The antique car photo mystery is solved

I asked for help this morning with this unidentified photograph from the Lucas County Historical Society collection --- and now the mystery has been solved thanks to blog links and Facebook friends. 

Commenting on the "You grew up in Chariton, Iowa, if you remember ..." page, Denny Milnes and Dee Milnes Swarthout recognized Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hamilton as the couple on the right. 

Betty Cross and Pat Offenbuger allowed me to identify the second couple from left as Van and Thelma Downing.

That in turn led to a newspaper article --- and the photo, published in The Chariton Herald-Patriot of July 3, 1958. Here's the article --- and thanks for the help!

ANTIQUE CAR ENTHUSIASTS HAVE OUTING SUNDAY

Four local antique car enthusiasts, their wives and the family of one of the car owners, enjoyed an old-fashioned tour and box lunch picnic Sunday afternoon. Taking the 72-mile trip to Allerton State park and side excursions were the George Morrett family, extreme left, Mr. and Mrs. Van Downing, Mrs. Wayne Swanson (photographer and not pictured) and Mr. and Mrs. Lester Hamilton. Hamilton drove a 1926 Ford, Swanson a 1925 Ford, Van Downing a 1925 Chevrolet and Morrett, a 1927 Plymouth.

The men own the cars and are laying plans for a second outing --- a trip to the State Fair --- and are seeking other antique car owners interested in making the trip. Stan Lamphers, owner of a 1929 Ford and a 1917 Maxwell, also a member of the group, was unable to make Sunday's trip. The cars averaged about 25 miles an hour, requiring from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the trip and lunch break.

Help us identify an "orphan" photograph

We have two categories of "orphans" in the Lucas County Historical Society's collection of vintage photographs. For most, we know who the donors were, but the donors didn't know who the people in the photographs were when they donated them.

Anyone who has dealt with a collection of old family photographs recognizes the problem. The original owner neglected to write names on the back of the image.

In other cases, we have no idea where the photograph came from. Every item in the collection is supposed to have an identifying number on it --- but for whatever reasons, these don't.

This large image of vintage automobiles and, apparently, their owners is in the latter category. The lead car has a "59" --- or Lucas County --- license plate. The lineup makes it look as if a parade were planned, but who knows?

Written in pencil on the back is "3 columns." This most likely means the image was used three columns wide in a newspaper shortly after it was taken. I'm guessing it dates from the 1950s or 1960s.

Chances are, it didn't appear in the Chariton newspapers. The Leader and the Herald-Patriot generally held onto images they commissioned or that their staffers took, and these eventually were discarded.

But there always were "stringers" at work in Chariton who forwarded stories and photographs to The Des Moines Register or The Ottumwa Courier. These images generally were returned to the stringers and several have been donated to the historical society over the years.

So, if the image or any of the people in it look familiar, please comment either here on the blog or on Facebook, where links will be posted. We'd love to know who these people were and what the occasion was.

Community Foundation disburses $98,000

SCICF Board members Mary Stierwalt and Adam Bahr listen as representatives of the CHS baseball program acknowledge a $15,000 check to assist with a field lighting project.

The South Central Iowa Community Foundation disbursed more than $98,000 in grants Monday night to help fund 20 public improvement projects across Lucas County during a program in the Lodge at Pin Oak Marsh. I'm happy to report that $2,000 for the Lucas County Historical Society to help fund improvements to the roof drainage system at the Stephens House was among them.

The biggest grant, $15,000, went to Chariton Community Schools to help fund a project that will bring Musco sports lighting to the high school baseball field. Total cost will be in excess of $150,000.

The Lucas County Interchurch Council received $13,700 to help fund a new roof for the Ministry Center (where Lucas County's food bank is located); and $10,000 grants went to the city of Chariton to help fund planning for a trails system and to the Lucas County Historic Preservation Alliance for the Hotel Charitone project.

The foundation, which is headquartered in Chariton, serves Lucas, Clarke, Decatur, Ringgold and Union counties.

For those unfamiliar with Iowa's community foundations, they administer the state's County Endowment Fund Program as well as providing a variety of other services and incentives to promote charitable giving and local philanthropy.

Iowa is the only state in the United States where state-licensed casinos are required to contribute a share of their revenue to local charities and community projects. The County Endowment Fund Program serves the 85 Iowa counties that do not have casinos located within them. Seventy-five percent of their gaming tax revenue is distributed annually by SCICF and its counterparts to charitable projects, the balance invested in  permanent endowments.

Here's a list of grants awarded Monday night:

Lucas County Conservation Board: $573.84 to purchase a telescope to be used for programming. The new telescope will be used, among other purposes, for an astronomy day camp this summer.

Lucas County Sheriff's Department: $5,484 for the purchase of four patrol rifles. Patrol cars currently are equipped only with shotguns.

City of Chariton: $10,000 toward planning for a proposed trails program. One phase of that program would involve a bike lane along Ilion Avenue to schools, athletic complexes and parks in the northwest part of town.

Lucas County Interchurch Council: $13,722 for a new roof on the Ministry Center.

City of Chariton (Friends of the Airport): $4,000 to renew flooring and restrooms in the airport terminal.

Lucas County Preservation Alliance: $10,000 for the Hotel Charitone project.

Russell Volunteer Fire Department: $8,000 to replace worn equipment.

Lucas County Humane Society: $1,500 for work on lighting and climate control in the society building.

Chariton Community Schools: $15,000 toward a project to install Musco lighting at the high school baseball field, a project that carries an estimated total cost in excess of $150,000.

