Boonetown Becomes 150 Years Old in 2015

     Ex-Booneite Jeff Pigott and the Kornerman have exchanged emails recently and Jeff  mentioned that he planned to visit Boone next summer as the community will be celebrating it's 150th birthday.
     The Kornerman says, "thanks Jeff for answering some of my questions and adding something I was completely unaware of until you mentioned it. Yes, where is the chatter about......the planning for the communities 150th birthday? I recall working at the BNR and providing quite a bit of copy for our 100th anniversary edition and that was, I believe, in 1965. I'm sure we will be talking about this more as the time nears in 2015. This begs the question, what is the actual date of the communities birthday?"
K-----K
     Jamie Kelley and his band have an "in" with KCWI-TV, channel 23 in Des Moines. They appeared on the Great Day show there to promote the recent concert that they gave in Boone in November. Now, they have again been to that studio to record three of Jamie's original Christmas songs for airing on the station on Christmas Day. Appearances are scheduled for 6:50 a.m. and again at 8:50 a.m. on that day.
     By the way, band members include Kent Weaver on piano, Hank Muzney on drums, Royce Johns on guitar and Larry Kelley on bass.
K-----K
     In the last edition, we had mentioned the death of Maurice "Morry" Reid, a former Boone resident who passed away recently in Glen Ellyn,IL. He was 101 years of age, is an uncle of current Boone resident Jackye Ray and after Ilinois services, he was to be buried at Linwood here beside his late wife. Morry was a licensed Professional Engineer and had a long career with the railroad, much of that time in Boone.
     We had also mentioned that the Kornerman remembered him as quite a celebrated fast pitch softball player and this week, Tom Peterson provided some addition information in that regard. Tom wrote, "Morry played fast pitch with his brother, Clyde "Tuffy" Reid, on Boone teams. Clyde was inducted into the Iowa Fast Pitch Hall of Fame posthumously in 2007 while Morry was inducted in 1972. When we inducted Clyde, Morry told how, in the 1950's, the Boone team lost in the ASA National final game in extra innings in a game played in Chicago. I recall Morry saying most of the players took  the train to Chicago. One of the Reid brothers played shortstop and the other was a rover. They played 10 guys on defense in those days. Both Reid brothers were very quick and they positioned themselves all over the place on defense to be in position to make a play on the batter who was pitched a certain way in order to get the batter to hit in an area where they were positioned. No doubt in my mind that the competitiveness level the Reid brothers and the rest of the Boone team played with led to the reason why my Hall of Fame brothers participated in this great game of Fast Pitch Softball."
     Tom Peterson, a Boone native and BHS grad, was, of course, an outstanding Fast Pitch player himself and is a Hall of Fame member.
K-----K
     Boone Area Deaths: Ardis Vale, 92, Boone.She and her husband, Lewis, lived in Boone and, over the years, owned and operated the Boone Valley Hatchery, the Holiday Lounge and the Boone Hotel. Boone area survivors include her daughter-in-law, Joleen Ferry Vale, and grandson Jason Vale both of Boone...............Betty Lorraine Smith, 84, Tama. Was a waitress and cashier, owned and operated the Toledo Recreation Center in the 1990's and for over 25 years, was a waitress and assistant manager of the Gaslight Club in Tama. Boone area survivor is a son, Michael Smith of Boone.
K-----K
     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.........
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com