Granny's Notes by Sue Gerard

Mom's kids were happy campers (by Nancy Russell)

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:00:00 CST

This will be the final "Granny's Notes." Boone County's Granny passed away on July 18, having lived an amazing 96 years. She shared her life through her writing, but I want to share a side of her that...

Double set of piglets a learning experience

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared June 1, 1999, in the Tribune:Chub started the pickup to drive to work, none too soon as usual."Would you take eight or 10 ears of corn down to Christmas Tree?" he asked an...

Dig unearths glimpse in Boone County's past

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following originally appeared May 16, 2000, in the Tribune: 1956: Today I picked up rocks, square nails, an 1866 nickel and a rusty grubbing hoe as I dug through ashes remaining after we...

This storyteller is no longer nervous

Mon, 24 May 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared Oct. 3, 1995, in the Tribune: A solo violinist who plays regularly for thousands of strangers might get shaky knees in a similar recital facing old friends and n...

No better show than a beehive

Mon, 10 May 2010 08:00:00 CST

This column was first published Sept. 16, 1997. Once, when our children were getting ready for Sunday school, I called, "Hey, kids, come see what's going on in the glass beehive." Nancy and ...

Never a dull moment for farm kids

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared in the Tribune on Aug. 20, 2007: In spring, there were baby kittens and their mothers in Estes' barn loft. In summer, there was soft-stacked hay there. It was gr...

Farm comes back to life

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared Nov. 4, 1995, in the Tribune. Repairing water gaps and building fences got to be too much as Chub and I grew older. Reluctantly, we decided to sell the cattle an...

Blowing bubbles was good, clean fun

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared in the Aug. 13, 1996, Tribune. Two things I remember from early childhood are that soap suds in our eyes made my brother and me cry and that blowing soap bubbles...

Bee stings create close call

Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:00:00 CST

This column first appeared in the Tribune on Nov. 12, 2007. When we bought a farm 12 miles east of Columbia, it was on a mud road where the only repair was some big rocks in the worst mud ho...

Washington's words still true today

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:00:00 CST

This column first appeared in the Tribune on Feb. 26, 2001. Schoolchildren used to pattern their lives after the heroes of their day; President George Washington was one of my favorites. He...

Dad's milk in high demand

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:00:00 CST

This column was first published in the Tribune on Sept. 26, 2005. When I was a girl, we lived four miles east of Columbia's intersection of South Ninth Street and Broadway. We were in the S...

New swim instructor dives in head first

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared in Tribune on Oct. 6, 2003. There was very little ritual about graduating from University High School in the early 1930s; many of us continued at the University ...

Advisees brighten holidays

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:00:00 CST

This column was first published in the Tribune on Nov. 27, 2006. Today I scrounge through my memories, hunting things that once amused me -- and share some in this week's "Granny's Notes."C...

Be careful skating on Missouri ice

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared in the Tribune on Jan. 15, 2001. Let's face it -- people drown in winter. Several years ago, six Missouri children died when they went through the ice in three s...

Sometimes it's best not to wait

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:00:00 CST

The following first appeared in the Tribune on Dec. 26, 1995. We were living in a tiny two-room apartment at the time of our second World War II Christmas. I was on a year's leave from Chri...

There's no substitute for real trees

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:00:00 CST

This originally appeared in the Tribune on Dec. 6, 2004. In 1921, Mrs. Venable asked my dad, her milk man, "Mr. Meyers, would your little girl go to the woods and cut a nice fresh cedar tree...

Columbia learned a lot from Paxton Keeley, Wrench

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CST

This originally appeared in the Tribune on Nov. 19, 2001. If we could ask 1,000 oldsters, natives of Columbia, to name the two most memorable, respected, well-loved people they recall, the n...

Many memories created during 4-H years

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CST

The Gerard family has been involved with 4-H for many years. Our club was called the Harg Hustlers, and a young Bob Black and five or six other members enrolled in a new project we called "Native Craf...

Losing cash belt throws traveler for loop

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:00:00 CST

At the end of World War II, there was an Army surplus store in downtown Columbia. I bought some canvas bags, a canteen and an olive drab-colored money belt.�The belt had soft leather on the next-to-th...

College kids demanded fresh milk

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:00:00 CST

We lived four miles east of Columbia's intersection of South Ninth Street and Broadway. We were in the Special Road District, which was financed by the city or a merchants organization to encourage pe...

Windmills pumped farms' water into '40s

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:00:00 CST

This column first appeared in the Tribune on Sept. 24, 2001. In 1937, only a few farms at or near Columbia's city limits had access to electrical lines. They depended on coal oil lamps and l...

Salt licks important to Missouri pioneers

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:00:00 CST

In the 18th century, Nathan Boone and his brother, Daniel Morgan Boone, learned how to make salt by boiling water from a certain salt spring in Kentucky. According to Johnson's "Cyclopaedia of Useful ...

Salt crucial to Boone settlers

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:00:00 CST

Early in grade school, we memorized the date of the Louisiana Purchase -- 1803, remember? Daniel Boone and others moved their families, livestock and possessions before 1803 from Kentucky to upper Lou...

Black walnuts are worth the wait

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:00:00 CST

I'd just tasted the best black walnut kernels that I'd tasted in my whole life. I'd stomped and hulled walnuts since I was big enough to mash off that outer green hull. Smell it? There's nothing like ...

Beating the heat was quite the feat

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:00:00 CST

How did people beat the heat in the old days? That's the question older people are answering these days, for themselves as well as for youngsters who ask it. Survival in summer was no miracle. We expe...

Lifeguard lessons work even indoors

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:00:00 CST

During the Great Depression, Allie Crews was the only employee of the Boone County chapter of the American Red Cross. It surprised me when she called to say, "The board chose you to represent our coun...

Pioneers left their marks on Central Missouri

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:00:00 CST

The pond bank is almost the highest point on our farm. I used to walk there at daybreak or in evenings when the first stars appeared.Our land touches the creek that pioneers called "Cedar River." Boon...

Benjamin Franklin, song float Granny's boat

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:00:00 CST

All I really needed to know about swimming, I learned from two sources: Benjamin Franklin and a popular song. Franklin flew kites, invented stoves and bifocal glasses; he taught himself to read in sev...

Ship exhibit a treasured memory

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:00:00 CST

When Henry VIII stared with field glasses from his castle in Portsmouth, England, the British and French were shooting cannonballs and arrows at each other. We can imagine that the fat king ripped off...

Essay a winner after a lot of fiddling

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 08:00:00 CST

If "Granny's Notes" is full of grammatical errors, it might be because Virginia Simms took four of us University High School senior girls to a different classroom, gave us notebooks and said, "Write! ...

May one of the most beautiful times of year

Mon, 18 May 2009 08:00:00 CST

Except for the danger of floods for people who live near big creeks and the Big Muddy, we're in that wonderful time of the year, after frozen pipes and before tall weeds. The signs of both spring and ...

Nests hold interest even after birds are gone

Mon, 04 May 2009 08:00:00 CST

My grandchildren used to come to the farm for what I called "Granny's Day Camp." They are now "grand-grownups." So today I'm writing to other people's grandchildren so they can learn about the birds t...

Trip proves unforgettable

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 08:00:00 CST

My husband, Chub, spent a winter in Newfoundland. He was a motor machinist's mate, first class, in the U.S. Coast Guard and helped build a Loran station there. In April, the job was done, but a bulldo...

Family cowboys were roped into task

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:00:00 CST

Nancy was about 11 when she wanted a hive of honeybees of her own.Chub was teaching her how to install a new queen. She put dry leaves in the smoker, lit them and squeezed the bellows a few times to g...

Nothing boring about switchboard

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 08:00:00 CST

I was surprised to find reference to string telephones in Johnson's 1876 "Universal Cyclopedia: A Treasury of Useful Knowledge." The writer said, "The string telephone was mentioned as early as 1667 b...

Wooden spools wind up being lots of fun

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:00:00 CST

At an auction I once bought three gallon jars full of wooden spools to get three spools. They were the large size, many of them green, and had been saved by our friend and neighbor, the late Velma Ben...

Bath time didn't require rubber duckies

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:00:00 CST

A bright first-grader once gave me a long, rolled-up scroll he'd made in school about water. He explained that there's a certain amount of water in the world and that the Earth, rocks, sun, wind, etc....

Wide Broadway provided path to Columbia's success

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:00:00 CST

"Ownership of American land was vested in the original occupants prior to the discovery by whites." Switzler's 1882 History of Boone County explains it this way: "Indians, being savages, possessed but...

Helping with dairy created solid work ethic

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 08:00:00 CST

Some older person did the first wash in hot lye water, two bottles at a time. He would hold a bottle in each hand and push them onto two rotating bottle brushes. A third rotating brush washed the outs...

Childhood bicycle ride set tone for future treks

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:00:00 CST

During the early part of that summer, I rode my brand-spanking-new, $39.95 Sears and Roebuck girl's bike to and from vacation Bible school at First Baptist Church in Columbia. I was almost 10. The ...

Bees stay busy to beat the cold

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:00:00 CST

Bees don't hibernate like bears, frogs and earthworms - which go into a sort of stupor. If we could see inside a hive in winter, there would be a "ball of bees" - a cluster - around the frames...

Donated liquor leads to Christmas grudge

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 08:00:00 CST

Chub was an inspector of construction at the University of Missouri. He would check blueprints and contracts and report to MU's director of construction about the progress made on new buildings. He wo...

Seven years of courtship proved long enough

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:00:00 CST

That was during the horrible Depression. We began our friendship by eating sack lunches together in his truck. Soon he took me to the Presbyterian Student Center, where fellows took turns cooking 15-c...

Christmas job, family helped finance a very special present

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:00:00 CST

The University Lab School had long vacations and exams in January at the end of the semester. Not only did I need that Underwood for school, I was the Columbia Herald Statesman's columnist, writing th...

Boone County Christmases call for wild cedars

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:00:00 CST

The abandoned nest made a nice holder for important Christmas gifts - coins, rings and wrapped candies. Some years I sprayed the bird's nest with silver, gold or white paint. Local cedar makes a bang...

Before Columbia, other towns had rocky starts

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:00:00 CST

Historian Edwin Stephens included the following in his "History of Boone County," which was printed in the county's first atlas. Emigration to Howard was immense for its first five years. "...

Discovery of grindstone uncovers home's history

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:00:00 CST

Slaves here? Yes. The abstract includes this: Item 3D: "I will and bequeath to my daughter Palina, owing to her being a cripple, a Negro girl Minta about age 8 years as a special legacy to be unde...

Leisure used to not call for electronic entertainment

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:00:00 CST

People of all ages found satisfaction, relaxation and reward in their nonworking hours. Pleas Robnett, the first owner of our farm east of Columbia, is presumed to be the builder of a very old, dilapi...

Bike Pacemeter takes high-flying ride

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:00:00 CST

It was l967, about the time Walt entered the 11th grade at University High School. Walt was soon selling bicycles and supplies. He rented a vacant barber shop - complete with big "pump-up" cha...

County hospital prospered, even during Great Depression

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:00:00 CST

I remember the big, white, two-story Tandy home that was used to house the hospital's nurses in the early years. Those men employed Eleanor Keely to help equip and furnish the hospital. Then, recogniz...

These days, soap's image far different from old times

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:00:00 CST

Mom tricked my brother and me into washing our dirty hands by teaching us to make bubbles. We had a washpan outdoors on a bench near the cistern. She taught us to make an oval soap film between our in...

School 'ghost sightings' were an ingenious prank

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:00:00 CST

In those days, Christian College, now Columbia College, was a two-year girls' school with about 350 students. That was in the 1930s, when I was teaching five classes each week while still a student at...

Halloween costumes pulled from the rag bag

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:00:00 CST

Dad's idea about old stuff was, "Throw it away where you can find it." He and Mom were short and heavyset, so their discarded clothes were about the right length. They could be stuffed with pi...

Grindstones, memories: treasures from the past

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:00:00 CST

Slaves here? Yes. Our abstract includes this: "Item 3d: I will and bequeath to my daughter Palina, owing to her being a cripple, a Negro girl Minta about age 8 years as a special legacy to be unde...

Regulating supply tough for small dairy

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:00:00 CST

In the 1940s, the customers wanted creamy milk that was 3.5 to 4 percent fat. Dairymen competed for "a good cream line." Milk was sold in glass bottles, and the yellowish cream rose to the top...

Preparing corn harvest was not a grind to children

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:00:00 CST

A harder job paid 75 cents a day for punching wires at the hay baler. It was clover, alfalfa, timothy or "pasture" hay, which was a mixture of grasses. Dad cut it with a sickle mower and left ...

The season of autumn brings change, beauty and splendor

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:00:00 CST

Milkweed pods dry and burst open, releasing thousands of fluffy-skirted seeds. Remember them from "Fantasia?" These tiny ballerinas dance in the winds, seeking soil. They stop in some farmer's...

Visit teaches a lesson in making an honest living

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:00:00 CST

Dude was O.D. Meyers, my dad. Coot was my uncle Jess, whom I knew by hearsay and by one photograph. The studio picture in front of a backdrop showed eight or nine young fellows, a group of "rounde...