Chariton Community Schools: $3,250 for new high school weight room equipment.

City of Chariton (Vredenburg Aquatic Center): $3,330 for chlorine control and pumping equipment.

City of Chariton (Community Center): $1,973 for locker room and restroom work.

Lucas County Historical Society: $2,000 for work on the Stephens House roof drainage system.

Williamson Fire Department: $3,973 to replace the department's worn out ladders.

City of Chariton (Chariton Free Public Library): $2,000 to purchase materials for the collection.

Chariton Community Schools: $2,450 to install regulation square basketball backboards in the Middle School gymnasium.

Lucas County Fair Board: $3,800 to continue upgrading electrical wiring in fair buildings.

Chariton Senior Center: $500 for two new water heaters.

City of Williamson: $3,000 for new playground equipment.

Representatives of the Derby Volunteer Fire Department accept a check for $6,000 from Adam Bahr and Betty Hansen, of the South Centeral Iowa Community Foundation.

Derby Volunteer Fire Department: $6,000 to add a concrete approach to the fire station.

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Following the awards program, many of us remained for the spring Lucas County Non-Profits Roundable. The rountable allows representatives of the county's non-profits to update each other on ongoing projects, share ideas and concerns and introduce new personnel.

We also got to eat cookies left over from the earlier awards program --- a bonus.

Matthew Vines, God & Gay Christians

Matthew Vines

Dagnabbit, I'm going to have to buy and read Matthew Vines' God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships.

Al Mohler hates it. There's one reason. Anybody who brings the full wrath of this Southern Baptist Convention hit man down on his head deserves all the support he can get.

Matthew Paul Turner loves it. There's another. He's one of my favorite bloggers --- himself a recovering Independent Fundamentalist Baptist. Compartively, IFBs make Southern Baptists look like moderates.

The spectacle of fundamentalists and evangelicals demonizing LGBT people and elevating sex acts to the key position in the Christian narrative gets a little tedious sometimes.

But these guys do a heck of a lot of damage to gay kids gifted into families that don't deserve them. And their loud, unrepentant and arrogant wickedness does considerable damage to the church as a whole. So they do bear watching.

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Vines, now 24, and gay, grew up in Wichita, Kansas, in a conservative Presbyterian congregation (that left the Presbyterian Church USA when it liberalized its regulations concerning gay clergy). After studying philosophy at Harvard for two years, he took a leave of absence to study in depth the literature related to the six biblical references to sexual acts between people of the same gender.

Vines condensed his findings into an hour-long presentation delivered at a United Methodist Church in Wichita during March of 2012. The videotaped presentation was uploaded to YouTube and went viral. (more than half a million have watched it). The gave rise to the book, which was issued last week.

Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and a popular evangelical blogger, acquired a pre-publication copy of Vines' book, wrote with colleagues a lengthy rebuttal entitled God and the Gay Christian? A Response to Matthew Vines, and launched it as a free e-book the same day. (You do get the question mark, don't you? Gay folks can't be Christian in the fundamentalist world.)

It would appear that Mohler believes the mild and soft-spoken Vines has Southern Baptists cornered, all 16 million of them. 

"Evangelical Christians in the United States now face an inevitable moment of decision," wrote Mohler in a blog post announcing launch of the e-book. "While Christians in other movements and in other nations face similar questions, the question of homosexuality now presents evangelicals in the United States with a decision that cannot be avoided. Within a very short time, we will know where everyone stands on this question. There will be no place to hide, and there will be no way to remain silent. To be silent will answer the question."

Mohler then proceeds to explain why the church and the gospel will fall if people who love other people of the same sex are acknowledged lovingly by Christians.

"To heck with Jesus," Mohler might as well have written, "lets get down and dirty, straight to the sex."

That approach, Turner suggests in an online posting of his own, serves principally to "cause division, push people away from churches, promote the gospels of arrogance and callousness, and castrates the body of Christ, rendering us useless but for punch lines."

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Actually, there's nothing new in Vines' book --- which he acknowledges. It is a compilation of thoughts and analysis and alternative interpretations involving what sometimes are called the biblical "clobber passages" that have been available for years to those interested in tracking them down.

It is, however, a compilation wrapped into a well-written, readable package entwined with the compelling narrative of Matthew Vines' life. Vines identifies as a Bible-believing evangelical Christian --- and that seems to be what scares Mohler and others so much.

Among Vines' central contentions is the thought that biblical authors had no concept, when writing, of sexual orientation --- or that loving, committed relationshps between same-sex couples were possible.

These arguments resonate in many areas of the larger church with alternate understandings of what the Bible is and how it is to be used and interpreted.

But they are extremely threatening in a culture that, like Aaron and his golden calf, has cast the Bible in precious metal and elevated it on a plinth to be worshiped on an equal footing with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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The surreal aspect of the whole deal for many of us who grew up gay in a culture dominated by the evangelical and/or fundamentalist mindset is how much power this wing of the church is willing to cede to us. 

I'm reminded of Matthew 7: “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!”

If Southern Baptists are this scared, how much sand do you suppose was incorporated into their foundation?

Dog's-tooth and toothwort

The redbuds, in case you're wondering, are beginning to fill brushy wooded areas of Red Haw with pink mist --- and should be at their best later this week. When at their peak, Red Haw State Park's redbuds offer one of the best shows in southern Iowa and shouldn't be missed.

