Our Yesterdays

2015

The Queen candidates for Pekin’s 2015 Homecoming are Sloan Reighard, Beth Atwood, Madi Lathrop, Gwynne Wright, and Courtney Comstock. King candidates are Keaton Winn, Brady Donovan, Ryan Swanson, Chase Copeland, and Michael Hadley. The Homecoming Kickoff and Coronation will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, September 20, in the high school gym.

Billy H. and Wilma R. Northup will be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary with an open house on Sunday, Sept. 27 from 2:00 to 4 p.m. at the Packwood Christian Church in Packwood. Wilma R. Van Orsdall and Billy H. Northup were united in marriage on Oct. 1, 1950 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Billy is a retired postmaster.

Hosting the open house will be their children: Norman and Sharon Northup of Cedar Rapids, Phillip Northup of Hedrick, Billy V. and Lisa Northup of Clive, and Bobby and Julie Northup of Packwood; and their seven grandchildren.

Chelsea, Colten, and Mary Bishop attended the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 22, volunteering their time and enjoying the sites and seeing the exhibits. Colten first assisted in the Blue Ribbon Kid Zone. He was assigned duties of checking Blue Ribbon members, ages 6-11, into registration. Once that was completed, he helped each child with butter sculpturing, crafts of beach balls, and oven mitt design, and cleanup in the tent. His good citizenship continued at the Fun Forest area. This area had carnival games of bean bag toss, hula hoops, monkey links, face painting, and horse race. Colten handed out prizes, he has been a Blue Ribbon kid in past years. This was his first year as an Iowa State Fair team member. Chelsea volunteered at the Fun Forest area too. This was her fourth year as an ISF team member. Chelsea’s past experience has been volunteering at the fair’s Little Hands in the Fair, Threads department making quilts for charity in the Des Moines area, handing out ribbons at the goat show, and food and nutrition department. Chelsea likes being an ISF member because there is a variety of areas and interests to be involved in and give back to the community by attending the state fair.

Shirley Schooley hosted a coffee bridal shower at her home on Aug. 29 for P.E.O. members and local artist Judy Cabral. Ruth Ann Stacy and Rosemary Pacha served as cohostesses. Fourteen P.E.O. sisters attended. Judy and Dave Bloom will be married at the Lake Darling Lodge on September 12.

Pat Remington met her sister Kathy of Chariton in Ottumwa on August 31. They enjoyed dining and shopping.

On Aug. 28 a celebration was held for Charles Fritz’s birthday. Charles and Debi of Sigourney with son Nathan, a student at Central College in Pella, brought a pizza supper to the home of his mother Winifred Fritz in Brighton. They enjoyed cake and ice cream.

Lucy Dietzman with Malcolm and Brendon of Keosauqua, Mary and Joel Boatright with Bridget Hollingsworth of Fairfield, and J.D. Hollingsworth of rural Packwood enjoyed the day and evening at the home of their mother and grandmother Winifred Fritz on August 30.

Enjoying the evening meal of Sept. 1 at Winifred’s home were her son Joe of Brighton, and Bob’s cousin Jim Arndt with daughter Jennifer, formerly of Texarkana, Texas, but now of St. George, Utah. Winifred’s son Tony and Lynn Fritz of Brighton joined them later that evening. Cake and ice cream were served in honor of Tony’s birthday.

Shirley Schooley, with her brother Phil and Sandra Speidel of Mount Pleasant, attended the funeral for their cousin Maxine Speidel. It was held Sept. 9 in Springfield, Missouri. Enroute to Springfield, they visited and ate lunch with Shirley’s son Mike and Cindi Schooley in Columbia, Missouri.

Pat Remington spent Sept. 5 with her daughter Angela Garmoe, James and Christopher in Mount Pleasant. They enjoyed a cookout with friends that evening.

Mary and Joel Boatright of Fairfield, with her son J.D. and Becky Hollingsworth of Packwood, enjoyed the evening meal of Sept. 6 with her mother Winifred Fritz.

Dorothy Miller and Rosemary Pacha took part in a two day bus trip Aug. 26 and 27 sponsored by the Wellman Quilt Guild. They traveled to Hamilton, Missouri, where they toured the Missouri Star Quilt Company. They also toured the retreat center and the very large warehouse. Jenny Sloan, the owner, is known for her tutorial website and quilt books. Hamilton is the boyhood home of J.C. Penney and the 500th J.C. Penney Store. There were seven different quilt shops in the town, as well as other small businesses. The group also stopped at several quilt shops along the way.

