This is a Blog site created by Bob Reed (in Florida) for folks who live--or used to live--in Marcus, Iowa. Its purpose is to exchange notes, news, remembrances, and thoughts about life in and about Marcus, or news about one's family, friends or acquaintances.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
November 06 Discussion
Comments here are now closed, but you may follow the links below to catch up with the conversation. And BTW, happy two year anniversary of the Marcus blogspot!
I have a column from Margaret Dorr to pass on. I think I have another one too. I'll have to search through my overloaded e-mail account to find it though. This column is on Brian Peavey.
Last time I promised to tell you more about Brian Peavey, our present link with the National Aeronautic and Space Agency, so here goes. On his mother’s side, there is a long history of pilots and navigation, so it might be said that flying is in his blood. His father, Dennis Peavey, tells me that as a youngster he would often lie out on their lawn staring up at the sky, pointing out airplanes that the rest of the family couldn’t even see. He took flying as an elective science class during his senior year in high school in Westport, CT. While living there, his father commuted each day to midtown Manhattan where was a CPA and partner with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the international accounting and consulting firm.
But back to Brian – his instructor was a retired navy airman and he and Brian hit it off well. Perhaps it was because the teacher was tough and his pupil liked to be challenged. For example, the final exam for the course was the FAA ground school test. Brian was the only one in the class to even sit for it, and he passed it “with flying colors.” (Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that one.) Meanwhile, his parents had given him flying lessons – his early graduation gift. According to his dad, they spent many a Sunday afternoon flying up and down the Hudson, over West Point and the Hampton mansions on Long Island.
His instructor, the retired navy man, convinced young Peavey to apply for admission to the Naval Academy, which he did. He won an appointment from, then Senator, Lowell Weicker, but to his deep disappointment, he was denied admission because he wore glasses.
Brian, who sounds like a “never say never” kind of guy, soon picked himself up and started checking out aerospace-related college programs. Almost by accident he stumbled onto Embry Riddle University in Prescott, AZ, which is known as the “Harvard of the Skies”. They offer only two degrees, Aerospace Science (pilots) and Aeronautical Engineering (rocket scientists.) He started out in the former, hoping to become a commercial pilot, but soon transferred to the latter. Another clever comment came when his dad said that his favorite T-shirt was one Brian used to wear which said “I really am a rocket scientist.”
The young man was hired by NASA immediately upon graduation, and assigned to their EVA unit. That means Extra Vehicular Activities, or to us laymen, space walking. He trains astronauts in the use of space suits – spending time in the world’s largest swimming pool that emulates weightlessness. US astronauts must be trained to use Russian suits and vice versa, so he also spends a lot of time at Star City (the Johnson Space Center of Russia.) He is fluent in Russian and serves as an interpreter for our astronauts.
Dennis proudly tells me that he has twin Russian grandsons, Max and Daniel, now 7 years old. They are able to spend 2-3 months each summer in Houston with their father, Brian, his present wife, Courtney, and their wee half-brother, Aiden, who was born this past July.
This concludes my two-part account of western Cherokee County’s strong connections with the prestigious NASA program. I hope you have found it as fascinating as I have.
"I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it." William Faulkner
When asked, I usually offer wannabe writers that hoary old advice, “write what you know.” For a lot of people who put pen to paper do just that. Many of those, who practice the most solitary of professions, seek in their writing a search for home.
They try—in the words of Norman Mailer—“to come up with a sense of place as large as one’s birthplace or as small as the thought that takes place in a room.” Eudora Welty once spoke of place as “a gathering.” “It conspires with the artist,” she said, “we are surrounded by our own story—we live and move in it.”
That place is not confined to the Mississippi scenes of Faulkner and others of the southern school, or to the tales of Larry McMurty’s cowboy country. The Midwest stories of the early Mark Twain or his successor, Garrison Keillor, embrace their location.
There are the Nebraska poems of our recent Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser. And closer to home, the novels of "Moo") or Phil Strong, who published "State Fair" the year I was born. And even closer to home, MacKinley Kantor and his "Spirit Lake"—based on the massacre in the 1800s, or Remsen-born Curtis Harnack and his "Gentlemen on the Prairie."
These authors speak to us mind to mind, heart to heart. They provide a tide of words with thoughts that live in the feeling of place.
In my instance, Iowa—and Marcus—grabbed my heart. It’s a place I return to in my reading and writings. It’s a place to warm my being in the years of involuntary exile.
For we have lived all over in my career travels—Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Hawaii (my South Dakota wife’s spiritual home), Indiana, Washington D.C., and crazy New York. (My wife’s relatives have always speculated that all that moving around was because I couldn’t keep a job).
But Iowa keeps calling me back—perhaps because it’s full of friendly folks. Perfectly sane strangers say “Hi!”
So I feel comfortable in reading and writing about my beloved place—even though I don’t live there any more. I often think that examining your sense of place just deepens the mystery of it.
And anyhow, writing about someplace else requires research. I’m too old for that anymore.
I am reading a memoir called The Horizontal World: growing up wild in the middle of nowhere by Debra Marquart. Marquart is a professor at Iowa State University, but she grew up on a farm in North Dakota ... and writes about that world and how she tried to escape it for many years, but kept getting drawn back to that wide sky and endless land.
It's always amazing to me how some people are forever rooted to a place even though they have been gone for years and how others develop no bonds despite living in a place forever.
Marquart is an incredible writer. North Dakota seems a bit more unforgiving, and everything about her farm life was much more demanding, but she grew up in the same times I did. Here is something I earmarked. It's from a scene where she returns to ND for her father's funeral and gets lost of back roads...