The white blossoms here obviously are not redbuds --- there will be plenty of time later for that. I was looking for more subtle stuff late Saturday afternoon, hoping not to miss a thing as spring moves through the woodlands. Woodland wildflowers often are called spring ephemerals because they fade quickly, then vanish as the canopy leafs out.

I was happy to spot --- after considerable staring at the ground --- toothwort. The name reportedly comes from the root, said to have tooth-like projections. I've never pulled anything up to check this out. Don't you do that either.

But the prizes of the day were the first white dog's-tooth violets, also known as trout lilies. The mottled foliage is distinctive and was widespread Saturday --- but blossoms few and far between. As with toothwort, dog's-tooth reportedly refers to the shape of the little plan'ts bulb.

I reported on dutchman's breeches and rue-anemone (below) last week. Woodland areas that wildflowers favor are carpeted with these right now. But this act of spring's production won't last long, so hurry!

The lifestyle choices of Morgan E. Cline

It's been good fun now and then to torture hapless heterosexual economic development types by suggesting that all any Iowa town with aspirations really needs is a gay gazillionaire --- like Centerville's Morgan E. Cline. Or Albia's savior, the late Bob Bates, perhaps.

Now, sadly, Mr. Cline has died --- unexpectedly on Easter morning, age 81, at his home in Middletown Township, New Jersey. He had shared the estate, Riverwind, with his partner of 52 years, Benjamin R. D'onofrio, until the latter's death in 2009.

Clueless Christian types still babble on about the "homosexual lifestyle" and share delusional speculations about choices that "lifestyle" involves.

For Cline, like the rest of us, sexual orientation was original equipment. His lifestyle choices were to work very hard, rise from poverty, become very rich, live graciously and generously --- and give his riches away.

The Centerville Daily Iowegian is carrying an excellent and very detailed obituary here. The Des Moines Register's Kyle Munson filed a good report from Centerville and Exline, which can be found here. Neither link is likely to be permanent.

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Cline was born Aug. 26, 1932, on a farm near Exline, a small coal mining town southeast of Centerville, not far from the Missouri border, to Ogle and Lucile Cline.

In 1949, he graduated valedictorian with the final (seven-member) senior class of Exline High School and received a scholarship to attend Centerville Junior College (now Indian Hills Community College), which he did for a year. 

He went on to study pharmacy at Drake University, graduating with honors during 1953 at age 20, then entered medical school at the University of Iowa. After two years, however, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a pharmacist at Fort Dix, N.J., and Fort Jay, New York City --- an introduction to the region of the country that would be his principal home for the rest of his life.

After his discharge from the Army, Cline worked three years as a drugstore pharmacist, then entered the world of advertising.

Some 20 years later, after rising to the top while working for others, he co-founded the ad agency Cline, Davis & Mann with creative partners Clyde Davis and Fred Mann. Throughout his career, he had leveraged his pharmaceutical and medical background. That paid off lavishly in the new firm, where Cline was responsible for the advertising launches of both Viagra and Lipitor.

He also was a very talented real estate developer and redeveloper, specializing in returning historic properties to useful life --- more than 125 major projects in Hoboken, New Jersey, alone during the 1970s and 1980s.

During the 1990s, Cline's attention shifted to his home territory in Appanoose County.

Revitalizing The Continental, a near-derelict hotel on the east side of Centerville's square, was his first major project, undertaken in part to offer a secure home for his mother. It was designed to be a "concierge living" center for older residents with compact apartments above a quality restaurant, bar and other public areas on the first floor. It still provides those services, but continues to evolve to meet changing community needs.

Late in their lives, Robert K. Beck and his wife, Charlotte, moved into a Continental apartment. Beck, publisher emeritus of the Centerville Daily Iowegian, continued to write regular columns --- and told more than a few Morgan Cline stories, always good reading.

Project followed project in rapid succession in Centerville during the years that followed. Many buildings on the square were rehabilitated for commercial use, the Majestic Theater complex (just off the square) among the most recent. The Columns, Bradley Hall and the Beck Mason were his most widely known residential rescues --- but Cline could not resist an historic home in distress and revitalized many others.

Preservation and revitalization projects that did not bear his personal imprint quite often benefitted from generous donations.

His benevolence included many projects not tied directly to preservation, however. He built the Continental at St. Joseph's, an assisted living center for those who needed more attention than could be provided at The Continental downtown, the Morgan E. Cline Family Sports Complex, the Cline Family Dialysis Center and, most recently, made a $1 million donation to Centerville's St. Joseph Mercy Hospital to help fund a new wing to be named in his honor.

In his tiny home town of Exline, Cline built and operated through his Cline Companies a new combination convenience store, cafe and antiques shop, funded various restorations and built a collection of homes for retirees --- returning life to a village with about 150 residents.

Munson, writing in The Register, estimated his investment in Appanoose County at $20 million, which seems a little on the conservative side..

In addition, Cline created a $5 million scholarship-endowment fund at Drake University for pharmacy students and donated an additional $3 million to Drake to fund the Morgan E. Cline Atrium for Pharmacy and Science.

In New Jersey, Cline and his partner were involved in various philanthropic projects, including a joint $3.5 million gift to the Monmouth Medical Center to fund the Cline-D'onofrio Emergency Services Pavillion.

Informal memorial gatherings for Cline were held on Thursday and Friday at Riverwind. In a few weeks, a more formal memorial celebration will be held at the Majestic in Centerville.

