TLC #76: June 12, 2005
Dear Hearts & Gentle People:
I'm almost afraid I'll jinx it if I report
this: the new Highway 13 Bridge will open on Saturday, 6/25/05. There will
be all sorts of festivities - including three ribbons cuttings (south side,
north side, and in between). For details you may visit
Ike will be here to see the Skelton Bridge open,
and I'm sure he'll make the first trip across. This has been a long wait for
those of us who travel the old bridge. We hold our breaths as we cross it. But a
friend of mine says the only way to drive it is to close your eyes and drive
real fast.
As for the demolition - hurtful though that may
be - it will probably take place over a period of time. MoDot will probably
take it down section by section. Certainly you will be apprised of
that.
As for other activities in the Old Home Town, we
had our annual Heritage Days weekend before last, and the Vintage Homes
Tour this past weekend. I believe both were quite successful, although no
hard numbers have been reported.
The Home Tour lineup: the Wentworth House (known
to many of us as the Ball house) at 16th & Main; the Oetting Home (formerly
White Castle) on the eastern edge of town; Annie's Bed & Breakfast on
Highland; another house on the north end of Highland reclaimed after a fire; and
the newest Bed & Breakfast establishment,
located at 20th & South. Now called the French Quarters, it's the old
Victorian house built by the McGrew brothers on the southeast corner. One of the
brothers lived on the northwest corner, recently the Ed "Sonny" Fiora
home. The McGrews owned coal mines. They also dabbled in speakeasies, it
seems, and the third floor of the house on the southeast corner of South did a
thriving business. Also (Lexington is so darn interesting!) there is a tunnel
under the house leading across the street for quick exit in case Eliott Ness and
the boys showed up.
Speaking of Lexington history, a group
of current residents are meeting to gather more stories for recording. We
hope to have a monthly "storytelling" night, at which one or more persons
familiar with a particular part of Lexington's past will regale those in
attendance with "social" history.
Of course much of our history is well recorded,
but there are many stories which must be preserved to give a complete picture of
the town. There is a sense of urgency to get it "down on paper," and we have
selected some storytellers, some writers and some editors to gather these tales.
Meetings will be open to the public, but they will be structured in order to
stay on track. They will also be recorded for transcribing.
After invited speakers cover a topic, those in
attendance will be able to contribute their knowledge and/or ask questions.
If you would like more information, contact me: skworth@iland.net or
660-259-4559.
And yet another program has surfaced, one to
promote communication not only among the present community, but also for former
residents who still retain interest in the old home town. I'll let Doug
Booker fill you in:
Communications Forum being established. We
had our second meeting on Friday, June 17, with approximately 25-30 people in
attendance. With the Homes Tour, Relay for Life, and other
'life' activities going on, the numbers were pretty decent, sorry to those
who were there, that we had to kind of rush things to get people where they were
going. I am asking all of you to help us bring more people to the table
(next meeting at Kenny Welch's Stable on July 1st, 5:30 pm). This will
take some effort to ensure people don't NO SHOW because they didn't know where
the stable was, make sure you know and help with this. It is kind of
exciting to think that in just our first two meetings, we have seen nearly 55
different people in attendance.
In some ways, a big part of this process is
about 'numbers'. Communicating -which is the same thing as marketing- to
others in the networks that we all have, inside and outside of
Lexington. Consider the significance of any asset that Lexington has, if
every one of us communicated to each of our networks what is happening all the
time. Whether that is telling others about Homes Tours, or telling someone
about a Stable/Rodeo/Trail riding facility here in Lexington, (for someone to
come in and manage and bring people to Lexington for yet another
reason)!!! It is truly about networking and each of us bringing others to
the process. Think what our recent Heritage Days, coming Open Air
Market or Homes Tour could have been if this network of Lexingtonians was truly
working. This will require us all to think long-term and be visionary in
our thinking, while we continue to pound at all the short-term
projects/processes that are occuring.
- Emails - I am beginning to establish a network
of people, here and outside of Lexington, to communicate with regarding our
assets, what is happening, to seek ideas and support from, etc. Who
knows who is out there, that loves Lexington as we do, might know someone that
could help us prosper in some way?!? Please forward this to whoever you
wish and/or ask them to contact me at gobooker@earthlink.net, to get on the distribution list....or just bring them to the next
meeting. If anyone is aware of contact people who have set up reunions
in the past, please send them my way?
-
- Sell those around us that don't know
Lexington, it may seem that we are preaching to the choir in these first
intial meetings (and right now in this email), but my challenge to you is to
bring in 'new choir members' for us to preach to, solicit their help and
contacts, and bring into the network.
-
- How do we get the message out?....TELL, SELL
and DISPELL. Simply each of us talking about this in our conversations
--everywhere. Remind people that this is NO EXCLUSIVE group, committee
or club, open to all who care about positive progress.
-
- What did you hear that you didn't know?
(stable, new businesses, new hotel in town, etc)...who have you told?...or
could you tell?
-
- Think past the meetings - it is truly
about the communicating that we are all doing or not doing in between
meetings, before and after meetings.
Since I do not give out TLC email addresses to
anyone, you will need to contact Doug directly (or let me know and I'll pass the
info along to him).
Doug Booker
Economic Development,
Lexington
660.259.2751
816.966.0865
(cell)
..........'Making
things happen for Lexington, TOGETHER !'
Guess I'd better find out where that stable
is.