Great teachers can put permanent stamp on lives

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:00:00 CST

In old age, we are reminded of so many people who actually have shaped our lives. For example, when I put on my socks this morning, I remembered Miss Mae Kelly, a professor of physical education at th...

Mom's water phobia leads to scare at swimming hole

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:00:00 CST

We swam several times a week at a deep hole at Sublett's place on the north fork of Grindstone. That was the site of my first encounter with swimming and with what seemed like personal tragedy at my y...

Dairy farm know-how proved handy in Europe

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:00:00 CST

We turned back and knocked on the farmer's door. Not much communication with the woman who greeted us until her daughter arrived. The young woman had been an exchange student in Florida for a year an...

No more carbide gas, no more dead canaries

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:00:00 CST

Coal oil lamps and lanterns were a lot of trouble for a little bit of light.A few rural families owned Delco light plants, which were private generators powered by gasoline engines. However, they were...

Family treasure found at Fayette antique show

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:00:00 CST

The woman flipped it shut so I could see its gleaming white oilcloth cover with big black letters. It had a sunburst on the front, with a picture of the White House in Washington, D.C. I knew that I h...

Spare tire can be a lifesaving device

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:00:00 CST

We studied the prevention of water accidents, the rescue of those who couldn't get back to safety and the use of various types of equipment, including boats, ring buoys, bamboo poles and inner tubes. ...

Ben Franklin a great man in terms of swimming lessons

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:00:00 CST

When milk was sold in glass bottles, I used to ask my students, "Which is heavier, cream or milk?" The usual answer was, "cream." Then I'd ask, "Which is at the top of the bottle?&...

Potters enjoy the search for buried ceramic treasure

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:00:00 CST

When Dad and a helper dug the basement for our new home, they encountered some extremely tough clay. They put a concrete floor over the rest of the basement but left this clay part to be floored later...

Hay-making had some high points

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:00:00 CST

A harder job paid 75 cents a day for punching wires at the hay baler. It was clover, alfalfa, timothy or "pasture" hay, which was a mix of grasses. Dad cut it with a sickle mower and left it f...

Sometimes workin' ain't sufferin'

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CST

I was a bit like that mother when I chose to study journalism at the University of Missouri in 1932. It never occurred to me that I could be paid for teaching fun things like tennis, archery, swimming...

Children's Day was a time for youngsters to show off

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CST

It was a Sunday for parents to show off their children and for the children to perform on the pulpit "stage" for family, friends and strangers by speaking a piece, singing, playing a musical i...

Biking is more than just staying on

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CST

If last year's jeans and tennis shoes don't fit, your bike might also be the wrong size. That doesn't mean that you have to run to the shop for a new one; it means it's time to learn the many differen...

Summer in England a wonderful adventure

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CST

When I was a senior at University High School, I had outgrown my bicycle, and my interest was mostly in a fellow who was studying electrical engineering. W.F. "Chub" Gerard took me to Presbyte...

Granny's Deep-Water Test a good tool for swimmers

Mon, 19 May 2008 08:00:00 CST

Fionn's mom, Brie, started her out on a lifetime of water fun - and obedience. There was no fussing when Sam wrapped Fionn in a towel and took her off to bed. These young parents and their "swimm...

Williams painted picture of 17th-century America

Mon, 12 May 2008 08:00:00 CST

Williams must have planned that moment well in advance. As a Baptist preacher, he intended to "save the soules" of these men. He probably said, "Hello, my name is Williams, what's yours?&#...

Evenings on dock take angler back in time

Mon, 05 May 2008 08:00:00 CST

Billie fished with homemade tackle. Her line was a twine string; her sinker, a metal washer. I was that tomboy. I'm also the old woman who doesn't care whether the fish are striking. Billie was born i...

Earlier generations knew how to make own fun

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:00:00 CST

Pleas Robnett, the first owner of the land, is presumed to be the builder of a very old, dilapidated cabin that was in the yard in 1951 when we bought the farm. Did that family have TV? Internet? Movi...

Criteria strict for a proper teapot

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:00:00 CST

Through the years I've made a lot of teapots, and they all pour - even the trick ones that have a lid but the lid won't come off. The Columbia Art League displayed one of my "fake lid" pots in...

Bikes were indispensable in China

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 08:00:00 CST

The All China Youth Federation had arranged interesting visits to factories, craftsmen at work, a visit to a cave and more. Male and female interpreters were fun people from Hong Kong, and they were w...

Encounter with rat added excitement to stay in China

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:00:00 CST

We were the first open-to-the-public group of bicycle tourists after the organizers' tour. It had taken two years for American Youth Hostels Inc. and All China Youth Federation to arrange this 11-day ...

Colleagues' cajoling inspires adventure

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 08:00:00 CST

"We couldn't possibly afford it," I said. But a colleague at Christian College (now Columbia College), Geneva Youngs, looked serious as she said, "Sue, go anyway!" My friend, Petie Dav...

World of honeybees never ceases to amaze

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:00:00 CST

A week before, I had watched the bluebirds flying briefly and going in and out of their box for exercise and for "potty." They were all back inside the next time I looked out. I wondered about...

Horse ownership is quite the ride for youngsters

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:00:00 CST

I don't remember it, but they said that happened often. Mom wrote to her parents - April 11, l917 - that they plowed the garden and left Steamboat standing. Soon, "Sue was shaking the lines and ho...

Find safe shelter in storm cellar

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:00:00 CST

I preferred to call ours a cave; it suggested a cool, natural place to go for safety from storms. Chub called it a storm cellar. It was well-made, partly in the ground, with sodded earth mounded up ov...

Treasures found in strange places

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:00:00 CST

How did Abe Lincoln describe himself in 1858 when he was asked to write a sketch of his life for the Dictionary of Congress? He put it all in a nutshell: "Born Feb.12, l809, in Hardin County, Kent...

Women force behind Harg's first newsletter

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:00:00 CST

Hattie was a well-known figure on the University of Missouri campus because she was "an old woman" - 38! She sold Harg news items to The Columbia Herald Statesman for 10 cents a printed inch t...

Today's children missing out on a world of tastes

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:00:00 CST

● Fried "farm" chicken: a chicken that was born free and raised in the back yard on potato peelings and table scraps fried in lard, served with cream gravy, garden-fresh green beans and ...

Five dollars a bargain for winters of fun on the ice

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 08:00:00 CST

"How much for the skates?" the auctioneer asked. No answer. "How much for choice pair? Take as many as you want." Still no response. "One with the privilege, how much?" Silence...

Service in Newfoundland turns into a family affair

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:00:00 CST

About 20 or so years later, we were four Gerards looking at the world globe and planning a summer trip to visit the new St. Lawrence Seaway. Nancy remembered seeing a photo of cars driving on a highwa...

Don't bet on ground squirrels for accurate weather forecast

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:00:00 CST

In school we knew the animal as a woodchuck. We enjoyed this tongue-twister: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" The word "chuck" means "to twe...

Snow sculptures teach lesson in leading a team

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:00:00 CST

Keep rolling. Friends will soon want in on your project. When your snowball is almost too heavy to turn over again, look around. If you see mostly green grass where you collected all that snow into th...

Playing on ice dangerous because of drowning risk

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:00:00 CST

That boy was lucky. This winter, we face a drowning threat that comes when near-zero weather suddenly is followed by unusual spring-like temperatures. Hunters, fishermen, cattle and children are in sp...

Niagara Falls trip best the second time around

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 08:00:00 CST

The officer who was to assign him to the next stage asked what he would like to study. Chub replied, "Anything mechanical." The officer blurted out, "What would a dairyman know about anyth...

Snowfall blankets countryside in peace

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 08:00:00 CST

I could tell Chub doubted my wisdom when he said, "Good thing I got the snow tires on this week." A few times I considered turning back, but I was scheduled to read something to my writers' gr...

Fire can't take memories of favorite doll

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:00:00 CST

Everything about this simple act of tree-cutting took me back to my childhood. Uncle John Henry made good money as the county recorder, so my cousins Kathryn and Jennie Melle had expensive dolls. One ...

Lone Rooster had much to crow about

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:00:00 CST

Weput him in a gunnysack, and I took him home, more as a favor to Helen than from any desire to have a rooster. We didn't have chickens or a fenced place to keep him. In a short time, he was eating cr...

Telephone worked well, even if you had a tin ear

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:00:00 CST

I was surprised to find reference to string telephones in Johnson's 1876 "Universal Cyclopedia: A Treasury of Useful Knowledge," The writer said, "The string telephone was mentioned as ear...

Resurrected Mary Rose a sight to behold

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 08:00:00 CST

When I planned the itinerary for one of my Christian College (now Columbia College) bicycle tours in Europe, I included a visit to Portsmouth harbor so the students could walk the decks and view the i...

Safety first in skating on natural ice

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 08:00:00 CST

Want to try it? You'll need to dress warmly - all over. Make a bonfire and roast some wieners and marshmallows, and you'll want a jug of hot chocolate. It's handy to have a stool to sit on when puttin...

Beautiful morning is to be held dearly

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 08:00:00 CST

"Why should I say more about the green of the meadows, or the rows of trees, or the beauty of the vineyards and the olive groves? � For where can old age find more genial warmth of sunshine or fir...

Bee stings left Chub's life hanging in the balance

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:00:00 CST

The country mud road would be improved and the telephone line extended to our place if we cleared small trees from the north side of the road. My father, O.D. Meyers, advised, loaned money and worked ...

Buying gun at an auction can be a bang of a time

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:00:00 CST

No one I knew needed this pretty gun. It was beautifully crafted with intricate carvings in the steel barrel. Why wasn't the auctioneer getting any bids? Someone timidly said, "Twenty-five cents!&...

Comics character should stay in the newspaper

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:00:00 CST

My favorite comic strip was "Pogo," featuring an opossum and his lady friend, a flapper-type called Miss Hepsibeth. Miss Hepsibeth was a dainty character, had a shiny black coat with a bright-...

Dairy business gives new family good start

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 08:00:00 CST

I've never heard where Dad learned the tricks of the dairy trade: milking cows, straining, cooling and storing milk overnight in a cool cistern and delivering the milk to town customers in time for th...

Tinkering leads to family innovations

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:00:00 CST

People had great respect for Henry Ford's "tin lizzie." It was said that it put America on wheels. Ford's formal education ended before his 16th birthday, but he liked to tinker with mechanic...

Country recalls Boone pioneers

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:00:00 CST

Because I could see or hear nothing man-made, I felt a special closeness to those men, women and children in covered wagons coming from Kentucky or Tennessee who passed this way, headed elsewhere. Man...

Da Vinci sketch got bikes rolling

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:00:00 CST

Evidence of this concept is in one panel of a stained-glass window that dates back to 1590. It was moved from a church ruins in Italy to be incorporated in a window of a very old church in the village...

Grandchildren help make the summers special

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 08:00:00 CST

Oliver was 4, Peter was 6, and Cole and Sam were 7. Sam was in summer school, but he came as often as he could. We also invited some neighbor children occasionally, and our friend Beth Peeler helped w...

Worms enrich the soil; learning enriches mind

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 08:00:00 CST

Ann applied to land grant colleges, including the University of Missouri-Columbia, offering to work for room and board "and perhaps a bit of spending money, if I'm worth it." Marian Beebe, on...

Main roads once were private tollways

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 08:00:00 CST

My early memory of East Broadway, known then as Fulton Gravel, is of a chain across the road at the bottom of a steep hill. That chain marked the beginning of a privately owned gravel road that we had...

Here's the rub: Dog walks again

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:00:00 CST

"Fuey," usually spelled "phooey," was a slang word that meant something like, "I don't agree with you" or the stronger, "You're full of baloney!" Fuey chose to be an ou...

How did the chicken get in the loft? Carefully

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 08:00:00 CST

In spring, there were baby kittens and their mothers in Estes's barn loft. In summer, there was soft-stacked hay there. It was great for jumping and rolling in. And it was a good place to hide from my...

Life before advent of air conditioning was no sweat

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:00:00 CST

Our neighbors, Bess and John Estes, had a one-room home with a smaller, older summer kitchen about 15 strides away. The kitchen was stocked with a wood stove, pots and pans, drying racks for laundry a...

Froggy comes a courtin' a mouthful of trouble

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:00:00 CST

Frog and I had been communicating, silently, for some time. I tossed my plastic worm at him, just to see him jump. He blinked but didn't stir. He was sunning himself in that muddy strip between the wa...

Christmas Tree delivers her bounty in the spring

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 08:00:00 CST

Chub called back, as he started to work, "Would you take eight or 10 ears of corn down to Christmas Tree?" I'm still a farm girl at heart, and I like being needed around our place. Today I'm...

Teach your toddler to wait for a lifeguard

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:00:00 CST

In other words, I was a normal toddler. I liked water. Slopping around in chicken troughs wasn't life-threatening. But what if your toddler has access to water in a swimming pool, play pool, low bird...

Fourth of July means ticktacks and cattails

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:00:00 CST

When the cattails were dry, we soaked them in kerosene and dried them again, ready for the big day. Then we made ticktacks. Each person needed one ticktack. We'd start by using a pocket knife to cut n...

Missouri's black walnuts are a taste worth waiting for

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:00:00 CST

I don't know the man's name, but everybody who knew him or bought seeds, seedlings or started seeds called him Johnny Walnut Seed. He and his wife were affiliated with American Youth Hostels Inc. Nine...