Cline and his partner, Ben D'onofrio, as they were growing older, commissioned similar mausoleums for their families. The D'onofrio mausoleum, where Ben is interred, is located in Moravian Cemetery, Staten Island. The Cline mausoleum is located on a hill in the Exline Cemetery, and Morgan Cline's ashes will be placed there with the remains of his parents.

His death will trigger activation of a new charitable trust that will make Appanoose Countyans the inheritors of his good works there --- and continue his benevolence.

The governor next door: Leo & Mary Louise Hoegh

These images of Leo and Mary Louise Hoegh and members of their family --- plus a photo of the billboard that greeted visitors to Chariton during 1955-56 --- kept me occupied for a couple of hours Thursday. The originals have been displayed in a case with other Hoegh memorabilia for years, and it's time to retire them to archival storage.

So I scanned the photos at high resolution, printed out copies, affixed the copies with mounting adhesive to foam board, trimmed the results --- and these copies will go into the case instead. The Hoeghs donated the family photos; the billboard photo was used to illustrate a Des Moines Sunday Register article not long after the sign was erected.

Hoegh was a one-term Iowa governor who after brief appointments to posts in Washington, D.C., washed his hands of competitive politics and returned to private life --- in Colorado. So he isn't widely remembered, even in his hometown. And that's too bad. 

A talented athlete, Hoegh was a skilled attorney, a highly decorated World War II veteran, a Chariton civic leader --- and an excellent governor of great promise. But he was a progressive Republican at a time when Iowa Republicans had little interest in being progressive. Nor did the fact he was modestly pro-union shake labor votes loose from the Democrats. So he went down to defeat in November of 1956.

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Leo was born during 1908 in Audubon County. A grandson of Danish immigrants, his parents --- William and Annie (Johnson) Hoegh --- were successful farmers and bankers at Elk Horn. Leo earned his B.A. degree from the University of Iowa during 1929 and his law degree, during 1932. He was an honors student at the U of I, lettered in swimming and captained the water polo team.

First day in the governor's mansion.

During 1931, the family bank in Elk Horn failed even though Leo's parents had liquidated nearly all of their assets in an attempt to save it. As a result, William Hoegh, who had been involved in the Federal Land Bank program since 1917, secured a managerial position in the National Farm Loan Association program in south central Iowa and moved his family to Chariton.

Leo, who had practiced briefly in Cedar Rapids, joined his parents at Chariton during May of 1933 and establised his law practice here. In Chariton, he met and during 1936 married Mary Louise Foster, daughter of Ellis S. and E. Alice Foster. Ellis Foster was the long-time manager of Spurgeon's variety store.

Also during 1936, Hoegh was elected to his first term in the Iowa House, where he served until 1942 when his Iowa National Guard unit was called up. Assigned to the 104th Infantry Division, he rose from lieutenant to lieutenant colonel (a battlefield promotion), and for his gallantry was awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Croix de guerre, Legion of Honour and three battle stars. After the war, he wrote a history of his division, familiarly known as Timberwolf, called Timberwolf Tracks.

Janis Hoegh with her grandparents, Alice and Ellis Foster.

Although he re-entered Iowa politics after the war, Hoegh failed to win elective office. He was, however, appointed Iowa Attorney General during 1953. Thus positioned, he ran successfully for governor on the Republican ticket during 1954.

Looking back years later, Hoegh wrote a brief accounting of his record as governor for Lucas County's 1978 history, which reads in part as follows:

His platform included improved education, more state aid for education, increased funds for higher education, improved mental institutions, better roads, more industries for Iowa, good government and balanced budgets --- pay as you go.

(During his administration), 1,600 miles of Iowa's 16- and 18-foot highways were widened to 24 feet  and 67 bridges were widened from 18 feet to 30 feet.

State government operated efficiently and honestly and the state budget was balanced by an increase of the sales tax from 2 to 2 1/2 percent. This latter helped to bring about his defeat for a second term.

During his term of office he was successful in moving 43 new industries to Iowa.

Mental institutions were changed from custodial to cure and care. A special Mental Health Policy Committee was created and its recommendations were put into place.

In addition, Hoegh backed reapportionment to give cities balanced representation in state government, convened the first state panel to investigate job discrimination based upon race and religion and supported lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

Time magazine put Hoegh on its cover shortly before the 1956 election, noting that his progressive record was a major issue. "His principal problem is that he has caught the spirit of an era that is beginning to recognize the need for a resurgence of good local and state government — and, in doing so. he has perhaps stirred his quiet state too much," Time wrote. "But if he has gone too far too fast, he can take a governor's small comfort from the conviction that one year — if not this year — his state will forget the anthills and look with satisfaction on the considerable movements of home-grown progressive government."

Ron Brown/Find A Grave

Plagued by his own disgrunted conservative base and an inability to overcome labor distrust of Republicans in general, Hoegh was defeated by Democrat Herschel C. Loveless, then mayor of Ottumwa, who carried a number of his predecessor's progressive initiatives forward.

President Eisenhower, familiar with Hoegh both as a military officer and governor, named him federal administrator of civil defense in July of 1957, and the family then moved permanently from Chariton. He also served as director of the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization and as a member of the National Security Council during the Eisenhower administration.

With the election of John F. Kennedy as president, the Hoegh family left Washington and moved to the Chicago area where he worked briefly in the private sector. He then re-established his law practice in Colorado during 1964, and the Hoeghs remained Colorado residents until their deaths.

The Hoeghs were living in Colorado Springs when Mary Louise died at the age of 92 on June 4, 2000. Leo Hoegh died five weeks later, on July 15, 2000, also 92. They are buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs.

