The Most Material about Boone and Booneites, Here, There and Everywhere

     The Kornerman really appreciates a recent note from Gary Knox. He informed us that in Hot Rod magazine there was a feature story about a Boone native and BHS graduate. The Korner, of course, is always very interested in receiving information about Booneites or former Booneites who have been cited for various reasons. Through the "heads up" of viewers like Gary, the Korner obtains interesting info that would probably not appear anywhere else locally. We love being exclusive.
     Gary wrote, "this individual is associated with Hot Rod magazine and was featured in the latest issue. He says he is from Boone and his grandpa ran a Skelly gas station. He commuted to ISU and majored in journalism. He loved hot rods as a kid."
     That individual is Jeff Smith, who apparently graduated from Iowa State in 1979. So, he was, perhaps, a BHS grad about 1975. The grandpa mentioned might have been Graham Lane who operated a service station near the intersection of 11th and Story streets. If so, Jeff's parents may have been Graham's daughter, Jo Ellen, and Jerry Smith. We know that Jeff has relatives that remain in the Boone area. None of this "personal" information is in the article. The Kornerman is just attempting to piece things together from info lodged in the back of my head. If I'm wrong with my assumptions, I apologize.
     The article states that Jeff started his career with Petersen Publishing in 1979 as Feature Editor for Car Craft. He then became Editor in 1984 and in 1987, took a job as Editor of Hot Rod for over six years. Jeff then took a break from editorship before Chevy High Performance came calling. He was Editor there from 1998 to 2003 but then returned to Car Craft as the first Editor to hold that title twice, but only for about a year when he moved to his current Senior Technical Editor position. Jeff now spends most of his time focusing on his passion of testing products, building engines, and performing many of the more involved technical stories for Car Craft. He and his wife, Valerye, have two grown children who live here in Iowa. His stable of cars include an evolving number of Chevelles, including his track day and autocross blue '65 Chevelle and his flamed '65 El Camino.
     Jeff has contributed over 625 stories on his work through the years.
     For additional info..........
http://www.hotrod.com/contributors/jeff-smith/#  federated=1
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     And then, in the most recent edition, we had mentioned that Boone native and BHS 1961 grad, Jerry Leroy Converse, was to be honored on Veterans Day by having his name added to the ISU Memorial Union Gold Star Hall which honors fallen Iowa Staters, many of whom died in military service in a war zone.
     Jerry, an ISU grad, was killed in 1967 aboard the USS Liberty off the shore of Egypt during the Six-Day war.
     Some of you may have noticed that a huge, complete story about Jerry, including a big picture of him graced the front page of the Veterans Day (Tuesday) edition of the Des Moines Register. The story was titled, "A Proper Tribute," and went into great detail about one of the most controversial attacks in American history.
     Jerry, a tall, 6-6 student with a reputation as a good singer, was an electrical engineering major at ISU.
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     In a recent edition, we mentioned that  former BHS student, Sharon Patten Cazett, had been seeking a copy of the 1954 Scroll. Jerry Manriquez read about that in the Korner and he reminds all Korner viewers, including Sharon,  that his website contains numerous old yearbooks for BHS, Sacred Heart and Boone Junior College that can be viewed. He also reminds Mike Loehrer that upon receipt of the material, he would be happy to scan and include his, Mike's,  scrapbook on his web site. Mike had earlier indicated he had some information he would like to present for public viewing but didn't known an avenue for that.
Here's Jerry's website....
http://boonesacheart.manriquez.net.
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     A reminder that tommorrow, Thursday, Jamie Kelley will be appearing on the Great Day program on KCWI-TV in Des Moines at about 8:20 a.m.. He'll be singing some songs and promoting his show to be held this Saturday evening at the BHS auditorium to benefit the Boone Y.
     Any "outsiders," those who can't pull in that Des Moines/Ankeny based TV station, may be able to access his Thursday appearance at....
http://www.kcwi23.com/great-day-show/
     P.S. tickets are still available at Eckstein's or the Boone Y for the Saturday night show. Jo and I will be there. Join us.
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     We had a quick mention of this in an earlier edition. More details now.
     A Boone teacher, Peggy Watkins, is one of 10 winners of Iowa's 2014 Women of Innovation Awards. The awards were presented by the Technology Association of Iowa last night (Tuesday) in a ceremony at Prairie Meadows Conference Center.
     Peggy received an Academic Innovation and Leadership in Secondary Education award. She's a BHS teacher and has led the development of the virtual reality program at Boone High and Middle School. She has also led a collaboration between entrepreneurs and students on 3-D modeling and animation projects.
     Congratulations Peggy.
     Haven't seen this or, actually, any of today's material in the local newspaper. Keep watching us.
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     Boone Area deaths: James McGuire, 97, Des Moines. Worked many years at the D.M. Register. Boone area survivor is his daughter, Mary McGuire of Boone..........Blake Hanel, 59, Boone. BHS-73. Was a railroad employee. Boone area survivors include his wife, Kim, and brother-in-law, Brett Vinchattle, his parents, Darrell and Jane Hanel and sister, Diane Olofson all of Boone, his mother and father-in-law, Dixie and Bob Vinchattle and his sister-in-law, Coleen Collen all of Dayton.......Arlene Campbell Brenneman, 86, Iowa City, formerly of Boone. Born here. A longtime employee of the University of Iowa. No Boone area survivors.
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     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 710 Aldrich, Boone, Iowa 50036-4703. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments/SUPPORT.......
kelleykorner1@gmail.com.