Swim class turns out to be lifesaving lesson

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:00:00 CST

The city Parks and Recreation Department employed me to go to each of its four swimming pools to help kids learn to swim. It was a new thing in Flint to teach swimming to the masses. If a person could...

Feeding you, that's what our farmers do

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:00:00 CST

Not so! But I agree that today's methods are a far cry from the way my dad produced corn in the 1920s. Dad saved a basket full of the best ears of corn from each year's crop to have seed for the next...

A simple spare tire can save your life

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:00:00 CST

A girl in my life saving class brought in a clipping from her local Florida newspaper showing a man in raging floodwaters, dressed in suit coat, shirt and tie. He was holding on to a spare wheel from ...

Duley's Mill a center of social interaction

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:00:00 CST

In 1819, Thomas Duley bought 320 acres of land in southern Boone County on Cedar Creek. I've been unable to pinpoint the date that Duley's Mill was built, but I know that George Washington Duley, Thom...

Celiac sprue disease takes its toll on sufferers' diets

Mon, 21 May 2007 08:00:00 CST

Our professor had written those two words on the blackboard for an evening class before we assembled. It was at least 65 years ago, and we had no idea what the words meant. We were a group of about ...

Summer busiest season for bees

Mon, 14 May 2007 08:00:00 CST

Having had a mating flight soon after emerging from the queen cell, she has the capability of laying a fertile egg (to produce a worker bee) or an unfertilized egg, which produces the male bee called ...

Some postwar stories less happy than others

Mon, 07 May 2007 08:00:00 CST

We stayed the first week in a small hotel within walking distance of old Boston and then rented a room with a shared kitchen and bath. Several other Coast Guard couples rented space there; an Army wif...

Johnny Walnut Seed spreads word about long-lasting trees

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:00:00 CST

I once glanced down while waiting for my turn in a diving class; I was never more embarrassed than when I discovered my stained feet! Walnut stain had gone through my new white tennis shoes and had st...

Helping bale hay harvests sense of accomplishment

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:00:00 CST

If that doesn't make sense to you, just forgive me. I have never before tried to describe how several pitch-forks full of cow feed could be pressed into neat, square-cornered bales weighing almost 90 ...

Swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 08:00:00 CST

The little native black bees people sometimes found in a hollow tree were often vicious. By cutting the old tree, they could rob the bee colony of their winter's supply of honey. Once a tree is down, ...

First bicycle opens world on Fulton Gravel Road

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:00:00 CST

First I'd ride on our half-mile of private driveway - in fact, why couldn't I just mount my bike, take one pedal stroke and coast? That worked so well that I did this stroke-and-coast thing on our pri...

Catalog bike leads way to many years of cycling

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 08:00:00 CST

My 1886 encyclopedia has a paragraph on the bicycle that says the pedals are attached to the axle of the front wheel, "which is much larger than the rear wheel." Another source says the bicycl...

Rogers' work admired by Abe Lincoln's family

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:00:00 CST

John Rogers had a keen sense of humor, which was fanned by fair-goers' excitement at seeing an artist at work and customers buying the artist's finished pieces. No package or wrapping was used on pur...

Raw Missouri clay forms Little People, big memories

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:00:00 CST

Mom's friend Ella Frances Dobbs liked the woods, came to fish and liked using raw clay from our creek to make little whimsies in her hands. She'd grab a handful of clay along our creek bank. One day s...

Now I know why I had chores to do

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:00:00 CST

Later I earned 25 cents a week; that seemed like a lot. I was "wealthy." I earned a bit more when I was a teen. When the corn was just out of the ground in the spring, I'd go through the fiel...

Bicyclists made early call for paved roads

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 08:00:00 CST

Cattle, sheep and hogs were often driven on foot to the nearest shipping point. Mail-order catalogs were in every home. The post office employed men to drive a horse and a light-weight, open two-wheel...

Harg families held summer camp

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 08:00:00 CST

"Two of ours have part-time jobs hauling hay, and they need the money." "My Sallie has never yet been away from home." "We're planning a family trip that conflicts." Then the ...

Few get opportunity to see China as bicyclists see it

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:00:00 CST

I wiped up mud and blood, aligned the bike's saddle and handlebars, checked the wheels and limped to protect a painful right ankle, then pedaled on. I realized that I was a horrible sight. The Chinese...

With majestic effort, Dad rescued stove

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 08:00:00 CST

Friends shared utensils and supplies from their own kitchens, and Mrs. Pace and other neighbors gave Mom a kitchen shower. Dad built a small wooden box cabinet outdoors that wild animals couldn't open...

Catalog home replaced one demolished by fire

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:00:00 CST

Below this annex, wooden steps led down to the area where canned fruit and vegetables, jams, jellies and fresh garden vegetables were in open bins to be used as needed. This was an unheated cellar to ...

Incubator's flame burned house

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 08:00:00 CST

It was May, and Dad was planting corn. Looking back from a far corner of the field, he saw black smoke rolling from the back of our home and heard shotgun shells exploding, a few at a time. Dad jumped...

Neighbors came to the rescue when fire destroyed our home

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:00:00 CST

Dad planted corn with the mules, and none of the hired men was a smoker. No one else had been on any part of the farm. Jim and I had been at school from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., and Mom drove her Ford T...

Fire, friends shape the lives of families

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 08:00:00 CST

Their street-level sales room was one of the three levels of the huge store. A crude elevator gave access to basement and attic. I was asked to set up a workshop on that elevator, slightly elevated, t...

Meet at Hays Hardware, but be home before dark

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:00:00 CST

Many Saturdays and a few other days, families went to town but had to be back at their farms before sundown. Delay in getting home would set our dairy cows to bawling. Milk cows had to be fed and milk...

Christmas tree customers also wanted wild berries

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:00:00 CST

However, the next year, Mom and Dad advised me to buy an advertisement, to sell larger trees, to pay them a little for delivery and to cut a few extras on weekends. This put larger trees in homes, ple...

It didn't feel like Christmas until home smelled like cedar

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 08:00:00 CST

I was thrilled! "How big a tree does she want?" I asked. When Dad asked what size, Mrs. Venable just tapped her shoulder. I could easily manage to saw a small tree, as tall as Mrs. Venable wan...

Hunting old memories really helps time fly

Mon, 27 Nov 2006 08:00:00 CST

Men are lost in sports and finding out where fish are striking what lures; they scan the sky hoping to attract those chevrons of birds on their return in spring. I'm no longer a part of things like t...

Life's come a long way since work first began on 'The Slab'

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 08:00:00 CST

My steady boyfriend was an engineering student at Missouri University. "Chub" and I kept putting away a few dollars every week "for a trip to California." We knew that marriage was fo...

Living on a dairy farm was so very exciting

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:00:00 CST

In addition to several dairy farms like Dad's, there was Sides' Dairy, with the work done by a family who moved to Columbia from a tobacco farm in Kentucky. Boone County soil and climate were not righ...

Milking a cow no easy job for independent dairyman

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 08:00:00 CST

Milk for our coffee and breakfast cereal comes from a female cow's udder - or "bag" - which has four nipples, and if she is frightened, she has another bucket full of milk her underneath skin...

Starting up a dairy takes hard work, connections

Mon, 30 Oct 2006 08:00:00 CST

They had Dad's horse and his single-seated "courting buggy," but the dairy delivery required a large, four-wheel cart, with roof, for daily milk delivery around to various Columbia homes. Ther...

Col. Switzler's history held some surprises

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 08:00:00 CST

Of course I knew nothing about the War Between the States, as I was not born until July 1914. I bought William Switzler's 1,100-page "History of Boone County" years before I realized that Gran...

Columbia site chosen for access to 'living' water

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 08:00:00 CST

However, families in covered wagons came in a steady stream. A group of more than 35 land speculators planned a complete town nearby, called Columbia, where water was available. Their town site was no...

Passing on Grandpa's stories keeps generations connected

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 08:00:00 CST

Who would have looked to see if this lackluster soldier's ancestors were included? I looked and found interesting details that surprised us. When William Switzler's "History of Boone County" w...

Square dances let fiddler scratch out Depression pay

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 08:00:00 CST

Three dances at the Smiths' vacant house: $1.50 each. Brown's, in Columbia, $2.65; McMickles', $1.10 and $l.50; Daly's, twice at $1.50; Barn dance in Dad's new barn: no charge, but people dropped $2.8...

During the Depression, I was fiddling around

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:00:00 CST

There I was, crowded into one corner of a 9-by-12 room with dozens of others crowded into that same 9-by-12, and all but the eight square dancers were looking at me. Even they cast admiring glances in...

Europeans found natural bounty in the New World

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:00:00 CST

Pelts from skunks, raccoons, opossums and beaver were commodities for trading. Wild turkeys, quail and white tail deer - along with nuts, berries and wild plants - were foods for their tables. The are...

Despite car accident, Mom played at pageant

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 08:00:00 CST

Our mother was welcomed with open arms in church and community because she "had an education" - which, in the teens and '20s, meant she graduated from high school and had private music lessons...

Whatever happened to 'Children's Day'?

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 08:00:00 CST

My brother and I were born before stores sold clothing just for children. Large families shared garments by cutting the long legs off of a sibling's overalls or by sliding metal fittings up or down on...

Childhood opportunity lost to hear history

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:00:00 CST

My brother Jim was year ahead of me in school, and our farm was four miles from downtown Columbia. Mom saw advantages to the University Elementary School with its smaller classes and higher pupil/teac...

Move from horse to Ford power brought problems to home dairy

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 08:00:00 CST

Dad and Mom decided two things: He'd buy the first light delivery truck that arrived, and he'd learn to operate it and repair it when needed. He had to go to Kansas City to Sweeney's Automobile School...

Dad and Mom bought a farm east of Columbia

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 08:00:00 CST

O.D. Meyers rode a mule all day from Bellflower to Columbia to save shipping expense when he and Nancy moved. I've never heard where O.D. learned the tricks of the dairy trade: milking cows, straining...

Trip went awry with theft in Germany

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 08:00:00 CST

Near time for us to start back through the Berlin Corridor, we ate lunch and returned to our rented van. One of the fellows yelled, "OK, who was supposed to lock this door?" One of the van's r...

Summer tour ends with an unexpected surprise

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:00:00 CST

We reserved space at a German youth hostel where a most accommodating young house parent gave us tips about German hosteling. The young German hostel warden suggested that we stay in Pensions (with br...

Through Checkpoint Charlie and into another world

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 08:00:00 CST

Al Bloom, a former German exchange student in Missouri and a close friend of the Cronan family, accompanied us in Germany to translate and to keep us Missourians out of trouble. Al also showed us arou...

You think you can't afford foreign travel? Go anyway!

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 08:00:00 CST

When friends at Christian College discussed this great award for Petie, Christian's French instructor, and her suggestion about our coming over, several said, "Sue, travel's an important part of t...

Before there was Columbia, there were stumps and a tavern

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 08:00:00 CST

It was a poor location because it lacked one essential item - water! They dug deep wells, three of them, and gave up because groundwater wouldn't flow uphill! That unsuccessful location, named Smithto...

Parents, be ready to save a life when needed most

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 08:00:00 CST

"You're calling long distance. Do you know that I live 12 miles east of Columbia, and you'd lose a half-day each time you drove Margaret from Boonville to our farm for a swimming class?" "...

Some people choose farm homes for entire lifetimes

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 08:00:00 CST

Dad selected a level spot for the baler and secured it in place. Helpers made final wind rows with the sulky, which was seldom used except on hay-baling days; it usually sat on a rocky place, and gras...

Playground games fun for kids to play in water

Mon, 22 May 2006 08:00:00 CST

Floating on tubes, toys, air mattresses, water wings or those long, colorful plastic "telephone poles" appeal to nonswimmers. Accidents can happen on inflated toys, floating kickboards, improv...

Tea parties a great way to teach kids swimming

Mon, 15 May 2006 08:00:00 CST

As a swimming teacher and mother of two, I made up a group game and often started a class or a kids' swimming party with a pretend tea party. We'd jump up and down to keep warm and to attract attentio...

Major changes came to our lives with advent of 'the pill'

Mon, 08 May 2006 08:00:00 CST

Nancy and O.D. married in 1912 and moved to Columbia. The next year they borrowed money and bought a small retail dairy. Orlando Denver and Nancy Meyers, our parents, named their first child James Den...

After Christian College became co-ed, the school bought 16 bikes

Mon, 01 May 2006 08:00:00 CST

I hadn't anticipated the "together," but I snapped right back, "Bicycling!" He countered with, "There's nothing to learn about riding a bicycle except staying up." I argued th...

For a taste sensation, use Missouri's black walnuts

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 08:00:00 CST

The weather turned dry, and rains didn't come at the right time. We had no way to water those young trees; we lost almost all the started trees and finally turned the cattle in on that ground. We also...

Not all Boone County men were soldiers during war

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 08:00:00 CST

For other readers, I'll relate an event that occurred during the Civil War at a farm home near Cedar Creek. The family had no telephone or other communication except a big old farm dinner bell. I have...

People used to say 'curiosity killed the cat'

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 08:00:00 CST

"What's the difference between hard and soft water?" I asked my mom. She used either one or both. Hard water was for drinking, and soft water was for dishes, faces or shampoo. My adult cousins...