"Here was someone's forty acres and a mule, a hopeful beginning followed by an anonymous, tragic ending. The Midwest is full of them. Take any back road off a paved highway and you'll see this scene repeated again and again. The peope who once lived here are known forever to no one, and they belong nowhere--the land spread around us too capable of returning all stories to silence.
While we who survive on this land fear losing ourselvs to it, those of us who run away are never free of it..."
She's even related to Lawrence Welk ... wunnerful, wunnerful book!! Anyway, it's getting a lot of buzz ... even out here. I suggest it to all your former farm girls out there!!:)
Just a guess but one reason McClain does not like govt supports....according to a friend in Phoenix, 10 miles out of town the farmers are still toiling new soil to plant cotton and tobacco..???
Not an Iowa author, Bob, but one you and your spouse would love is Kathleen Norris. I believe she still lives in Lemmon, South Dakota. My favorite is her "Dakota:A Spiritual Geography".
One chapter starts with this quote from The Wizard of Oz:
The scarecrow sighed. "Of course I cannot understand it," he said. "If your heads were stuffed with straw like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains."
And then a little sample from "Dakota":
"Or a vivid double rainbow marches to the east, following the wild summer storm that nearly blew you off the road. The storm sky is gunmetal grey, but to the west the sky is peach streaked with crimson. The land and sky of the West often fills what Thoreau termed our 'need to witness our limits transgressed.' Nature, in Dakota, can indeed be an experience of the holy."
Ditto. Norris is excellent! I have been wanting to go to a reading of hers for years. I've listened to her Dakota tape and others while walking. Good stuff.
Sorry, Iowa, but another SD author that I enjoy, who is not quite so well known as Norris, is Linda Hasselstrom. She is a poet and writer of memoir ... she has a ranch in western SD where she invites writers to spend time in writing retreats. Clear, vivid writing...
And I know this may seem weak to some, but as a little girl I ate up Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books before they ever became commercialized and serialized. The namby-pamby TV series made them sound simple and trite, but the books really did depict a harsh existence that didn't always end happily. Her books had me reading on the upstairs landing while the rest of the house was sleeping...
Oh! Just a little aside about reading. If you subscribe to Psychology Today, check out the article called "Novel Delights" in the Nov/Dec issue. I'm the reader example that introduces the article in the first paragraph!
A reader recently encouraged me to write more about people from the past, claiming it was fun to be reminded of days of long ago. As you have probably guessed, it doesn’t take much to get me going on that sort of tale. However, rather than going way back, I am talking today of a gentleman who is still with us, at least during the warmer parts of the year. He is my neighbor, Walter Miller, who will soon be leaving these cold climes for his winter place in sunny Florida. You may know Walt as that big older guy often seen on the golf course where he can outdo many of the younger players, I’m told. Or perhaps you know him for his somewhat erratic driving that can get him into a bit of trouble at times. But how many of you know that he retired from a remarkable career which ended in management engineering with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ?
Walt Miller was graduated from Marcus High School, Class of 1935. Then off to California to attend the Polytechnic College of Engineering and to become a civil engineer. He followed this career on the west coast with both the air force and the navy until the institution of the NASA program. At that time he became one of the civil service engineers responsible for setting up the Florida installation.
These people, with varying specialties, were selected and then given post-graduate courses in business administration at Florida State University. In this way they became the management engineers responsible for the research and development required to build and administer everything at the Kennedy Space Center, with the exception of the actual space vehicles themselves.
It is extremely interesting to engage Walt in conversation concerning the intricacies of that amazing project which was the culmination of America’s efforts to take the leadership role in space exploration. It is moving, too, each time you watch the ponderous passage of a space vehicle onto the launch pad, to recall the major role one of our fellow citizens had in making that a possibility.
But, wait a minute, I just realized that our area has another very close connection with the international space program. Brian Peavey of Houston TX is the grandson of Marcus resident, Dorothy Peavey and her late husband, Howard. Then how about this? My research reveals that Howard was a high school classmate of Walter Miller. I do love those small-town connections !
Howard’s son, Dennis, who also lives in Houston, is the father of Brian. When I contacted him to learn exactly what Brian does, I received a fascinating story. In a nutshell, young Peavey is employed by NASA to train astronauts in the use of space suits. The “rest of the story,” to coin a phrase, is grist for another Gray Matter. But isn’t it exciting to have our own people, through the generations, so deeply entrenched in such a major national endeavor?
Now I am wondering if there are any other Cherokee County folks with space program connections. If there are, would someone please let me know, for I would like to give them equal recognition.
A little story that my sister Nancy Sinnwell of Des Moines sent to me ... speaks to that sense of PLACE that Bob wrote so eloquently about...
I went to the U. of Iowa game last Saturday. We had a good time even though they lost. It was family weekend and Chuck Knudson was named Father of the Year. (Betty was Mother of the Year last year. )
It was funny when they introduced Mother and Father of the Year between the first and second quarter. I didn't know until then that Chuck had received the honor. I got up and yelled "Way to go Chuck!" after he was introduced. Then two people behind me asked if I was from Marcus. The guy directly behind us had gone to breakfast with Mike Bird that morning, and a another lady to the left said she had played basketball with Jane Bird (she had grown up in Hinton).
By the way, is it true Chuck's been to every home UI game in the last 50 years?????????!!!!!!!! Now THAT's one for the record books!
