The Event ~ A Blast from the Past

While in Montana recently, we  passed through Terry, my hometown, located in Eastern Montana,  between Glendive and Miles City.   We took time to drive around the quaint little hometown.  I would describe Terry as a living remnant from the past, a small cowboy community that continues to thrive.  It is a picturesque town bordered by the beauty of the badlands, rolling hills, and the Yellowstone River. There are new building facades scattered among the old one that still exist from my childhood days in the 1950's-1960's.



We drove around the little “run-down” but thriving town, and through old neighborhoods.

I snapped some pictures of places that were part of my childhood memories starting with the little old house I grew up in.  



The above is the front of the house. 

There will be more about this old house in the next entry. . . .

I think it was  late 1964 or early 1965 when we moved in to the big new house my parents built, this one on the far east side of town, the last building on the east edge of Terry.  



It was built just east of the Massey Ferguson implement shop my Dad owned.  I spent a lot of time there as a child also.

Me sitting on the parts counter of Dad's shop.

The shop still stands but today it houses a beauty shop and coffee shop.    The picture below is the building that used to be my dad's shop.







Across the street from the shop and our house, a fast food drive-in was built.  I think this was shortly after McDonalds became an American icon. I can’t remember what the name of the diner was called, but they made a new sandwich called “frenchies”, among the burgers and shakes.  It is still in operation today under the name of  “The Scoop Shoppe.”

Just to the east and across the field from our new house was the drive-in theatre, open  every summer.  Many nites the kids would sit outside on bleachers in front of the snack bar.  I remember going to the drive-in theatre with my parents and my older brother.  We would go in our pajamas as little kids and fall asleep in the back seat of the car.  Until we got old enough to enjoy the movie.  It was the place to meet up with a lot of friends in summer time during school years.  One night a week was always $1 a car.  That’s when we would get as many in one car as we could, and then go sit out on the bleachers!           




Sad to say, it is very run down and out of commission today.  Drive in theatres were another American icon in their day.  I'm not sure why the whole thing isn't tore down and cleaned up.  It is actually kind of

an eyesore in the landscape right now, the screen, the sign, the buildings.  The whole area should be cleaned up.  I"m glad I got pictures though before the area gets bull-dozed.

        

The old Rialto Theatre, above,  still stands today.  We went to a lot of 25 cent Sunday matinees in this old theatre, and bought a lot of penny and nickel candy and 10 cent popcorn.  Mostly the movies we saw included Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, and westerns. 

The three schools I attended remain the same today as they stood during my 1-12 grades.


 Elementary School where I attended grades 1-3





 The middle school for grades 4-8  What a grand building it still is today.



The high school building. 





The football field across the street had bleachers that held a handful of students, but most spectators parked the cars around the football field to watch.  It looks like they still do the same thing today!

The football field was located across the street from Dad’s shop,  which is shown again in  this picture above across from the football score board.   When we moved to the new house when I was in high school, it was only a short walk to school across the back lot of the shop and across the street.  Unlike the mile walk when we lived on the west side of town.   

The same old swimming pool exists today as it was in the 50’s and 60’s.  I am sure it probably has had a facelift over the years.  I have had several recurring fun dreams through the years of swimming in the pool.  We would ride our bikes to the pool daily in the summer time.

In the winter time, we would ice skate in a dirt rink filled with water on the south side of the pool.  I remember many hours on the ice skating “rink”. 

The Roy Rogers bar and café still stands, but doesn’t look nearly as nice on the outside as I remember it looking years ago.  It remains as popular a place today as it was for the last 60+ years.

One favorite hangout is no longer there.  That is the Youngs Bar and Café.  By far the favorite hang out for all school kids junior high through high school.  We would go there after school, after games, after dances and order cherry cokes!  There was one big juke box in the café part, and little table top juke boxes in all the booths and at the soda counter.    We had the music of the 50’s and 60’s  playing all the time.  I also remember my Dad taking my brother Allen and I to Young’s Café for hot chocolate after delivering newspapers early on cold winter mornings.  Allen had a paper route and sometimes I had to help him and sometimes on cold winter mornings, my Dad would drive us around.  Then we would go for hot chocolate before heading home and getting ready for school.