Rural family worked hard, rolled with the punches

Mon, 03 Apr 2006 08:00:00 CST

That was in May 1937. My brother, Jim, and I canceled everything and went to sit at Boone with Mom and Dad. Our dear mother, Nancy Meyers, died three days later! We were crushed. Dad wanted to sell th...

Working two jobs was almost like child's play

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 08:00:00 CST

Driving in, I reviewed my experiences: I had participated in most sports at MU and many electives - Musketeers (rifle club), Mermaids, two summers at Red Cross National Aquatic Schools, a special 10-d...

'Celiac disease ... can cause death'

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:00:00 CST

Readers' questions have stirred columnist Dr. Donohue's interest in celiac disease, and one of his recent daily columns used this headline: "Celiac disease is quite common, can cause death in some...

Farm had two pools and four swimming teachers

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 08:00:00 CST

Chub was busy planting corn, and I chose the one nearly level spot in the backyard and made one trip with tractor and scraper to mark off a place more than 10 feet wide and 15 feet long. My Dad watche...

Canton streets provide sights many visitors miss

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 08:00:00 CST

I smiled as five clerks on break stared at me and offered me a long chunk of their sugar cane. A fellow showed me what to do, and we all roared with laughter. Wandering chickens raced to gobble the fi...

An American woman alone in Canton, China

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:00:00 CST

"I'm 63 years old and wear a hearing aid, but I peddled 63 miles on my birthday. Would I qualify for the China bike trip?" The young trip leader laughed and said, "Yes, I've just signed up...

Sixteen toured in China on European bicycles

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 08:00:00 CST

One of our young men from California approached a frail-looking Chinese woman who had big baskets of leeks she had brought from a field. With pantomime, he asked, "May I lift your baskets of leeks...

Bryan took a wagonload of trinkets to old Mexico

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 08:00:00 CST

Men and older boys walked, driving the livestock from Boonesborough, Ky., over land. Animals swam across water barriers when necessary. Most women and children and a few essential home items came in l...

Boone native's memories prove to be long-lasting

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 08:00:00 CST

Our dairy farm was a half-mile south of the Fulton road - four miles from the intersection of Ninth Street and Broadway. Ninth Street and Broadway are still in the same place, but when I was a kid, th...

Celiac sprue is a disease that many doctors miss

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 08:00:00 CST

Before World War II, our graduate courses in physical education included concern for people who were not well. We were trained to recognize and report health problems to the school nurse or family. We...

Christian College strove to be 'serious in purpose'

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:00:00 CST

Although President Eugene Briggs was new to this area, he never allowed his faculty to forget that "small, select and serious" motto or the fact that Christian College was the first women's co...

Any job was a good job if money changed hands

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 08:00:00 CST

In 1935, I was a senior in journalism, earning pin money by fiddling for square dances about twice a week. One summer morning a woman called from Christian College (now Columbia College) and asked whe...

Be ready for bicycling before spring days arrive

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 08:00:00 CST

Don't try to ride the bike you rode as a child. It won't fit you any better than the jeans you wore when you were a teenager. Choose a reputable dealer and ask for help. A good dealer wants you as one...

Boone County white clay tells the Christmas story

Mon, 02 Jan 2006 08:00:00 CST

It's not difficult to imagine the situation that Joseph and Mary encountered when they reached Bethlehem on important tax business. It would have been a long trip for pregnant Mary and Joseph, who had...

Santa came after supper to our home on the farm

Mon, 26 Dec 2005 08:00:00 CST

Tillman needed a home and a job on his 16th birthday. He had never known the meaning of "family," so Mom and Dad provided that. Joe, walking across the entire United States, needed work, food...

As youngsters mature, we oldsters claim the credit

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 08:00:00 CST

Bob Black and five or six other members enrolled in the first group, for which I was leader. It was a new project called "Native Crafts," and we pledged our heads, hearts, hands and health to ...

Thirsty cows needed water on frigid day

Mon, 12 Dec 2005 08:00:00 CST

It was 8 degrees below zero, and I had to chop holes in the pond ice for 35 thirsty shorthorn cows about noon. It would take a while to get into my warmest gear, so I planned to bundle up and go out a...

Moist clay from Onondaga Cave suggested a new lifetime project

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 08:00:00 CST

I remembered that Ella Victoria Dobbs, university art instructor and author of books on arts and crafts, found beautiful white clay on our farm. She tested it and found its "firing time." I lo...

Ask for 'pegs' or 'hooks'; both are difficult to find

Mon, 28 Nov 2005 08:00:00 CST

I accept Ol' Clark's challenge: Shucking, or "husking," hooks might still be available at big, old hardware stores here in America's Corn Belt. Blacksmith shops serving Amish communities also...

Unique day and banquet ended '81 China bike tour

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 08:00:00 CST

Having led college students through Spain, France and other foreign countries, I had no fear. Here are a few experiences of that day: ● A half-dozen workers sitting on the ground near a contain...

Bicycles substituted for trucks in 1981 China

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 08:00:00 CST

The idea of traveling in China with a leader and 15 other American cyclists was ideal for me in 1981. The advance planners had done well; we biked less than 200 miles. My friend Jim, from New Orleans,...

Sixteen bicycle tourists visited mainland China

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 08:00:00 CST

"Twenty 'planners' are on the first tour now, but we can put your name on the student group of 16." I explained that I was 63 years old, healthy and had pedaled 61 miles one day recently. Sh...

Some postwar memories aren't as good as others

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 08:00:00 CST

Chub had completed several months of duty in Flint, Mich., and was home on leave before he received a new assignment. "Come with me to Boston, and we can wait together," he said. We stayed the...

Eccentric surveyor Ira Nash was first 'white man' in Boone County

Mon, 17 Oct 2005 08:00:00 CST

Because of television, we know both fiction and fact about people who moved everything - all of their livestock, their home furnishings, etc. - 800 miles, crossing into Missouri in 1800. They cut tree...

Christmas trees brought money and happiness

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 08:00:00 CST

Dad chose the right saw for me and showed me how to cut straight across the tree stem, and I headed to the woods. I knew that woods well, and one hill was covered with nicely shaped cedar trees of all...

Joy of accomplishment follows some to old age

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 08:00:00 CST

Little children sometimes learn how to swim before they know it

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 08:00:00 CST

"Honey you are swimming, just like Brenda and the others." "I am?" she asked. "I didn't know it!" "You like to play the tea party game?" "Yes," she answered. &...

General Motors taught mechanics from Coast Guard how to teach

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 08:00:00 CST

The Depression, education and family responsibilities interfered with our seven years of platonic friendship. Suddenly, in 1937, Walter Frand "Chub" Gerard and I set a date for our simple wedd...

People said my husband helped win two wars

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 08:00:00 CST

Chub and I met at Little Bonne Femme Church during the Christmas holiday in December 1930. The young people were practicing their performance of Luke's version of the birth of Christ - the stabl...

'When you do finally get here, it's not so bad!'

Mon, 22 Aug 2005 08:00:00 CST

Our farm, about 12 miles east of Columbia was taking shape quite well in 1952, and we rented our little rock house near Columbia to a young couple for the summer. The man was to add native stone ven...

University High and Mizzou formed a family in the '30s

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:00:00 CST

Pretend that you're at a University of Missouri-Columbia football game and it's halftime; you grab a microphone and get the crowd's attention by saying, "Stand up if you have kno...

Early life was difficult on 'Whip-Poor-Will Hill'

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 08:00:00 CST

The abstract for the farm we wanted said, "John Robnett and his wife petitioned the land from the United States government." Later owners were the Pleasant Robnetts, Crews and Baumgarters. We ...

No, we are not relatives of famous Daniel Boone

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 08:00:00 CST

Why do I take this sweltering 103-degree day, July 24, to drag skeletons out of closets and put braggarts in their rightful places in our history? I'm one of the three elderly relatives of Danie...

Retired couple welcomed Harg 4-H campers in 1950

Mon, 25 Jul 2005 08:00:00 CST

Midsummer was the time for the annual 4-H camp held at the Lake of the Ozarks, but only a few of our Harg Hustlers signed up to attend. There were conflicts galore: music lessons, ongoing dental work,...

Is it true that this family farm will become a golf course?

Mon, 18 Jul 2005 08:00:00 CST

That beautiful home, visible from Route WW - but out of earshot - will always be The Stice Place to those of us who lived here most of our lives. The first owners we knew were the Evanses - Lolly an...

High school junior biked into the world of business

Mon, 11 Jul 2005 08:00:00 CST

We were saving for a second bike tour in Britain and were buying bikes by mail and long-distance telephone calls to and from a bicycle shop in Glasgow, Scotland. In March, we ordered handmade Carlton ...

'Two wheels, one behind the other, would fall over'

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 08:00:00 CST

The earliest sketch of a two-wheel vehicle, with a human-like figure astride, was made by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, probably early in the 16th century. For some unknown reason, a 9-inch, a...

Leonardo sketched bicycles before people could ride them

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 08:00:00 CST

Our son Walt wanted a bicycle, and we let him spend his own money for a black single-speed. Later he wanted a three-speed, and he had money enough to buy it. My husband and I knew little about bikes, ...

Will you be ready to help if a drowning person needs you?

Mon, 13 Jun 2005 08:00:00 CST

What will you do if a child screams, "Help! This kid's drowned!" and you're the only adult who hears that call? In my lifetime of being in and around water - creeks, ponds, rivers,...

They didn't think Indians would strike a spot twice

Mon, 06 Jun 2005 08:00:00 CST

Acquiring land was of utmost importance to the Boones, Bryans, Davises, McKinneys, Ramseys and many other pioneers who arrived in Missouri in 1799-1800. Grandma's Bible said that a young woman...

Life as a frontiersman could be a real bear

Mon, 23 May 2005 08:00:00 CST

Several years ago, I met a stranger I liked from the first. Later, discussing Mid-Missouri history, Sandy mentioned that a man in her ancestry, James Davis, had been a frequent hunting companion with ...

Flying was not an option for these 1941 travelers

Mon, 16 May 2005 08:00:00 CST

Chub and I met early in 1931 when he was at the University of Missouri-Columbia and I was in high school. A year later we were putting little bits of extra money in a joint postal savings account, pre...

Some memories can make one skip a good sermon

Mon, 09 May 2005 08:00:00 CST

In the 1800s, a group of farmers worshipped under sugar maple trees in summer and in a one-room schoolhouse in winter. One cold January day in 1874, the farmers met at the Carlisle School and formed a...

Remember to turn and flee when you see leaves three

Mon, 02 May 2005 08:00:00 CST

Don't say you weren't warned. It's May, and poison ivy is rarin' to get you - or so it seems for those of us who have learned the hard way. This beautiful vine has an unbelieva...

Are you considering installing a swimming pool of your own?

Mon, 25 Apr 2005 08:00:00 CST

Are you considering installing a swimming pool at your home? Don't tell the neighbors or your kids that you're thinking of having your own swimming pool until, as property owner, you can a...

The farm's wading pool grew as the kids grew

Mon, 18 Apr 2005 08:00:00 CST

When our Nancy and Walt were preschoolers, I shopped for one of those popular plastic pools and discovered how tiny and flimsy it was. I thought of the wonderful space in our 160 acres and wished for ...

Pioneers moved to the state from turn of century to 1800

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 08:00:00 CST

Daniel Morgan Boone, son of Daniel and Rebecca, liked the hunting and the markets for pelts that he had in Missouri - then called Upper Louisiana. After a few years, he went back to Kentucky to urge ...

Ugh - very salty water oozed from that spring

Mon, 04 Apr 2005 08:00:00 CST

Dad taught me how to bid at auctions. Our neighbor Paul Riggs had passed away, and his personal things were being sold. I wandered around, found a book I had to own and stood idly near it as the crowd...

Worker, drone and queen have strange lives in hive

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 08:00:00 CST

Honeybees are not at all like people. The queen doesn't reign; she lays eggs - maybe thousands of them on a busy day. She puts one egg in each hexagonal wax cell and has the unique choice of lay...

Farmers now realize the importance of bees

Mon, 14 Mar 2005 08:00:00 CST

My husband, Chub, was reared in a small town in Illinois where many families had beehives in the side or front yard. A sunny autumn day was a good time to harvest enough honey for the family table all...

Ancient revival methods can't match the Heimlich

Mon, 07 Mar 2005 08:00:00 CST

When a swimmer suddenly goes limp, unconscious, with his or her body turning a faded bluish color, bystanders yell, in any language, "Hey! This guy's drowned, somebody do something!" All...

Fiddling came in handy at J-school and dances

Mon, 28 Feb 2005 08:00:00 CST

If "Granny's Notes" is full of grammatical errors, it might be because Virginia Simms took four of us University High senior girls to a different classroom, gave us notebooks and said, &...

Hattie Parsons Page had fascinating stories to tell

Mon, 21 Feb 2005 08:00:00 CST

Once a week when I was about 8, I carried water to the wooden tub under our cherry tree; "Brown Pony" would spend most of his day there. My friend and her mother would soon be coming down our ...

Grandpa recalls meeting in Vicksburg battle lull

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 08:00:00 CST

I was just a little first-grader when Grandpa was a gentle, sweet-smelling old man who wore his black derby hat in the house to keep his head warm. Grandpa Jim took turns living with his three daugh...