As a young kid I never got tired of watching Gary Sanow run........absolutely the most amazing thing I saw sports wise while I was growing up in Marcus. Has the athletic department at Marcus High ever recognized him or given him an award for being one of the best if not the best athlete to ever come out of Marcus? If not it seems to me like the Gary Sanow Award would have a nice ring to it and maybe spur another young Marcus individual to great success as an athlete.
Gary, I know you read this board and for the record the only other time I have ever had the same chills watching a track event was when I saw my Baylor's very own Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wairner run........that is how big of an impact you left on this Marcus kid!!! Thanks for the great memories!!
I just discovered this blog last night. I have to admit, I have spent at least 2hrs checking it out. It's really fun to read so many comments on Marcus life and past lives. ie:comments about how impressive Gary Sanow was when he ran. I really liked the Peavey slides. Howard was a major player in Marcus history for me. My wife and I visit Marcus now and then, mainly to see Mom & Dad and Jim and his family. When I see changes like the Little Sioux CP and the truck stop I can see that the future will create more great memories for the young kids of today. Earlier this year Trish and I went to Portland, OR to visit Susie (Nielsen) Luokkula and her husband, Ray. We had some good conversations about old Marcus life. Names like Denny Delaney, Bill Birch, Dick, Chuck, Patty, Thelma & Charlie Nielsen came up often. Thanks to all for a pleasant trip down memory lane. Dave Mayer
Yeah, you've got that right. Bruce is right now in his 3rd of 5 consecutive chemo cycles. He did have a PET scan after the 2nd cycle and no sign of cancer could be found! Wahoo! His Dr. wants to continue with more cycles though since he is responding so well to the therapy. The chemo really does drag him down but Bruce is remarkable in his positive attitude and inner strength. He asks the Dr. about all the details of each proceedure and he can talk the talk of oncology. When I look at Bruce now, it seems the tables have turned and my younger brother is now my role model. Well I'm running on... I did email Susie. We'll see if she comments. Dave Mayer
The Marcus Historical Society is up and running. The challenge now is turning dreams into reality.
More members are needed to support the initial efforts. Progress is being made in acquiring a building and exhibits. Committees have been formed. Meetings are being held.
Any place that inspires so many memories has just got to be special. Marcus is special. If you haven’t joined the Society, NOW is the time to do it. Make sure you have a voice in the dreams to be realized.
The dreamers have done their work. The believers have done their work. The doers are at work. Join them.
FRANK ZANGGER IN INDIO,CALIFORNIA HAS PUT TOGETHER A DVD AND VIDEO PRESENTATION OF THE HOLY NAME ALL SCHOOL REUNION HELD IN AUGUST. I HAVE COLLECTED MANY PICTURES FROM PEOPLE THAT ATTENDED AND SENT THEM TO FRANK FOR THIS PRESENTATION. HE HAS DONE A GREAT JOB WITH PUTTING THIS TOGETHER WITH THE MUSIC THAT GOES ALONG WITH THE PICTURES.
THIS WOULD BE A GREAT MEMORY FOR THOSE WHO ATTENDED AND FOR THOSE WHO COULD NOT ATTEND IT WOULD BE SOMETHING YOU ALSO WOULD REALLY ENJOY SEEING.
THE TWO DAYS OF THIS REUNION WERE GREAT. FRIDAY NIGHT THE GOLF COURSE WAS PACKED AND SATURDAY NIGHT WE HAD ALOST 300 AT THE DINNER AND PROGRAM.
TO ORDER EITHER THE DVD OR VIDEO TAPE CONTACT FRANK AT:
FRANK ZANGGER 80707 VIRGINA AVE. INDIO, CALIFORNIA 92201
Remember the old postcard picture of an MHS basketball team (see September 2006 Discussion)? The caption stated that they were “Champions”—but of what?
It’s possible—probably probable—that they were the Iowa State Champions in 1908! That would account for the picture taking.
I ran across a clipping I had saved—but forgotten—from a Marcus News of 1997; it quoted from an issue in 1953. In the “Past Files,” we read:
“Marcus High School’s basketball team of 1908 laid claim to the state championship. Their coach was R. A. Fenton and the five players were Ralph “Midgie” Margeson, Victor Naffziger, Charles Nield, Floyd Knox, and Ivan Lonergan. The team defeated all opponents and all three challengers for the state title: Sioux City, Fort Dodge, and Rock Rapids.”
There were six players photographed, so there was a sub who wasn’t credited. And the mystery of the different uniforms remains. There may be more about the team in that early issue. Perhaps Thelma Gravanish could look it up and tell us more.
To my knowledge, only one other organization from Marcus ever won a state championship. That was the MMC Jazz Band in the late 190’s. Anybody know the date?
You are correct, the only other organization to win a state title (to my knowledge) is the MMC Jazz Band. I know for sure state titles were won in 1998, under the direction of Jerry Bertrand, and in 2000, under the direction of Kevin Massey. I think there may have even been several wins before those dates but my yearbooks don't go back that far!
I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading about Marcus, Iowa. In fact, the happenings and dialogue could be from almost any small town in the US.
With so much happening in this great, big old world, it's so nice and pleasantly refreshing to read that people still visit the city or county Fair during the Fall; and that life still offers many of the simple pleasures of life.
Coming from a small East Texas town, I can certainly appreciate the fact that you, as dear friends, do stay in touch. The words written here are history in the making. From your discussions, I can tell that you truly care for each other and that the well-being of others is of the utmost importance to you. I beg you to never let that small, hometown feeling disappear.
I have a mind's eye view of each of you. Although I do know a couple of people on this blog, I can see and feel the warmth and concern that each of you have for the other and for your beloved Marcus.
