I once shook hands with Elizabeth Dole, a presidential candidate in the late 1990s, and interviewed another one, Fred Thompson, during a campaign stop in Montezuma in December 2007.
    I’ve interviewed various state senators, representatives and gubernatorial candidates through the years.
    I’ve covered tons of high school sporting events, attended numerous homecomings, proms, graduations, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day services and community parades and celebrations through the years. 
    I was run over by two different football players in the first half of a football game between Montezuma at Wapello in the fall of 2000. I broke my camera in the process.
I’ve covered state football and basketball. I was courtside when Montezuma won the 2021 Class 1A State Championship at the Wells Fargo Arena.
     I once climbed a grain bin to get a better photo of farmers combining. I drove in an ice storm to take photos of an overturned semi filled with hogs that were roaming about the highway. I made it home alive and the photo won a state award.
     I’ve written hundreds of feature stories, my favorite, about every day Iowans doing what they love. And I can’t forget about my column, “On the Road Again,” and the many folks who have told me how much they enjoy reading them.
     On Saturday, June 11, I was in Brooklyn where I witnessed the dedication and unveiling of the Harold “Pie” Keller monument at the town’s Avenue of Flags.
     It was a day that I will never forget and one of the many highlights of my journalistic career.
     “Pie,” as he was known, was one of six Marines who carried the American Flag to the summit of Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945 during the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima. The iconic moment was captured by AP photographer Joe Rosenthal.
     Hundreds of people from all walks of life came together to support and honor “Pie,” a humble, yet great man who at the time was just doing his duty to the country he loved.
      “Pie” was born, raised and went to school in Brooklyn and was the father of three. He loved Brooklyn where he worked in the dairy business, served as the town fire chief and coached little league baseball after the war.
     To see and photograph his two living children unveiling the monument and shedding tears of joy in remembrance of their dad was touching. The military and members of American Legions from all across Poweshiek County and the state of Iowa were there showing their support for one of their own.
     The parade, which took nearly an hour, was filled with a military presence and people lined Jackson Street to witness a moment in time that will live forever.
      The prayers, the singing, the National Anthem and Pledge of Allegiance were all part of the festivities. 
       As one of the speakers said, “This is the America we once knew.”
       Well done, Brooklyn!
     Thanks for allowing me to be there and take photos and tell the story of Harold “Pie” Keller.
The America we once knew
       Sometimes I wonder what has happened to the America many of us remember?
A time when things seemed simpler.
       It’s not like that today.
     Taxpayer money is being sent all over the world and wasted on witch hunts. Political parties are pointing fingers and blaming each other. There is major chaos and rioting in our cities. High gas and grocery prices and supply shortages are causing families to struggle and are weighing heavy on many businesses and communities. There is so much going on in this country causing division. I’ll not list them as most know the hot topic buttons.
        Sometimes I stop and shake my head and ask myself, “what the heck is going on?”
         I remember growing up when America was different.
       My mom was a Republican and my dad was a Democrat and a union man. They learned to get along. They voted and that was it. They didn’t talk about it and they didn’t go around our neighborhood telling everyone who they voted for.
       They did their duty and they worked hard and did what was best for their family. I miss that.
       I hope we can get back to a simpler time where neighbors are neighbors no matter the color of their skin, the church they attend or who they voted for.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

       I’m quite familiar with folks from the south being called “Rednecks.” I’m also aware of Oklahomans often referred to as “Okies.”
       John Steinbeck made the term “Okie,” a household name in his book, “The Grapes of Wrath” a book about the Tom Joad family’s travels from Oklahoma to California during the Depression of the 1930s. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you do.
      I was scrolling through the Internet the other day and came across a news story on National Bubba Day, which is celebrated on June 2 every year. It peaked my interest to learn that more than 50 million people in the world are referred to as Bubba.
       That’s a lot of Bubbas.
     The news story noted that Bubba is a US Southern slang word for a younger brother. It may also be a name given to someone with limited education who is rather poor or an overweight man.
     “While people use it as a term of endearment, sometimes it is also used as a term of ridicule,” the news article noted. “National Bubba Day was created to address this. It is all about positivity and it should be seen as a name that shows appreciation.”
     The late T. Bubba Bechtol, a comedian and former state and national president of the US Jaycees, which happens to be headquartered in my hometown of Tulsa, founded National Bubba Day in 1984 to celebrate everyone who is called Bubba.
