Ghosts, goblins invade Ramona
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
Kids were darting up and down the street the Sunday before Halloween with huge orange Halloween treat bags flying behind them in the wind. No, we didn't have Halloween early in Ramona, but kids did have goblins and ghosts on their minds as they decorated pumpkins for the display window that Ramona Mayor Connie Smith created at the former barbershop on Main Street.
On Oct. 25 she handed out free pumpkins to kids 12 and under — a gift from DC Trucking, Connie and her husband, Dan's business. The kids were instructed to decorate (not carve) the pumpkins and return them the following day, whereupon the mayor gave each child a trick-or-treat bag as a little present.
The kids' creations were delightful! One resembled Mr. Potato Head, but it was probably a Mrs. since it had a purse on its arm. Another had curls and a bow in her hair. And the pumpkin created by three-year-old Nathan Young and his parents had a smile made of fruit loops, and a body made with a small pair of coveralls, stuffed with straw.
The Sondergards took their great-grandson, Kasey Peterson of Topeka, to see the jack-o-lanterns when he visited town on Halloween.
"He really liked the one that looked like Mr. Potato Head," said Darlene. Kacey had no school on Friday, so he came to visit his grandmother, Marilyn Peterson of Burdick, and the two of them came to visit Marilyn's folks.
"The jack-o-lantern display was neat to see," said Darlene. "We liked it in the daytime as well as at night."
More Halloween action took place in Ramona on Oct. 25, when Jeannie Weber, and her friend, Lori Moldenhauer of Tampa, got together to create another of their memorable Halloween parties.
Jeannie created a gigantic spider that lowered from the ceiling — it was filled with candy, and there were costume contests and games and of course, another of Jeannie's famous "haunted houses," that she constructed with help from her kids and Lori, behind the building that was once Jeannie's restaurant, Cheers II.
"I used some cattle panels for walls, and with black plastic and cardboard made rooms and hallways," said Jeannie, who is one of the most clever ladies — she can make something memorable out of near nothing.
"We had a fantastic time," said Norma Bird, one of the party guests. "There were over 60 people at the party. My granddaughter, Katrina, won one of the costume prizes."
On Oct. 23 a group of 12 took off on another Ramona Senior Center Excursion: Don and Norma Bird were excursion leaders, Norma Weber, Steve and Myrna Eskeldson, Paula Fike, Trevia Schneider, Al and Darlene Sondergard, Fred and Marguerite Utech and Joan Kropp from Herington, were all part of the fun.
"We stopped at Burton first," said Norma Bird, senior center president. "It's one of the largest manufacturers of concrete statues and fountains." Then on to the Carriage House in Yoder for lunch and checking out the shops and buying baked goods at the bakery there. "The cinnamon rolls are wonderful!" enthused Norma.
The last stop of the day was at the Dillon Nature Center in Hutchinson. "Gorgeous gardens, butterfly gardens, and underground trails that even show you the world of insects," said Norma.
The next senior center trip will be to Hutchinson and the Cosmosphere and theater there. If you're interested, call Norma Bird, 965-7135.
On the evening of Oct. 26 the Lutheran Parish Hall had cars parked up and down streets in all directions. The event was a fund-raiser for Lisa Hanschu. Lisa and Ronnie returned Oct. 25 from a week in Houston where Lisa's bone marrow was harvested.
Lisa was optimistic and relieved to have the procedure completed. She was smiling, as usual, and the only way you'd know she had undergone this painful ordeal was that she was walking very slowly and sitting down cautiously. "Everbody's generosity is overwhelming," Lisa said, "and it's amazing that when you feel your worst your friends and family members step in to do things like this — it renews your spirit when you realize that you're not the only one pulling for this and there are other people praying, too."
The delicious supper was the work of supportive friends and family: Rick and Barb Hanschu, Max and Paula Morgan, Donita Ryff, Tracy and Yvonne Brunner, Jean Brunner, all from the Ramona area and members of Trinity Lutheran Church, and Barry Montgomery from Lincolnville. "There were a lot more people involved than just us," added Barb Hanschu. "Many people brought cakes and pies for the dessert."
