Strodas have full house to celebrate anniversary in Ramona
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
The Strodas had a full house Aug. 31 at the Lutheran parish hall in Ramona when friends and family gathered to commemorate their wedding day which was Aug. 31, 1948. Even their flower girl Marilyn Steiner (Monk) of Wichita and ring bearer Ken Vinduska of Marion were there. Another member of the wedding party who attended was Ralph Stroda of Herington who was one of the groomsmen.
"I remember the night before the wedding Marge needed alterations on her wedding dress," said Genevieve Steiner of Wichita, one of Marge's cousins and mother of the flower girl. "Marge bought her wedding dress in Wichita, but between the time she purchased it and the wedding, something shifted because the dress was too long. So I cut some off of the dress and hemmed it so she could walk down the aisle."
I asked Marge and Maurice how they met. "At a wedding dance in Pilsen," said Maurice. "And it lasted this long!" he adds with a mischievous grin. "Any other fascinating facts about your first date and how you met?" I pressed on. "Oh, he told that in the confessional long ago!" joked their son Art. "Where did you go for a honeymoon?" I queried. "Home!" laughed Marge. "We stayed home and milked my folks' cows because they had to take my brother to Illinois to school."
The newlyweds set up housekeeping at the family farm on Quail Creek Road — where they've lived all their married life, except for two years when they were in Wichita. "And then came the babies," interjected 11-year-old Emily Staatz, one of the Stroda's grandchildren, as she looked at the Stroda siblings who had surrounded their parents for a photograph.
Seven of the eight Stroda children joined in the anniversary celebration. They were Bob Stroda and Elaine Carpenter of Salina, Jim Stroda of Hill City, Art Stroda and Jane Staatz of Ramona, Marilyn Stroda of Herington, and Tom Stroda of Austin, Texas. Son Terry of Houston wasn't able to attend.
The party was orchestrated by two of the Stroda's daughters — Jane Staatz and Marilyn Stroda.
The parish hall resembled a mini-wedding with cakes and punch and flowers adorning the anniversary couple. Maurice looked spiffy in his pinstriped suit and Marge was radiant as she took in all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren swirling around her feet.
When I asked the anniversary couple what made a marriage work, Marge said it was patience and tolerance. When I turned to Maurice, always the jokester, I knew it was a long-shot to expect a straight answer from him. After a moment's pondering, he grinned and added, "Don't tell 'em a darn thing!" That philosophy must apply to inquisitive reporters, too, because it was pretty much Maurice's stance for every question I asked that day at his anniversary party.
A few blocks from the parish hall another party was taking place on the last Sunday in August — Don Bird was celebrating his birthday with his family!
When I called the Bird residence, Don answered the phone. "Just the person I want to talk to," I said. "Tell me about your birthday." "Oh, I'll let you talk to Norma," he said as he handed the phone to his wife. (Evidently Don has the same philosophy as Maurice!) "It was Don's 69th," said Norma when she picked up the phone. "We had all the kids and grandkids here to celebrate. I got Don a huge concrete eagle for a present — something he's always wanted. He's putting it in the yard."
Don's been doing lots of yard embellishments at their home on "F" street. He recently built a fish pond — but don't let the word "pond" trick you. When Don builds something it's quite thorough and this little pond for the fishes looks more like a concrete mini-swimming pool!
Don's actual birthday is Sept. 3, and I caught the Birds leaving early Wednesday morning for more celebrating. "We're going to Junction City to have breakfast," said Norma out the window of the car as they drove out of Ramona. "We've been celebrating his birthday for half a week!"
Labor Day weekend was filled with activities — so much so that I forgot to get my column in to the Marion County Record by Friday (instead of the usual deadline of Monday or Tuesday morning.) Our cousins Keith and Vicki Schubert of Aurora, Colo., were staying at our bed and breakfast and when they're in town, Pat and I are like teenagers again, wanting to party! Actually Keith and Vicki were here to see Keith's folks, Hank and Gertie Schubert, but because we're related, we get included in the dinners and lunches.
"Come over for spaghetti Sunday evening," said Keith, when he stopped by our office.
We were spending the weekend in our office for several reasons. We had just published another edition of The Ramona News, the town newsletter, which had to be distributed and mailed, had a Dirt Gambler's Museum event Sunday afternoon, and we were in the midst of getting different computers installed in our office.
The "computer bit" was the most challenging — sorta like trying to entertain 50 folks for dinner and remodeling your kitchen at the same time. Oh, and throw in a "foreign language" to make it interesting — computers do have different languages, you know. But that's another show, Oprah!
Thankfully, we had David and Faith Judd of Topeka (David is a nephew of Lowell and Marge Hanschu here in town) who are expert computer technicians and they helped us get up and running.
So, back to dinner with our cousins — when Keith invited us over for dinner, we agreed to "come up for air" and eat a meal together. We even promised to bring a salad since we had lots of cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden. "And bring your mom, too," added Keith.
Well, we remembered Mom, and we remembered to show up for supper, but we totally forgot about the salad until 9:30 that night — long past the dinner hour! "I wondered why there was only spaghetti on the table," said our mother, Martha, who usually has the table "groaning" with dishes and more side dishes. Keith and Vicki were the polite hosts and never said a word. They acted like spaghetti alone on the plate was just what they'd planned! Gertie and Hank didn't miss the salad. "We just enjoyed having everybody here," said Gertie.
