Ramona: There's lots of love in small towns
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
There were so many cars parked around Norma Weber's house last Wednesday that it created a first class "traffic jam" in Ramona. It was wonderful! A "sign of life" that something was happening in town.
Folks were downright delighted to have a joyful reason to get out of the house and gather for an afternoon treat of sandwiches, coffee, and of course cake and ice cream. The event was planned by Norma's daughter Barb (Weber) Stinchcomb, who came from Russell to spend the day to pull off the party, and Jeannie Weber, Norma's daughter-in-law.
Two of Jeannie's daughters, Crystal Goza and April Chambers, from Emporia, helped serve refreshments and Norma's granddaughter, Anna Weber, was bubbling all around the party — she even called out numbers for Bingo, one of Norma's favorite games.
Two of Norma's cousins attended the celebration — Henry Schubert and Martha (Schubert) Ehrhardt. This was the first time Martha had seen Norma since the Ehrhardts moved to Ramona in October. "Norma said she was at my 50th wedding anniversary celebration that was held in Ramona 17 years ago," said Martha, "but I don't recall seeing Norma since we were little girls."
Hank Schubert, on the other hand, has lived his entire life in Ramona, as has Norma, so the two of them have continually been in touch. "When we were kids our families visited back and forth," said Hank. "My mom (Auguste Bentz) and Norma's dad (William Bentz) were brother and sister," said Hank, who attended Norma's party with his wife, Gertie.
Other guests at the party were Frank and Anna Mae Stika from Tampa, Luke Ricketts from Emporia and Betty Ohm, Neil Elgin, Naomi Fike, Ron Cheever, Steve and Myrna Eskeldson, Tony Meyer, Erich Utech, Irene Beamis, Nate Bailey, Norma Bird, Pat Wick, Jessica Gilbert, Merv and Leona Deines, and Paul Jones from Ramona.
"My grandson James came before the party began," said Norma. "And my son Jim was on the road so he couldn't attend the party, but he called."
Lloyd Meier from Marion even dashed in with flowers and a birthday balloon. But Lloyd didn't have time for cake and ice cream, or even Bingo — I figured he was heading west of town to tend his cattle.
And, of course, the party wouldn't have been complete without "Norma's buddies," Betty Stenzel and Frances Hanschu. I call them "Norma's buddies," because that's how I think of this threesome.
When Frances still owned the store downtown, one of my favorite memories was finding Norma and Betty sitting at the table by the window, having a cup of coffee and keeping Frances company as she tended the store.
And still to this day, when I look north toward the Hanschu home, I'll occasionally see Betty's car parked out front, as she's checking on Frances, who is on the road a lot these days because Clinton lives in Salina so he can get dialysis. The "threesome" doesn't get together as often anymore because Frances is often in Salina and Norma's health keeps her close to home.
But that doesn't stop them from supporting each other. "If I don't see Norma every week I call her," said Frances. "And Betty and I are in touch a lot, too."
Betty arrived a little later than most of the other guests and I told her I was wondering where she was. "Oh, I was coming to see Norma, whether there was a party or not," said Norma's faithful friend.
Norma received many lovely gifts, which she opened after several exciting games of Bingo. "Norma's going to be smelling good," joked one of the guests, as Norma opened quite a few packages that contained perfume and fragrant bath products.
For Hank Schubert, the birthday party stirred up birthday memories of his own. "When I was a child we got a nickel, from our Schubert grandparents, for every year we were old," said Hank. "Then after we were confirmed we got a dollar!"
I knew this story well, because this Schubert grandmother also made cakes for each of her grandchildren. The cakes were stored in a big cupboard where Hank's grandmother also kept the Palmolive soap. "Our birthday cakes always tasted a little like Palmolive," laughed Hank.
Hank and Gertie gave that famous cupboard to Pat and me and it stands, painted and pretty, in our home. Every time I walk past it, I smile, thinking of the Palmolive birthday cakes.
Norma's party was a reminder that there are no ordinary moments — unless we let them pass by as such.
"I actually thought I'd already celebrated my birthday," said Norma after the party. Barb came to visit the week before and took Norma out for supper at the Pizza Hut. But on the drive home to Russell, Barb had another idea, and she called her mom.
"Barb said she thought I should have folks come to the house on the day of my birthday," said Norma. "I talked to Jeannie about it and she agreed. So Jeannie set to work inviting everybody."
And there were lots of folks there, too! I smile just picturing all the cars parked around the house. "What was going on at the Weber house?" somebody asked me later in the day. "Oh, celebrating 79 great years with Norma!" I replied.
"I've had a lot of nice birthdays in my life," said Norma, "but I think this one takes the cake!"
Fred Utech celebrated the big "80" Saturday evening. Fred's actual birthday was Feb. 25, but his family created a surprise party a few days early.