Big cities and bright lights dim when compared of the glow of compassion of small town folks.
All the best to you and yours, Always a Small Town Girl
Small Town "East Texas" Girl... BTW you write I would think you were a relative of my mom's who actually has family in central Louisiana. We know that isn't the case but just know that the folks in small town Iowa are very much like the folks in small town "East Texas" as I know that area well. Thanks for the kind words and know that my parents love/loved "dad is deceased" TEXAS as it had/has a very special SPIRIT which came from those TEXANS who lived in those rural towns much like most Iowans did for years.......... Now that Iowans have ethanol maybe they can dream those big dreams that Texans have been able to do for years because of their good fortune of having "BLACK GOLD" in their backyards. This is one Iowan who is glad I had the opportunity to live "TEXAS" and will always be grateful for all it offered to this Iowan. Y'all come back now.....and SIC 'EM BEARS...:)
Jacob's right - MMC's jazz band did win the Iowa Jazz Championships in 1998 and 2000. If memory serves, the band also brought home first place in 1992, 1993 and 1995.
Maybe I missed the news that said it, but is Thelma not doing one of her columns anymore? I will be disappointed if this is true! Thelma, maybe you can tell us stories on our marcus blog?
THE POSTCARD MYSTERY The Centenial book does indeed contain a picture of the same 1908 Marcus High School basketball team that appears on the old postcard. As Margaret Dorr notes, it's on page 694 and is accompanied by a little story. The pic was taken by the same guy from Cherokee who took the postcard pic. The six boys and superintendant/coach are posed in a different manner and in different uniforms, but they are the same guys and in front of the same building. So we now have three sources to help us solve the mystery of this 1908 team--the Marcus News, the Centenial book, and the postcard. The Centenial book names the guys (as does the News) but for the first time lists Bill Bass as the 6th boy. The caption under the pic notes that they are "Basketball Champions of N.W Iowa." According to a note under the story, Bill Bass was the only local guy remaining at the time of the Centennial and was probably the source of the tale that accompanies the pic. The story notes that "this was before the days of organized state tournements--and before the days of rules." The team went undefeated. "They played outdoors until winter arrived and then moved into the manual training room in the old school building. This allowed standing room for only for 10 players and another 10 fans in a tiny balcony. Since the game got very rough under such circumstances,it was necessary to have a strong bench consisting of one utility man, probably a fullback." (ed note: A FULLBACK? Man, that must have been a rough basketball game!) The story (Bill?) continues: "Officials took the easy way out as a rule, tossing up the ball and standing back, until somebody got it through the hoop. Often a team who had the gall to win away from home had to be escorted out of the town by the police." Baskets were "hard to come by and scores of less that 10 were common and 18 was a runaway game." The story ends on a poignent note. "The basketball itself was passed down from year to year." So, the caption on the Centenial pic says "Champions of N.W. Iowa." The Marcus News says that the team "laid claim to the state championship" and "defeated all three challengers for the state title" (Sioux City, Rock Rapids, and Fort Dodge) As everyone knows, those towns are all in NW Iowa. So--what to believe? Perhaps the recent jazz bands are our only true state champions. But I prefer to believe those young fellows looking sternly out at us in the pictures from nearly 100 years ago, out-muscled the opposition and were state champs! Go Eagles! Bob Reed
Hey Margaret! Yep,as you point out,the Marcus High School basketball boys in 1908 never participated in a state tournament because such a tournament didn't begin until 1912. But evidently as "N.W. Iowa Champions" in 1908, they did "lay claim" to the state championship ---according to the Marcus News.It was a bit of boosterism, I guess by the News.
Hi everyone. My name is Michele Hanson. My parents are Ray and Margie Hanson (not the farmer Ray but the mechanic). I have followed the Marcus blog for quite some time now. I find it interesting that there are Marcusites in all parts of the USA. I now live in Perry, IA and teach at Woodward-Granger HS. It's nice to be close to Des Moines, but miss my family terribly.
One reason that I am contributing to the blog is that some of you may have known my uncle, Ray Wankum. Uncle Ray was diagnosed with cancer last spring I believe. He used to work for Sand Seed at the elevator. He lost his battle yesterday afternoon.
Please keep his wife Kathy and their 2 daughters Kim and Mallory in your thoughts and prayers.
Michele: Likewise thank you for letting us know about your uncle Ray's death. He was a great guy and as nice as they come. I will most definitely keep his wife and two daughters in my prayers. BTW, Ray raised a wonderful young daughter in Mallory. She is as kind and personable as her father......that is a great legacy!
Comments here are now closed, but you may follow the links below to catch up with the conversation. And BTW, happy two year anniversary of the Marcus blogspot!
Happy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteI have a column from Margaret Dorr to pass on. I think I have another one too. I'll have to search through my overloaded e-mail account to find it though. This column is on Brian Peavey.
Last time I promised to tell you more about Brian Peavey, our present link with the National Aeronautic and Space Agency, so here goes. On his mother’s side, there is a long history of pilots and navigation, so it might be said that flying is in his blood. His father, Dennis Peavey, tells me that as a youngster he would often lie out on their lawn staring up at the sky, pointing out airplanes that the rest of the family couldn’t even see. He took flying as an elective science class during his senior year in high school in Westport, CT. While living there, his father commuted each day to midtown Manhattan where was a CPA and partner with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the international accounting and consulting firm.