Praire County Hospital that I was born in.  It is no longer a hospital, it is now a nursing home. 



Trinity Lutheran Church.  This was the church I attended till I left for college.  Tim and I were married in this church.




This is a picture of a historic out house, if an out house can be historic.  It kind of stood in the middle of town, but is now made a part of the local museum grounds, and is actually pictured in a book of historic out houses.

Since we went to Glendive on this trip, I snapped a picture of the old bridge we always crossed when going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Glendive.  I'm not even sure if this bridge is still used today since the new one was built.  These type of old bridges don't exist too much anymore.

The bridge crosses the Yellowstone River that runs along the west edge of Glendive. 

When I was a child, we spent alot of time with family out on the Ed Corneliusen farm ~my Uncle Ed and Aunt Nora.  Many holidays and family get-togethers took place there.  On the farm was located a one-room school house that many of my cousins attended.  Now the school is closed, but my cousin, Arvid & Sherry Corneliusen,  now owns the school since it sits on his property.  Another cousin, Marilyn Dufner, has completely repainted the outside of the building.  Inside it looks the same as it did when it was in use ~ books, chalkboards, desks, stove ~ it's all still there.  Even the playground equipment, including the giant strides.  And the original bell still hangs in the bell tower.

I remember attending alot of Christmas parties there where Santa Claus would come and give gifts to all the kids

What a blast from the past!  What eventful memories!  The 1950’s ~ a fun time to be a kid!

The Event ~ A Celebration of Life

We buried my Aunt Bertha Barnick. Saturday, January 19.   She was a spirited 90 years old.  She was the only sister of my dad.  My fondest memory of her was when I was about 8 years old.  I had gotten a much longed for "bride doll" for Christmas that came only with her bride dress on.  It must have been during the following summer that I spent several days at Aunt Bertha's house, and she sewed lots and lots of clothes for my tall 24" doll ~ pants, skirts, tops, dresses, coats.  I had the best dressed doll around!That's when I decided I wanted to be able to sew like her.  She said I needed to join 4-H to learn to sew.  I did. 

I didn’t know this before, but my Aunt Bertha went white-water rafting down the Colorado River when she was 82.  Way to go girl!

We enjoyed visiting and reminiscing before and after the funeral.  It is always fun to visit extended relatives, some whom we haven’t seen for years, some of whom we met for the first time.

Following are a few pictures taken of relatives.  It’s very easy to recognize the common thread in the pictures ~ among the guys.  Or I should say the common unthread, because there are no threads or strands!!!  

Evelyn Cole, Mom, Phyliss Griffiths, Aunt Lilly Corneliusen

Sherry Corneliusen & me

David and Carl Barnick

Mom and I

Family get-togethers are always fun, even when it’s for a celebration of life!  An eventful time in the lives and new life of family!

The Event ~ San Francisco Christmas

Rain, rain go away, come again another!  It rained two of the three days we were in San Francisco for Christmas.  But it was a beautiful rain ~ a hard rain that poured nearly continuously.  Intermittently the rain  stopped long enough to walk the three family dogs, but sometimes we walked them in the light rain.  We wish we would see that kind of rain in Nebraska.

However, rain and all, we enjoyed a very nice Christmas celebration in San Francisco with Alexis and her now fiancé Val Ornoy.  We were genuinely delighted to get to know Val through the three days we were guests in their beautiful SF home.  With all the beautiful architectural row houses there, I wish I would have taken a picture of their home.

We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Val (Luval) into our family and curiously await to hear of their matrimony plans.  Alexis and Val became engaged on December 20, which I understand is the second anniversary of their first date! 