Harry Dunford asked me nicely to get
this out last week, but that didn't happen. He's forgiven me, and I hope
you will too.
Groundbreaking for the Lafayette County
Veterans' Memorial was held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 11, on the 10th
street side of the Lafayette County courthouse.
To date the committee has raised $105,000
for construction of a first class memorial at the site. The memorial will
include three walls containing jet black tiles 4 x 8 inches with names
of Lafayette County veterans of any era, their rank and where
they served in wartime, peacetime or periods of unofficial conflict. Those
killed in action or who died of wounds received in action will be eligible to
have a star on their brick.
The 11,000 pound monument will be 5 feet 8 inches
tall, topped by a bronze eagle with a wingspan of 52 inches. The monument will
be of hexagon shape with front side dedicatory and the other five sides
dedicated to each of the five branches of the Armed Forces. On these sides will
be appropriate etchings such as battleships, tanks and
aircraft.
The program at the groundbreaking included
a history of the commitee since its inception in January, 2004, honor guard
and color guards from VFW and American Legion posts in the county, appearances
by county commissioners and an address by Joe Aull, state
representative.
Congressman Ike Skelton could not be here for this
event but has agreed to be the principal speaker at the dedication on Veterans
Day in November.
Memorial bricks may be purchased at the present price
of $150 until the cut-off date of July 31.
More people continue to sign up for TLC each issue, and
the latest is Larry Kopp. Here's his note:
Clarice Duffett has graciously forwarded
us the TLC. May we please be added to the distribution list. Larry (class
61') and wife Mary Dryer (class '64) reside in Excelsior Springs,
Missouri. Larry retired after 30 yrs of service each from school
administration in 1997 and Army Reserves in 1996. We enjoy staying in
touch with friends and classmates from Lexington.
Not everyone was fortunate enough to attend
LHS, but they still sign up for TLC. Here's a note from a
"foreigner":
Could we get put on your mailing list for
the Lexington TLC letter? We live
in Lexington; Barbara (Zeller) graduated from LHS in 1949,
same class as Ike. I
did not go to Lexington, rather I
am a graduate of the famous Dover, Missouri High School in 1945 - one of a large class of
6.
Bill & Barbara
Flanigan
Joe Anton also signed
up!
Richard Vanzandt and James 0'Malley
informed me about TLC and I would like to be included on your list
please. I knew your dad John even though I was a teenager. I'm
the youngest of the Anton family that lived on Main Street and owned the
shoe service store. I'm now living in Sierra Vista AZ fully retired
from the US Air Force and Civil Service. Enjoying life and have an
18-piece orchestra playing music of the Big Band era 30's to 60's, I play
drums as well as own the orchestra. Check our web site
www.desertswing.com and any
comments bad or good would be appreciated. I can still learn from
people.
Thanks, Joe Anton
'47
833 El Camino Real
Sierra Vista. AZ 85635
520-458-0538
Check it out!
And, since the loss of her husband Bob,
Marlene Martin is making some changes in her
life.
Please put me on hold for 3 months,
(June,July, August). My computer will be out of service while I am
in Missouri. I will going back to sell the house and furnishings and
see what to do with everything else. I can not take my computer back
with me as I am flying home. I will be coming back to make Sun
City my home.
Just to keep you up on a few things I have been
doing. I think most of you know I have not felt real well while Bob
was so ill and I sort of put me on hold. Well I have been checking
myself out and I went to a spine surgeon because I have been having such
back aches. I met him on Tuesday, he told me I had 3 fractured
vertebra and needed to have some cement put in them. I of course
thought, YEH. Well, I went into the hospital on Wednesday he fixed 4
fractures and at 10:00 the next morning I came home and feel great.
Oh, I am a little sore but no pain in my back as before. I could not
believe it. The guy is a super- duper spine surgeon. I now
have to just take it easy and not lift heavy objects. I hope it all
continues to get better. I do feel much better. I believe I can
handle my problems a little better now.
I will be flying out next
Saturday morning and the fun begins. I am not looking forward to
everything but I do have so much support in Lexington I know things will
go okay.
I hope to return to Arizona the last part of August but
time will tell. I will let everyone know when I am up and
running. I will have a phone in Lexington 660-259-2354.
Later she
added:
I hate leaving Lexington, but since Randy lives out here and
I don't need but one place to live this seems like the right
decision. I sure hope I have enough friends in Lexington so I can
come back and visit. It seems like every day there is a new decision to
make. We take our loved ones for granted some times. Love them while
you can.
Mary Pat Gueguen '58
Miller submitted the following carefully edited
note:
Susan, just some
comments: TLC #75 was SO enjoyable! As are they all.
As someone said, THANKS seems to be not enough. But, THANKS!!!
Did we ever find out all the names of the Band Patrons meeting in the
music room with Mr. Lewis?
(Read on! - SSW)
____
______ was my first love, can you believe!!! Course
I was still in grade school but I thought he was SO cute. He and
_____ ___ ____. Next topic: The Dragon Den. Loretta and I
would have many stories to offer if you open it up for "memories of
DD." How are Dave and Flo??? I hope they are well.
As a matter of fact, they seem very well,
and I'm sure they would love to hear memories of Tastee Lunch/Slop
Shop/Dragon's Den/Dave's Cafe (depending on your age), so send 'em in,
folks.
And when you travel to our website, you
will see as many IDs as we have garnered for the Band Parents/Boosters.
Your devoted scribe,
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