Ramona
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
March 19-24
Seth Jirak, son of Steve of Vickie Jirak of Ramona, learned this past weekend that their son, Seth, who graduates from Centre High School next month, was awarded Outstanding Catholic Youth at the recent Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) convention held in Wichita. A boy and girl from each of the five regions represented at the CYO conference are nominated for this recognition by CYO advisers. The conference began Saturday morning and concluded Sunday with Mass officiated by a bishop.
"They have speakers and a Saturday night banquet and dance," said Vickie Jirak, who attended the convention when she was a teenager. Along with Seth Jirak, other Ramona Catholic youth attending were Chelsey Tajchman, Sheila Makovec, and Seth Stroda.
Saturday afternoon a bridal shower was held for Andrea Kleiber, who will marry Dale Klenda May 19 at the Pilsen Catholic church. Andrea's sister, Amanda Baxa, and best friend Raschelle Jirak were the primary hosts of the "spice shower," which was held in the basement of the Pilsen church. Other friends involved were Jill Genske and Maria Jirak Gear.
I had a delightful afternoon catching up with friends — I can say that now that I've lived here for awhile. Wow! I have lived here long enough to have history! I delighted in seeing the bride's mother, Peggy Kleiber, who lived in Ramona on the family farm until about a year ago, when she and husband, Lynn moved to Salina.
Beside me was Marissa Makovec who was a fun person to sit next to when analyzing nine plastic bags that contained cooking ingredients. Because the bride and groom are into cooking, guests were given 11 bags of spices or cooking ingredients, and we had to name them without smelling or touching them. I suddenly realized how sensitive my tactile sensors are — I could tell the difference between salt and sugar, flour and baking power and baking soda — even when encased in plastic. Marissa and I were like two cooking sleuths.
"This just might be Aksent instead of salt," said Marissa as she moved white granules around in the bag. I had considered that too. And this bag that we think has soda in it, well, it just might be cream of tartar — figure that out with just your fingertips. Across the table was Vickie Jirak and son Elias. "I normally have an older child around to take care of Elias, but not today. Raschelle is here and Seth's at the CYO convention, So Elias came with me," said Vickie, who always adds the laughter to any gathering. Elias didn't seem to mind coming to a bridal shower — with cake and nuts to enjoy — it was just like any other kids' party!
Earlier in the week, March 20-21, my sister and I attended the WE KAN! Conference in Salina. I was asked to speak during one of the break-out sessions on the scarecrow event Pat and I created with neighboring towns of Tampa, Lost Springs, Burdick, and Lincolnville. The conference is sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, founded by the incredible Marci Penner, who recently published the Kansas Guidebook, showcasing all the small towns of Kansas.
There were around 200 people attending this exciting conference — to be surrounded by this many creative and enthusiastic people was an amazing experience. The focus of the conference was Explorer Tourism — helping community leaders preserve, sustain, and grow their rural culture. (Marci also has founded the Explorer's Club, where folks join and get a newsletter telling them about all the "hidden treasure" of rural Kansas.)
We finally got to meet Susie Haver from Concordia, who was an integral part of the program. We'd read about Susie in Marci Penner's Explorer Newsletter — Susie has this funny and fun presentation on the history of aprons — and we booked her as the feature of our spring tea May 12. At the conference she gave a snippet of her apron show — now we're really excited about her appearance at the spring tea!
And that's the news from Ramona where the population just took a leap forward, and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
