Ramona correspondent
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B Street in Ramona is the “happenin’” place here in town — it’s where all the recent “move-ins” have happened of late. (A move-in is a term created by our Aunt Gertie Schubert who lived most of her life in Ramona. It’s anybody who wasn’t born and raised here — which at this point in time, is most of us here in town.)
This weekend the corner of 3rd and B was just a-buzzin with activity as Dusty and Jenny moved into their new home, which they are renting from Don and Kathy Matkins.
“Let’s give them a ‘welcome to Ramona picnic’,” Kathy and I said to each other one morning, when I stopped to get the mail and Kathy told of the impending move. Within minutes we were both on the phone asking other city council members if they’d contribute food. Kathy said she’d get meats and cheeses, Pat said she’d prepare tomatoes and other garden delicacies, I promised to get sandwich breads and drinks, Angel Harold made her famous pasta salad, and Jeannie Goza brought dessert.
Moving day, Saturday, was a perfect, sunny day. As moving vans backed up to the front door of the house, owner Don Matkins was moving too — he brought picnic tables and put them under the shade trees for the moving crew’s lunch.
At about 10 a.m. Saturday I got a call from Kathy. “Jess, there’s more excitement on B Street,” she announced with glee. “Barry Regehr’s house sold and the family that bought it is at the house cleaning up the yard. I invited them for lunch too! And I also invited Brendan and his family, too!” Suddenly the little picnic was turning into a first-rate welcome party.
Pat grabbed her camera, I snatched my writing pad and pen, and was off to capture the stories of all the new folks who had moved into town on B Street.
Dusty Wiegert and Jennifer Reves, moved into the area because Dusty is the new technology coordinator for Centre High School. “What’s a technology coordinator?” I inquired.
Before Dusty could reply, Jennifer interrupted and said, “He’s a computer geek!”
“Thanks honey,” said Dusty with a wry grin. “I don’t really fit the computer geek mold, do I?” She conceded that he didn’t.
Dusty and Jennifer lived in Salina before moving to Ramona. He owned his own business, Midwestdirt.com. If you click on this website you’ll discover Dusty’s life passion — car racing. He’s a photographer, announcer, and promoter of the sport.
“I’ve been going to the races since I was three months old,” said Dusty. “It’s in my blood. My mom and dad are into the races, too. My dad worked on pit crews.” Dusty’s parents were standing right there to verify this fact. They were part of the moving crew.
I asked Dusty if he’s ever raced or owned a racecar. “The cars are extremely expensive, so if I can’t afford to race myself, I just get involved.”
When Dusty first mentioned the name of his website — Midwestdirt.com — I immediately thought of dirt bike racing. I know very little about car racing — NASCAR is the only word I know in my racing vocabulary, so Dusty gave me a brief lesson. “NASCAR is the highest level of racing and they do it on asphalt. The kind of racing I’m involved with is done on dirt tracks. There’s a lot of them in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado.”
Dusty is an announcer at the Minneapolis raceway. “When the racetrack opened in 2006 I did their announcing and still do. Don’t expect to see me around town on weekends — I’ll be at the races!” Dusty said he goes to 60-80 races a year.
Dusty and Jennifer met in Manhattan, but she was born in Wamego and he was born in Salina and lived in Smolan, just south of town. “We met at Fast Eddy’s in Manhattan — it’s where folks come to play pool, and Jennifer plays the game.” In fact, they have a pool table in their new Ramona residence.
The Radke family — Anthony and Amanda and their five kids — bought the little green house on B Street that was the former residence of Barry Regehr, brother of another Ramona resident, Connie Smith. The Radkes were living in Chapman, and then the tornado came and destroyed the house they were renting.
“We didn’t have renters’ insurance,” said Amanda with an “oh-well” grin. “We’re still kicking ourselves about that.” The tornado took the roof off the house and made the house walls lean in all sorts of directions.
Amanda, her mom Marsha, and the kids — Sabrina 11, Troy 8, Nathan 6, Josh 5, Dylan 2 — came and had lunch with their new neighbors, while Anthony continued cutting small trees and brush away from their house. (This is why you won’t see many quotes from Anthony! The only one I got was: “I can’t stop for lunch — I’ve got to get these trees down so we can get insurance on the house!”
Over lunch we all asked about the Radkes’ tornado experience.