"We had around 130 guests for supper," added Yvonne Brunner. Indeed it was a joyful evening of good food and camaraderie. Some folks lingered as the tables filled, emptied, and filled again — it was a great way to see old friends and catch up on the news.
I finally got to meet Rick and Ronnie Hanschu's mom, Burma Hanschu, and their aunt, Doris Sly of Herington. We chatted briefly about history and family lineage and then Doris introduced me to her friend and dance partner, Stanislous Kijowski from Abilene.
I'd seen Stan walking around the parish hall. I didn't know him, but then there were lots of people I didn't know. But I did notice Mr. Kijowski because he had this jaunty hat on — it was a hot pink, Hawaiian print, golf hat.
I remember thinking to myself — interesting hat
Later in the evening, when Doris Sly introduced me to Stan she said "He's led quite a fascinating life." And after hearing some of his stories, I'd have to say that "fascinating" is an understatement.
Now, I hear quite a few interesting stories in my line of work. In fact, I think everybody has a fascinating story — they just may not know it! But Stan's life, in comparison to most, is high-voltage, nonstop action. Stan even had a ghost story to tell.
I thought a ghost story would be terrific since Halloween was near. But first, you have to know something about Stan's life so you feel the real impact of his ghostly tale.
Stanislous "Stan" Kijowski was born in Kansas City in 1924, but in 1933, right after the Depression, the family decided to migrate to Poland. Stanislous was just nine years old.
While the family thought they had solved one problem by avoiding the Depression, when they moved to Poland they'd really jumped from the frying pan into the fire — the Germans were advancing toward Poland and the year was 1939.
"The Germans were bombing, everyone was in a panic," said Stan. "I saw a mother so panicked, she dropped her baby in the street and started running. Then she realized what she had done and went back and picked up her baby and started running again."
Word was traveling through Poland that the Germans were coming and people feared for their lives. Stan's family decided to depart and head toward Russia. But the journey was so arduous and uncertain that the Kijowski family turned around and headed back toward familiar territory.
"We said to each other, 'If they're going to kill us, they'll kill us, but we're going back home,'" said Stan.
Because of the war, Germany's workforce was depleted. All the healthy folks were in the army and the elderly and infirm were left at home. The Germans needed workers for the farms and factories. So they started gleaning young people from Polish families.
"They'd take one youngster from each family," said Stan, "and load us up on boxcars and take us to Germany or Austria. My first work assignment was in 1942 on an Austrian farm and I was there for about a month and I ran away in hopes of returning home." Stan was 18 years old.
That was the first of many escapes that required ingenuity, bravery and tenacity. "When I escaped from Austria, I had to swim across the Danube River and it took me a month-and-a-half to get back to Poland," said Stan.
When he arrived home, everyone was thrilled to see him, of course, but the very next morning the Germans were back at his door, and this time they shipped him to the Russian front line.
Not much time passed before Stan and four other young men made another escape by stealing German uniforms and forging papers. "One of the guys in our group spoke seven languages, one of them German, so we let him be our spokesman. He forged letters and official stamps so we had the necessary paperwork to travel," explained Stan.
"We were transferring from one train to another when our spokesman was detained by some young SS officers for questioning. We'd worked out a signal that if our spokesman moved his hands in a certain way, we knew things weren't going well and we should run. He signaled and we ran," said Stan. On this escape, it took Stan 6 months to get home.
Soon after, Stan was caught once more and this time the Germans sent him to a camp near Krakau. It was a branch of Auschwitz. Stan had no idea how close he was to the death camps. "The Germans interrogated me and beat me because they thought I was part of the underground since I had escaped so many times from work assignments," explained Stan. "But I knew nothing about the underground at that time."
In the midst of interrogation, a bell rang somewhere — Stan isn't sure to this day what the bell was. "Maybe it was a noon whistle," said Stan, "but I was so disoriented and in shock from interrogation I didn't have a clue as to even what time of day it was." But suddenly, without explanation, his interrogators left the room.
