Gathering Ramona news like digging for gold
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
This was not an easy week for gathering news. It was like digging for gold — scarce! Folks had done so little, I resorted to asking about Valentine's Day — questions like "Are you doing anything special? Going someplace? Planning any surprises?"
And when that didn't dig up anything interesting, I resorted to memories: "What was the most fascinating Valentine's present you've received?" or "How did you meet your sweetheart?"
When I asked Norma Weber, she emitted a jolly laugh and said, "That's going back over 50 years, I can't remember that!"
I asked if they did Valentine's for school buddies, like they do in grade school today.
"That was during the Depression — we didn't go in for anything like that," said Norma. "Besides, I went to parochial school and it was pretty straight-laced."
"When I was in school," remembered Gertie Schubert, "we'd all decorate a big box and that's where we'd put the Valentine cards for our friends. The teacher would then sort them out and give them to us."
As for adult memories of Valentine's Day, Gertie was quick to reply. "Oh, yes, the first Valentine's Day after we got married, Hank gave me a ruby ring (that's my birthstone, you know)."
Now I never received anything so lovely as a ruby ring for Valentine's Day, but I do have a favorite memory.
My first boyfriend, Jerry, was very attentive, even though he was only 15, he knew how to give gifts. On Valentine's Day, in addition to some swanky perfume, he gave me a fistful of red licorice with a pink bow tied around it. I loved red licorice!
No matter how many years go by, I'll always remember that gift — not so much for the licorice, as for what it represented: he'd watched, he'd listened, he knew me!
To this day, Valentine's Day is my most favorite holiday of all. I make goodies and take brightly wrapped packages to friends, I send gifts like it was Christmas, and if I'm going to do a yearly newsletter to friends and family, it's not in December, it's in February.
"I always figured it was because you loved all the Valentine stickers," said my sister. But actually it's more than that. My life motto has been to follow my heart — it's what brought me to Kansas. So I guess, deep down, Valentine's Day is a celebration of how I like to live my life — with heart!
The Junior Hanschu family celebrates a lot this time of year, too. Not because of Valentine's Day, but because of birthdays — daughter-in-law Jan and daughter Jolene have January birthdays and Junior's was just last week.
Some of you readers may recall that last year Junior had quite a bash on his birthday — a stunning surprise birthday party at the Lutheran parish hall. So what could ever top that birthday celebration?
How about having your birthday in the hospital? That's certainly a unique spot!
Indeed Junior had a kidney stone removed from his bladder and his birthday was the day it all happened. But since Junior wasn't exactly in the "partying mood," they delayed the "hoopla" until Saturday evening when he was home and the family gathered.
"Jolene and Neil brought pizza from Salina and we had supper," said Junior in a low-key tone of voice. "And my mother-in-law made two cakes — chocolate and angel food." When I pressed for details he added, "Oh, you know last year was the big party."
But then he began listing everybody who came to his "pizza dinner," and it was quite a gathering. His son Jayson, with Jan, Jakob, and Jorge were at the party from Hillsboro. Daughter Jennifer, her husband Jeff, and son Joshua, were here from Windom. Of course, Marguerite and Fred Utech of Ramona where there, along with Theresa Tajchman, who also calls Ramona home.
Junior's brother Harold came from Salina for the party and Harold's wife Thelma was there, too. Jeanetta's niece Sally Utech of Lawrence was another party guest.
When I called Junior early Tuesday morning to ask another question, I apologized for calling so early and said, "I figured I'd better call early before you went out in the field to do some work." "Oh, no!" he replied. "I'm not supposed to be out doing physical labor for at least a month." And then there was silence.
Shall I call back in a couple of weeks and see if Junior's still near the phone?
There was more "partying" in the Hanschu family when Jolene and her husband Neil went on vacation last week to Cancun, Mexico. "Little Kallie got to stay with us for a whole week," said Great-grandpa Fred Utech, with delight in his voice. Marguerite and Fred have such fun babysitting their great-grandkids.
"Now that you're all gussied up, do you want to go to coffee on Wednesday?" I asked my aunt Naomi Fike. She'd gotten her hair permed and was looking very foxy. (There's just something about getting all pretty that makes us ladies just need a place to go.) So Naomi joined Pat and me last Wednesday at Butch's Diner for Wednesday morning breakfast.
Paula Fike, Marge Hanschu, and Orvell Brunner were there, too. We had scintillating conversations about everything from romance to religion. Now you may be wondering how we moved from romance to religion, but it actually was quite logical.
It began when Pat asked the other ladies at the table to tell how they met their husbands. Those stories sparked others. As folks told their love stories, it became clear that when "love" strikes, it doesn't always take into consideration the religious persuasion of "the smitten."
How families and lovers dealt with those differences makes for some great stories. Now don't you just wish you had been sitting at the table? It was definitely a testament to the adage that "love conquers all!" I checked in with Kim and Luke Wingerd, who are expecting their first child this next week. "I'm patiently waiting — my back is hurting — and I'm ready to hold the baby," said Kim, summing up how she's feeling. The baby is due around the 16th. Maybe next week we'll have a report on Ramona's newest citizen.
Gain one, lose one — Ramona's losing Verle Bowman this week. Verle sold her house to Kathy Werth, closing the deal on Valentine's Day. Verle will begin her travel odyssey, visiting each of her children — except the one who lives on a catamaran! Gertie and Hank Schubert took Verle to supper Monday evening at the Ramona Café as a farewell. Verle and her daughter Roxy were frequent customers at the Anduss' restaurant.