But back to Brian – his instructor was a retired navy airman and he and Brian hit it off well. Perhaps it was because the teacher was tough and his pupil liked to be challenged. For example, the final exam for the course was the FAA ground school test. Brian was the only one in the class to even sit for it, and he passed it “with flying colors.” (Sorry, I just couldn’t resist that one.) Meanwhile, his parents had given him flying lessons – his early graduation gift. According to his dad, they spent many a Sunday afternoon flying up and down the Hudson, over West Point and the Hampton mansions on Long Island.
His instructor, the retired navy man, convinced young Peavey to apply for admission to the Naval Academy, which he did. He won an appointment from, then Senator, Lowell Weicker, but to his deep disappointment, he was denied admission because he wore glasses.
Brian, who sounds like a “never say never” kind of guy, soon picked himself up and started checking out aerospace-related college programs. Almost by accident he stumbled onto Embry Riddle University in Prescott, AZ, which is known as the “Harvard of the Skies”. They offer only two degrees, Aerospace Science (pilots) and Aeronautical Engineering (rocket scientists.) He started out in the former, hoping to become a commercial pilot, but soon transferred to the latter. Another clever comment came when his dad said that his favorite T-shirt was one Brian used to wear which said “I really am a rocket scientist.”
The young man was hired by NASA immediately upon graduation, and assigned to their EVA unit. That means Extra Vehicular Activities, or to us laymen, space walking. He trains astronauts in the use of space suits – spending time in the world’s largest swimming pool that emulates weightlessness. US astronauts must be trained to use Russian suits and vice versa, so he also spends a lot of time at Star City (the Johnson Space Center of Russia.) He is fluent in Russian and serves as an interpreter for our astronauts.
Dennis proudly tells me that he has twin Russian grandsons, Max and Daniel, now 7 years old. They are able to spend 2-3 months each summer in Houston with their father, Brian, his present wife, Courtney, and their wee half-brother, Aiden, who was born this past July.
This concludes my two-part account of western Cherokee County’s strong connections with the prestigious NASA program. I hope you have found it as fascinating as I have.
A Sense of Place
ReplyDelete"I discovered that my own little postage stamp of native soil was worth writing about and that I would never live long enough to exhaust it." William Faulkner
When asked, I usually offer wannabe writers that hoary old advice, “write what you know.” For a lot of people who put pen to paper do just that. Many of those, who practice the most solitary of professions, seek in their writing a search for home.
They try—in the words of Norman Mailer—“to come up with a sense of place as large as one’s birthplace or as small as the thought that takes place in a room.” Eudora Welty once spoke of place as “a gathering.” “It conspires with the artist,” she said, “we are surrounded by our own story—we live and move in it.”
That place is not confined to the Mississippi scenes of Faulkner and others of the southern school, or to the tales of Larry McMurty’s cowboy country. The Midwest stories of the early Mark Twain or his successor, Garrison Keillor, embrace their location.
There are the Nebraska poems of our recent Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser. And closer to home, the novels of "Moo") or Phil Strong, who published "State Fair" the year I was born. And even closer to home, MacKinley Kantor and his "Spirit Lake"—based on the massacre in the 1800s, or Remsen-born Curtis Harnack and his "Gentlemen on the Prairie."
These authors speak to us mind to mind, heart to heart. They provide a tide of words with thoughts that live in the feeling of place.
In my instance, Iowa—and Marcus—grabbed my heart. It’s a place I return to in my reading and writings. It’s a place to warm my being in the years of involuntary exile.
For we have lived all over in my career travels—Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Hawaii (my South Dakota wife’s spiritual home), Indiana, Washington D.C., and crazy New York. (My wife’s relatives have always speculated that all that moving around was because I couldn’t keep a job).
But Iowa keeps calling me back—perhaps because it’s full of friendly folks. Perfectly sane strangers say “Hi!”
So I feel comfortable in reading and writing about my beloved place—even though I don’t live there any more. I often think that examining your sense of place just deepens the mystery of it.
And anyhow, writing about someplace else requires research. I’m too old for that anymore.
What Iowa authors have touched you?
Bob Reed
I am reading a memoir called The Horizontal World: growing up wild in the middle of nowhere by Debra Marquart. Marquart is a professor at Iowa State University, but she grew up on a farm in North Dakota ... and writes about that world and how she tried to escape it for many years, but kept getting drawn back to that wide sky and endless land.
ReplyDeleteIt's always amazing to me how some people are forever rooted to a place even though they have been gone for years and how others develop no bonds despite living in a place forever.
Marquart is an incredible writer. North Dakota seems a bit more unforgiving, and everything about her farm life was much more demanding, but she grew up in the same times I did. Here is something I earmarked. It's from a scene where she returns to ND for her father's funeral and gets lost of back roads...
"Here was someone's forty acres and a mule, a hopeful beginning followed by an anonymous, tragic ending. The Midwest is full of them. Take any back road off a paved highway and you'll see this scene repeated again and again. The peope who once lived here are known forever to no one, and they belong nowhere--the land spread around us too capable of returning all stories to silence.
While we who survive on this land fear losing ourselvs to it, those of us who run away are never free of it..."
She's even related to Lawrence Welk ... wunnerful, wunnerful book!!
Anyway, it's getting a lot of buzz ... even out here. I suggest it to all your former farm girls out there!!:)
Just a guess but one reason McClain does not like govt supports....according to a friend in Phoenix, 10 miles out of town the farmers are still toiling new soil to plant cotton and tobacco..???
ReplyDeleteNot an Iowa author, Bob, but one you and your spouse would love is Kathleen Norris. I believe she still lives in Lemmon, South Dakota. My favorite is her "Dakota:A Spiritual Geography".