Butchering day was busy time in great-grandparents' winter

Mon, 31 Jan 2005 08:00:00 CST

Butchering day. That's the euphemistic way to say it, but our gentle grandparents called it what it was: hog-killin' day. It was the busiest day of the year, and by the time the sun crept ...

Zenobia always wanted to sit down in the earthquake chair

Mon, 24 Jan 2005 08:00:00 CST

Our football guests from Springfield arrived on Friday afternoon; supper and the evening were full of chatter. Guy Bass and my husband, Chub, were noncommissioned officers in the U.S. Coast Guard assi...

Harg is extended family with integrity at the helm

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 08:00:00 CST

A family is "relatives by blood, marriage or adoption, often including a nucleus family; living in close proximately ... especially if three generations are involved." Harg in Boone County was...

Family of tourists said, 'Be sure to stop at Harg'

Mon, 27 Dec 2004 08:00:00 CST

Harg was a town in rural Boone County before 1913. It was on the Rand McNally map of the United States that my father found on a country road. O.D. and Nancy Meyers bought a farm east of Columbia, a...

When Dad hollered 'milk,' his customers brought kitchen pans

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 08:00:00 CST

In 1913, Mom and Dad operated a small dairy farm a short distance from Ninth Street and Broadway in downtown Columbia. My brother and I were born there, at home. World War I was in progress, but Dad h...

Missouri clay has provided inspiration for generations

Mon, 13 Dec 2004 08:00:00 CST

In retirement I began shaping "little people" out of Missouri clay that I dug on our farm. When the Fulton Gravel road was improved, the state's machinery exposed lots of beautiful, whit...

Boone County trees give homes a Christmas smell

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 08:00:00 CST

In 1921 Mrs. Venable asked her milk man, "Mr. Meyers, would your little girl go to the woods and cut a nice fresh cedar tree for me? I'll pay her 25 cents for it, the same I'd pay at J...

Ulcer might have been better fate than celiac sprue diagnosis

Mon, 29 Nov 2004 08:00:00 CST

Celiac sprue is an illness I first heard about in a 1940 seminar at the University of Missouri-Columbia. I scribbled this warning on my notes: "Celiac Sprue. DON'T GET THAT!" Thirty yea...

Difference between 'M' men and 'M' women in '30s was 900 points

Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:00:00 CST

The "M" Men's Club at the University of Missouri had it all: complimentary tickets to intercollegiate events and reserved seats for family members on the outdoor bleachers or in the men&...

Local college girls were 'knittin' mittens for Britain'

Mon, 15 Nov 2004 08:00:00 CST

Memoirs of those who fought in World War I are endless. My husband, Walter Frank "Chub" Gerard, claimed to have helped win the first World War because, at age 5, he was dressed in a little sai...

The artist lacked patience required to work in clay

Mon, 08 Nov 2004 08:00:00 CST

Summary: Jann Higgins of Mexico, Mo., wanted a life-size cowboy made of clay, so she joined my clay class. She had sold many framed drawings of Western cowboys, so I hoped to learn by teaching this ta...

Untrained student tackled a specialist's challenge

Mon, 01 Nov 2004 08:00:00 CST

Nine women enrolled in my beginners' clay class. I told of the extra one who arrived blaring out, "What's terra cotta?" I told the group that those two Latin words meant "ea...

Instructor knew Missouri clay but did not know terra cotta

Mon, 25 Oct 2004 08:00:00 CST

To us farm kids, Columbia's "District" was the "dime store," or Woolworth's, Hays Hardware, The New York Store and "Kress's." Any Saturday afternoon, you coul...

A fourth of world's people were isolated for 30 years

Mon, 18 Oct 2004 08:00:00 CST

We were 16 Americans on lightweight bicycles in the strange world where heavy single-speed, black, diamond-frame bicycles for men filled the streets - no private cars were permitted. A family could sa...

Auctioneer knew his bidders

Mon, 11 Oct 2004 08:00:00 CST

Aucioneer Reuben Jacobs was our neighbor and friend who said, "You'd better take a look at the old books," remembering what I bid on previously. Boys were carrying load after load of big...

Hadrian's Wall was built to last, and it certainly did

Mon, 04 Oct 2004 08:00:00 CST

The year of our first bicycle tour in Europe, our Walt was 12. Nancy celebrated her 14th birthday in England. Jean Cronan and her sons, Patrick and Mike, were our traveling companions. Instead of ta...

Bikes were important to the Gerard children

Mon, 27 Sep 2004 08:00:00 CST

As a kid I often pretended that the mule I liked to ride was a bicycle! That was fun until the day a bolt of lightning scared Jack and he went lickity-split into a low shed that wasn't tall enou...

By using lights, Dolphins were like lightning bugs

Mon, 20 Sep 2004 08:00:00 CST

Celebrating 10 years of writing "Granny's Notes," I continue to relate highlights of my 90 years in Boone County. In 1935, the new president of Christian College needed a swimming teach...

Column enters 10th year as Granny celebrates 90

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 08:00:00 CST

Let's celebrate! I'll tell you how a love of water contributed to this long, happy life: On our dairy farm, four miles east of Columbia, I did regular chores for which I was paid 25 cents...

Teacher made mermaids out of little mud-crawlers

Mon, 30 Aug 2004 08:00:00 CST

When I was young, kids did what we called "mud crawl" at Flat Rock swimming hole in Grindstone Creek. We'd squat down in the water, put our hands on the creek's firm mud bottom and...

Recreation is as easy as putting a ship in a bottle

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 08:00:00 CST

In 1935, part of my assignment at Christian College was to teach one class, "Plays and Games," for prospective recreation professionals. Our textbook was "Philosophy of Recreation" by...

Special trees, like diaries, can contain our life stories

Mon, 16 Aug 2004 08:00:00 CST

Mom said I liked to climb a big maple tree in our yard and often took a kitten up there to play with me. That was before our four-room frame home burned to the ground and our family lost everything we...

In 1889, Hattie Parsons 'staked her claim' along Oklahoma river

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 08:00:00 CST

Neighbor men said, "John Page is so slow that when his horses get the corn planter to the end of a row, the first seeds have already sprouted." However, Hattie Parsons Page was a "go-gette...

The village was named Harg for its immigrants

Mon, 26 Jul 2004 08:00:00 CST

After midsummer in l966, my Nancy and Walt, a neighbor girl - Barbara Smith - and I toured Northern Ireland and Britain by bicycle. In Northern Ireland, I hoped to find some trace of the McHarg family...

Boil 320 gallons of water until only slush remains

Mon, 19 Jul 2004 08:00:00 CST

In the 18th century, Nathan Boone and his brother, Daniel Morgan Boone, learned how to make salt by boiling water from a certain salt spring in Kentucky. According to Johnson's "Cyclopaedia ...

In 1806, salt was made by boiling spring water

Mon, 12 Jul 2004 08:00:00 CST

Early in grade school, we memorized the date of the Louisiana Purchase - 1803, remember? The Daniel Boones and others moved their families, livestock and possessions before 1803 from Kentucky to upper...

Kentucky families started over in Central Missouri

Mon, 28 Jun 2004 08:00:00 CST

This was a world of horses, wagons and muddy roads in the early 1800s, but Kentucky settlers stopped in Central Missouri for several reasons. Their old friends and relatives had bought land here, and ...

Not all young 'swimmers' are safe in deep water

Mon, 21 Jun 2004 08:00:00 CST

Sam is my grandson and his Fionn Nan is almost 2 years old. Sam yelled, "Granny, come see our swimmer." It was a happy, 10-minute performance of Fionn's splashing, kicking water, ducki...

Father sold 'clean milk, fresh from my own cows'

Mon, 14 Jun 2004 08:00:00 CST

Imagine our quiet countryside when farmers for miles around heard the weather forecast from the shoe factory's signals on the 10 o'clock morning whistle! One long and two shorts - "fai...

Not all farmers wanted electric lights in the '30s

Mon, 07 Jun 2004 08:00:00 CST

Roll call for the women's club was, "What do you want to do when you get to heaven?" I don't recall the answers to that, but when it was, "What will be your punishment if you l...

Rebuilding British church in Fulton was labor of love

Mon, 24 May 2004 08:00:00 CST

A firebomb, courtesy of Adolf Hitler, burned the entire church - except those ancient Portland limestone building blocks. British workmen etched a number into each stone as they dismantled the ruins...

Blacksmith was asked to solve 'the greatest jigsaw puzzle known'

Mon, 17 May 2004 08:00:00 CST

As a boy, Eris Lytle learned the skills of blacksmithing from his father. When he wanted a car, he got permission to scrounge in private junk piles in and near Griggsville, Ill. Eris was born in 1904...

Uncle Archie was right about the hazard posed by honeybees

Mon, 10 May 2004 08:00:00 CST

When we bought a farm 12 miles east of Columbia, it was on a mud road where the only repair was some big rocks in the worst mud holes. That was more than 50 years ago; Nancy was almost 3 years old, an...

Buy millions of honeybees, but you'll never 'own' one

Mon, 03 May 2004 08:00:00 CST

On summer evenings, Chub and I sometimes sat close to his beehives and watched hundreds of adolescent female worker bees glide in on the landing boards, their leg baskets heavy with pollen. More bees ...

Teachers love helping willing students learn

Mon, 26 Apr 2004 08:00:00 CST

When remembering great teachers, I think first of Miss Eleanor Taylor, who welcomed all ages to see her elaborate display of plants in the kindergarten room. I arrived early almost every morning and v...

The Depression taught us new ways to have money

Mon, 19 Apr 2004 08:00:00 CST

First, let me make this clear: The Depression was not all bad! Ten dollars a month for a part-time job was better than no job at all! Eight or 10 hours of labor for $1.50 "and your keep" was a...

Missouri has contributed much to the horse enthusiasts' world

Mon, 12 Apr 2004 08:00:00 CST

One of Dad's milk customers asked Dad if he'd like to pasture their pony for the summer; they would bring their children out to ride at our farm, and my brother and I could ride any time w...

If pioneer men had itchy feet, the women packed to move

Mon, 05 Apr 2004 08:00:00 CST

Imagine that you are heading into an unknown wilderness with half a dozen oxen pulling your covered wagon; you're hauling everything you own, and you'll walk a lot because the road is just...

Coopers led pioneers far west into hostile territory

Mon, 29 Mar 2004 08:00:00 CST

In February 1804, Ira Nash, eccentric genius and U.S. government surveyor, Stephen Hancock and Stephen Jackson were "the first men to put their feet upon this sacred soil," which we now call B...

World finally listens to Henry Heimlich

Mon, 22 Mar 2004 08:00:00 CST

For longer than there has been written history, people have tried to make drowned people breathe again. I know of 36 obsolete techniques people have used in their attempts to resuscitate - restore bre...

Selling freelance articles is like catching perch

Mon, 15 Mar 2004 08:00:00 CST

A short time before I graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism, I wrote an essay about my experiences as a square-dance fiddler. It won second place in an Atlantic Month...

February was a taste of spring, but you shouldn't trust March

Mon, 08 Mar 2004 08:00:00 CST

Farmers lived by the weather; some read the almanac and lived according to the phases of the moon. Some planted seeds or set hens or dehorned calves by the moon, but we Meyerses didn't even have...

Gordon Manor guarded Columbia's eastern portal

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 08:00:00 CST

In 1818, David Gordon and one of his sons, James, came from Kentucky to our area to determine whether the soil was fertile, whether there was suitable clay for making bricks and whether the price was ...

We enjoyed Canada's Maritime Provinces

Mon, 23 Feb 2004 08:00:00 CST

We four women tourists all arrived at the ferry crossing to Prince Edward Island, in 5 o'clock traffic. Priscilla and I had pedaled 50 miles that day. Daughter Nancy and Vi helped secure our bik...

There was always enough bath water to go around

Mon, 16 Feb 2004 08:00:00 CST

A bright first-grader once gave me a long, rolled-up scroll he'd made in school - about water. He explained that there's a certain amount of water in the world and that the Earth, rocks, s...

The world was waiting to be explored by bike

Mon, 09 Feb 2004 08:00:00 CST

Our Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog was worn threadbare by the time Mom and Dad said I should have a bicycle. Mom made the order and paid $35.50 for it. A week later, my bike arrived at about supper ...

Horse and buggy or Model T Ford - the going was great

Mon, 02 Feb 2004 08:00:00 CST

Transportation has changed a lot in my lifetime. An old photo shows our family with a horse hitched to a buggy for only two passengers. I was too young to remember that. O.D. and Nancy Meyers, my ...

Town of Harg is still alive for some who remember

Mon, 26 Jan 2004 08:00:00 CST

Route WW is becoming a household word; it's the eastern extension of Columbia's Broadway and the route east to two rural churches, to a cemetery, to Harg, to Millersburg and to Fulton. N...

Bicyclists learn about food production from rural trip leader

Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:00:00 CST

Two of the girls on my 1970 bike tour in Europe were sitting at the side of the road in Germany when I pedaled up and joined them. Doty said, "Mrs. G, I never saw anything like this before. Wha...