Alexis took time  to scout out a church to attend on Christmas Eve, a very important occasion for Tim and I  to celebrate and observe  in church.  Val is of Jewish descent,  and Alexis raised Christian, but neihter are strongly tied to their faith,  so we very much appreciated them joining us in a worship service and sharing in our observance of  Christmas and  the significant meaning it has for us.   Alexis carefully selected a stately old German Lutheran church with bilingual German/English mixed service, remembering our German heritage.  It was interesting and different. 

Following church we went for dinner in a quaint little French restaurant only a block from their house.  Then returned home to a cozy fireplace, wine, and gifting.  Christmas Day we enjoyed a late brunch breakfast, played a little scrabble, went to the movie Lincoln, and ordered in pizza for evening dinner. 

I know Val and Alexis were looking forward to driving us to the beach and/or other places, but all the rain kept us pretty close to home.  They live within walking distance to several parks, so we did get out to walk the dogs several times when the rain let up a bit.

The dogs include Kuma, the beautiful poodle Alexis has had for over two years; and 16 year old Riley and 7 year old Max, two beautiful dogs that have been part of Val’s life all their years.  It’s easy to see how much they love these four-legged family members.

No matter where we are, as long as we are with family, the celebrations are so much more special and memorable.  We enjoyed this eventful Christmas in San Francisco and spending time with Val and Alexis. 

The Event ~ National Finals Rodeo

The National Finals Rodeo held in Las Vegas each December can now be crossed off the bucket list ~ Tim’s bucket list, not necessarily mine.  But we share in the realization of each other’s bucket list.

The NFR takes the best of the best  cowboys each year ~ the top 15 cowboys in each of seven events ~ and they each compete for ten straight nights to determine world champions in each event for the year.  Then they start all over on January 1 in the rodeo circuit. 

Tim and I were invited to accompany friends Ernie and Connie Bussinger to Las Vegas to attend two of the NFR performances.  A bucket list event for Tim that we couldn’t pass up.  They were the two best rodeos we ever attended.  Of course, Nationals should be.

A two-time world champion in steer wrestling, Dean Gorsuch, is from Scottsbluff and a member of our new church we attend.  Tim just recently met him at a men’s Bible study in November.  He held the world champion title in 2007 and 2010.  This year he entered the NFR in third place.  It was fun to follow him and cheer him on.  We also enjoyed dinner out with him and his family after the Thursday night rodeo. 

We shared a condo for three nights with Ernie and Connie, and enjoyed devotion and prayer time around the breakfast table each day.  Tim was a fantastic breakfast chef!  We also got in some card-playing time in the evening after the rodeos. 

The National Finals Rodeo was a great event with good friends.  An eventful time with eventful memories. 

The Event ~ The Gathering Place

I love it when my kids come home and we are all gathered in the kitchen or around the dining room table.  I love it that they love to come home.  I love it when home is a gathering place, a pleasant place to come too. 

Home was a gathering place again for Thanksgiving 2012.  21 family gathered on Wednesday evening to celebrate Great Grandma Stricker's 85th birthday ~ and we also included celebration for Jon's 10th birthday.   Present for the celebration was Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Tom, Tim, Janel, Jakob, Josh, Jon, Mathilda, Ben, Jo, Amelia, Cash, Annie, Julie C, Kathy, Paul, Bobby, Alexandra, Tim and I.

We all gathered again on Thanksgiving Day for not the traditional feast.  No turkey today.  Instead, Chef Tim cooked stuffed pork loin with peach and currant sauces.  It was so-o-o-o good!  And then we had the traditional trimmings, including the usual ribbon jello, Grandmas lettuce & pea salad, bread dressing, lefsa, pumkin pie, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and lots more.

In the afternoon we enjoyed some "minute to win it" games, thanks to Janel's creativity.  We all got into the act of trying to get cookies from our foreheads to our mouths, stacking cups, seeing how many marbles a wet napkin would hold, trying to get the most marshmellows picked up with a straw, and unwrapping a gift with big fat gloves on.  Julia was the winner of the prize box of m&m's inside the last of three boxes to be unwrapped.