ReplyDeleteOne chapter starts with this quote from The Wizard of Oz:
The scarecrow sighed. "Of course I cannot understand it," he said. "If your heads were stuffed with straw like mine, you would probably all live in the beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains."
And then a little sample from "Dakota":
"Or a vivid double rainbow marches to the east, following the wild summer storm that nearly blew you off the road. The storm sky is gunmetal grey, but to the west the sky is peach streaked with crimson. The land and sky of the West often fills what Thoreau termed our 'need to witness our limits transgressed.' Nature, in Dakota, can indeed be an experience of the holy."
And so in Iowa, Kathleen - also in Iowa. Fred
Ditto. Norris is excellent! I have been wanting to go to a reading of hers for years. I've listened to her Dakota tape and others while walking. Good stuff.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Iowa, but another SD author that I enjoy, who is not quite so well known as Norris, is Linda Hasselstrom. She is a poet and writer of memoir ... she has a ranch in western SD where she invites writers to spend time in writing retreats. Clear, vivid writing...
And I know this may seem weak to some, but as a little girl I ate up Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books before they ever became commercialized and serialized. The namby-pamby TV series made them sound simple and trite, but the books really did depict a harsh existence that didn't always end happily. Her books had me reading on the upstairs landing while the rest of the house was sleeping...
Oh! Just a little aside about reading. If you subscribe to Psychology Today, check out the article called "Novel Delights" in the Nov/Dec issue. I'm the reader example that introduces the article in the first paragraph!
A second column from Margaret Dorr:
ReplyDelete# 28 Walter Miller
A reader recently encouraged me to write more about people from the past, claiming it was fun to be reminded of days of long ago. As you have probably guessed, it doesn’t take much to get me going on that sort of tale. However, rather than going way back, I am talking today of a gentleman who is still with us, at least during the warmer parts of the year. He is my neighbor, Walter Miller, who will soon be leaving these cold climes for his winter place in sunny Florida. You may know Walt as that big older guy often seen on the golf course where he can outdo many of the younger players, I’m told. Or perhaps you know him for his somewhat erratic driving that can get him into a bit of trouble at times. But how many of you know that he retired from a remarkable career which ended in management engineering with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ?
Walt Miller was graduated from Marcus High School, Class of 1935. Then off to California to attend the Polytechnic College of Engineering and to become a civil engineer. He followed this career on the west coast with both the air force and the navy until the institution of the NASA program. At that time he became one of the civil service engineers responsible for setting up the Florida installation.
These people, with varying specialties, were selected and then given post-graduate courses in business administration at Florida State University. In this way they became the management engineers responsible for the research and development required to build and administer everything at the Kennedy Space Center, with the exception of the actual space vehicles themselves.
It is extremely interesting to engage Walt in conversation concerning the intricacies of that amazing project which was the culmination of America’s efforts to take the leadership role in space exploration. It is moving, too, each time you watch the ponderous passage of a space vehicle onto the launch pad, to recall the major role one of our fellow citizens had in making that a possibility.
But, wait a minute, I just realized that our area has another very close connection with the international space program. Brian Peavey of Houston TX is the grandson of Marcus resident, Dorothy Peavey and her late husband, Howard. Then how about this? My research reveals that Howard was a high school classmate of Walter Miller. I do love those small-town connections !
Howard’s son, Dennis, who also lives in Houston, is the father of Brian. When I contacted him to learn exactly what Brian does, I received a fascinating story. In a nutshell, young Peavey is employed by NASA to train astronauts in the use of space suits. The “rest of the story,” to coin a phrase, is grist for another Gray Matter. But isn’t it exciting to have our own people, through the generations, so deeply entrenched in such a major national endeavor?
Now I am wondering if there are any other Cherokee County folks with space program connections. If there are, would someone please let me know, for I would like to give them equal recognition.
A little story that my sister Nancy Sinnwell of Des Moines sent to me ... speaks to that sense of PLACE that Bob wrote so eloquently about...
ReplyDeleteI went to the U. of Iowa game last Saturday. We had a good time even though they lost. It was family weekend and Chuck Knudson was named Father of the Year. (Betty was Mother of the Year last year. )
It was funny when they introduced Mother and Father of the Year between the first and second quarter. I didn't know until then that Chuck had received the honor. I got up and yelled "Way to go Chuck!" after he was introduced. Then two people behind me asked if I was from Marcus. The guy directly behind us had gone to breakfast with Mike Bird that morning, and a another lady to the left said she had played basketball with Jane Bird (she had grown up in Hinton).
By the way, is it true Chuck's been to every home UI game in the last 50 years?????????!!!!!!!!
Now THAT's one for the record books!
As a young kid I never got tired of watching Gary Sanow run........absolutely the most amazing thing I saw sports wise while I was growing up in Marcus. Has the athletic department at Marcus High ever recognized him or given him an award for being one of the best if not the best athlete to ever come out of Marcus? If not it seems to me like the Gary Sanow Award would have a nice ring to it and maybe spur another young Marcus individual to great success as an athlete.
ReplyDeleteGary, I know you read this board and for the record the only other time I have ever had the same chills watching a track event was when I saw my Baylor's very own Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wairner run........that is how big of an impact you left on this Marcus kid!!! Thanks for the great memories!!
I just discovered this blog last night. I have to admit, I have spent at least 2hrs checking it out. It's really fun to read so many comments on Marcus life and past lives. ie:comments about how impressive Gary Sanow was when he ran. I really liked the Peavey slides. Howard was a major player in Marcus history for me.