The tombstone they share is a simple boulder, deeply inscribed. There is no mention of the fact a former Iowa governor is buried here. The Hoeghs were survived by their daughters, Kristin and Janis, and a grandchild.

"Faded Photographs" presentation is on YouTube

I opened a YouTube channel yesterday for the Lucas County Historical Society and posted the "Faded Photographs" slideshow, figuring some not able to get to Monday's annual meeting might be interested in taking a look at it.

Be warned that there is no audio. With narration, the program took just under an hour. Without, the video runs about 15 minutes. Each slide contains written narration, however, and that carries the presentation along. If it had occurred to me beforehand that this might go up online, I'd have written more in a couple of instances.

So far, this is the only video posted to the channel, but we have a few more candidates at the museum and I'd expect some of those to go up as time passes, so stay tuned.

I was surprised at how simple the YouTube process is, but a little time-consuming. It takes forever to upload a video, for example

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The idea behind the program was to bring into the light a few of the hundreds and hundreds (actually more like thousands) of images that have been entrusted to the historical society over the years.

Like many other museums of our type, we're balanced precariously atop a huge pile of paper, all of it historic, much of it barely accessible. Paper is relatively easy to store, but challenging to display. Even more challenging to search.

The fairly recent introduction of computer-based cataloging systems and the possibility of digital display now offer all sorts of possibilities, but an intimidating amount of human labor is required to make technology work.

We're working gradually to process and divide images into an archival storage system makes them more accessible, but ....

Dutchman's "Britches" and Mayapples

An Earth Day believer, but tired and cranky --- the idea of going up town and picking up someone else's junk in gutters and alleys got on my last nerve yesterday. So I went to the woods instead. Life is short. 

Didn't want to miss the Dutchman's Breeches this year. Or "Britches" as we call them around here, Dicentra cucullaria.

The springtime woods are subtle, lacking the summer and fall flash of prairie landscapes. You've got to keep your eyes open and pointed down. If you're huffing and puffing along, using the trails as a gym rather than observing, you'll miss the show.

Colonies of Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), just poking their umbrella-like heads through the fallen leaves, were the first to appear. In a few days, you'll be able to lift the canopies and see the flowers, then the "apples."

Then, after turning a corner and climbing a bluff, the first Rue-anemones --- flowering tiny in both pink and white. Where the Rue-anemones grow, so, too, do the Dutchman's Breeches.

And sure enough, there they were --- like so many pair of diminutive pantaloons hung out to dry on tiny clotheslines.

Plus the bonus of a Red Cup Mushroom sparkling in the fallen leaves.

Then it was time to turn around and head home --- just as the guys who had been clearing fallen trees from the trail farther on were heading back across the water toward Red Haw park headquarters.

Foxes, not raccoons

We had a great crowd and a good time last evening at the Lucas County Historical Society's annual meeting, held as has been the case for several years in the Lodge at Pin Oak Marsh. It was great to see the big commons room full of people --- and so many new faces (as well as the familiar ones).

Pin Oak is a great place for a meeting like this for all sorts of reasons --- including the excellent wildlife displays, both mounted and live. Beyond that, there's adequate parking, handicap accessibility and a fully equipped kitchen. So we're always grateful to the Lucas County Conservation Commission for making it available.

I neglected to take photographs, which was uncharacteristic, but every time I thought about pulling the camera out I got to talking to someone and didn't get it done.

The "Faded Photographs" program went well, but I did make a couple of missteps. Several pointed out that the pelts displayed in the Slab Castle photo up top here are fox, not raccoon. I knew that, actually, just experienced some sort of mental glitch when putting the slideshow together.

The name "Slab Castle" puzzles some since the building that serves as a backdrop is hardly a castle. The name carried over from the original building on the site, built as a woodland retreat during the late 19th century by Chariton's Penick family on a bluff above the Chariton River at the New York Road crossing. This was a larger and more elaborate building constructed in a picturesque manner in part of native lumber, hence the name "slab." 

That building burned during the 1920s or early 1930s and was replaced by a much simpler cabin. It remained in use, under different ownership, until the advent of Rathbun Lake when the property was acquired for public use as part of Chariton River greenbelt and the cabin was torn down. 

I also blamed a fence around the courthouse lawn that appears in 1860s photographs on horses. Mary Ruth Pierschbacher pointed out that horses, as a rule, were hitched --- and no threat to the courthouse lawn. However, at the time many Chariton residents kept a milk cow or two and perhaps a few hogs and the livestock had a habit of roaming freely around town. So the fence was built to keep cows and other domestic critters at bay.

The neatly railed walkways and platform around this 1894 photo of the third (and current) Lucas County Courthouse also drew some comments. These did not remain in place, and I speculate that they were installed for the elaborate ceremonies held when the building was dedicated --- but can't prove that.

Everyone enjoyed homemade pie before heading home after the meeting, and it probably should be noted that providing pie for the annual meeting is one of the privileges of serving on the historical society board or working as a staff member. Karoline Dittmer's and Frank Mitchell's technical support was much appreciated --- and the staff and board members asked with little warning to join in the annual reporting process did great jobs.

We'll get the Faded Photographs slideshow converted into a movie one of these days and burned onto DVDs, so it can at least run on a loop at the museum during special events. I also have visions of a YouTube channel, since we're getting quite a good collection of interesting stuff on video. Now if I can just convince Kylie or Karoline to figure out how to do that ....