It was difficult to find information for celiacs

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 08:00:00 CST

Long ago I read about "celiac sprue" in my "Preventive Medicine" textbook and immediately said to myself, "Don't get that!" But I did get that when I was about 75 years o...

Even celiacs should eat five servings of grain daily

Mon, 05 Jan 2004 08:00:00 CST

Mom and Dad were born in 1887 and had good health for their entire lifetimes. I never knew anyone who suffered from "stomach distress," ulcers or problems with digestion. We ate what we produc...

1943 trip to New York was 36 hours each way

Mon, 29 Dec 2003 08:00:00 CST

My husband was like a little kid about Christmas. He was the only Gerard boy, and he had five sisters! His mother and the girls spoiled their "Buddy Boy," especially before, during and after D...

Visit sparked love affair with Canadian province

Mon, 22 Dec 2003 08:00:00 CST

Chub had completed more than three years of study in electrical engineering at the University of Missouri-Columbia, so the U.S. Coast Guard sent him to Hemphill School in New York City. He was assigne...

Three mothers and five children shared a European experience

Mon, 15 Dec 2003 08:00:00 CST

Hortense Davison - fondly called "Petie" - and her son, Jimmy, were packing to go to England for her Fulbright Scholarship to teach French when she said, "Sue, if you and the kids could co...

Part of Route WW should be elevated over dangerous spot

Mon, 08 Dec 2003 08:00:00 CST

Recently Route WW has been in the news a lot. We hear of a possible addition of several hundred homes and of the possibility of a golf course. This busy, narrow, curving road has known more than its...

Early country roads were unfit for bike adventures

Mon, 01 Dec 2003 08:00:00 CST

Hattie Page and my dear mom helped me plan my first bicycle adventure; I'd ride to the Pages' and go with them to the pie supper at Turner School. Then I'd spend the night with my fr...

Pies sold high, but everybody loved county school pie suppers

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 08:00:00 CST

"If you've never been to a pie supper at a one-room rural school, there's a treat in store for you." I wrote that sentence in 1935 in a journalism class called "The Special Ar...

One day each year they fed 22 hungry farmhands

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 08:00:00 CST

Anything unusual was exciting for us country kids; one day a year neighbors came to help Mom prepare and serve a noon meal for about 22 hungry, sweaty men. It was silo-filling day, and some of the wom...

Boone County clay works interpret area's history

Mon, 10 Nov 2003 08:00:00 CST

The Bible and Christmas hymns tell little about the shelter where Baby Jesus was born. We sing about the donkey, manger, stable, cattle and inn. I asked my friend Amal, a Christian from Kuwait, "W...

Depression preceded marriage and family

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 08:00:00 CST

Walter Frank "Chub" Gerard and I met in 1931, in the depth of the Depression. He drove an old Pontiac truck and created a money-job by loading and hauling large cans of fresh milk from 10 diff...

The Depression didn't stop the flow of milk

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 08:00:00 CST

We oldsters are frequently asked to tell about the Depression. Dad, Mom and we kids all had jobs in the O.D. Meyers Dairy. There were about 20 cows to be milked, bottles, strainers and many vessels ...

Halloween festivities triggered Christian College water shows

Mon, 13 Oct 2003 08:00:00 CST

Grace Mitchell, instructor of physical education at Christian College, was helping students decorate the gymnasium for the Halloween party. "Sue," she said, "come go through the spooky tun...

Christian College's offer came as a big surprise

Mon, 06 Oct 2003 08:00:00 CST

There was very little ritual about graduating from University High School; many of us continued at the University of Missouri. Two of my teachers had suggested that I consider journalism. Three year...

Tourists play pantomime in 'the People's Republic'

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 08:00:00 CST

I was 61 years old and the only cyclist from Missouri when 16 of us pedaled for 11 days within mainland China's borders. Four young adults from California, 84-year-old Jim from Louisiana, an att...

Bicycle group saw China's 'back door'

Mon, 22 Sep 2003 08:00:00 CST

When a young woman in our tour group crashed her bike into my bike's rear wheel, we both went down on the muddy bike path. She cussed, straightened her handlebars and cycled on in the heavy dr...

Unique tour gave cyclists glimpse behind Iron Curtain

Mon, 15 Sep 2003 08:00:00 CST

American Youth Hostels Inc. and a similar group, The All-China Youth Federation, planned for two years and finally made it possible for bicyclists to visit mainland China. When I learned that a trip...

With knees knocking together, she offered decades of stories

Mon, 08 Sep 2003 08:00:00 CST

Jim Robertson knew why I stood at his desk, knees knocking together. After a few courtesy words, he said, "Sue, what do you have there?" I held some true stories I'd typed for four lit...

It was fun playing in the neighbors' old barn loft

Mon, 18 Aug 2003 08:00:00 CST

In spring there were baby kittens and their mothers in the Estes' barn loft. In summer there was soft-stacked hay there. It was great for jumping and rolling in. And it was a good place to hide ...

Early rural residents got water, refrigeration from cold springs

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 08:00:00 CST

For some reason Bess and John Estes sometimes walked the five miles to Columbia. I can see them now: Bess in front, carefully groomed, carrying her purse and a basket of eggs. She wore a stylish dress...

Visiting neighbors was a treat early in the century

Mon, 04 Aug 2003 08:00:00 CST

Everybody stopped working even Dad and the farmhands to listen to the sirens, the bells and the big shoe-factory whistle all at once or in rapid succession. People made all kinds of joyful noises, c...

Friendship remembered through ice cream and a cherished truck

Mon, 28 Jul 2003 08:00:00 CST

My husband, Chub, and R.J. "Joe" Martin were personal friends who worked together in the local Rural Electric office and felt the need to combine physical labor with fresh air and sunshine. On...

Early pottery reveals lifestyles of ancestors

Mon, 21 Jul 2003 08:00:00 CST

A snuff jar in a great-grandmother's personal belongings need not upset you. Mom showed me how some older women stretched one thumb and held it a certain way to create a tiny "snuff box"...

Remembering the slow days of life in Columbia

Mon, 07 Jul 2003 08:00:00 CST

Before there was Columbia, this part of Upper Louisiana was ignored. Covered wagons followed the tracks of two Boone boys - toward Franklin. Finally there were five cabin homes and Gentry's ta...

Beekeepers know there's more to the trade than eating honey

Mon, 30 Jun 2003 08:00:00 CST

Some beekeepers work only one or two hives to get enough honey for the family; others manage hundreds. One thing is universal: Beekeeping is a complicated undertaking and should not be attempted unles...

Baling hay was a filthy job but paid real money

Mon, 23 Jun 2003 08:00:00 CST

Grinding corn was fun because all I had to do was to sit on our big, wide horse and tell him to "Whoa" or "Giddup." He walked around in a circle while hitched to the corn grinder by ...

Columbia's 'U-High' family set to share school memories

Mon, 16 Jun 2003 08:00:00 CST

A small display ad in the Tribune recently showed a tiny photo with a caption that asked, "Do you recognize this building?" The picture was dim, and I didn't recognize it. I did recogn...

Event allowed young folk to dress in their very best

Mon, 09 Jun 2003 08:00:00 CST

My brother and I were happy kids, born before there were toy stores or special stores for clothes for kids. But in summer - June I think - rural churches staged a special event called Children's...

Pre-Columbia area was merely a stop for travelers going west

Mon, 02 Jun 2003 08:00:00 CST

Don't be surprised when I say that this busy, mushrooming city was once in a large wilderness called Upper Louisiana. It was purchased from France in 1803, and later a large area north of the Mi...

In spring, bikes need 'TLC' for fun and safety

Mon, 19 May 2003 08:00:00 CST

A bright, shiny bicycle and helmet - in the carport or on the front porch - is a great invitation to healthy, happy and safe fun this summer. Now is a good time time for cleaning, adjusting and tighte...

Heimlich himself spreads news on famous maneuver

Mon, 12 May 2003 08:00:00 CST

Sue Gerard is recovering from a fall. This is an updated version of a piece that originally appeared in the Tribune in 1994. When the Missouri State Games were just beginning to roll, I ran a few err...

Choosing a proper pot is important for good tea

Mon, 05 May 2003 08:00:00 CST

Because I like to drink hot tea, I was disgusted to read about a competition for potters who intentionally make nonworkable teapots: Teapots That Won't Pour. Through the years I&rsqu...

Fulton church a puzzle with 7,000 stone pieces

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 08:00:00 CST

A fellow was building a new blacksmith shop for Ivan Lytle, in Griggsville, Ill., laying it up with solid concrete blocks. He disappeared with the job only half done. One of Lytle's sons tried t...

'Blue Hole' in Big Cedar was tinted with blood

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:00:00 CST

Our small farm has a steep limestone bluff on its north border. I like standing there about sunrise, pondering Big Cedar Creek, its bluff and its history. I hear the thud of a wild turkey coming off h...

Paracelsus was wrong, but people liked his idea

Mon, 07 Apr 2003 08:00:00 CST

Even before there was written history, human beings attempted to "raise the dead." Flailing a lifeless body with a fist full of thorny briars seems ridiculous, but it made the relatives feel t...

Memories of years past are still fun short stories

Mon, 31 Mar 2003 08:00:00 CST

"GO! BOY! GO!" Our neighbor, Lloyd, and his brother-in-law, Chesley, elderly coon hunters, were watching a football game one night when the player with the ball broke loose and headed toward ...

Putting a ship in a bottle requires problem-solving

Mon, 24 Mar 2003 08:00:00 CST

My students who were preparing to be recreational leaders studied various techniques for teaching games and directing people of different abilities in facilities such as public school playgrounds, gym...

Heimlich's advice helped save many schoolboys

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 08:00:00 CST

The highest drowning rate is among schoolboys, upper grades, swimming in unguarded ponds, rivers and lakes on late Sunday afternoons. That's bad news, but there's good news about artificia...

Clay a miracle found from Mesopotamia to Missouri

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 08:00:00 CST

We hate clay when it sticks to our boots and shoes, we depend on it to hold water in ponds, and we pay high prices for it when we buy paint or lipstick. Clay is used to make floor tile, slick paper ...

Local stoneware clay is a link with the past

Mon, 03 Mar 2003 08:00:00 CST

Mom, her friend - Ella Victoria Dobbs - and I were off to the woods one spring day, and Miss Dobbs stopped when she saw some white earth in the bank of a small stream. She clawed out some of the moist...

Book on Boone County reveals bizarre history

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 08:00:00 CST

Boone County was organized and named before Missouri was admitted as a state! Some old English customs and laws held over for years; one of those was the "imprisonment for debt" law. As late ...

Furry forecasters have history of precise weather prediction

Mon, 10 Feb 2003 08:00:00 CST

One day each year, for a couple of hours at least, Phil of Punxsutawney, Pa., creates headlines all over this nation. Under the ground, a certain lowly, hibernating creature - a large football-shaped ...

Visit to Chinese hospital experience to remember

Mon, 03 Feb 2003 08:00:00 CST

The hospital looked like an old courthouse. A nurse in a long off-white coat, almost to the ground, received us, and we walked down an unlighted hallway to a large dirty room with many desks, with a d...

Spill off bike temporarily interrupted tour in China

Mon, 27 Jan 2003 08:00:00 CST

My 11-day look at mainland China had only two days left: One was shopping day, and the other was a banquet and award ceremony closing the tour. Day Nine was a warm, drizzly one. Some of the bicyclis...

Pity today's children who won't know tastes of old

Mon, 20 Jan 2003 08:00:00 CST

Grandchildren might never know the unforgettable tastes of: ● Fried "farm" chicken - a chicken that was born free and raised in the back yard on potato peelings and table scraps fried i...

Great width brought fame, activity to early Broadway

Mon, 13 Jan 2003 08:00:00 CST

"Ownership of American land was vested in the original occupants prior to the discovery by whites." Switzler's 1882 History of Boone County explains it this way: "Indians, being sav...

Columbia's first 'rec center' was four summer playgrounds

Mon, 06 Jan 2003 08:00:00 CST

Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe that seven others and I received the first money ever spent by the city of Columbia for "that foolishness - recreation." One elected official said blu...

Traveling light can help save time and headaches

Mon, 30 Dec 2002 08:00:00 CST

Forty years ago, five of us were crossing from Holland to Canada on Holland American's ship Ryndam. We were headed home after touring Britain and several other countries by car. After the excite...

Missourians know value of a real Christmas cedar

Mon, 23 Dec 2002 08:00:00 CST

Now I'm not opposed to others having an artificial Christmas tree, but for this old gal it's a cedar - a Boone County, wild, bushy, flat on one side, prickly, smelly cedar tree! It&rsquo...

Christmas at Cooper's Fort spent celebrating safety

Mon, 16 Dec 2002 08:00:00 CST

Edwin Stephens wrote in his "History of Boone County" of three Cooper brothers - Benjamin, Braxton and Sarshall - who came to this vicinity in 1808 from Loutre Island, near present-day Hermann...

'Bicycle embryo' must be product of a great mind

Mon, 09 Dec 2002 08:00:00 CST

A few weeks ago I wrote about taking a short train trip out of London to locate a tiny stained-glass window. Little is known about the 9-inch square, colorful pane except that it was moved to Stoke Po...