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I visit Marcus now and then, mainly to see Mom & Dad and Jim and his family. When I see changes like the Little Sioux CP and the truck stop I can see that the future will create more great memories for the young kids of today.
Earlier this year Trish and I went to Portland, OR to visit Susie (Nielsen) Luokkula and her husband, Ray. We had some good conversations about old Marcus life. Names like Denny Delaney, Bill Birch, Dick, Chuck, Patty, Thelma & Charlie Nielsen came up often. Thanks to all for a pleasant trip down memory lane.
Dave Mayer
Yeah, you've got that right. Bruce is right now in his 3rd of 5 consecutive chemo cycles. He did have a PET scan after the 2nd cycle and no sign of cancer could be found! Wahoo! His Dr. wants to continue with more cycles though since he is responding so well to the therapy. The chemo really does drag him down but Bruce is remarkable in his positive attitude and inner strength. He asks the Dr. about all the details of each proceedure and he can talk the talk of oncology. When I look at Bruce now, it seems the tables have turned and my younger brother is now my role model. Well I'm running on... I did email Susie. We'll see if she comments.
ReplyDeleteDave Mayer
DREAMERS, BELIEVERS, AND DOERS
ReplyDeleteThe Marcus Historical Society is up and running. The challenge now is turning dreams into reality.
More members are needed to support the initial efforts. Progress is being made in acquiring a building and exhibits. Committees have been formed. Meetings are being held.
Any place that inspires so many memories has just got to be special. Marcus is special. If you haven’t joined the Society, NOW is the time to do it. Make sure you have a voice in the dreams to be realized.
The dreamers have done their work. The believers have done their work. The doers are at work. Join them.
It’s simple. Just fill out the membership application here, and send it in along with a check.
Sunday's NY Times (11/19) has another interesting story about Iowa. You have to be a registered user, but it's free to do ...
ReplyDeleteIowa Finds Itself Deep in Heart of Wine Country
By SUSAN SAULNY
Across the Midwest, wineries are thriving, both as tourism magnets and profit-making businesses.
Focus is on Adel and Indianapolis wineries...
HOLY NAME REUNION DVD OR VIDEO TAPE
ReplyDeleteFRANK ZANGGER IN INDIO,CALIFORNIA HAS PUT TOGETHER A DVD AND VIDEO PRESENTATION OF THE HOLY NAME ALL SCHOOL REUNION HELD IN AUGUST. I HAVE COLLECTED MANY PICTURES FROM PEOPLE THAT ATTENDED AND SENT THEM TO FRANK FOR THIS PRESENTATION. HE HAS DONE A GREAT JOB WITH PUTTING THIS TOGETHER WITH THE MUSIC THAT GOES ALONG WITH THE PICTURES.
THIS WOULD BE A GREAT MEMORY FOR THOSE WHO ATTENDED AND FOR THOSE WHO COULD NOT ATTEND IT WOULD BE SOMETHING YOU ALSO WOULD REALLY ENJOY SEEING.
THE TWO DAYS OF THIS REUNION WERE GREAT. FRIDAY NIGHT THE GOLF COURSE WAS PACKED AND SATURDAY NIGHT WE HAD ALOST 300 AT THE DINNER AND PROGRAM.
TO ORDER EITHER THE DVD OR VIDEO TAPE CONTACT FRANK AT:
FRANK ZANGGER
80707 VIRGINA AVE.
INDIO, CALIFORNIA 92201
PHONE NUNBER: 760-775-1239
E-MAIL: frankz@dc.rr.com
THE COST OF THE DVD IS $15.00 AND THE VIDEO IS $16.50 AND ALLOW ABOUT TWO WEEKS DELIVERY. THIS COST IS WITH POSTAGE INCLUDED.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CONTACT ME AT:
JACK CLARKSON
BOX 543
MARCUS, IOWA 51035
PHONE: 712-376-2511
E-MAIL: jfclark@midlands.net
HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING AND A BLESSED CHRISMAS SEASON.
JACK
MYSTERY SOLVED!
ReplyDeleteRemember the old postcard picture of an MHS basketball team (see September 2006 Discussion)? The caption stated that they were “Champions”—but of what?
It’s possible—probably probable—that they were the Iowa State Champions in 1908!
That would account for the picture taking.
I ran across a clipping I had saved—but forgotten—from a Marcus News of 1997; it quoted from an issue in 1953. In the “Past Files,” we read:
“Marcus High School’s basketball team of 1908 laid claim to the state championship. Their coach was R. A. Fenton and the five players were Ralph “Midgie” Margeson, Victor Naffziger, Charles Nield, Floyd Knox, and Ivan Lonergan. The team defeated all opponents and all three challengers for the state title: Sioux City, Fort Dodge, and Rock Rapids.”
There were six players photographed, so there was a sub who wasn’t credited. And the mystery of the different uniforms remains. There may be more about the team in that early issue. Perhaps Thelma Gravanish could look it up and tell us more.
To my knowledge, only one other organization from Marcus ever won a state championship. That was the MMC Jazz Band in the late 190’s. Anybody know the date?
Bob Reed
Bob,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, the only other organization to win a state title (to my knowledge) is the MMC Jazz Band. I know for sure state titles were won in 1998, under the direction of Jerry Bertrand, and in 2000, under the direction of Kevin Massey. I think there may have even been several wins before those dates but my yearbooks don't go back that far!
Jake Taylor
I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading about Marcus, Iowa. In fact, the happenings and dialogue could be from almost any small town in the US.
