Wednesday, October 25, 2017

We're Quizzing Again

     Tony Crandell, BHS-59, wants to know, "where you could get a genuine "Coney Island" sandwich in Boone in the 1950's? Tony says there were four such places.
     The Kornerman will provide the answers in the Saturday edition.
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     There was a great Letter to the Editor in the Des Moines Register the other day. A lady from Waverly was "disheartened" to read of the closing of the Mamie Doud Eisenhower birthplace. She indicated that she had taken a group to the home on at least a couple occasions via hosting a bus tour.
     Then too, Cynthia Foder of Channel Eight in Des Moines did a very nice piece on the situation recently. She interviewed interested patrons Helen Barnes and Larry Adams, BHS-65, and also Mara MacKay, the Director of the Boone County Historical Society.
     There was some great photography showing both some outside and inside shots of the facility.
     Diane and Gene Strandberg, BHS-58, wrote, "at a Strandberg family reunion last summer, my sister, Marcia, BHS-62, brought a 1974 clipping from the Boone News Republican. It contained a photo of the dedication of the stone plaque in front of Mamie's birthplace. In the picture are Ike Eisenhower himself, Mamie, Mrs. L.A. Douglas, Mrs Sam Smiley, Mrs Awilda Strandberg (my mother) and Mrs Retta Shaw. I can forward a copy to anyone who might be interested. Phone 941-753-9482 or gsandds@hotmail.com.
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     The Kornerman can't let this pass. The name Retta Shaw provides such a unique personal memory.
     Back in my youthful, radio, days we did not have downtown studios. All the broadcasting was done at the Ledges Road studios.......field mice and all.
     Being a newcomer, I had my choice of working days and chose Sunday (ha). Rhetta was a storyteller with a love for music and poetry and she had a program on KWBG on Sundays which featured those "loves."
     She wanted to be "close to nature" so yes, the Kornerman would take a table outside and drag a microphone with a long cord (none of this current fancy stuff......not needing a plug-in cord).......to the designated spot. So amidst the birds and sunshine (hopefully), Rhetta would have her program outside.
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    Vern Modeland, BHS-50, wants the Korner to quit listing Boone area people who "die around the age of 80-something." He wrote, "I and Chuck Brainard, BHS-50, are in that age group and don't need the reminder. Chuck is still climbing his 185-foot tall tower where his ham radio antennas lurk down in lower Texas and I'm just trying to not fall down. We don't need this attention to age."
    The Kornerman recently mentioned Boone native Ev Hickman, BHS-54, and that stirred a memory for Vern who worked at WHO radio with Ev.
     He wrote, "I was the early shift and Ev came in at noon. I was driving back from a day of swimming at a lake near Indianola. As always, the two-way newsroom radio was in my car and I was listening to Ev do a "feed" from the site of a big brick chimney being demolished at Fort Des Moines. News Director Jack Shelley, BHS-29, another Boone native, loved events like this......so dramatic. After much coordination, Ev was on the air counting down with those doing the demolishing. "Five, four, three" and then Ev went off the air. Jack started calling and calling and I was laughing and laughing. I could easily see from Highway 65 that the chimney was still standing. Ev's radio had apparently quit due to the big noise. The chimney didn't even have a little lean. When Shelley finally took a breath, I finally got space to call in. I reported that all appeared okay. I offered to drive over and double check, but Ev apparently found a phone by then. That was before cell phones of course.........the good old days."
K-----K
     Some borrowed thoughts. I started with nothing and still have most of it. But, you can't have everything. Where would you put it? Do you realize when you are charged and go to court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people not smart enough to get out of jury duty? How can cemeteries raise their burial costs and blame it on the "cost of living?"
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     BOONE CONNECTED DEATHS: Dwight (Mac) McVicker, 94, Story City. Born in Boone. BHS-41. A veteran, he returned to Boone after service, married and settled on the family farm. A son and a daughter survive..........Phillip Pickerill, 82, D.V.M. PhD. Austin, TX. Boone area survivor is a granddaughter, Florence Mass, of Madrid.
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     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 928 South Jackson, Boone, Iowa 50036-4932. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments/SUPPORT......
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.


     
    
    

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