Schroeder– Evan Schroeder of Jefferson will tour with the Dordt College jazz band during the school’s winter break. He is a sophomore majoring in music with an emphasis in performance and pedagogy. He also has a minor in the Kuyper Scholars program. Schroeder plays piano with the college’s jazz band. Touring through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, the jazz band and chamber orchestra…
Read MoreDay: December 24, 2013
Christmas in Iowa
I remember Iowa Christmas in photographs. I was too young to articulate the beauty, the sounds, the vastness so different from where I lived in San Diego. The pictures in albums are stories of what I grew to learn of my parents’ life in Jefferson: a smalltown square with welcoming folk; was there really a parade for every occasion?
Read MoreA Judy Marie night
The year must have been 1953 or 1954. As I lay in my bed trying so hard to go to sleep I heard the bells… THE bells! Jingle, jingle, jingle. My heart was pounding with excitement. Santa was here! I jumped out of bed and ran to the window. I remember the night was crisp and clear. So crisp and…
Read MoreChristmas Eve memories
Christmas Eve never started until Mom got home from work. We spent days previous rearranging the presents under the tree, my sister shaking and guessing the contents of each package. It was straight to the kitchen for Mom to prepare for what we called the Junk Food Feast, which was a wild assortment of any food imaginable. Each child (there…
Read MoreWhen much was lost, much was given
1956 is when my father died after having open heart surgery in Mayo Clinic. He was one of the first. He was 33 and left a wife and four children to mourn him. And mourn we did. Christmas Day 1957 was memorable only in that none of us had recovered from the loss of our father, and our young widowed…
Read MoreFinal foto
The family stood in front of the front drapes at Mom and Dad’s for a Christmas picture, not something I recalled ever doing. It must have been because Dee and Jeannie and I had traveled to Jefferson from far places. We returned this time with two husbands, Jon and Jim; and a boyfriend, Mike; a grandchild, Jimmy; We were adults,…
Read MoreBasketball hoops installed at Scranton city park
The Scranton Betterment Committee finished the city park basketball project Dec. 17. Scranton Betterment was able to purchase an additional basketball setup for $2,058 to along with the previously purchased hoop. The first hoop was moved from the tennis court and relocated to the city park.
Read MoreMidnight mass at St Mary’s Church, southeast of Cooper, Iowa
It was maybe 1949, and I was bundled in the backseat of my parent’s Ford on a freezing cold crystal clear Christmas Eve as we drove the four or five miles from our farm to St. Mary’s Catholic Church. St. Mary’s was a simple country church sitting among farms along a gravel road. Like other country churches it did not…
Read MoreChamber tells winners in third week of Chamber Christmas drawing
Winners in the third week of the Christmas drawing sponsored by participating members of the Greene County Chamber are (from left, seated) Jessi Riley of Rippey and Gail Huffman of Jefferson. Representing businesses where winners registered are (standing, from left) Jim Delp of Don’s Ace Hardware, Dr Chad Schwander of Jefferson Family Chiropractic, and Andy McGinn of the Bee &…
Read MoreIt’s a Wonderful Life
So, I am watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” as I do each Christmas season now. It was my mother’s absolute must watch movie (and one of her favorites). I resisted watching the damn thing until after her death – on principle. She loved it = I should hate it. And I did (even though I’d never watched it). She asked me…
Read MoreFlash mob at Fareway
The Jefferson Fareway store was the scene of a flash mob last Saturday. Carolers gathered, seemingly spontaneously, in front of the meat counter, treating customers to their rendition of “Joy to the World.” The flash mob was organized by Nicole Friess Schilling and included people from Central Christian Church and friends.
Read MoreLocal poets selected for Iowa Poetry Association’s annual anthology
The work of six Jefferson poets will be included in Lyrical Iowa 2013. Lyrical Iowa 2013 will showcase the work of 368 poets, as compiled by editor Lucille Morgan Wilson. Selected from nearly 2,000 entries in the Iowa Poetry Association’s annual contest, choices were made by qualified judges from Maine, Connecticut, New York, North Carolina and Washington, as well as Iowa. …
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