Well, truthfully, the get-together wasn't the real surprise. "Jeanetta called and said they wanted to take me to dinner on the 22nd at the Brookville Hotel in Abilene," explained Fred. "I suspected that this might be a little birthday super with a few family joining in — but I never dreamed folks would be there from out of state!" Now that was a surprise!
Attending Fred's party were his wife Marguerite, his daughter Jeanetta, and her husband Junior, all from Ramona. Grandchildren present were Jayson Hanschu with wife Jan, and sons Jake and Jorge from Hillsboro, Jolene Albrecht with husband Neil and daughter Kallie from Salina, Sally Utech from Lawrence (Sally is the daughter of Marlon Utech), Jennifer Braydon and husband Jeff from Windom and their son Joshua.
Now the big surprise was all the folks from out of town — Fred and Marguerite's son Garland Utech with his wife Dianna and son Lance from Amsterdam, Mo., and Garland's daughter Amy Gregory with her husband Jeff from Butler, Mo.
After cake and ice cream, Fred opened his birthday gifts. "Did you receive any unusual presents?" I asked. "My granddaughter Amy and her husband gave me some lottery tickets," said Fred. "The first lottery tickets I've ever had in my life. They were scratch tickets — and I won $5!"
On a more practical side, he received an electric jigsaw. Maybe Fred plans to embark on some creative projects while he's recuperating from a recent hernia surgery. "The REAL birthday present will be when my doctor tells me everything is healed," said Fred, who's seeing his doctor this week.
Gertie Schubert had an enjoyable walk down memory lane this last week when Ginger Becker of Marion stopped to visit.
Ginger and Gertie got acquainted on the 4th of July last year when Ginger and her husband Kent stopped by the old Ramona Bank Building to check out the Dirt Gambler's Museum. Kent was especially curious since he is vice president of Tampa State Bank, and the bank operated a branch in the building until January 2002.
The 4th of July exhibit was school memorabilia supplied by Gertie Schubert, long-time teacher and collector. Gertie and her husband Hank were being "museum guides" that afternoon as folks came to view the exhibits.
When Ginger walked into where the school display was featured, she saw a little slate hanging on the wall, with a caption "This was Gertie's first slate when she attended school in Iola, Kan."
Ginger was curious since Iola was since her grandmother came from Iola. Gertie and Ginger immediately struck up a conversation. What a surprise when the two discovered that Gertie's mom and Virginia's grandmother were childhood friends.
"My mom Lona Kramer and Ginger's grandmother Gertie Hillbrant were friends for life," said Gertie. "I have a picture of them when they attended first grade at Liberty School, 10 miles northwest of Iola. That was the early 1900s."
"At one time there were 60 students at the country school, all being taught by one teacher!" said Gertie, who is an historian as well as a teacher.
Last week when Ginger came to visit Gertie, she brought flowers and a promise that she'd bring some of her relatives to see Gertie. "She said she would bring her father, Marion Foster, from Andover. Marion would be Gertie Hillbrant's son," said Gertie.
Ginger didn't go home empty-handed. Gertie has boxes of pictures — quite a treasure — and she shared a photo of the two childhood friends when they were in 8th grade.
"It was like going back in time," said Gertie. "Visiting with Ginger was so exciting."
Pat and I joke that long before we started the Dirt Gambler's Museum, there was Aunt Gertie. Our aunt is the one who inspired us to start collecting pictures and memorabilia. Her collections launched the museum.
And speaking of the museum, we plan the next exhibit on Memorial Day, in the afternoon. The focus will be "Kids and Their Toys."
B.J. Riddle of Dallas called to say hello this weekend. He keeps in touch with what's happening in Ramona by receiving the Marion County Record. We talked about his future visits to Ramona and got on the subject of the museum.
"I wondered if you'd like me to bring my childhood John Deere 4020 for the exhibit?" asked B.J. "That tractor and baler were kept in my grandmother's attic until about three years ago when my mom found them."
B.J. said he thought these toys would be great for the display since they were purchased in Herington and he played with them on the farm just south of Ramona.
If any readers from the Ramona area have toys from their childhood or collections that kids would enjoy and would be willing to have them on display for Memorial Day weekend, call us or write to P.O. Box 12, Ramona KS 67475.
We'd also like pictures of kids with their toys. We would borrow your photos for a day and get copies made for the exhibit.
You know how the post office brags that they deliver the mail come sleet or snow? Well, the Trinity Lutheran Fellowship Club can now make the same claim. Not to deliver the mail, of course, but to deliver pancakes and sausages, as promised.
When it snowed Sunday I figured the cooks would delay the fundraising supper, but they braved the storm and 45 other folks did, too, and came to enjoy it.
And that's the news from Ramona where there's still a blanket of snow on Main Street, and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