“We were in the basement, and I was just talking to the kids, teaching them about what you do in situations like this,” said Amanda. “I was telling them that the storm couldn’t be all that bad because we still had electricity and lights, and then everything went black!”
“It sounded like a train!” interjected eight-year-old Troy. And Dylan, the Radke’s littlest child, still gets anxious sometimes. During the picnic he suddenly came running for Mom, with two-year-old tears. “He still gets upset occasionally when he suddenly hears loud noises,” explained his mom.
When the Radkes descended into the basement they grabbed a candle, but were concerned about lighting it, in case there was a gas leak. “The only light we had was from Sabrina’s MP3 player.”
“I kept sending my husband up the stairs to check if it was safe to come out,” said Amanda smiling. “I don’t know how long we were in the basement — maybe 30 minutes.” At that point her mom, Marsha, who lives in Junction City, interjected. “We were talking on the phone when the line suddenly went dead — I couldn’t reach you for over an hour!”
The Radkes are pleased to start their life anew in Ramona. “We like small towns,” said Amanda. “I’m a stay-at-home mom, and my husband has his own business — Anthony & Son’s remodeling.”
“Why couldn’t he have named it Anthony & Kids?” lamented only daughter Sabrina.
The Radkes are not new to the area. They lived in Herington for several years, and then decided to move to Las Vegas, where they’d once lived. “We wanted to return ‘home’ but when we got there things had changed a lot,” explained Amanda. “All in one year we moved Herington, Nevada, Idaho, and then back to Kansas, to Chapman. And now, here we are in Ramona.”
The Radkes want this to be the last move for a while. Anthony has plans to add several bedrooms to the bungalow on 3rd. The kids gave me a tour of the house, explaining how they’d be sharing rooms until their dad got the addition built.
It didn’t take long and they were getting to know the other kids in the block — Ronnie and Cheyenne Bailey, who live two doors to the north. “Don’t I know you?” queried Ronnie to Sabrina, who’s the same age. “Did you ever live in Herington?” It turned out that Ronnie and Sabrina were in third grade together there.
Ronnie, who’s now in sixth grade, and his sister, Cheyenne, who’s in first, are going to school in Hope. They and their parents, Brendan and Michele Bailey, recently moved into the house formerly owned by Naomi Fike. The Baileys were living in Hope, prior to coming to Ramona.
Returning home has always been Brendan’s goal — he was born and raised here in the big red house on D Street, where his brother Collin now resides. His dad, Nate, lives on the east end of town. Brendan grew to adulthood here, and even served as mayor of Ramona back in 1998-99.
Both Brendan and Michele work at Herington hospital — she’s a registered nurse, and he’s a phlebotomist in the hospital lab.
On Saturday, Brendan brought his kids to the “newcomer picnic,” on B Street, and he was telling my sister that when he was a kid he’d accompany his mom over to Naomi’s house — the two women were friends — and Kenny, Naomi’s husband, would take Brendan downstairs and teach him how to play pool.
That pool table is still in the basement of Brendan’s home, because when the Fike family prepared the house for sale, it was just too darn big to move!
Another B Street Newcomer is Mindy Anduss, granddaughter of Reign and Marlene Anduss who ran the Ramona Café until recently. When the Andusses moved to Marion and closed the restaurant in December, they offered their little home to Mindy, who was moving this way from New Haven. Conn., where she graduated from college.
Mindy got her first Kansas job working in El Dorado, where she develops disaster preparedness for several Kansas counties. Although she has an hour drive to work and back home, she’s often seen out riding her bike around Ramona in the evening.
She’s also a great neighbor — the Thompson kids live just south of her and Cassy and CJ reported that on Sunday they baked cupcakes with Mindy and got to take them all home!
Mindy’s grandparents couldn’t stay away from the restaurant business for long — they’re cooking in Marion now! When the Andusses closed the restaurant in Ramona it was right after Reign had some heart issues, and he was told by his doctor to slow down. But Reign just can’t sit still!
This time they are sharing the responsibility of running a restaurant — they’re joining Reign’s cousins, Larry and Barb Smith (who own Country Lakes Café in Marion). Reign’s fried chicken is featured on Sunday and their popular buffet is offered every day except the Tuesday and Wednesday, when Reign and Marlene take days off.
Harlan Brown is another new B Street resident. He’s a friend of Connie and Dan Smith, and for the time being, Harlan’s living in the cottage on the Smiths’ property, where Paul Jones once resided.