     While he was with the US Jaycees, T. Bubba was featured on the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethons and numerous other national television and radio shows.
   Ironically, Debbie and I were backstage guests of T. Bubba Bechtol at the Grand Old Opry on our honeymoon on Friday, Oct. 1, 2004.
     When we learned earlier this year of T. Bubba’s passing on Dec. 19, 2021 at the age of 76, we were both surprised and saddened.
      When planning our honeymoon, I saw that T. Bubba was a featured comedian at the Opry the evening we planned to attend. I wrote him an email and told him we would be visiting the Opry while in Tennessee.
      He promptly wrote back and asked if we would like to be his backstage guests. Heck, we couldn’t turn that offer down. What a treat!
     While backstage at the Opry, we met and got autographs from the now late Porter Wagoner, Little Jimmy Dickens and honky-tonk singer and songwriter, Jean Shepard. Also featured that evening was Ricky Skaggs and Chely Wright, who we also got autographs from.
     Prior to our Opry visit, we were asked to send copies of our Social Security numbers and drivers’ licenses to T. Bubba’s home in Pensacola, Fla. so he could send them on to the Opry. I suppose for background checks. Between the time we sent him the items, Hurricane Ivan struck Pensacola and destroyed his home, his belongings and our paperwork.
      He never turned our names in to the Opry and as a result, we almost weren’t allowed by security to enter backstage as our names were not on the guest list.
      We arrived at the Opry and made our way to the famous artist entrance only to learn that we were not on the guest list. I was pleading our case with the security guard, but it didn’t seem to do any good. It had to be a move of God as all of sudden, he decided to call the receptionist and we were given the OK to enter the building. All the receptionist asked was that we have T. Bubba come check in and let her know that we were his guests.
      When we told T. Bubba what had happened, he chuckled, saying “I never have guests, so that is probably why they let you in.”
    According to his obituary, T. Bubba worked in finance and later got involved in the US Jaycees, as mentioned above, before getting involved with the National Speakers Association, where he earned his professional designation as a Certified Speaking Professional.
       The syndicated columnist and humorist Lewis Gizzard heard T. Bubba speak at an event and they became friends. T. Bubba joined Lewis’s management team and his second calling as a stand-up comic took off.
    He made several appearances on Crook and Chase’s “Music City Tonight.” He was hired by Opryland Production to host “Boots, Boogy and Blues” at the Governor’s Palace Theater in Sevierville, Tenn. Then his first performance on the Grand Old Opry was on Oct. 24, 1998. He performed on the Opry more than 200 times. He was twice awarded Comedian of the Year by the International County Gospel Music Association due to his family-friendly style of comedy.
      What a treat and memory for Debbie and I to meet this man and be his backstage guests at the Grand Old Opry.
      Some years after meeting T. Bubba, we sent him a photo taken of us and him at the Opry. He signed it and sent it back to us. It’s a nice keepsake.
      T. Bubba Bechtol leaves behind two boys, Bubba Jr. and Little Bubba, and a host of other family members. 
      Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

​      I can still see my mom sitting at the kitchen table painstakingly making Memorial Day wreaths. She didn’t like the store bought kind and always made her own, at least two dozen or so of them.
     Every year she’d stop at Rathbone’s Flair Flowers in Tulsa and TG&Y 5 & 10 store to purchase Styrofoam, fake flowers, labels, glue and the such to make her own wreaths. They featured names such as “daughters,” “father,” “mother,” “brother,” “sister,” “uncle,” “aunt,” and “friend.” She’d glue them on the wreaths and was so proud of her work.
     We’d load the wreaths and decorations in the truck of the family sedan and spend Memorial Day driving around Tulsa and the suburb of Broken Arrow visiting and decorating family graves. It usually meant a stop at a family member or twos home for a visit.
       And some years we’d get to eat out, which was a bonus.
      I  have some family members who served in the military including my dad’s father, James Parker, who served in the 72nd Artillery, CAC during World War I and his step-grandfather, Glenn M. Reib, who served in the US Army during World War II. My dad’s brother, Orval, served in the Korean War. 
        My mom’s brother, Carroll Horton, served in the Army, and her brother, Leon Horton, also spent time in the military. There were several others on my mom’s side who served our great country. In fact, I have a photo I garnered from my parent’s estate of a family member holding a rifle and wearing a military uniform. I have his name written down, but don’t know a lot of about his service. A few years ago, I learned through another family member that I have a family member who served in the Civil War. I need to find his name and look into where he served. It is fascinating to look into family history.