ReplyDeleteWith so much happening in this great, big old world, it's so nice and pleasantly refreshing to read that people still visit the city or county Fair during the Fall; and that life still offers many of the simple pleasures of life.
Coming from a small East Texas town, I can certainly appreciate the fact that you, as dear friends, do stay in touch. The words written here are history in the making. From your discussions, I can tell that you truly care for each other and that the well-being of others is of the utmost importance to you. I beg you to never let that small, hometown feeling disappear.
I have a mind's eye view of each of you. Although I do know a couple of people on this blog, I can see and feel the warmth and concern that each of you have for the other and for your beloved Marcus.
Big cities and bright lights dim when compared of the glow of compassion of small town folks.
All the best to you and yours,
Always a Small Town Girl
Small Town "East Texas" Girl...
ReplyDeleteBTW you write I would think you were a relative of my mom's who actually has family in central Louisiana. We know that isn't the case but just know that the folks in small town Iowa are very much like the folks in small town "East Texas" as I know that area well. Thanks for the kind words and know that my parents love/loved "dad is deceased" TEXAS as it had/has a very special SPIRIT which came from those TEXANS who lived in those rural towns much like most Iowans did for years.......... Now that Iowans have ethanol maybe they can dream those big dreams that Texans have been able to do for years because of their good fortune of having "BLACK GOLD" in their backyards.
This is one Iowan who is glad I had the opportunity to live "TEXAS" and will always be grateful for all it offered to this Iowan.
Y'all come back now.....and SIC 'EM BEARS...:)
Jacob's right - MMC's jazz band did win the Iowa Jazz Championships in 1998 and 2000. If memory serves, the band also brought home first place in 1992, 1993 and 1995.
ReplyDeleteSorry - I forgot to sign my name on the last entry...
ReplyDeleteJenn Smith Hoesing
MMC Class of '98
Maybe I missed the news that said it, but is Thelma not doing one of her columns anymore? I will be disappointed if this is true! Thelma, maybe you can tell us stories on our marcus blog?
ReplyDeleteTHE POSTCARD MYSTERY
ReplyDeleteThe Centenial book does indeed contain a picture of the same 1908 Marcus High School basketball team that appears on the old postcard. As Margaret Dorr notes, it's on page 694 and is accompanied by a little story. The pic was taken by the same guy from Cherokee who took the postcard pic. The six boys and superintendant/coach are posed in a different manner and in different uniforms, but they are the same guys and in front of the same building. So we now have three sources to help us solve the mystery of this 1908 team--the Marcus News, the Centenial book, and the postcard. The Centenial book names the guys (as does the News) but for the first time lists Bill Bass as the 6th boy. The caption under the pic notes that they are "Basketball Champions of N.W Iowa." According to a note under the story, Bill Bass was the only local guy remaining at the time of the Centennial and was probably the source of the tale that accompanies the pic.
The story notes that "this was before the days of organized state tournements--and before the days of rules."
The team went undefeated. "They played outdoors until winter arrived and then moved into the manual training room in the old school building. This allowed standing room for only for 10 players and another 10 fans in a tiny balcony. Since the game got very rough under such circumstances,it was necessary to have a strong bench consisting of one utility man, probably a fullback."
(ed note: A FULLBACK? Man, that must have been a rough basketball game!)
The story (Bill?) continues:
"Officials took the easy way out as a rule, tossing up the ball and standing back, until somebody got it through the hoop. Often a team who had the gall to win away from home had to be escorted out of the town by the police."
Baskets were "hard to come by and scores of less that 10 were common and 18 was a runaway game." The story ends on a poignent note. "The basketball itself was passed down from year to year."
So, the caption on the Centenial pic says "Champions of N.W. Iowa." The Marcus News says that the team "laid claim to the state championship" and "defeated all three challengers for the state title" (Sioux City, Rock Rapids, and Fort Dodge) As everyone knows, those towns are all in NW Iowa.
So--what to believe? Perhaps the recent jazz bands are our only true state champions. But I prefer to believe those young fellows looking sternly out at us in the pictures from nearly 100 years ago, out-muscled the opposition and were state champs! Go Eagles!
Bob Reed
Knowing that, I'm surprised there are no shiners or fat lips in the bunch! I'm wondering how the other teams looked afterwards...
ReplyDeleteHey Margaret!
ReplyDeleteYep,as you point out,the Marcus High School basketball boys in 1908 never participated in a state tournament because such a tournament didn't begin until 1912. But evidently as "N.W. Iowa Champions" in 1908, they did "lay claim" to the state championship ---according to the Marcus News.It was a bit of boosterism, I guess by the News.
Hi everyone. My name is Michele Hanson. My parents are Ray and Margie Hanson (not the farmer Ray but the mechanic). I have followed the Marcus blog for quite some time now. I find it interesting that there are Marcusites in all parts of the USA. I now live in Perry, IA and teach at Woodward-Granger HS. It's nice to be close to Des Moines, but miss my family terribly.
ReplyDeleteOne reason that I am contributing to the blog is that some of you may have known my uncle, Ray Wankum. Uncle Ray was diagnosed with cancer last spring I believe. He used to work for Sand Seed at the elevator. He lost his battle yesterday afternoon.
Please keep his wife Kathy and their 2 daughters Kim and Mallory in your thoughts and prayers.
Michele Hanson
Michele:
ReplyDeleteLikewise thank you for letting us know about your uncle Ray's death. He was a great guy and as nice as they come. I will most definitely keep his wife and two daughters in my prayers. BTW, Ray raised a wonderful young daughter in Mallory. She is as kind and personable as her father......that is a great legacy!