The kids even got in the traditional football game on the front lawn.  The weather was so perfect for some outdoor fun and entertainment.

Throughout the rest of the weekend, I even managed to get everyone around the breakfast table at the same time - twice - two days in a row.  That is quite an accomplishment for me, as I'm never quite organized enough to get breakfast on the table for everyone at one time.  It felt good ~ gathering at the

gathering table for breakfast.

 

Then it was branding time.  We love it for the grandkids to have an opportunity to particpate in our small little branding event.  And it's always good to get the grown-up kids involved too.  Annie did the ear tagging once again, Cash the wrestling with Jakob's help after Tim A lost a wrestling bout with one of the steers, and Julia took care of the vaccination.  The boys each had a place at the head and the hips holding them down while Tim did the branding. 

Grandpa and Amelia kept a watchful eye on the whole event!



The evidence at the end of a fun branding event!

Thanksgiving 2012 was a memorable fun event at the gathering place ~ home - sweet - home!  Always a good place to be.  And so much to be thankful for, not only at Thanksgiving time, but everyday, all year long, every year.  God is good!

The Event ~ A New Church Community

Switching churches is not an event to take lightly.  Belonging to a church family is an important element in a healthy and happy lifestyle.  Fellowship with other believers stirs the soul and spirit within me.  It has been part of my life forever.

Trinity Lutheran Church, Terry, MT

I was raised in a Lutheran Church and I have many memories of church functions as a child and I can vividly recall many of the congregants during my first 18 years.

Faith United Church of Christ, Bayard, NE

Following marriage, I joined Tim's church, Faith United Church of Christ, in Bayard.  For 16 years, we were active members of that church family.  Neither churches really fed my soul or nourished my spiritual development, but church has always been a priority in my life.  I didn't know what I was missing until I truly let Jesus into my life as a personal friend.

Emmanuel Congregational Church, Scottsbluff, NE

For the next 25 years, because of a move from the farm to the city,  our family was faithful members at Emmanuel Congregational Church in Scottsbluff.  The people within became our church family.  Many memories were made there. I grew in Christian dicipleship, knowledge, and faith.

However, no church is without some spiritual warfare within, but many churches know how to disengage it and continue to grow and continue in positive spiritually health.

Emmanuel Congregational fell victim to much spiritual warfare within it's walls, and lack of spiritual welfare outside its walls.  Tim and I patiently stood by our church family, tried to be part of a solution rather than part of a dissolution.  But, alas, the day came when we walked away from our church family and wandered lost through the valley for several months in early 2012.

This was not an easy decision for either of us.  We struggled a long time, feeling a loss of community.  But we soon discovered new joy in the fellowship and family at Monument Bible Church.  We have made new friends, renewed old friendships, become involved in Bible studies, and now realize how much had actually been missing in our desire to worship in harmony with other believers.

Changing churches is not an easy thing to do.  One just doesn't do it on a whim.  There is no perfect church.  A church body is made up of all kinds of people with lots of different opinions, even differences on church matters.  But respecting differing beliefs, opinions, traditions,  of others while worshipping the same one true God goes a long way in living in harmony and fellowshipping with others who believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. 

A change can always be good, and in our case of changing churches  the beginning of 2012 and taking nearly nine months to feel that it was the right step for us, we know this change is good for us in our life right now.  We feel a genuine belonging to a church family again, a better and healthier church community.  What a blessed event to share!

The Event ~ Go Wayside!

"Go Wayside"  is a Christian network of people 55 years and older who like to travel and/or enjoy sharing the gift of hospitality.  It is Christian homes that are open to other Christian travelers as "bed and breakfasts" throughout the fifty US states and into Canada. 

Tim and I both enjoy visiting in homes of friends, we enjoy meeting new people, and we enjoy sharing our home with others - be it friends or strangers.  So it is a natural for us to enjoy this concept.  Some of our friends  thought this was wierd and said "You mean you are going to let strangers come stay in your house?"  or "You are just going to go to some stranger's house and spend the nite there?" 