Sunday is often a time when folks get company in Ramona. Naomi Fike had two of her children arrive. Virginia Bowyer, of Haysville brought lunch for two. And just as Naomi and Virginia started to eat, Steve and Maureen Fike from Walton arrived.
"They wanted us to join them for lunch at the Ramona Café, but Virginia had already brought lunch, so they went and ate and came back to visit," said Naomi. Dorothy and Harvey Riffel came to see the Schuberts on Sunday. "We finally got to exchange Christmas gifts," said Gertie with a laugh.
"Oh, and we had another visitor this week, too" said Gertie. "Kathy's Werth's daughter Jenny came by to ask Hank and me some questions about the Depression years." Jenny's class is studying about the Depression in school and she wanted first-hand information for her class project.
Another Ramona teen in the news this week is Amanda Kleiber, who was selected for the Kansas Regent's Honors Academy program for juniors. Amanda, daughter of Lynn and Peggy Kleiber, is one of 150 students from around the state, selected for this program.
"It's held at different colleges around the state," explained Amanda. "This year, it will be at Wichita State University." The program gives high school kids the chance to experience college for a month. "During June, I'll be living in the dorm at Wichita State and taking a college class," said Amanda, who is a junior at Centre High School.
"It's going to be like Oxford where we attend little study groups, and we meet three times a week. We got to choose from several classes and they gave me one of my selections. 'Value Conflicts in the Contemporary World'," explained Amanda.
What an appropriate topic! I'll have to check back in July, and ask Amanda to share what she learned — perhaps there's a chance for peace on earth, yet.
Amanda also has a love for theater and she's assistant director of the junior high production of "The Trail of Amanda Marie Locks," or "How Goldilocks Contempts the Court." Cecilia Rziha of Tampa is director for the production. The public is invited to attend the play, scheduled for March 8 at Centre High School.
Norma and Don Bird took in a theater production last Thursday with friends, Velda and Jim McDiffet of Herington. "We went to see "Clue" at the Crown-Uptown Theatre in Wichita," said Norma.
The Birds are going back to school! They're determined to keep pace with the younger generation. "We finally broke down and ordered a computer," said Norma. "It's coming this week. And we're taking computer classes at Butler of Marion. We go every Monday evening for three hours."
"Everything's initials," said Norma, "and when I go to find what they stand for, there are MORE initials." But Norma's determined to persevere. "My grandkids learned all this computer stuff in kindergarten," she says in good humor. I vowed that 2003 would be the year that I'd finally learn what those initials stand for so that I can talk intelligently to computer folks — Pat and I have been working on getting our domain name for a website. I may have to join Don and Norma in their class!
Lowell and Marge Hanschu had an unfamiliar car parked in front of their house. "Who's visiting?" I asked.
"Oh, it's Design on a Dime," said Marge with laughter. "What's that?" I asked. "Oh, it's my nickel and dime interior decorators," she replied with more giggles.
Actually it was Marge's daughter Martha and her sister-in-law Marlene, both from Joplin, Mo., and they happen to be one great decorating team, who make frugality as important as design.
"They painted the living room, put up a wallpaper border, and I'm changing the curtains," said Marge. "Martha and Marlene find the best buys — they've been looking for over a month for curtains and wallpaper border, things that would match my couch."
The decorating dynamic duo came on Monday and left the following day. They took time for supper at the Ramona Café with Leonard and Marge, and got the decorating done, too. That's impressive. They better "coin" that name — "Design on a Dime" is a winner!
One of our Ramona neighbors lost his brother this last week. Jim Brunner's brother Irvin died of cardiac arrest. His funeral was Tuesday. Irvin was a "Ramona boy," having grown up here, and so it seemed very fitting that he'd be buried just outside of town at Lewis Cemetery.
Irvin's siblings are well-known in this area. They are Karen Mowat of Marion, Neva Applegate who lives in Texas at the moment, Omer Brunner, also of Texas, Joan Gillett of Wyoming, and of course, Jim from here in Ramona.
"I'm sure the church in Marion will be packed full today," said Jim, when I spoke with him about his brother's funeral. "You know there were a lot of people that bragged about Irvin's work," continued Jim. "He was especially good with cement." I only met Irvin once and that was when we went searching to find someone to replace the roof on our first Ramona house. We knew Jim — he'd been our guardian angel on Main Street, keeping an eye on our houses when we were in California. So when we learned that Jim had a contractor-brother, Irvin, we knew he'd be the best one for the job.
Irvin and his crew gave us a beautiful new roof. They even let Pat and me get up on the roof and help — we pulled off the old shingles while they worked on the new. Within a few days, we had a strong, safe, beautiful roof. It made our little Victorian house look like she had a new bonnet on!
I was thinking about my memories of Irvin today, knowing it was his funeral. It reminded me of my life motto: Live well, love well, and leave a legacy you can be proud of. Well, Irvin sure did leave a lovely legacy in our lives when he finished our roof. I bless his name every time I look at it.
Thanks Irvin! It's your turn to rest now.
"So will you attend the grave service today?" I asked Jim. "I don't think so," said Jim, slowly. "I'll just wait until it's a good day and I'll get in my buggy and go out to the cemetery." Some rites-of-passage are most meaningful when done in the quiet and alone.
And I smiled, thinking of all the pleasant rides I've had with Jim in his buggy. The brilliant, warm Spring days, gentle breezes, hunting for wild asparagus along the cemetery fence line, and now there'll be another native son to recall and bless as we drive the well-worn cemetery path.
And that's the news from Ramona where once you're a "Ramona boy," that's how we'll always see you, and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