"I walked over to a window — I was on the second story of a building — and there were large trees with branches that almost touched the building and spread far and wide over the tall electric fence that surrounded the compound. I jumped out the window, landed on a tree branch and crawled down and over the fence," said Stan as he continued his riveting story.
There stood Stan in the middle of a street, his torso bare and covered in blood from beatings, and a streetcar approaching. "The conductor stopped the streetcar and told me to jump on. Another passenger gave me their coat," said Stan, "and the conductor told the passengers that there'd be no more stops — he wasn't stopping the streetcar until he had taken me to safety."
"I stayed at the conductor's home for three weeks and when I got well, he connected me to the Polish underground." From that day forward until the end of the war, Stan worked with the underground movement.
When the war was over the dramas were far from over — for at that point the Russians moved in. "The Russians told everyone who worked for the underground to come forward so they could get their reward for helping out," said Stan, "but we noticed that those who stepped forward were disappearing and nobody knew what happened to them."
Russian officials even came to the Kijowski home searching for Stan. "The Russians came looking for you today," said his mother. "That's when we decided to move west to the American zone," said Stan.
But the decision to move to the American zone, was far from simple! Before Stan ever reached the American zone he found himself in Berlin, swinging like Tarzan from a rope, off a balcony, over the Berlin Wall and dropping in a river on the other side.
On to Frankfurt where they had a large "displaced persons" camp. "I was told it would be two or three years before I could reach America again," said Stan, "so I joined the French Foreign Legion which took me to Africa."
While in Africa, he met a Polish sergeant in the French Foreign Legion. "This is no place for you," said the sergeant, and he helped Stan get on a fishing boat and back to France.
All of this, and more, was happening to a young lad with a U.S. passport!
Finally, at age 21, Stan made his way into a U.S. Government Camp and finagled a way to get on the first transport to America. He returned to Kansas and found his sister, who had left Poland before the war broke out, returned to Kansas because she had a feeling that bad things were going to happen in her native country.
"My sister and I are the only ones in my family, who made it back to America," said Stan. "My parents and other family members remained behind. "By the time Stan got back to America he had almost forgotten how to speak English — although he hadn't forgotten how to write it.
When Stan's transport boat approached the New York harbor, his first thoughts were "I'm Free! I'm home!"
And while freedom was wonderful, it still took some adjustment. After all, for three years intense years he'd been a man without a country, forced to hide, flee, survive, enduring harassment and interrogation at every turn.
"When I returned to Kansas City, I thought for the longest time that someone was following me!" said Stan. "Maybe the Germans or the Russians — but my sister finally convinced me that it was all in my imagination. I was safe, I was home and free."
Stan frequently speaks to school groups about his life adventures. "When these kids see me I can just hear them thinking, 'Who is this old man and what could he say that's interesting?' But I tell them that once I was just their age," said Stan, "and then I tell them what happened to me when I was a teenager."
And even though Halloween has come and gone, a great ghost story is always fascinating and here's Stan's tale:
He was 18 years old and living in Poland at the time.
"A friend and I were walking home one night, and had to pass the 600-year-old cemetery that bordered our town. As we walked past the graves, a ghost came right through the fence and was right in front of us, facing us. When we saw it we looked at each other, and tried to act brave. 'What is this?' I said, quaking."
"My friend tried to act like he didn't see it. 'I didn't see nothin,' he said, but clearly he had because both of us were sweating and our hair was standing on end! We tried to act brave and continue walking forward, but we couldn't move forward, not an inch, and the ghost wouldn't allow us to go around it or pass, no matter how hard we tried."
If they couldn't move forward, how about backward? Movement in any direction would get the boys out of their predicament, so Stan and his friend started walking backwards — and the ghost found that acceptable!
"We kept stepping backwards until we came near the fisherman's house — he lived on the edge of town," continued Stan.
Now the fisherman had a very fierce and ferocious dog, but as the boys approached with the ghost pushing them backwards, the dog whimpered, cowered, and ran for the protection of his dog house.