A large crowd attended the Pfister Plot Day on the Gerald Pacha farm Tuesday evening, September 1. A barbecue dinner was served after the tour of the Pacha pond.

Michael and Rebecca Kurtz of St. Charles, Illinois are the proud parents of a girl, Nicolette Carmen Kurtz. She was born Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015 at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital in Hinsdale, Illinois weighing seven pounds, 11 ounces. She has one sister, Giulianna, age three. Grandparents are Kenneth and Carol Kurtz of Brighton, and Cory and Doris Ooyen of Elgin, Illinois.

Indian Hills Community College has released the names of the students who completed their graduation requirements at the end of the 2015 Summer Term.

The following area students received an Associate of Arts (AA) degree, Associate of Science (AS) degree, Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree, Diploma or Certificate from IHCC. BRIGHTON: Doug Foxworthy (AAS) HEDRICK: Trevor McCabe (Diploma), Bobbi Mosbey (Diploma), Tiffany Youngkrantz (AAS) OLLIE: Jacob Gentry (AA), Hannah Kopsieker (AA) PACKWOOD: Cory Loyd (AAS)

The Pekin football team faced off against Danville last Friday night, and came away with a 20-17 win. Tyler Copeland racked up 103 yards rushing on 19 carries, scoring a touchdown and making a two-point conversion. Keaton Winn had 101 yards in 10 carries, while Chase Copeland carried the ball 15 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. Brady Donovan had 17 yards rushing in three carries, and Trever Northup rushed five times for nine yards. Northup was six for six passing for 64 yards. Winn had four receptions for 49 yards and one touchdown, while Donovan and Chase Eckley each had one reception. Chase Copeland had five and a half tackles, four solo and two for a loss. Zack Conger, Tyler Copeland, and Eckley each had five tackles, while Kaden Baker had four and a half. Conner Reed had four tackles, with three of them solo and one a sack.

The Friends of Lake Darling State Park have received a grant in the amount of $25,000 from the Frank and Ina Brinton Educational and Charitable Trust. This grant will be used toward an educational pathway connecting the Four Season Cabins, currently under construction, to the Lodge and Beach. The one quarter mile concrete hiking trail addition will offer a self-guided tour of J. N. ”Ding” Darling’s life as conservationist and cartoonist, and his call for land stewardship a model for the exemplary soil and water conservation efforts of landowners in the Lake Darling Watershed.

1960

The Rev. and Mrs. Almon White have resigned their respective positions as pastor of the Friends Church and third grade teacher in the Richland School to allow Rev. White to continue graduate study at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Rev. White has served the Richland church for four years, and Mrs. White has taught for one year.

The 1959 Census of Agriculture, conducted in Keokuk County last fall, counted 1,944 farms, according to a preliminary report just issued by the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce. Total land in farms was 353,846 acres. The average size of a farm was 182 acres. The average value of farms (land and buildings) in the county was $38,059. Of the county’s farm operators, 949 owned their farms, 484 owned part of the land and rented additional acreage, and 503 were tenant farmers.

Two property sites have been sold in Richland this week for erection of new homes. Purchasers are Mrs. Ed Ferrell and Chris Unkrich. Both properties are located 2 ½ blocks west of the northwest corner of the Richland square. Mr. Unkrich purchased a lot from Otto Emry. Chris and his family live southwest of Richland. Mrs. Ferrell purchased the vacant property across the street south from the Emry property. The two new homes will be the first to be constructed in one year in Richland in the last decade. Last year Louie Egbert built a new home and this year Andy George built a new home.

Only 16 boys were issued football equipment for this years squad. Seven lettermen will be returning to the squad this year. Those reporting for equipment are as follows: Capt. Ron Ward, Capt. Ron Greeson, J.D. Hadley, Larry Egbert, Laverne Messer, Ron Tucker, Dean Watson, Keith Thomas, Ron Green, Keith Lankford, John Adam, Leland Fulton, Mike Hadley, Terry Houseal, Ed Green, and John Gould.

1940

The parsonage of the Christian Church in Richland, which was built in 1865 and is now occupied by the Rev. A.C. Roach, pastor of the church, had a few improvements made. The men of the church raised money and donated work, including siding the structure with embossed brick. The Christian Church, a landmark since 1867, displays brick which was burned by Robert Tracy, a pioneer craftsman here.