted, lovely woman who proves that difficult beginnings do not necessarily mandate an unhappy life.  She was truly surprised and satisfied to sit at the table with a number of her children who acknowledge her as having nurtured and supported them unselfishly as they made their way into adulthood.  It is said of mothers that they are only as happy as their least happy child.  This is one of those excellent illustrations of children taking to heart the examples of the good every day behavior and attitude of the one who brought them into the world.  Happy Birthday!  Dovey Dooms was honored on the anniversary of her birth at the McClurg Jam.  It started off with fiddles then voices joined in for that song punctuated with smiles and laughter.  First grader, Gracie Nava, will have her birthday on the 7th.  She will probably have as much fun as the McClurg folks.  Skyline librarian Mrs. Sleep celebrates her birthday on the 8th.  Her Skyline friends all send her their best wishes as she has been experiencing some poor health lately.  Kindergarten student, Conner Jonas, has his birthday on the 12th.  Kindergarten students are the perfect age for fun.  Linda Heffern, of Waldo mostly and Champion sometimes, always celebrates her birthday on May 6th.  Two of Champion Linda Cooley’s grandchildren have birthdays on the 7th and 12th.  She knows who they are.  Grandmothers are like that.

        Mother’s Day is May 10th.  A Champion writes to her daughter-in-law, “As your children are becoming adolescents, they have been with you for a quarter of your lifetime.  Soon it will be half your life time and then most of it.  I hope they always bring you joy.  Happy Mother’s Day.”  Some Champion mothers barely remember their lives before they had children and now that the children are gone from home it is all new.  Champions who have lost their mothers, many years ago or just recently, can call to memory a sweet moment or a harsh one that came with a lesson.  They were not all perfect—just people doing what they had been taught and doing the best they could under the circumstances.  Mothers look back too, to the time when there was so much to be done and the little ones were under foot.  How precious it would be to go back and let that laundry sit in the tub or the dishes in the sink, just to sit in the floor and play with the baby, maybe have a rousing game of peek-a-boo.  The past cannot be changed, but the revisited memories can be selected carefully.  Mothers and children can ponder what Mark Twain said: “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

        It is fitting that the day of recognition of mothers should come in spring when new life is burgeoning all around.  New beginnings smack of optimism.  Gardens are being worked up and, optimistically, some down in low lying areas are acting like there will be no late frosts.  Gardening is gambling and with good planning, hard work and luck it sometimes pays off.  According to the Census Bureau twenty-five percent of Americans grow some of their own produce.  Farming has changed over the years and now most of the cost of the food in the clean bright supermarkets has to do with distribution and transportation.  Farmers do not realize much profit and a person wonders why they would go to the trouble while being grateful that they still do.  Regulation and deregulation and political gobbledy-gook plays its part in food prices.  Deceitful word games like “The Right to Farm” gives immunity from prosecution for factory farms that pollute the environment.  Then, of course, there is the “Right to Work” bill which creates a difficult environment for private sector unions and makes it easier to utilize cheap foreign labor instead of having good paying jobs at home.  Pension fund managers sought and got permission from Congress to make cuts in pensions if they are unable to balance the $4.00 outgoing of retirement benefits for every $1.00 coming in.  California Congressman George Miller, a Democrat, and Representative John Kline of Minnesota, a Republican, drafted the proposal.  Kline pushed to get it into the omnibus budget bill that Congress must pass to keep the government running —something that has never been done before.  Then Congress says it has to cut pensions to save them.  Politics!  Esther Wrinkles was on the election board.  She encouraged participation in the political process.  She kept herself informed and was able to debate any issue with great civility.  A Champion!

        Esther’s coconut cream pie has come to the rescue again.  Though she has been gone for some while now, her daughter-in-law honors Esther in this unique way—following her recipe.  The pie was a big hit at the benefit auction for River Stillwood on Saturday evening.  River’s planned adventures have been spoiled but the unplanned ones seem to be gratifying as friends and neighbors step up to help out after the Good Friday tornado did its damage.  There were lots of baked goods and good natured competition for them as the community did what good communities do.

        Come down to the wide, wild and wooly banks of Old Fox Creek for a chance to rest up from your hard farm labors.  The atmosphere on the Square is sublime this time of the year and the convivial store-keeper will greet you with a smile.  If you can yodel like Jimmy Rogers, the way Jerry Sanders does, stand out on the veranda and sing, “Mother the Queen of My Heart.”  If you want to include the old man and you can sing like Lefty Frizzell, you might try “The Mom and Dad Waltz.”  “In my heart joy tears start ‘cause I’m happy and I pray every day for mom and pappy and each night.  I’d walk for miles, cry or smile for my mama and daddy.  I want them to know I love them so.”  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!