YES, on both accounts!   On our recent trip to Pennsylvanis, Virginia and Maryland, we met new friends in five different homes and stayed seven nights in the five homes.  Each nite was a highlight in our travels.  Visiting with these people and accepting their offers to drive us around the area, dutch treat dinner dining with them at restaurants they selected as some of the best, was so much better than checking into a hotel and dealing with hotel clerks.  Wayside rules are to pay the hosts $20 couple per nite for the bed and breakfast accommodations.

Nite 1:  We met Jim and Esther Rittenhouse in Morgantown, PA.  They drove us around their beautiful countryside, we went to a great Amish restaurant.  After dinner we played a new game we had never heard of before.  They shared some fresh whoopie pies with us and then sent more whoopie pies with us on the road. 

We had the whole second floor & private bath to ourselves.  Their front and back yard was beautiful.  Wild turkeys made themselves at home in their back yard.

Nite 2 & 3:  We met Art and Mim Saunders in New Holland, PA.  They had a great duplex home in a retirement village.  They weren't home when we got there, but had left the keys in their mailbox for us.  We went to Yoder's Smorgasbord for dinner together. Then they went on to their evening conference and we nestled down in their home.   Mim played the harp, so she entertained us with harp music after breakfast. 

Art and Mim were the ones who arranged for us to visit the dairy farm of their Amish friend Jake Esh; and they also arranged the dinner in another Amish friend's home.  We went to church with them on Sunday and shared lunch with them at their retirement center dining room. 

Nite 4:  We Chuck and Joyce Siebert in New Freedom, PA, near Gettysburg.  Again, we had the whole second floor of their beautiful rural home.  The bedroom was like a huge living suite.  We shared raspberry dessert in the evening and  a fabulous breakfast of a puff pancake filled with sausage and apples, and they introduced us to "scrapple", a meat type food popular in that area. 

The view out the bedroom window was filled with autumn beauty, as was the beautiful woods surrounding their house, where deer played in the back yard.

Nite 5:  We stayed in a motel in Gettysburg.  It wasn't nearly as nice and hospitable as the homes!

Nite 6 & 7:  We met Ray and Kathy Steckman in Amissville, VA.  We were suppose to stay in a home in Barboursville, VA farther south.  However, we were right behind an accident where a tree fell on a car in front of us and killed the driver, so the road was closed for several hours and we were directed back in the direction we came from.  The Steckman's had already encourged us to spend two nites with them, so we called and asked if we could show up on their doorstep a nite early.  They were wonderful and gracious hosts.  The second nite we all went to a great seafood restaurant for dinner. 

We discovered many similarities:  Kathy is Norwegian/German like me, and also makes lefsa for the holidays.  Her best friend married a classmate of my best childhood friend up in ranch country near Jordon, MT.  She was raised in Montana as I was.  Their daughter is the same age as Cash and lives in Denver.  We are hoping her and her boyfriend get together with Cash and Annie as they all share similar interests.  It's a small world.   Again the setting was lovely and it was a pleasure to stay there and share in their fellowship and friendship.

Nite 8:  We met John and Kathy Steyer in North East, MD.   Upon our arrival, we went for an outing to the North shore of Chesapeake Bay where we hiked a mile into the woods to one of the few remaining lighthouses.  We needed the hike!  It felt good!  Then on to a great fancy restaurant  for all you could eat shrimp. Again, it is a small world, because they recently returned from a mission trip to Peru with the young man who is the praise team leader in our church here in Scottsbluff.   Who would have thought there would be connections like that with people across the country?

Meeting these new friends and fellowshiping with them, sharing conversation over the breakfast table, and starting our daily travels covered with prayer from these couples made this trip so much more memorble and special.  We hope we have the eventful pleasure of hosting them at some time in the future. 

The last nite we stayed in a historic bed and breakfast right in Independence Square, Philadelphia, all furnished in period furnishings from the 1700's.   It was very quaint. 

Go Wayside ~ an eventful way to travel!