Hail and farewell, Ray Wetherell ....

More days than not, what I write here before dawn relates to Lucas County and/or Iowa history. When that's the case, the practice for a couple of years has been to share a link on the page of a Facebook group, The Forgotten Iowa Historical Society.

When I joined the group, there were a few thousand members. Now, I see, there are more than 51,000.

The page was dreamed up by a man named Daniel Ray Wetherell, of the small O'Brien County town of Sutherland, northwest Iowa, population six-hundred and something, skyline dominated by the soaring concrete silos of a grain elevator.

Mr. Wetherell wore a number of hats, including that of director of Sutherland's Gen. N.B. Baker Public Library.

Motivated by a deep love of history and devotion to the state all 51,000-plus of us call home in one way or another, he recruited a team of talented co-administrators to help his page navigate the sometimes stormy seas of the social media.

They are extremely good at keeping "The Forgotten ..." on course without inflicting more than the occasional disjointed nose. Conversations are kept on topic, related to the purpose of the page. No aspect of history is off-limits, but discussion when it strays is steered into constructive channels. Those who meander into content areas better suited to other sites are nudged that way as gently as possible.

These are not simple tasks in these incendiary times. Someone posted a reference the other day to the time Richard M. Nixon was stationed at the Ottumwa air station. Kaboom! Calm was soon restored, however.

Mr. Wetherell set the tone for all of this and kept it on track. Only 41, he died early Sunday morning as the result of a one-vehicle accident in his hometown. Thank you, sir, for a life well lived --- and godspeed.