On Labor Day, I tore myself away from "computer world" long enough to take in the Burdick parade. What a delight! I was asked to be one of the judges and sitting up on a platform gave me a bird's-eye view of not only the floats, but of the people attending, too.
Marvena and Ron Cheever were sitting directly across from the judge's stand. Warren and Paula Fike were not far away. Their son Gary and grandson Marshall were here from Ohio. The Fike's daughter Linda Peterson was in charge of the parade. She even tried to get her brother Gary to be part of the parade and wear their dad's Navy uniform. "I got the pants on and then tried the shirt," said Gary, "and I couldn't even get it over my head. You know dad was 19 or 20 when he wore that uniform."
In the end, Warren himself rode on the float created by Heartland Travel, with the theme saluting those who serve and protect. Warren didn't even attempt to wear his uniform, but he did manage to wear the hat!
Best theme winner was the float from Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts Troop 106, which was created by the scouts with help from Peggy Kleiber of Ramona (who is Webelos leader) and Melissa Stuchlik of Lincolnville.
Because the theme for the parade was "Let Freedom Ring," the Scouts had a "Miss Liberty" figure on the float, but in this case, it was "Mr. Liberty," because one of the Boy Scouts was wearing the costume. "We had to get one of the littler boys to do it," laughed Peggy Kleiber, "because the older ones wouldn't!" In my book — it was the hit of the parade!
George Sandberg from Colorado came up to the judge's stand and introduced himself. "I get the Marion County Record," he said, "and I really enjoy reading the news from the area."
George resided in Burdick at one time and tries to get back to his home turf for special events like Labor Day.
This connection to homeland is one of the reasons I delight in writing the Ramona news. Hardly a week goes by that somebody doesn't come into town, searching for reflections of their past.
This past week it was two cousins, Selma McIntire and Margaret Cassity, along with Margaret's husband Ted, who took their dog for a walk in town while the ladies searched for lost ancestors. The cousins had stopped in Norma's Attic Antiques, asking Fern Leach if she knew anything about their grandparents, Roy and Loddie Bird, who once owned a hardware store in Ramona.
Now, since Fern's maiden name was Bird, she automatically was interested in these ladies' search for their grandparents. "We aren't related," said Fern when she called me, "but I wondered if you might have anything down at the Dirt Gambler's Museum about their grandparents."
When Selma and Margaret walked in the door of the museum, they immediately saw the picture of Eskeldson's hardware store that hangs on the south wall. "Could this have been the building that my grandparents once owned?" asked Selma. I immediately called Steve Eskeldson, whose father built the hardware and farm implement store in 1905.
"I can't recall offhand who he sold it to," said Steve. But then minutes later he called me back and reminded me that in the Ramona Centennial Book it gave a brief history of the hardware store, and indeed Steve Eskeldson Sr. sold the building to Roy Bird in 1915.
"I just remember my grandmother Loddi talking about how stressful it was for her to do the bookkeeping for the store," said Margaret, "and she'd get migraine headaches and couldn't keep up the work."
The hardware store later became a restaurant in 1922, operated by Clarence Neis, and on the second floor there was a theater. One season it was even used as a gym for the high school basketball team. Eventually the building was moved to Herington.
When the building left town, the vacant lots were purchased by Archie Greer and he moved a building onto the spot.
Some of Archie Greer's relatives were in town a few weeks ago, tracing their ancestry. Dave and Vicki Greer of Seguin, Texas, drove into town taking pictures and visiting the cemetery where Archie and Rosanna are buried. "We invited them in for a piece of pie and coffee, on the house," said Reign Anduss.
I saw the motor home the day they visited. I knew they were visitors and probably on an "ancestry quest," but when I came out of the bank building and tried to flag them down, they didn't see me. I even ran down the street after them, hoping to catch them.
I didn't catch up with them until this past Monday, when I got their names from Marlene Anduss. I called information and within minutes I was talking with Vicki Greer. "We were going to Pratt and had a little extra time so I suggested we go to Ramona," said Vicki Greer. Her husband, Dave, is a son of Bill Greer — the only child of Archie and Rosanna Greer. Archie and Rosanna had a general store in Ramona just north of where the bank building now stands. The year was 1910.
This past Sunday was the first Sunday of the month, which means that the Dirt Gambler's Museum, Norma's Attic Antiques, and the Ramona Cafe all were open at the same time. That gives you three reasons to come to Ramona on a Sunday — even though we know that eating Reign's fried chicken is reason enough!
By the way, the cafe, museum, and antique store plan to make it a monthly tradition to be open the first Sunday of every month.
Steve Svoboda and family visited the museum after lunch, and listening to Steve tell stories was delightful since he's grown up in this community.
When he saw the pictures of the old school bus hanging on the wall in the school room exhibit he chuckled. "We kids loved riding Kenny Fike's bus. We were assigned another bus from the Centre grade school to the high school, but hey, all the buses ended up at the same place, so we'd jump on Kenny's. He just drove us there and wasn't fussy about how noisy we kids got."
And here I am at 7:30 in the morning, and right outside my window the kids of Ramona are waiting for the school bus to arrive. They're laughing, teasing, and full of energy and mischief. I don't know what their bus driver's like, but I smile just relishing the notion that some things never change.
And that's the news from Ramona where a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