“Harlan used to live in Elmo,” said Dan. Then Harlan moved to Florida, but he really wasn’t fond of it. When Connie’s brother, Barry, died a few months ago, Harlan came to help Connie with closure on Barry’s life and possessions. This was a great help, since Dan is always on the road with his trucking business. After a couple of months, Harlan decided to stay in Ramona.
Many of us are familiar with Harlan because he’s been a frequent visitor to the Smith household. We’re pleased he’s decided to make Ramona his home. Harlan works in Salina at Ashley Furniture.
Bill and Shannon Bell moved into the little white house on the south end of B Street, when the Shepards moved away. “We’re planning to buy the house,” said Shannon. Mrs. Bell is a sister to Dixie Janow, who lives on the north end of B Street.
Bill Bell is retired Air Force, and Shannon works in Herington as a cook for a children’s day care. They have an 18-year-old daughter, Jessica, and have two adopted youngsters — Blake 5, and Razeal 4.
The Bells previously lived in Russell where they were co-parents in a developmental services group home for adults.
Another exciting celebration took place for the Stroda family, who also live on B Street. Marjorie and Maurice Stroda celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary Aug. 16 at the Lutheran parish hall.
“Our anniversary is really Aug. 31,” explained Marge, “but we wanted all our kids together and Aug. 16 was the only available day.” Art Stroda and his sister Jane Staatz also live in Ramona, so they didn’t have to travel far for the party. Marilyn came from Andover, Bob and Elaine from Salina, Jim from Plainville, and Tom and Terry from Texas.
“Is that all eight?” asked Marge, as she began to list them all. I wondered, as she recited all the names, what it would be like to raise eight kids. Seems like a formidable task, especially for me, who never had any.
“We got Maurice from the Golden Living Center where he has to live these days,” said Marge, sadly. “Our little house just isn’t big enough for the wheelchairs and equipment that Maurice has to use these days.”
Marge’s mother, who is 102, also wanted to attend the celebration, so Marge’s brother, Ken and his wife, Bonnie, went to get their mom, who lives at St. Luke Living Center in Marion.
“You know, normally, when a party is happening, I’d be in there asking if things were ready, getting whatever was needed at the last minute. But I couldn’t do that, because I was off getting Maurice, and my brother was getting our mom. So I just had to leave all the details to everybody else. It all worked out great. We had a wonderful barbecue picnic with our children and grandkids.”
So what’s next? Another Ramona Tea Party. It’s the first time we’ve ever had two in one year, but we just couldn’t pass up a great opportunity. The tea is at 2 p.m. Oct. 11at the Lutheran parish hall. The great attraction, besides our outrageously wonderful food, is a mini piano concert during the tea, by Mike Kutzle from Fountain Valley, Calif.
Mike and his wife, Nancy, bought what used to be the Schnell house in Ramona, and they’ve completely remodeled the house with the help of Tooltime Tim. The Kutzles are accomplished musicians and when they last visited, Mike played the piano for us. “Oh, how I’d love for you to play at one of our teas,” I said, longingly. “I’ll do it!” said Mike. “We’re coming out in October!” So that’s why we’re having an October tea.
Mike studied piano at Biola University in LaMirada, Calif., under Dr. Richard Stepan, and at Golden West College in Huntington Beach under Alen Giles. Mike was chosen to play the piano for the 1984 Olympic opening ceremonies when President Reagan was in the audience. In 1988 he was called by Radio City Music Hall to be one of the lead pianists for the Super Bowl in San Diego. For years, Mike has played piano for Nordstrom clothing stores in Southern California. And now, Mike can put on his musical resume that he’s played in Ramona!
I’m having a ball, selecting recipes especially suited for fall, and making this tea even more unusual, men are invited, too. (Traditionally our teas are an all-women affair.) My sister and I make everything we serve at the tea, with some help from Tooltime Tim. The kids of Ramona will be serving.
As always, advance reservations are required and space is more limited than usual because we’re adding a beautiful piano to the mix. We’ll have seating for 65.
To make reservations call 785-965-7110, and send $20/person to the California Sisters, PO Box 12, Ramona KS 67475. Invitations will be mailed by Sept. 15.
Another upcoming Ramona event is the Haunted House the end of October. More on that next time.
And that’s the news from Ramona where a faithful band is working to keep Ramona on the map — and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.