Two days running ...

It was a busy Easter weekend, but a rewarding one --- and there's more to do on other fronts today. I'm thinking of taking Tuesday off.

We had a beautiful morning Sunday at St. Andrew's. Easter baptism is an ancient tradition, and we had five --- with the bonus of a reaffirmation. Baptized were (front row from left) Nicholas Clark, Megan Clark and Benjamin Clark and (second row from left) Rick Clark and Morgan Clark. Elvin Yoder (right) renewed his baptismal vows.

These were the first baptisms for the Rev. Frederick L. Steinbach (center rear), who is scheduled to be ordained an Episcopal priest this summer after several months of work as a transitional deacon.

The Easter brunch that followed was amazing. The only disappointment --- the Easter egg hunt was limited to those 10 and younger.

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The annual meeting of the Lucas County Historical Society begins at 6:30 this evening in the Lodge at Pin Oake Marsh. We'll have a short business meeting at 6:30 p.m., followed by a program entitled "Faded Photographs: 150 Years of Images from the Lucas County Historical Society Collection." Pie and coffee will be served afterwards. All are welcome.

I've still got a few finishing touches to put on the slide show, one reason why I'm in a hurry this morning. There's considerable Monday demand for the office computer I've been using to put it together so I've got to get there first.

The is among the photos included in the presentation --- Guests arriving at the Ilion (aka Mallory's Castle)  during May of 1955 for the final party there before the big old house was demolished. The guests are (from left) Patsy Hixenbaugh, Eleanor and John Baldridge, Melvin Brown and Marguerite and Lee Threlkeld.

Easter people in a Good Friday world

Golly, I wish I could claim that line --- but it belongs to the late Barbara Johnson, an author and comedian whose perspective was for the most part evangelical Christian.

I doubt we'd have agreed on much theologically. Original sin? Good grief --- we're merely human. A dark and broken world? It's spring, for heaven's sake man --- open your eyes. An angry, petty, tribal god who slaughtered Jesus so we could be washed in his blood? Bullshit.

But on this we'd agree --- that too often we're Easter people in a Good Friday world, suspended in apparent darkness between despair and hope, death and resurrection. I think a lot about resurrection during Holy Week.

Easter is the operative word here, the natural and miraculous, God-given if you care to think in those terms, human tendency to rise again.

We see it all the time, and experience it. On our knees because of disease, broken relationships, disasters natural, financial and otherwise, we rise again. Knocked flat by the deaths of those we love, we rise again.

I see it sometimes in gay kids --- and my LGBT brothers and sisters who are older --- backed into a corner, shoved down and in despair because of the realization that the gift they were created with doesn't fit others' expectations, sometimes their own. Then, miraculously, they accept the gift, rise again and begin to soar.

Christian ideas about atonement vary, but the oldest --- before Archbishop Anselm and then those troublesome protestant reformers --- held that the principal work of Christ was to defeat sin (our inborn talent for damaging ourselves and others) and death, in large part by example. That makes us mere humans in the hands of a loving god rather than sinners in the hands of an angry god. And it's very much a work always in progress.

We're going to witness the baptism of five this morning --- a symbol and a sacrament that goes back to that earliest church. Then we'll stand witness as a young man, a newcomer to Lucas County, renews baptismal vows made in a faith community that now rejects him. 

This is a wonderful and a joyous thing.

It's a beautiful morning; it's a great day to be alive. Christus Victor!

What ever happened to hats?

It's almost Easter --- and I've been working with a lot of historic images lately. Which has caused me to wonder, what ever happened to hats? Cowboy hats, baseball caps, stocking caps and sunshades don't count.

This is one of my favorite images from the Lucas County Historical Society collection --- five young men in a boat (perhaps on the Chariton River, perhaps not). All of them are wearing hats. If you look carefully, you'll see that there's another guy fishing in the distance. I'm betting he was wearing a hat, too.

The woman underneath the hat at left is Alma Clay, veteran educator for whom Chariton's long-vanished Alma Clay School was named. And the hats below are towering over my grandmother (left), Jessie (Brown) Miller, and her niece, Ida (Brown) Rogers.

In a way, you can understand why women don't wear hats any more --- some of them were the size of small pets and look as if they'd require about as much maintenance. And where would you store the things?

More men below --- the grim aftermath on the Chariton square of a coyote hunt. All the men, again, wearing hats.

Here's the challenge. Look around Easter Sunday --- a day once renowned for its Easter bonnets --- and find me a hat atop one person --- just one. Betcha can't.

Mandatum

The Holy Thursday rites I'm most familiar with, in Lutheran and Episcopal parishes, are similar --- after prayers, lessons and a homily, those comfortable with the practice pad barefoot down the aisle and wash each other's feet as hymns are sung, then share bread and wine.

Then, as psalms are spoken or chanted, a few people move toward the altar and strip it bare. Candlesticks and linens, paraments and banners, flags and brightly-colored cushions, the Gospel book, even, at St. Andrew's, the icon of our patron, are removed from the church, carried away with little ceremony. 

Finally, the lights are turned out --- wham --- and the congregation left in darkness to find its way out into the night in silence as best it can.

This was how it went again last night, jointly Lutheran and Episcopalian, blending liturgical elements from both traditions. 

It is a symbolic rite that seems to operate on several levels, and the process will be reversed in many parishes during the Easter vigil on Saturday night, when new fire is carried into the church, all the liturgical bling returned, candles lighted from the new fire and, at last, the lights turned on again, all symbolizing resurrection.