       My mom started a family tree many years ago. I have it in her papers and have thought about trying to update it and post it on-line. It’s probably one of those retirement projects down the road.
          Since becoming a community journalist, I have covered many Memorial Day services in communities such as North English, Millersburg, Deep River, Montezuma, Brooklyn, Victor and more.  Taking the time to reflect on the service and dedication of our military is something none of us should take lightly.
          Thank you to all the veterans who served and those today who keep the American Legions and V.F.W,’s alive and well. 
        Veterans all across this country fought and died for our rights and freedoms in various wars. None of us should take the US Constitution and Bill of Rights for granted or become lazy in supporting them in this country. Once our rights have been swindled from us in the name of safety due to the action of a few or some other bologna, they are gone.
           You can take care of that business at the ballot box. No matter what side of the fence you are on, I hope you voted in the primary election. I hope you get out and vote, period. It makes a difference. You make a difference. Change happens when people get involved in their neighborhoods, communities, towns and cities. 
           Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.

      Our nephews often stop by to visit, grab some snack food, drink a Pepsi or just sit on the couch to talk. They are always welcome.
       The other day I sent my oldest nephew a text inviting him to join me on a garage sale hunting excursion at Lake Ponderosa on Memorial Day weekend.
      He stopped by that evening and said he would not be able to go for some reason. I went last year and snatched up some nice finds, including a Disney doll house from the 1960s – 1970s with some original furniture. I don’t collect doll houses, but the price was right.
      Anyway, our oldest nephew loves to talk about his goats or share the latest on the  Johnny Deep and Amber Heard trial or some other hot news topic of the day.
         Somehow the topic of vintage came up and he was talking about the 1980s now being vintage. 
           My goodness, I’m thinking, the 1980s are now vintage?
          Maybe he is right. I did buy my first new car 38-years ago, a 1984 Chevrolet Cavalier hatchback with a 2.5 liter engine, front wheel drive and a five speed transmission. I loved that car and about drove the wheels off of it.
         I sold it in 1992 and used the money to buy four chairs for my oak kitchen table and pay the deposit and first month’s rent on my duplex apartment in Ashland, Mo. when I returned to college at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
         I purchased my second and last new vehicle in 1989, a Chevrolet S-10 pickup. I drove it for 21 years and 260,000 plus miles before selling it in 2010. That was a good old truck, or city truck as Debbie often says.
       And to take this vintage thing a step further, earlier that day I turned on the radio and they were playing hits from the 1980s all day. The song playing was “Long Train Running,” by the Dobbie Brothers. Such an appropriate song for modern times.
     It just happens that my first rock concert was the Dobbie Brothers at the Tulsa Assembly Center in April 1979. My concert ticket was $6.
      It’s scary to realize that I’ve been out of high school for 44-years, the class of 1978, and that my 50thclass reunion is in six years. It was just the other day that I was in kindergarten and graduating high school, let alone going to class reunions.
    I love to go antiquing and buying old post cards. I understand that a postcard from 1940s is old, not the 1980s.
       People and things do get old and how we communicate changes almost daily.
       When I was in school there were no computers, cell phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok or ordering and paying on-line. However, I did enjoy the comforts of an electric typewriter and talking to friends and family in “real time” person.
      We didn’t have seat belts in cars until the 1980s and I can remember our dial telephone on the wall with a long cord that reached the bathroom. And wearing a helmet while riding a bicycle wasn’t even considered. 
        Of all the social media, Facebook is my favorite. I enjoy posting a funny of the day and sharing highlights of my life while reconnecting with school chums and family. I still don’t understand Twitter and I have never posted on Instagram. I prefer to call people on the phone.
       I don’t have Snapchat or Tik Tok accounts and have no plans to download the social media services anytime soon.
         I do a lot of texting, but thanks to autocorrect, my texts are often a mess. I don’t know how many times I’ve told the wrong person I loved them, thinking I was texting Debbie.
      The other day I was trying to send some photos to a person via text and somehow, thanks to autocorrect, typed the wrong address and they ended up in France. The fellow wrote and said I sent them to him by mistake.
      My dad loved to visit and no one was a stranger to him. I still like that better than social media. Maybe I will make a new friend while out garage sale hunting. I’m sure I will find something vintage from the 1980s. 
     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.