Ramona: Bucking-bull birthday
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
"Riding the next bull will be C.J. Irwin," said the rodeo announcer at last Friday night's Tri-County Fair Rodeo. That name caught my attention, because I knew C.J. — he's the son of Marianne and Rob Prine of Ramona.
About 30 minutes later, I saw C.J. Irwin walking behind the bleachers. He had a big bruise on his face, and his friends were offering congratulations for his having been sitting on that gigantic bull just minutes earlier.
I wasn't the only one who was surprised to see C.J. on the back of a bull. C.J.'s mother, Marianne, was the most surprised of all. She was celebrating a birthday last Friday, and C.J. had decided to give her a most unusual present.
"The kids had sent me flowers," said Marianne, "but C.J. came home and got his dad's cowboy hat on Friday, and I said, 'What are you doing?' and he said 'I'm helping Lyle Hanschu work the rodeo in the back. I'll see you there.'"
Later, Marianne discovered that everybody in the family, except her, knew about C.J. riding that bull on Friday night. When Marianne and Rob arrived at the rodeo she saw C.J. around all the bulls. "He was all slicked up," said Marianne, "and I ask him again what he was doing." C.J. just smiled and joked that he was going to do the mutton bustin.
But Marianne was getting suspicious. "You aren't riding those damn bulls are you?" C.J. assured her that he wasn't. Unbeknownst to his mother, C.J. had been practicing for a couple of days at Lyle Hanschu's ranch in preparation for his first big bull ride.
"When they announced his name, I stood up and I got cold chills," said Marianne. "I just blurted out: That's my son on that damn bull." People looked at me, and all my family turned and said in unison "Happy birthday!"
C.J. didn't make the eight-second mark, but he got his ride. Afterward he came up to his mom and said, "Happy birthday, Mom. I did this for you."
"I would have accepted the flowers as gift enough," Marianne said to C.J. "You haven't entered the demo derby too, have you?"
Seems C.J. is rather hooked on bull riding now, and he's planning to compete this weekend in Junction City. Now that the shock has passed, Marianne is rather warming to her son's new hobby. "The whole family is behind him 100%," said Marianne. "I'm so proud of him."
The Tri-County Fair Demolition Derby featured another young man connected to Ramona. Donita and Dennis Ryff's son, Tracy Ryff, came in second in Saturday night's competition. He kept the event quite lively, and a small contingency from Ramona was cheering him on.
Bridal shower
Trinity Lutheran Church was the site Sunday for a most unusual bridal shower for Kelly Riggin of Burdick. Several Ramona ladies were involved in planning the event.
The highlight was a bridal fashion show, featuring wedding dresses from 1917 to 2002. Barbie Hanschu of Ramona was one of the hostesses, and she provided three of the dresses in the fashion show: her own, her mother's, and her grandmother's (which happened to be so fragile, it couldn't be worn, only displayed.) Yvonne Brunner's dress also was featured in the show.
Jean Brunner of Lost Springs, another of the hostesses, narrated the bridal show.
"Right after church on Sunday we went in and decorated the church just like a wedding. The ladies modeling the dresses walked down the isle," said Peggy Falen, another hostess.
Afterward, the group adjourned to the parish hall for refreshments — you guessed it, wedding cake and punch.
Other ladies who helped with the event were: Jennea Heinrichs, Goddard; Kathy Silhan, Pilsen; Diana Jost, Burdick; Alona Hedstrom, Lost Springs; and Megan Daniels, Wichita.
Newspaper story
An article about Ramona that appeared recently in the Wichita Eagle has stirred up some phone calls. Dorene Nenstiel Foster called from Simi Valley, Calif., this last week, and we had a great "getting acquainted" chat.
Dorene lived in Ramona from 1951 to 1955. "My dad, Waldo, was the manager at the grain elevator in Ramona," she said.
Dorene asked lots of questions about where our guest houses were located in relationship to the park and other houses in town. We discovered that she used to live in a house just east of our bed and breakfast — the house now inhabited by Collin Bailey.
"When I was a kid, we wandered all over Ramona," said Dorene. "My brothers, Larry and Jared, and I would just be sure we were always within hearing of the whistle mom would blow when it was mealtime."
When we spoke about the downtown buildings still in existence she said: "We used to call the corner where the bank is, 'hard corner.' Have you heard that before?"
I hadn't, and was eager to hear the story.
She explained that on the four corners were the bank, the hardware store, a filling station, and the liquor store. "We called it hard corner because there was hard cash, hard ware, hard up (because folks were slow in paying their gasoline bills), and hard liquor."
"My mom, Ethel, is living in Las Vegas now," Dorene said. "She would love to hear from her friends in Ramona. Her phone number is (702) 458-6279."
Remodeling
Sometimes old news is still good news. A couple of months ago Lisa and Ronnie Hanschu, along with James and Anna, moved from Tampa to their farm outside Ramona on Sunflower Road. "Ronnie bought this farm when he was 17," Lisa explained. "It was his first quarter of ground."
The Hanschus are remodeling the house around them. "Something we swore we'd never do," Lisa says.
The house is 3 1/2 stories high, and they hope by Christmas to be showing off "before" and "after" pictures of the remodeling. They've had the furniture for the house purchased for sometime, "but it's not going in the house until we're finished," said Lisa.