Holy Thursday also is called Maundy Thursday, from the Latin Mandatum, or commandment, as recounted in the Gospel of John as it tells the story of the Last Supper, washing of the disciples feet, sharing the bread and wine. "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you").

It's a commandment, or mandate, not bounded by liturgical settings and church walls or contained by the elaborate and somtimes restrictive theological boundaries of faith communities. 

We'll observe Good Friday at 7 this evening at First Lutheran Church. All are welcome. Doctrinal agreement, even belief, not required.

Banana pudding yellow & the renewed Puckerbrush

If someone had videoed the acrobatics involved in getting past the kid on a ladder with a bucket of paint and into Puckerbrush School yesterday to take a couple of photos, It would be clearer, now, how I ended up with a front end plastered in fresh "banana pudding" yellow. It wasn't my finest hour.

Not that the Cromer Construction guys didn't warn --- "careful, the paint on that door's wet" and "watch out, that wall, too." At least they didn't add, "you idiot." At least out loud.

The good news, we're nearing the end of a two-year-plus project that hopefully will give our 140-year-old baby many more years of life. Puckerbrush will celebrate its 140th birthday this fall.

Two years ago, Pierschbacher Construction replaced the roof with an historically accurate reproduction of its original cedar-shingled surface. Last summer, we evacuated the building and G M Builders took up two layers of flooring (the latest put into place just before Pearl Harbor Day in 1941) so that the old building's underpinnings could be repaired --- then relaid the 1941 floor.

The Cromer guys moved in last week with the return of warmer weather. First, a narrow strip of flooring near the west wall was filled with new oak (there was a little spoilage when the original floor was lifted). New paint is being applied this week --- "banana pudding" is very close to the faded yellow on the walls when the building moved to the museum campus more than 40 years ago.

Next week, new flooring will be stained to match the old, some sanding will be done to resolve a few issues with the old flooring, new sealer applied --- and we should be ready to move the furniture back in. That includes a massive cast iron stove, desks, a couple of display cases and other paraphernalia. 

By the time Chariton Community School fourth-graders arrive for their annual visit in late May, we should be ready for them. And that's a cause for celebration.

I was actually thinking this morning, "wow, we should get some of those little blue paper booties so that no one will mess up the floor." Then it occurred to me just how silly that would be for a surface that has welcomed the shoed, booted and bare feet of generations of Lucas County kids during the course of its 140 years.

Christian lunacy

Aristotle, Pliny the Elder and others in those ancient of days pioneered a peculiar notion that the moon can adversely affect function of the human brain, giving rise to the term "lunacy," honoring the Roman goddess of that reflective natural satellite --- Miss Luna.

One of the headlines that caught my eye this morning, "Christian Pastors Warn 'Blood Moon' Is An Omen Of Armageddon And Second Coming of Christ,"  suggests that there may be something to that idea, at least so far as the minds of some fundamentalists are concerned.

"Blood moon" is another term for a total lunar eclipse, which causes the moon to take on a reddish cast. What's got these born-again astrologers so excited is the fact that early Tuesday's eclipse was the first of four that will occur in an 18-month period, a celestial occurrence known as a "tetrad."

This, the preachers have determined after considerable conjuring, is a sign of the impending Rapture (everyone you like will be swept bodily into heaven) followed by a battle called Armageddon and the second coming of Christ. During the latter two events, everyone you don't like will be cast into hell to writhe in eternal torment.

There are at least four recent books on the topic, all selling briskly and one on various best-seller lists --- authored by Texas megachurch preacher and certified wingnut John Hagee.

None of this is exactly new --- the whole end-times scenario is for the most part an American invention, born into fevered protestant minds after too much exposure to the biblical book of Revelation. A highly imaginative version of scripture called the Scofield Reference Bible spread these various lunacies nationwide.

Back when I was a pup, evangelists bearing Scofield Bibles and elaborate charts detailing imaginary end-time scenarios roamed the land. Today, books, movies and other media aimed at the gullible are far more profitable.

I've told the story before of riding when I was a kid into Des Moines with a carload of kids --- old enough to read; not old enough to understand what we were reading --- with a redoubtable matron at the wheel who had planted on her dashboard a sign that read, "Warning, the driver of the car is leaving with the Rapture."

I, at least, was left with the impression that Gladys might fly away at any time, leaving the rest of us bloodied and broken in a ditch. My parents carefully explained later that the driver had merely overdosed on biblical prophecy and that there was nothing to worry about, but it was too late. I've been skeptical of most things Christian ever since.

That, I think, is a healthy thing --- but of course others would disagree.

Cemetery preservationists gather in Corydon

Steve Story presides over Saturday's meeting in the Prairie Trails west gallery.

My friend, Bill, gardening guru at Prairie Trails Museum in Corydon, decided to check out his tulips Saturday morning --- couldn't find a parking place, just kept driving. Which gives some idea of how well-attended the quarterly meeting of the State Association for the Preservation of Iowa Cemeteries (SAPIC) was. The meeting was hosted by the Wayne County Pioneer Cemetery Commission at the museum. 

President Steve (and Donna) Story, of Hawkeye, way up in northeast Iowa's Fayette County, had arisen at 4 a.m. in order to make the trip down. Other members were present from Waterloo, Webster City and elsewhere in Iowa --- even Illinois. The Illinois guy had overnighted in Corydon and had nothing but praise for the general friendliness of the community --- and the Nodyroc (Corydon spelled backwards) Motel.

