Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Added to the List

      A very happy birthday to the Kornerman's aunt, Maurine Morris. She celebrates her 90th birthday on this very day.
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      Happy to hear from Ken Zanker. He phoned this week to tell the Kornerman about another excellent bowler. Kenny saw our recent column about great Boone area bowlers and wanted to add Clayton Zanker, Kenny's nephew, to that list. He said Clayton obtained some early bowling training from his (Clayton's) dad, Vernon, along with Vince Baldus and Doug Lutjen. Years ago, Clayton went on the old "Let's Go Bowling" show in Des Moines and, according to Ken, Clayton won "everything there was to win." He said Clayton is in the Bowling Hall of Fame.
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      We're going to take a little trip around Boone County courtesy of Mark Tompkins. Korner readers have been talking about Mineral Ridge, Ridgeport etc.recently and now, Mark will add to the discussion. Mark wrote, "some lay claim to "ill spent youth," compliments of local pool halls like Boone's Bide-A-Wee of days gone by, and like the ones warned about by Professor Hill in the Music Man. On the other hand, I had a "well spent youth" exploring Boone County, compliments of Dad's Standard Oil tank-wagon. Later, his '56 Ford allowed more roaming of the county's back roads.  So, just riding along with dad as he made deliveries of gasoline, fuel oil, furnace oil, heater oil, diesel and assorted lubricants to farmers throughout the county gave me an exposure to many places that no longer exist, the ghost towns of the county. As an example, dad often referred to the Coal Valley Hill. Back in the 50's, that was a steep, gravel hill just northwest of Moingona. Today, it's a nice paved road. Back in the 50's, dad would have to shift into "granny" (low-low gear) to reach the top. The hill got it's name from the town of Coal Valley that was laid out in 1867 and never amounted to much. Dad delivered gas and diesel fuel to the construction company that was putting the pipeline across the Des Moines River just south of Centerville, a berg that prospered from 1855 for a few years. Had I not ridden along with dad one day, I'd never have known of Centerville. That was quite a ride. It was sloppy with deep mud along the west side of the river. We couldn't drive through it, but the contractor needed the fuels. The simple solution was for them to hook a bulldozer to the truck and pull us in through the deep muck."
     Mark added, "Elk Point was on the map for years, just three miles south of Hornbuckles Point that was there from 1862 to just 1868. Well, at least it survived the Civil War. That was on the west side of the Des Moines River, Cass Township I believe. By the way, how many Booneites know where Amaqua Township is? That's where the village of Beaver sits, which is appropriate for Amaqua is an Indian name for beaver. Prairie Hill existed in People's Township for 26 years, 1859-1885. Investigation might show it was dependent on coal, like so many Boone County villages of the day, but it lasted longer than many. A trip to the Ericson Library and the Boone Historical Society could shed light on these ghost towns. Hmmm. Might be an excuse for a road trip!"
     Mark concluded, "the year was 1956 and here is a little vignette that connects to the Mineral Ridge area. It was Christmas Day. We'd just sat down to breakfast. My chair was on the west side of the table and gave me a good view of Five Mile Drive and the entry to our driveway. As I reached for the Christmas only (or so it seemed) freshly squozen (Booneite version of squeezed) orange juice I saw a car turn into the new fallen snow, and exclaimed, "hey, someone's turning into our drive." It was a dark purple, maybe blue car, from the late 40's. Dad got up and went to the kitchen door. Looking out it's window, he saw a man get out of the car and walk toward the house. Dad said, "why it's....(a man who farmed near Ridgeport). He opened the door and said, "why, Merry Christmas..." The man said, "Tommy, I've owed you some money too long and I couldn't let Christmas go by without paying you." He handed dad a sack, said, "Merry Christmas," turned, and walked back to his car. Dad sat down and opened the sack. It contained twenty two silver dollars minted in the late 1800's. On April 15, 1988 dad died. A few days later, I found those silver dollars, still in the paper sack, in the bottom of the bureau he used for his business records."
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     Barely in time. Seconds after posting online, the Kornerman received a note that we didn't want to wait until the Saturday edition to report. Mike Sundall wanted us to mention that Deane Eckley will celebrate his 90th birthday on Sunday, 2-22, from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the Colorado Grill. Mike is hoping to bring his dad, Kenny, back to Boone for that celebration. He wrote, "the Sundall family had some great times growing with the Eckley's."
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     The Kornerman continues to be amazed at the popularity of this little tidbit in a very wide world. I noted that we received just over 4,000 views in January and our total since we started this gabfest is nearing the 200,000 mark......198,903 this morning to be specific.
     And, this talk reminds me that March, a very milestone month, is approaching. More about that later.
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     Boone Area Deaths: Bonnie J. Anderson, 80, Des Moines. Born in Boone..........James Webb, 91, Grand Junction. Jim and his brother moved to the Boone area to continue farming in 1950. He and his wife lived on a farm east of Boone now known as the Iowa State Agronomy Farm until 1960 when they moved back to their original farm. Boone area survivor is his wife of 60 years, Joan Duncan Webb of Grand Junction, a Boone native..............Bill Fitch, 83, Boone. Luther School. Worked over 40 years in the Luther/Madrid area as part of the Boone County road maintenance department. Boone area survivor is his wife, Shirley..........Donald Richard Wright, 57, Boone. Ogden grad...........Gary Tell, 59, Fort Dodge. Dayton schools. Lived in Rippey and eventually worked at Monsanto in Boone until he retired via health issues. Boone area survivors include his mother, Erma, and his aunts, Marilyn Tell and Marge Iles all of Dayton...........Eunice Scott, 94, Maxwell. OHS-38. Was a teacher, a babysitter and a receptionist at Story County Medical Center. Boone area survivor is her daughter, Mary Harringa of Boone.
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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.........
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.
    

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