May 29 For Marilyn Maryland, oh my Maryland. It’s her birthday today! My friend till the end: Marilyn. I could tell all of the stories – of riding around town in cars, of breakfast at The Rock, of telling tales at the lumberyard bench of machetes in the milo, of swimming in the horse …
A Flyover Farewell
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: A FLYOVER FAREWELL For more than 11 years now, my dear readers, I have dragged you along with me on the gravel roads of Kansas. Willingly, I trust. Eleven years? Even I find that hard to believe somehow. My first column was published in The …
CH-CH-CHANGES
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: CH-CH-CHANGES By the time you read this, I will have mowed the lawn for the first time this year. Redbuds, crabapples and Bradford pears turn Emporia into an April wonderland, trees flowering all at once. Spring, the most elusive season of all, has finally …
The Viewfinder
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: One of many blurry photos I took in junior high. After track practice in 8th grade, Donna Smith Boese and other friends came over to my house. THE VIEWFINDER Do you know what I miss? I miss having a viewfinder. I have to …
Good Stewards
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: Pawnee Rock Bergthal Mennonite Church, May 2013. GOOD STEWARDS Last week, while sorting though a box of my late father’s photographs, I found several pictures of our family church. Had my dad been alive this past year, he would have been deeply saddened by the …
Anticipation
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: ANTICIPATION For several days this winter when I walked through the door of the post office, I thought, “Maybe it’s here today.” I had ordered a bracelet online from a Hesston business called The Rusted Chain, and was awaiting the bracelet’s arrival. The anticipation …
The Trip
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: THE TRIP In a recent email conversation, my friend Ed Durall described a lengthy move that his father’s family had made in the 1920s. Ed wrote, “In family lore, that was always known as ‘The Trip.’” First, I love the term family lore. And I …
Key to the Treasure
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: THE OLD FAYETTEVILLE PLACE I hang onto books, especially my favorite ones. As a youngster I must have read “Ribsy” by Beverly Cleary and “Key to the Treasure” by Peggy Parish at least 30 times each. Last week, in my basement, I found those …
Grandma’s Ghost Chamber
Flyover People column for Dec. 31 GRANDMA’S GHOST CHAMBER Last week, on a cold winter’s night when the wind was scaring up noise outside, I pulled the blankets to my chin. At that moment, Grandma Unruh came to mind. When my brother and cousins and I spent nights with her during the winter, Grandma …
And So This Is Christmas
This week’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: AND SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS Tom Flick’s raspy voice erased all uncertainty. “Ho-ho-ho” was a dead giveaway when that man put on the red suit. But the years that Santa wasn’t played by Tom, my friends and I had a dickens of a time …
Major Astro
Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette: Major Astro promotional photo, courtesy of Laramie Unruh MAJOR ASTRO On school day afternoons from 1962-1973, “Major Astro” aired on a Wichita TV station, KARD (now KSN). As Major Astro, Tom Leahy Jr. wore a white space suit and sometimes held a helmet in …