Anniversary
If you want a suggestion on how to celebrate your 50th wedding anniversary, take a hint from John Antoszyk's parents, Doris and John Antoszyk of Pennyslvania. They took their kids on a cruise!
John and Kim Antoszyk were gone for nine days on the adventure, which included a total of 21 family members.
"We all met in San Juan and got on the ship there," said Kim. "There were 4,500 people on board."
Zach showed me a souvenir shirt that his folks brought back for him — a shirt showing all the islands that his folks had recently visited: St. Thomas, Martinique Barbados, and Aruba.
"Aruba was my favorite," Kim said, "because the people were so friendly, the beaches were beautiful, and the most beautiful ocean I've ever seen."
Now that's a memory to conjure up in January!
Coach's talents
Stan Wiles is busy this week preparing his Power Point presentation, and other audio visual aides for his upcoming presentation before the Kansas Coaching School in Topeka.
Stan's been asked to speak at the Aug. 8 seminar, on the subject of junior high football. The title of his presentation: "Find a Spark and Fan the Flame," something that Stan's an expert at because of his work with the kids at Centre School.
Last week I discovered another of Stan's hidden talents — interior design and decorating. I happened to stop by Stan and Deb's house to return some equipment to Stan. He was in the midst of putting the finishing touches on his sports bathroom.
Now I'm not a sport's fan, but this room could inspire me to become one. "I had envisioned this bathroom a couple of years ago, and I'm just now finishing it," Stan said.
It's the sport lover's paradise. Even the holder for extra toilet paper is made from a miniature bat that Stan attached to a replica of "home plate." On shelves surrounding the bathroom are the footballs and helmets signed by team members of his undefeated seasons.
He even created a locker for the corner of the room where red, white, and blue towels are rolled, ready, and waiting. For added interest, Stan added antique powdered rosin tins that he's collected over the years.
Even the bathroom floor has memories: it's wood from the old Centre High School gym floor, which got wrecked by water and was replaced. Stan refinished it.
"And the last project is I have to make curtains for the windows," Deb said. "I'm not sure when I'm getting to that. Today I canned 13 pints of green beans from the garden. Tomorrow we're taking our pastor's two kids and two of their friends to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City."
Reunion
This weekend was another family reunion for Frances Buxman. "It was the annual gathering of my mother's side of the family — the Elliotts," Frances said. The family gathered at Sterl Hall in Abilene.
"There were around 65 people there. You could sure tell that this family loves chicken," Frances said, "because that's what most of us brought for lunch and there wasn't much of anything left to take home."
Treva Schneider took two trips to Topeka in the same week. The first one was with Frances Buxman and Frances's sister-in-law. The three took one of their occasional treks to Topeka to see how their luck's running.
Treva's second trip was this weekend, when she and daughter, Marilyn Gregory, went to visit Marilyn's daughter, Micheal Whitehead, who is married to John Michael Whitehead.
Field fire
Tony Meyer called last Thursday. "Have you heard the latest news?" he wanted to know. I hadn't.
"Talk to Erich or Paul Jones. They'll tell you all about it." Because Paul is connected to the Ramona Volunteer Fire Department, and since I'd heard sirens earlier in the day on Thursday, I figured there was a fire in the story.
Sure enough, Erich Utech's field caught on fire — cause accidental, according to the sheriff. Erich was about to head out for square dancing in Herington when his sister Edna called and told him about the fire. It burned 15 of his large round bales and a hunk of his field.
"And did you hear about the semi-truck that lost a bunch of hay bales as they came through Ramona and turned coming over the railroad tracks?" Tony asked.
I didn't know about that either. Gosh, where had I been when all the excitement broke loose?
"Oh, those boys were workin' hard re-stacking the trailer in 103 degree heat," Tony said with empathy.
Cutting competition
What's next in Ramona? The Brunner Ranch (1724 200th in Ramona) is hosting another cutting competition this year. It's happening this weekend.
Competition begins around 6 p.m. Friday and continues through Saturday night. There's no fee for being a spectator.
The Brunner competition received high marks from competitors last year, who appreciated the herds of fresh cattle that were available for the cutting. There's food available; bring your lawn chair.
Family ties
Two brothers came driving down our quiet streets last Friday. I happened to be the only person walking on the road when they drove up and rolled down the window. "Could you point us to the cemetery?" Tom Brown asked.
I pointed the way, but not before I coaxed them down to the Dirt Gamblers' Museum for a picture and a brief chat. They were heading to Lewis Cemetery to see whether there were any relatives buried there.
"We had a great uncle who lived in Lost Springs," said Orville Brown, Tom's brother. "His name was George Merilatt. He owned the garage in Lost Springs."
They went on to share other historical tidbits about the family.
"The story goes that our uncle George started the anti-horse thief league in Lost Springs, which eventually became the sheriff's office," Orville said.
The brothers, one from Memphis, and the other from Orange City, Iowa, came to Ramona because they knew their great Uncle George had a sister who lived in Ramona. They thought her name was Carie. I called my uncle, Hank Schubert. "Oh, yes, I knew George," Hank said. "And he had a sister. She was Neva Applegate's mother."
And that's the news from Ramona, where two brothers dropped by to visit and were met on the road by two sisters, and a traffic jam is two parked cars, and on that particular day, a couple of dogs in the road.