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SAPIC was founded in 1996, after the Iowa Legislature established the Pioneer Cemetery Commission plan in an attempt to resolve issues involving abandoned and/or deteriorating pioneer cemeteries statewide. In Iowa, rural cemeteries deeded to the public are the responsibility of township trustees who are required (by law) to levy modest taxes and ensure their upkeep. Many trustees do a good job, others do as little as possible unless yelled at or threatened with legal action.

Under the 1996 plan, county supervisors were authorized to take control of pioneer cemeteries (currently defined as graveyards where 12 or fewer burials have occurred during the last 50 years) and pass responsibility for them on to Pioneer Cemetery Commissions. Financing for commission activities comes from county general funds, rather than township levies; and commissions generally are strongly preservation minded, anxious to restore as well as to maintain.

Lucas County's Pioneer Cemetery Commission, with a magnificent record, was one of the earliest; Wayne County's commission was established during 2010.

SAPIC serves as an umbrella group for Iowa's 28 county commissions (out of 99 potential), but also has a variety of other related missions and projects; individuals may join for $10 annually. The SAPIC Web site is located here.

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One SAPIC mission is to serve as an advocate among county supervisors for the cemetery commission strategy, and there was discussion of that Saturday morning. The state map that shows existing commissions tilts strongly east and south, so there's considerable work to do elsewhere in the state.

Another task is to inform township trustees and county supervisors of their responsibilities in regard to cemetery care and maintenance. There was talk of trying to find a place on the agenda of the next annual meeting of the state association of county supervisors.

And another is to foster the use of appropriate techniques and products by those actively involved in cemetery restoration. SAPIC approved Saturday a donation to help fund a May 17 class and workshop in Independence. More about that event can be found on the SAPIC Web site.

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Donna Story reported on a project launched by Gov. Terry Branstad, with input from state Sen. Dennis Black of Newton, last August. Branstad asked SAPIC volunteers to locate and carefully photograph the grave sites and tombstones of all Iowa governors, lieutenant governors and federal cabinet appointees. Reports and photographs compiled by the volunteers will be forwarded to Branstad's office, analyzed and, hopefully, steps then taken to conserve and/or repair stones in need of work.

Donna Story reports on progress of the governor's project.

A volunteer from the Monroe County Pioneer Cemetery Commission stepped to the plate Saturday and volunteered to photograph and report on the status of the gravesite of Lucas County's only native-born governor, Nathan Kendall (Leo Hoegh was an import). Kendall is buried under a bench in the front yard of his home, Kendall Place, in Aliba --- in cremated form.

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I enjoyed hearing Mike McGee, of Waterloo, tell the story of Mary Viden's grave --- an instance where pioneer burials and progress collided. The property in question, at 3700 University in Waterloo, had been the site of a founding family's home, but had become commercial --- the site selected for a new Hy-Vee gas station. Reportedly buried there, ca. 1848, was a child named Mary Viden, who died after her clothing accidentally caught fire.

 After assembling sufficient evidence to support the possibility of burials on the site, a report was made to the office of the state archaeologist.

That office directed Hy-Vee to hire archaeological consultants to investigate and they did indeed locate two grave markers and the physical remains of one child. None could be tied to Mary Viden, however. The stones and the remains were removed and buried elsewhere. But McGee and others wanted some sort of marker at the site to indicate that burials had been made there and that, perhaps, Mary's remains still might be nearby. Hy-Vee has been less than enthusiastic, however, and the issue has not been resolved.

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After the meeting was adjourned for lunch, most of us retired in shifts to the museum theater to view a presentation on the Wayne County Pioneer Cemetery Commission's work since its organization.

The commission's first project was the Duncan Cemetery, perhaps Wayne County's oldest, down in Grand River Township just northeast of Lineville. The oldest grave here is that of Polly Duncan, who died in February of 1846. The markers in the cemetery were shattered and scattered and the area brushy when volunteers began work, but now it has been fully restored. 

A bonus of that project came during August, 2011, when volunteers returned after an absence to find the cemetery shimmering with purple-top prairie grass, probably native to the area when pioneers arrived. Seed was saved from the stand for use in reseeding projects in other pioneer cemeteries.

The commission's next project was Big Springs Cemetery in Jefferson Township, northwest of Clio and about two miles west of Highway 65. That cemetery, very badly overgrown, has turned into a multi-year project. And just last fall, commission volunteers were able to find the Ryan Cemetery site in Union Township northwest of Millerton.

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Other Wayne County cemetery success stories are related less directly to the commission as a whole.

In Wright Township, trustees reclaimed Adcock Cemetery from brush on their own after consulting with the commission.

At Promise City, a plan by cemetery officials to bury an 1899 six-holer mausoleum embedded in a hillside in order to alleviate safety concerns was detected, consciousness-raising sessions held and a cooperative venture launched to save it (by this time, iron gates already had been removed and buried). A grant was acquired and after a lot of work by volunteers, the mausoleum has been restored, retaining walls rebuilt and a safety rail installed. Commissioners Brenda DeVore and Dale Clark, and others, were heavily invested in this project.

Before the commission was established, Dale and Daniel Clark already had spearheaded the effort to restore (so far as possible) Dodrill Cemetery, along the South Chariton north of Promise City. This once-extensive cemetery had been cleared of stones, reportedly by a farmer, perhaps in the 1940s, and then farmed over. Although graves have been lost, the site has been reclaimed and a marker and flag pole erected.