The boys frantically knocked on the fisherman's door, "and the moment the door opened, the ghost disappeared," said Stan. "We stayed overnight with the fisherman and the next morning when we returned home, my mother said, 'The Germans were here last night looking for you!' That ghost kept me from being taken away from my family and shipped to Germany to work."
"I've been scared quite a few times in my life," continued Stan. "I've run for my life, been shot at, too, but nothing scared me quite as much as that ghost. Anybody who says they wouldn't be scared of a ghost is full of you know what!" he says with a chuckle.
On Halloween night we saw a couple of ghosts in Ramona — Molly Mercer and her brothers, James and Joshua, were a frightening trio. They were three of about 30 trick-or-treaters out that night. Their parents are Chet and Sheila Mercer of Ramona.
Three-year-old CJ Thompson was a green skeleton who just hated hiding behind his mask. — he walked in the house, looked me right in the eye as he put his hand in the candy dish, and declared, "HI!"
When he and his siblings left, CJ's face mask and gloves were on the floor. When faced with the decision of what to hold in his hands — mask and gloves or candy — he chose the important stuff, CANDY!
The Thompsons, who recently moved here from California, partied with the Young family who also are newcomers to Ramona and have a three-year-old son, Nathan. The Youngs built a small campfire in their yard to set the mood. "We even made s'mores," announced Dallen Thompson with excitement.
Several families in Ramona decided to hand out their candy treats from one location — The Ramona Cafe. "We had a lot of kids come by," said Norma Bird. "There must have been over 30. It was really lots of fun."
Norma Bird celebrated Halloween with an old-fashioned tradition — making popcorn balls. "I made them the old-fashioned way, using my grandmother's skillet, where you pop the corn in a cast iron skillet and then boil the syrup. It's tricky — everything has to be just the right temperature. And then you have to be careful so you don't burn your hands when you combine popcorn and syrup and form it all into balls," said Norma with a laugh.
Jeannie Weber stopped by the party dressed as a witch, but I don't think the other folks Bob and Rita Brady, Don and Norma Bird, Reign and Marlene Anduss, Al and Darlene Sondergard, Trevia Schneider, and Fern Leach came in costume.
This past Saturday afternoon there was a wedding in Ramona. Kimberly Ditto married Sean Mellstrom at the Rosebank Church with a reception following at the Ramona Senior Center. Sean, currently serving in the Army, has been in Iraq until he returned for his wedding on Nov. 1. Sean will be returning to Iraq on Nov. 14, according to his father, Dean Mellstrom of Missouri, who was his son's best man.
Kim's children were part of the wedding party: Mikayla Antoszyk was flower girl, Mikael was ring bearer, daughters Leigha and Breah were bridesmaids. Also in the wedding party were Destiny Wickersham and Molly Mercer, flower girls, Justin Carver, ring bearer and Therese Rubley, bridesmaid.
On Sunday my sister and I threw a birthday party for our aunt, Frieda Struebing of Wichita. We've been a little leery of announcing it was a birthday party because the last two parties we've planned this year for our aunt Anna and uncle Hank, the guests of honor landed in the hospital 24 hours prior to the party.
So for this Sunday's event, we simply said it was a Sunday dinner and we never said the "B word" until everybody gathered around the table and sang "Happy Birthday" in four-part harmony.
Celebrating with Frieda were her siblings, Hank Schubert and Martha Ehrhardt of Ramona and Anna Schimming of Herington. Gertie Schubert and Frieda's daughter, Becky Peoples of Haysville also were party guests.
Because of this family gathering we didn't have the Dirt Gambler's Museum open on Sunday — we found it hard to be two places at once.
If any readers came to Ramona to eat at the Ramona Cafe Sunday and also planned to drop by the museum — we apologize for the inconvenience. I had planned to let y'all know we'd be closed in my column, but as luck would have it — many of the area columns didn't get included last week.
To make up for it, we plan to be open this Sunday from noon to 2:00 p.m. Also this weekend, a reminder that the Ramona Senior Center will have Game Night at 5 p.m. Sunday evening.
And that's the news from Ramona where a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
