HAPPINESS IS......

     When someone reaches 90-years of age, they deserve special recognition.
     Vern Moorman, BHS-47, is celebrating 90 this very day, Saturday, May 2, and friends and family are asked to meet at Lincoln school at 1 p.m. for a drive-by celebration. The COVID-19 ruined any plans for an open house.
      Michael Sundall, a son-in-law, asked the Korner to give a "shout-out." The Kornerman hopes many friends will show up, some in their special "older" vehicles.
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      The Kornerman sees that two areas in Iowa are rated among the top seven in the entire U.S.A. by a Milken Institute study that determines the best places in this country for "retiring and aging well."
     More of that shortly.
     Along that same line, but locally, a recent release from the Boone County Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Economic Growth Corporation boasts great news about the city of Boone's increasing development.
     The report says that, since the start of 2018, the city has seen 90 building permit applications for new housing, the most in a two-year span since the 1970's. Many of these applications are for neighborhood development and not just single-family units. One of those neighborhoods will be a Destiny Homes project constructing 17 homes on a former trailer home site targeting young families and first-time home buyers with prices ranging from $200K to $240K.
     Remember the old Garfield Elementary site? Eight new home sites will be available there and numerous town homes have sprung up along the Cedar Pointe Golf course, formerly the Boone Golf and Country Club.
     In the county, Madrid is moving ahead with a recently approved Tiger Run subdivision which will include 37 single-family lots with home prices in the $200K range.
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     Meantime, that Milken study rated the Des Moines/West Des Moines area fifth best and the Council Bluffs/Omaha area seventh best in the entire U.S.A.
     Specificially, it said that those areas were rated highly on community engagement, health care and employment, with both living and housing costs less than the national average.
     A national leader in geriatric health services, a wide range of primary care specialists are available. Medical and long term care is reasonably priced, programs for older adults are well funded and the areas feature plenty of volunteering opportunities.
     The downside listed was that public transportation is limited and the rates of obesity, drinking and alzheimer's disease are quite high.....unfortunately.
     This was all part of a study that determined the best 50 cities where Americans are flocking to for retirement.
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     The Kornerman keeps thinking......."well, old Vern, BHS-50, he's getting up there....about 88......I should be able to slip a few things by him."
     NO WAY!
     In his latest scolding, he wrote, "two instances of noun-verb dis-agreement in your recent column. Can you go back and spot them? My English teacher would have had me writing them over and over way back when."
     I replied, "when that was being discussed, I was probably making paper airplanes or "juicing up" spit balls. I haven't got a clue."
     Vern came back, "the noun-verb things I caught, 'cause Mrs. Taylor made us get them right or else, were; (1) the Iowa Department of Social Services have their offices these days......Department HAS.
(2) Schultz Laboratories are coming back home. It's Schultz Laboratories IS."
    "But, like I say, I'm from the oldest of the Old School. Today's writers and readers apparently wouldn't even know there were such things as nouns and verbs by the way they do it. The AP (Associated Press) style book and Chicago Book of Style must be mouldering in the basements of any places they still call home. Ah, but once an editor, always one. It's the hazard of writing for readers who, "incidentally, love your work and the memories it brings back.") Have a good 'un and keep on keeping on for those of us who are your regulars each Wednesday and weekend."
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     BOONE CONNECTED DEATHS: Steve Vinson, 79, Boone. Stratford HS-59. Was in the Iowa National Guard for six years while his civilian job was barbering with Arlo Dorenbush. He married Sylvia Truman in 1965 but she passed away in 1984. The couple lived in Granger until 1980 when they moved into a home in Boone that Steve and a friend had constructed. Steve re-enlisted in  the National Guard in 1973 and was fulltime until his retirement in 2001. Survivors include a son, Michael of Roland, and his sister, Susanne Carlson of Stratford.........Mary Anderson, 98, Boone. Was a teacher at a one-room country school near Somers, junior highs in Rinard and Dayton and first and second grade at Lanyon. Married Raymond Anderson in 1946. They lived near Lanyon and then, on a farm near Boone from 1956-1992 when they moved to Boone. Survivors include a son, Greg, of Boone, two daughters, including Rochelle Williams of Boone, two sisters and a brother-in-law..........Eleanor Jipp, 97, Boone. Born in Luther. Luther HS-39. Married Charles Richard Jipp in 1942. She was a dental assistant and then had a long career in banking until her retirement. Survivors include a son-in-law, Richard Silver, of Boone, a daughter-in-law, and six siblings, four sisters and two brothers........Larry Hedlund, 82, Boone. Born in Boone. Was a truck driver. His wife, Carol, of Boone and two sons survive.........Marilyn Loudon Arndorfer, 69, Clear Lake. BHS-68. She married William "Butch" Stark in 1969. He passed in 2000 and she married Thomas Arndorfer in 2006. She worked at ISU and then for the Clear Lake school district. She also worked at Unisys, Rockwell FRC and retired from Opportunity Village in Clear Lake. Survivors include her dad, Wally (Mary Wirtz) Loudon of Boone, her husband and four adult children, two sons and two daughters.
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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.....
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.