Defiant grace

~a column about Jefferson by Colleen O’Brien When the day finally arrived that I got to go home from college my freshman year, I felt like I’d been a stranger in a strange land for three years instead of three months. The only time I’d been away from home prior to my 18th year was to spend a week each…

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The annual return to Nov. 22, 1963

~by Denise O’Brien Van About 12:45 on Friday afternoon, I’ll be back on the University of Iowa campus, reliving what happened to me as a 21-year-old college junior who just happened to turn on her radio and hear horrifying news: President John F. Kennedy has been killed by an assassin’s bullets in Dallas, Tex. I’ve been there every Nov. 22…

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History doesn’t change; we do

Many folks older than myself are recalling this week where they were Nov. 22, 1963, when they learned President Kennedy had been shot. I remember the day well, although I don’t remember hearing the news from Dallas. What I remember is that my family moved to a new town two hours away. We went to school that morning and our…

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Deliver me

~a column about Jefferson by Colleen O’Brien When I was a kid – which is farther and farther away and easier and easier to remember (as opposed to yesterday) – businesses delivered all kinds of things to our homes. We received the Des Moines Register and Tribune during some wee morning hour. Many of us still get this delivery, although…

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A new era begins

We moved to Jefferson in January 1996 during a blizzard that closed I-80 behind us. We were a two-vehicle caravan, my husband leading the way in a Dodge conversion van, our oldest son, who had just turned 12, hanging his head out the passenger side window to alert his father if he came too close to the ditch. I followed…

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Time stops for no town

a column about Jefferson by Colleen O’Brien An artist friend of mine came home for All School to see her old friends and to take photos of town and countryside in order to paint pictures of where she came from. It’s a charming idea, and one I would adopt if I could do it like she does. Years ago the…

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Tree Tracings

by Valerie Ogren, Greene County Genealogical Society All-School Reunion-  The library was a great meet and greet gathering place on Saturday, Oct. 5, during the reunion weekend.  I missed visiting with the authors since I was volunteering downstairs showing those who were interested how to access the newspapers online.  Imagine my surprise when the first “customer” during my tour of duty…

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