Milk has to be cleaned between 'moo' and you

Mon, 02 Dec 2002 08:00:00 CST

Let's face it. Milk comes from cows. Cows eat grass. Green grass makes white milk, which makes pink on the cheeks. But cows also get dirty. This might surprise those who pour milk from a carton!...

Holsteins and Jerseys put kids through college

Mon, 25 Nov 2002 08:00:00 CST

Because my brother was only 16 months older than I, our parents knew they'd have to scrounge for money to pay for both of us to attend the University of Missouri at the same time, during the Dep...

Don't be afraid to discover pleasures of traveling solo

Mon, 18 Nov 2002 08:00:00 CST

While I waited for my luggage to be unloaded in Honolulu, I went to "Travel Assistance" and asked about accommodations within 10 miles of the beach and the business district - for only one per...

What a difference 50 years makes in telephone service

Mon, 11 Nov 2002 08:00:00 CST

They almost didn't convince me that people who walk around talking to themselves might actually be talking with someone who is all of the way across the country. I still want to believe that tel...

'Century' rides well worth preparation, training time

Mon, 04 Nov 2002 08:00:00 CST

If it makes you weary just to think about pedaling a bicycle all day, put your feet up and read about thousands of people who do that for fun! Spring and autumn in Central Missouri challenge many cyc...

'Granny's Day Camp' reunion brings back summer memories

Mon, 28 Oct 2002 08:00:00 CST

Beginning in the '80s, Chub and I invited our four grandsons to visit us on alternate weeks during the summer. Oliver was 4, Peter was 6 and Cole and Sam were 7; Sam was in summer school, but he...

Wild persimmons ahead of schedule in Columbia

Mon, 21 Oct 2002 08:00:00 CST

Believe it or not, wild persimmons were edible on Sept. 15! I picked up and ate four or five of them the day of the Heritage Festival. There had been no scientific tampering with that persimmon tree o...

Clever highway signs helped pass the miles

Mon, 07 Oct 2002 08:00:00 CST

We were planning to have a restaurant meal while pedaling our bikes across beautiful Newfoundland, but a highway marker warned, "No services for the next 63 miles!" It was August 1974, and my ...

When boredom strikes, kids make their own fun

Mon, 30 Sep 2002 08:00:00 CST

When Chub and I bicycled the 500 miles across Newfoundland, we traveled the eastern part of Highway 1 through thinly populated forest land. Sharing the road with us were huge lumber trucks - and Canad...

Lifesaving techniques studied during sabbatical

Mon, 23 Sep 2002 08:00:00 CST

In the mid-'60s Christian College announced that one full-time faculty member might be granted sabbatical leave if he or she needed extra time to pursue original ideas. One day in the faculty lo...

Yearly festival gives peek at olden days of Missouri

Mon, 16 Sep 2002 08:00:00 CST

This is the week we celebrate our heritage. At the 25th annual Heritage Festival on Saturday and Sunday, we will explore how people lived in the olden days. We'll step into a tepee of American I...

Nifong family played large role in hospital's growth

Mon, 09 Sep 2002 08:00:00 CST

In the '20s and '30s, Boone County Hospital cared formany county residents who could not pay. Nurses worked for a low wage plus food, lodging and laundry. An older white frame home was on ...

Boone County Hospital had efficient first leader

Mon, 26 Aug 2002 08:00:00 CST

Because I was born just before World War I, it taxes my memory to recall the Armistice. Adults stood motionless in the front yard listening to the sirens and bells from downtown Columbia; they hugged ...

Early homesteads needed protection of storm cellars

Mon, 19 Aug 2002 08:00:00 CST

Call it a cave, a storm cellar, a root cellar or just a cellar, almost every homestead had a special place for winter food storage and for personal safety from windstorms and tornadoes. I preferred ...

Empire State Building struck during 1945 visit

Mon, 12 Aug 2002 08:00:00 CST

Imagine my surprise recently when I was reading those banners that appear on the TV screen while other topics are being discussed above. Suddenly I caught the words, "On this date in 1945 ... peop...

Building mail-order house was an exciting adventure

Mon, 05 Aug 2002 08:00:00 CST

My parents ordered a house from a catalog; fire had destroyed clothing, household goods, family treasures and everything in our old house. It was wash day, and before Mom left to get my brother and me...

House fire led to parents' mail-order home purchase

Mon, 29 Jul 2002 08:00:00 CST

Mother had driven the Model T Ford to town, and Dad was planting corn. It was May 18, 1922. As we were going down Crouch's Hill, Mom screamed, "Oh, God! No! That's my house!" Bla...

Many things are important enough to leave the dishes

Mon, 15 Jul 2002 08:00:00 CST

My second book is now in several local stores. When I read Tony Messenger's great article about the Rocheport Cave, I knew it was time to tell my readers more about my visit to that cave long ag...

Sweltering days of July take toll on corn, animals

Mon, 08 Jul 2002 08:00:00 CST

As I write this, the corn crop is beautiful; an occasional tassel peeps up out of the top of a bouquet of unfolding dark green leaves. These are hot, sultry days in a Mid-Missouri July when corn needs...

Rural newsletters bring neighborhoods together

Mon, 01 Jul 2002 08:00:00 CST

Historically, our community and church news was spread when people greeted each other at McHarg's General Store, at the toll house where they had to pay for using the newly graveled road and at ...

Column marks milestone alongside the Tribune

Mon, 24 Jun 2002 08:00:00 CST

These first days of summer 2002 are exciting ones for the publishers of the Columbia Daily Tribune, Tribune Publishing Co. and me! The weather was pleasant Saturday, the people were happy, children pl...

Hard-to-please dad made Father's Day challenging

Mon, 17 Jun 2002 08:00:00 CST

Dad's mother died when he was 4 years old. He and his infant brother were left to the care of four doting half sisters. Susie, Mamie, Edie and Rosie were substitute mothers to the boys; they too...

Strong-willed asparagus survives being covered with thick red clay

Mon, 10 Jun 2002 08:00:00 CST

In spite of the fact that my late husband, Chub Gerard, wasn't excited about gardening, after we bought this farm, he ordered a dozen three-year-old asparagus plants. They would need the first y...

Portraits and engravings give a glimpse into Boone's lifestyle

Mon, 03 Jun 2002 08:00:00 CST

Daniel Boone grumbled about having to sit while artist Chester Harding made his portrait; he was 85 years old, and the artist painted in oils just four months before Boone died on Sept. 26, 1820. The ...

Genealogy includes branch of Daniel Boone's family tree

Mon, 20 May 2002 08:00:00 CST

One August I was in England at election time and voted by absentee ballot. I located a "solicitor" to verify my vote. He glanced at the ballot and said excitedly, "Boone County! You live i...

Sing Granny's Safety Game to little ones who love water

Mon, 13 May 2002 08:00:00 CST

A young mother said, "Our baby just loves his B-A-T-H. Should we give her swimming lessons?" I blurted out, "Of course! But not yet. Wait about three more years." Her baby was 13 mont...

Special Sundays helped make '20s childhood fun

Mon, 06 May 2002 08:00:00 CST

On those preaching days, there was usually a basket dinner and someone brought water in a barrel in his wagon. We had a few water fights with the boys and sometimes dabbled in the mud where the barrel...

Dairyman helped shape World War II mechanics

Mon, 29 Apr 2002 08:00:00 CST

My husband, the late Walter Frank "Chub" Gerard, enlisted in the Coast Guard in October 1943, during World War II. It had become increasingly difficult to get supplies for the dairy. Repairs...

Children treasure moments of quality time with parents

Mon, 22 Apr 2002 08:00:00 CST

Our Nancy and Walt were the right age when family "togetherness" was a popular thing. At first people said that television brought parents and children together for great companionship. We mot...

Near-tragic event brings change of bees' keeper

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 08:00:00 CST

Unlike cows, sheep, hogs and horses, honeybees are free to stay - or leave. If you have three or more colonies - about 50,000 worker bees in each - you're classified as a farmer. You can't...

For determined honeybees, there's no place like home

Mon, 08 Apr 2002 08:00:00 CST

Some beekeepers keep stacks of active beehives on long flatbed trailers and move them from one farm's honey flow to the next. They rent the bees to farmers to pollinate orchards, gardens and oth...

In-room wildlife makes for an exciting morning

Mon, 01 Apr 2002 08:00:00 CST

We were 16 American men and women having breakfast on the boat while waiting to disembark. We were ages 22 to 84; I was the only person from Missouri and the oldest woman, age 67. We were the first op...

Smelly skunks look cuter in funnies than in real life

Mon, 25 Mar 2002 08:00:00 CST

I call them "the funnies" because I read the panels that make me laugh. Who, having had teenagers in the family, could recycle a Tribune without first reading "Zits?" The "For Bett...

Old grindstone raises questions about pastThis column originally appeared May 16, 2000.

Mon, 18 Mar 2002 08:00:00 CST

1956: Today I picked up rocks, square nails, a 1866 nickel and a rusty grubbing hoe as I dug through ashes remaining after we burned the old log cabin that stood in our yard. It was built facing an un...

Mild winter doesn't mean March won't bring snow

Mon, 11 Mar 2002 08:00:00 CST

The Romans warned of "The Ides of March." Caesar was murdered by enemies and former friends in the "ides" - March 15 plus a day or two before and after. Other dire things were expected...

Trust in others, self makes top of list of life's wonderful gifts

Mon, 04 Mar 2002 08:00:00 CST

We were a group of oldsters with a lively young speaker, Janice "Cookie" Hagan. "What is the greatest gift you ever received?" she asked. It wasn't a game. We began to jot down...

Before there was radar, there were groundhogs

Mon, 25 Feb 2002 08:00:00 CST

Our good friends Helen and Floyd Vemer lived on Vemer's Ford Road before a flood washed out the place where people would "ford" Cedar Creek to visit relatives in Callaway County. Ford,...

Gnarled fingers produce beautiful artistic works

Mon, 18 Feb 2002 08:00:00 CST

There once was a day when the fingers of Grace Bruton Crews raced over the piano keys to the strains of "Tiger Rag," seemingly without effort. They could also manage a delicate embroidery need...

Lincoln's stories always rose to fit the occasion

Mon, 11 Feb 2002 08:00:00 CST

When I was a child 80 years ago, I looked forward to February at school. We celebrated Abraham Lincoln with construction paper silhouettes on windows and stories of his honesty and integrity. We made ...

To hear better, just stop, look, listen � and forgive

Mon, 04 Feb 2002 08:00:00 CST

It's frustrating to hear only part of what a public speaker is saying. Others laugh at his jokes, and some just fake a smile. I was in the latter category 30 years ago. It really helped to put...

Newfoundland adventure required winter research

Mon, 28 Jan 2002 08:00:00 CST

A snowy day in February is a good time to look at travel literature, order maps and check transportation schedules for an adventure in August. Consider details of planning a bicycle trip similar to ou...

Christian College pool was model for its time

Mon, 21 Jan 2002 08:00:00 CST

Recently a reader called and asked, "Why don't you write about that unusual Columbia College swimming pool?" I am happy to do just that. Christian College was the first women's co...

Sand provides hours of fun, lifetime of fond memories

Mon, 14 Jan 2002 08:00:00 CST

Our children and grandsons literally wore out their favorite plaything many times. It was inexpensive, not sold in stores, not shiny or colorful. It required no assembly, no batteries or electricity, ...

Law learned in past days needs to be applied now

Mon, 07 Jan 2002 08:00:00 CST

Driving a car on a warm day with the left arm resting across the auto's window frame doesn't apply much pressure on the spine, and it usually doesn't go on for hours or happen every ...

Ice storm created winter wonderland for children

Mon, 31 Dec 2001 08:00:00 CST

Mom taught me: "Beware when it's 31 degrees!" Through the years I've observed that, weather-wise, just about anything bad can happen when the temperature is 31 degrees. I wasn&rsqu...

Swimmers' effort helped drive for physical fitness

Mon, 24 Dec 2001 08:00:00 CST

It's hard to believe that some very positive things happened because our country was suddenly forced into war after the terror in Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor demonstrated...

Christmas tree money helped buy an 'Upright Underwood'

Mon, 17 Dec 2001 08:00:00 CST

I was enrolled in typing at University High School in my sophomore year and wanted an Underwood typewriter like the ones the class used. The Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog offered "Upright Underwo...

Christmas trees evoke money-making memories

Mon, 10 Dec 2001 08:00:00 CST

The Christmas tree is uppermost in our minds this week. We select it, buy it, transport, mount, decorate and admire it. In three weeks we'll recycle it and make our New Year's resolutions....

Elderhostel stays result in friendship, learning

Mon, 03 Dec 2001 08:00:00 CST

"Could you and Chub meet me in Nebraska for a week?" It was Betty Bretz calling from El Cajon, Calif. "It's called Elderhostel," she said. Bretz was an adventuresome woman of fe...

No one wants misfortune of developing celiac sprue

Mon, 26 Nov 2001 08:00:00 CST

Long ago I read about celiac sprue in my Preventive Medicine textbook and immediately said to myself, "Don't get THAT!" But I did get it after I was 75 or 80 years old. I have avoided wr...

Greatly admired Columbia teachers displayed lifelong love of learning

Mon, 19 Nov 2001 08:00:00 CST

If we could ask 1,000 oldsters, natives of Columbia, to name the two most memorable, respected, well-loved people they recall, the names of one man and one woman would pop up frequently. That'...

