HOW ABOUT A FRESH, NEW START?

    The Kornerman is sill moaning and groaning over my most recent mistake.......regarding the location of the Topper Motel.

    What a terrible way to start the New Year........one of the most egregious korner errors I've ever had to admit to.

    Actually, viewer James Rueber deserves the credit for getting me "straight."

    He wrote twice......(1) I have a postcard of the Chick-A-Dine Cafe with the Topper Motel next door. It was located on Highway 30. It was gone before I moved to Boone. I also have a postcard of the Teddy Roosevelt monument in McHose Park. (2) Here is another postcard view of the Topper Motel. On the back, it says, "first stop from the east and last stop from the west." It is postmarked 1955. I think it must have been where the Black Knight Restaurant and motel were located and the motel part is now apartments. I also have a view of the Topper sign. That should have been placed in a museum."

    The Kornerman says, "the big sign on the postcard looks like the one that appeared in the magazine. The Black Knight did take over the Chick-A-Dine property.

    Thanks to Karen Anderson.....there's more.

K-----K

     Karen wrote, "my uncle and aunt, Floyd (Snub) and Helen Pollard, built and ran the Topper. I can't imagine how many people came through Boone back then because of that Lincoln Highway. I  think it opened in the early 1950's. Snub and Helen were not happy when the new interstate was built south of town. It probably wasn't too many years after the new highway came in that they sold the property."

    She added, "I don't know when they opened the Chick-A-Dine. They had that before the motel. As I  recall, the building the Chick-A-Dine was in, was a gas station before being converted to the restaurant. They had a spot in the cattle auction house next door (I think that's what it was) where they served food, prior to opening the Chick-A-Dine. I remember Helen making spaghetti sauce and Thousand Island dressing and they had the best French Fried Onion Rings and broasted chicken."

    "They sold the Chick-A-Dine a few years before the motel and moved to a nursing home in Des Moines. I was in Boone several years ago and drove past. I heard the restaurant had burned down and the motel looked like it had been turned into rental units. It didn't look like a motel. Helen had beautiful rose bushes and Yew bushes around the motel. It was sad for me to see. I lived in Iowa until I was 10 so I spent a lot of time there visiting Snub and Helen. Grandpa lived with them at the Topper. His horse, Cindy, was kept in a barn and pasture behind the motel. Seeing something about the Topper in print these many years later was so nice."

    The Kornerman says, "both Karen and Jim Rueber were wondering whatever happened to the Topper sign and I guess we have no answer."

K-----K

    BOONE CONNECTED DEATHS

    Sandra Lynn (Sandy) Nickell Puntenney, 76, Boone. BHS-64. Mercy School of Nursing-67. Ottawa University-97. Married Gregory Fawcett in 1968 and they divorced in 1982. Married Keith Puntenney in 1983 and the couple moved to Boone in 1992. Sandy spent 43 years in the health care field, including 18 years at the Boone County Hospital as Director of Nursing. Survivors include her husband, Keith, and a son, Matthew, both of Boone. Another son also survives.

    Cale Richard Farley, 5, Boone. Survivors include his parents, Joel and Jessica Farley, his baby sister, Hallie, and his grandparents, Kevin and Carrie Farley, all of Boone. Also surviving are grandparents Violanda and Graham Stamper of Madrid and three uncles, including Travis Graham of Madrid.

    Amy Jo Higgins, 37, St. Paul, MN. BHS-2002. Earned a cosmetology license and a history degree from ISU. Was a teacher in St. Paul. Survivors include her parents, Ed and Jill Higgins, and grandfather, John McPherson, all of Boone. A sister and brother also survive.

    Velma Grace Buche Reese, 89, Madrid. Sheldahl HS. Iowa State Teachers College. Worked as a substitute elementary teacher. Was known as a cake decorator. Married Don Reese in 1954. Survivors include her husband, Don, a daughter, two brothers and two sons including Ron Reese, of Madrid. A sister, Phyliss Martens of Madrid also survives.

    Doris Ardelle Engstrom Krumm Mathre, Story City, 87. Born on a farm north of Stratford. Stanhope HS-53. Married Hurley Krumm in 1953 and he passed in 1968. Married Lesley Mathre in 1973. Farmed  in rural Boone County. Two daughters, including Karol Krumm of Boone and a daughter-in-law, Pam Krumm, of Boone survive. 

    Gerald (Jerry) Toms, 86, Ames. Jordan HS-53. Degree in Ag Education from ISU in 1959. Was a farmer. Married Shelby Gall in 1959. Survivors include his wife, Shelby, four adult children, including sons Scott and Jeff of Boone and Mike of Madrid. Two sisters also survive.

    Karen J. Carlson Good, Ames, 73. DMACC. Married Daniel Good in 2000. Was a secretary at ISU until retirement in 2012. Several children and step-children survive including a son, Benjamin Larrew, of Boone.

    Carl Barnes, 90, Alleman. Was an English and art teacher at several Iowa schools including some time at Madrid.

K-----K 

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