Homespun entertainment was early leisure activity

Mon, 12 Nov 2001 08:00:00 CST

"Come over and sit till bedtime," was a familiar invitation when I was a girl and probably a frequent entertainment when the old log cabin housed the Robnetts on this farm. Without radio or an...

Early Boone County cabin life followed uncomplicated path

Mon, 05 Nov 2001 08:00:00 CST

Enough trees have shed their leaves that I can see the neighbors' house south of our farm, and I walked up the pond bank where I could see two more. I picked up a black-and-orange woolly worm, a...

Human-powered airplane flew with local invention

Mon, 29 Oct 2001 08:00:00 CST

In 1959, British industrialist Henry Kremer offered a huge prize to the inventor of the first flying machine to stay up five minutes or longer using only human power; it had to negotiate a course set ...

Entrepreneurs got started at local dining room table

Mon, 22 Oct 2001 08:00:00 CST

The coach called our son Walt a "scrappy little guard" on the basketball team in ninth grade, but he was not tall enough to hold his own with the varsity players. "I've been thinkin...

Boone County soldier wore lifelong Confederate pride

Mon, 15 Oct 2001 08:00:00 CST

Eighty-one years ago, the Daughters of the Confederacy contacted all of the Boone County soldiers who fought in gray and asked for their war memories. They were old, ailing men in 1920, and I knew one...

Boston airport's foundation made from Atlantic sludge

Mon, 08 Oct 2001 08:00:00 CST

Each mention of Boston's Logan International Airport reminds me of when Chub and I were living, temporarily, in a crowded rooming house during World War II. Chub was marking time with the Coast ...

Trip with foreign airline taught surprising lessons

Mon, 01 Oct 2001 08:00:00 CST

Here are some travel incidents in no way related to the terrorism events of Sept. 11. I chose Israel's El Al for our bicycle tour in 1971 because Hortense Davison, Christian College French teac...

Windmills were used to pump water on local farms into the '40s

Mon, 24 Sep 2001 08:00:00 CST

In 1937 only a few farms at or near Columbia's city limits had access to electrical lines. They depended on coal oil lamps and lanterns for lighting their homes and barns. In dark winter months,...

Depression weddings simple but long-lasting

Mon, 17 Sep 2001 08:00:00 CST

Beginning the eighth year of writing Granny's Notes, I have few secrets left untold. In more than 400 columns, however, I have avoided politics, religion and personal health. Each time I begin a...

Granny's deep-water test helps ensure pool safety

Mon, 10 Sep 2001 08:00:00 CST

On Sunday afternoon, my son Walt was swimming and life-guarding two of my adult students. We were watching Melone, 2?, who was playing alone in the yard, in sight of both groups. Suddenly the toddl...

Historic Columbia pool goes down the drain

Mon, 27 Aug 2001 08:00:00 CST

The history of Columbia's swimming pools is both sad and happy; some of us have survived both. The University of Missouri-Columbia had no place for men to swim long after the women's pool ...

Hopefully, living conditions have improved for Chinese

Mon, 20 Aug 2001 08:00:00 CST

As a child, I imagined that if I dug all through the Earth, I'd find China. I got that idea from the globe in the first-grade room at Lab School. At age 67, I was one of the first to tour there...

Columbia's black athletes excelled before integration

Mon, 13 Aug 2001 08:00:00 CST

Columbia had three high schools in 1928 - Columbia High School, Douglass High School and the University Laboratory High School known as U-High. My brother and I attended U-High, which was next to Un...

In years past, beating the heat no easy task

Mon, 06 Aug 2001 08:00:00 CST

How did people beat the heat in the old days? That's the question older people are answering these days, for themselves as well as for youngsters who ask it. Survival in summer was no miracle. W...

Coyotes spell trouble for county pets, farmers

Mon, 30 Jul 2001 08:00:00 CST

Coyotes are useful to farmers when they feed on gophers, rats, mice and other rodent pests - or so the encyclopedia says. During the winter, they are not as useful when wild food can not be found. Dur...

Ben Franklin, song teach good lesson in swimming

Mon, 23 Jul 2001 08:00:00 CST

Glass-bottled milk put people through college

Mon, 16 Jul 2001 08:00:00 CST

Most milk customers bought a quart of whole milk each day because it was delivered to their homes, fresh and chilled, in time for breakfast. The milk in the glass bottle that sat in the shade of the f...

Many city folk don't understand old-time milk production, delivery

Mon, 09 Jul 2001 08:00:00 CST

About 30 years ago in Belgium, my bicycle tour group visited a farm. Our guide opened a stall door and said, "This is where we keep the bull." A student asked, "Mrs. G. The bull, what does...

Spare tire can be lifesaver when someone's drowning

Mon, 02 Jul 2001 08:00:00 CST

There's a lifesaving device in the trunk of every vehicle, and there's almost always a vehicle near when someone yells, "Help! That person is drowning!" He's trying to keep h...

Learning extra skills gave farmers home advantage

Mon, 25 Jun 2001 08:00:00 CST

My father, O.D.Meyers, had his own forge, anvil, drill, ball-peen hammers, tongs and other tools for blacksmithing. In the early 1920s, farmers did their own machinery repair and other metal work to s...

Tower commemorates prominent local family

Mon, 18 Jun 2001 08:00:00 CST

A year ago, many of us were spending time, energy and money to prevent a huge water tower from being built smack dab in front of Olivet Church's front door. Obviously we lost the battle! This ob...

Take safety precautions for more enjoyable ride

Mon, 11 Jun 2001 08:00:00 CST

Safe cyclists are happy cyclists - be one! Drive your bike as you would drive a car, and be personally concerned for your own safety. How can you do that? Here are some tips for happy cycling: 1. Ha...

College girls, country folk gather at weekend retreat

Mon, 04 Jun 2001 08:00:00 CST

Hiking was a favorite activity at Christian College in the 1940s. They earned a "point per mile" toward a letter award for each hike of five miles or more. The college's coveted big gold...

Account of summer farm life reveals not-so-simple duties

Mon, 21 May 2001 08:00:00 CST

A city fellow once said, "Sue, you farmers have it easy: You plant in spring, the crops grow all summer and you harvest in the fall." He taught psychology, and I should have had him with me on...

Chains stretched across Columbia streets in 1919

Mon, 14 May 2001 08:00:00 CST

My parents lived east of downtown Columbia when I was born, and we have traveled East Broadway for employment, shopping, schools, entertainment and more during all of my 86 years. My early memory of E...

Spring brings poison ivy, fresh vegetables, chores

Mon, 07 May 2001 08:00:00 CST

Except for the danger of floods for people who live near big creeks and the Big Muddy, we're in that wonderful time of the year, after frozen pipes and before tall weeds. The signs of both sprin...

Lesson in patience helps recreation work succeed

Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:00:00 CST

Seventy years ago, I started teaching at Christian College - now Columbia College - as a part-time swimming teacher. Soon I taught full time, including a class for prospective recreation professional...

Toddlers are too young for swimming lessons

Mon, 23 Apr 2001 08:00:00 CST

It happened again last week. An anxious young mother said, "She just loves her B-A-T-H. We have to spell it because she loves it so. Do you think I should give Tracy swimming lessons?" "...

Long-lost brothers met midstream at Vicksburg

Mon, 16 Apr 2001 08:00:00 CST

My grandpa, James Lawrence Henry Jr., was born at Easton, N.Y., in 1839. He married Frances Lampton in March l861 and that same year, at age 22, answered Gov. Claiborne Fox Jackson's urgent call...

Upper Louisiana towns were clusters of cabins

Mon, 09 Apr 2001 08:00:00 CST

Before 1815, prowling bands of American Indians harassed European intruders here in what was then Upper Louisiana. It would later be called Boone County, Mo. In 1815, the Indians released claims to la...

Granny Sue's 'Day Camp' encourages outdoor fun

Mon, 02 Apr 2001 08:00:00 CST

Today, in my eighties, I miss those grandkids. For several years, I had the pleasure of dropping everything else and playing with four or more boys for five days every other week. They grew like weeds...

Jane Froman diving story probably just an old myth

Mon, 26 Mar 2001 08:00:00 CST

Even newcomers to Columbia might be familiar with the name Jane Froman; she sang for countless service men in many parts of the world during World War II. She gave them a bit of happiness, a few mome...

Step-grandson embarks on culinary career despite storm

Mon, 19 Mar 2001 08:00:00 CST

The first time we met, Tim Graham was about 12 years old. We were the Grahams' guests for an evening meal. When I complimented the salad, Mary said, "This is Tim's salad." "Hi...

Too-long uniforms hamper athletes' ability to perform

Mon, 12 Mar 2001 08:00:00 CST

The first thing people say to us oldsters is, "You must have seen a lot of changes in your lifetime." When it comes to athletics and physical education, I have plenty to say about the old gym ...

Heimlich's effectiveness took awhile to catch on

Mon, 05 Mar 2001 08:00:00 CST

I retired in 1972, having enjoyed many years of teaching aquatics at Columbia College, and hurried to do things I'd put aside until I retired. One weekend my now-late husband, Chub Gerard, and I...

George Washington's rules on manners still applicable

Mon, 26 Feb 2001 08:00:00 CST

School children used to pattern their lives after the heroes of their day; President George Washington was one of my favorites. He was honest. He worked hard. He became president of the United States ...

New friend shares love of bicycles and clay

Mon, 19 Feb 2001 08:00:00 CST

As Chub and I entered the youth hostel, I rolled my bike to the registration desk, and Chub followed with our luggage. A young woman came with an outstretched hand, saying, "You're Sue, and ...

Abraham Lincoln was mix of sharp wit, compassion

Mon, 12 Feb 2001 08:00:00 CST

I have bought some of my most treasured books as bargains at auction sales. I didn't even know that "Lincoln's Stories" was in the bunch when I paid $9 for "all of the rest of ...

Springtime chores keep queen, worker bees busy

Mon, 05 Feb 2001 08:00:00 CST

When you're speeding along on the highway and see a stack of white boxes near a farmstead, you might say, "Gee, all of those boxes are full of honey! Not so. The lower two boxes house abou...

Bees keep busy in winter heating hive for survival

Mon, 29 Jan 2001 08:00:00 CST

Not long ago, I stared at a white landscape watching fine snow blow from west to east building drifts I could not control. I thought about those five or six bluebirds cuddled up together in their wood...

Christian/Columbia College has many years of memories

Mon, 22 Jan 2001 08:00:00 CST

Christian College was left in the lurch a few weeks before the opening of the fall semester during the Depression. The former teacher, a graduate student at MU, suddenly transferred out of state. Sh...

In January, be prepared when skating on thin ice

Mon, 15 Jan 2001 08:00:00 CST

Let's face it - people drown in winter. A few years ago, six Missouri children died when they went through the ice in three separate accidents. Two drowned while trying to rescue other children,...

Making snow sculptures is fabulous group activity

Mon, 08 Jan 2001 08:00:00 CST

You'll know the snow is right for rolling into big balls for snow sculpture if the temperature is near the freezing mark: 31 degrees to 33, for example. Pick up a handful of snow and squeeze it...

'Lighting the Way' shares the story of bringing electricity to local farms

Mon, 18 Dec 2000 08:00:00 CST

When Mom and Dad bought a farm in 1915, it was four miles from Ninth and Broadway in Columbia. That was too far from the city for electric lines to reach them. Dad and his helpers did farm chores i...

New city park should use names Stephens, Gordon

Mon, 11 Dec 2000 08:00:00 CST

Miss Caroline Hartwig and Mrs. Fannie Bardlemeier would be surprised and pleased that I'm dipping into history in these weekly stories. I was no whiz at history. Most of us who have lived here m...

Remember to tell children all about those olden days

Mon, 04 Dec 2000 08:00:00 CST

Five grandparents were invited to answer fifth-graders' questions on Grandparents' Day. One question was, "What did you like best in your hot lunch program?" My "hot" lunch...

Cooper brothers decided to stay and fight for home

Mon, 27 Nov 2000 08:00:00 CST

Last Monday I misspelled Sarshall, the first name of Benjamin Cooper's brother, but if you read Sarshall's message to the territorial governor, it's obvious that spelling in the 1800...

Benjamin Cooper built fort to fend off warring Indians

Mon, 20 Nov 2000 08:00:00 CST

Daniel Boone's company of immigrants moved 800 miles from central Kentucky to Missouri in 1800 and settled along the north side of the Missouri River. They built log cabins between Marthasville ...

Many found wholesome fun at Columbia's new property

Mon, 13 Nov 2000 08:00:00 CST

My past involvement with Columbia's recreation programs and a belief that wholesome outdoor recreation is every person's birthright prompt me to review some early local experiences. Some o...

Election Day calls to mind history of our hometown

Mon, 06 Nov 2000 08:00:00 CST

This first full week in November 2000 is one of the most significant weeks in Columbia's history. I've lived more than 86 years in Boone County, east of Columbia's city limits. Tom...

New Zealand gourd feast recalls family 'heritage pumpkin' tradition

Mon, 30 Oct 2000 08:00:00 CST

When I toured by bicycle, alone, in New Zealand, the young people in the Christchurch Youth Hostel treated me like a special person. I was 30 years older than those in the youth hostel club were, bu...