It was a busy Saturday in the Parker household.
        First, Debbie and I made the trip to nearby Barnes City and the Longhorn Saloon to take a photo of my mother-in-law’s Montezuma High School Class of 1959 reunion gathering. It was a nice gathering with 13 classmates in attendance. All totaled with spouses, there were 21 in attendance. 
         After a nice afternoon nap, it was off to the Helm’s Bed and Breakfast north of Montezuma at 4 p.m. to attend Boyd Sparks 91st birthday shindig.
         It was quite an event. Tyler Richton and the High Bank Boys showed up to party with some down home country music with many enjoying a dance or two, including Boyd.
        Boyd, who is looking good for his age, was thrilled at the turnout. There were an estimated 230 attendees that filled the barn and were scattered about the deck, in seating under the deck and in the yard. I’m sure he greeted, thanked and hugged everyone who came through the door.
         A meal of BBQ pork, beans and potato salad was served to guests, topped off by cake and some famous Harold Wheeler ice cream.
       One of the delights of the evening was hearing Boyd sing, “Sweet Betsy from Pike,” an American Ballad about the trials of a pioneer woman named Betsy and her lover, Ike, who migrate west from Pike County to California. Boyd said the tune was played on the television show, Gunsmoke. According to Wikipedia,  Burl Ives recorded the song on Feb. 11, 1941 for his debut album, “Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger.”
        He spoke of living a life filled with God’s blessings and thanked everyone for being there. At 91, Boyd still ministers God’s Word on Sundays at United Methodist Churches in Malcom and Sheridan. Many of his church parishioners were present at the party.
       Also present were friends and family from Florida, Indiana, Montana and California, along with family and friends from Boyd’s hometown stopping grounds in Bayard, Guthrie Center and Ogden. His son said there were folks from four time zones present at the party.
      He then shared a story with the guests about having a heart attack in January 2016. He didn’t go into  every detail, only to say that after eight bypasses, he returned to Montezuma to rest and recover. At the time, Montezuma resident, Chris Sheetz, a friend of the family, along with a home health nurse were helping take care of Boyd and his wife, Jean. 
       Sheetz and the home health nurse became concerned about Boyd’s health and it was decided to call his daughter, an RN in Des Moines.
      “My daughter said to take me to the emergency room at Mercy,” recalled Boyd. “Doctors there were concerned and did tests and thought I had a bowel blockage.”
      Doctors told Boyd that if he didn’t have surgery, he had a zero percent survival rate and if he did have surgery, he had a 30 percent survival rate. Boyd gave the Ok and when they opened him up, doctors couldn’t find a thing wrong.
       “Nothing was wrong,” Boyd shared. “It was a pure miracle as far as I am concerned.”
     I’ve witnessed a few miracles and open doors in my life. I’ve seen God do wonderous works and have shared many of those stories in this column through the years. I hope to share a few more as I roll down life’s highway.
     I’ve known Boyd for many years and have written a couple stories about him and his now late wife, Jean. I’ve stopped to visit a number of times through the years.
      Boyd has given me much practical life advice when I’ve asked and calls me a friend. He asked me to take photos at his birthday event and I enjoyed mingling about the gathering and capturing the evening activities with my camera.
       Debbie enjoyed being at the party and liked hearing Tyler and the band play.
      As I listened to the music and took in all the activities and wrapped up taking pictures of Boyd, his family and friends, it made me think that life is really a series of events and happenings that you piece together in years.
     We’ve all had bad and good happen in our lives. The problem is, at least in my thinking, that when something bad happens, we sometimes get stuck. When we get stuck in life, that’s not good for our heart, mind or health. We all need to forgive, forget and put the plow in the ground and keep moving forward in life. I encourage you to put whatever happened behind you and move forward. Keep the memories alive and keep dreaming and believing in the impossible.
        Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.

        It’s homecoming week at Montezuma. And it’s one of my favorite school activities to participate in as a community journalist.
         I’ve covered homecomings at Montezuma, BGM, Grinnell, English Valleys, HLV and a few others.
       There’s always plenty of fun activities going on at Montezuma including Lip Sync where students, teachers and parents perform skits to the cheers of a couple hundred students in the school auditorium.
      And Thursday night of Homecoming Week is Braves Night, where the king and queen are chosen and Darrell Brand, a former teacher, principal and school administrator, who is in his 80s, returns to pump up the crowd with the always popular Breakdown routine.
        And then of course there is the big game on Friday night.
        All the fun reminds me of back in the day when I was in middle and high school in the 1970s. 
       I may be outgoing and talkative these days, especially to total strangers, but when I was younger, I was much more quiet. I know, it’s hard to imagine J.O. being quiet at anything.
       I never considered myself popular in my teen years and wasn’t too involved in school activities either. I didn’t play sports, outside of a brief stint in ninth grade track and field, where I ran the mile.
       I did go out for football my sophomore year, but kept falling down while running spring drills and was sent home to try a different activity. Back in the day, in Oklahoma, high schools held spring practices like colleges do today.
      I do recall in middle school, or junior high as it was called in the 1970s, I participated in a skit in an assemble. I was a pretend motorcycle, complete with sound effects, and one of my classmates rode on my back as we crawled across the stage. It was a disaster and embarrassment!
       In middle school, I took woodworking and metals class. Oklahoma history was my favorite class during those early years. I also learned to type on an electric typewriter in ninth grade.
        There were no computers or cell phones back in the day, so I sometimes got in trouble for talking in class. I guess I wasn’t always quiet.
       In high school, I learned the printing trade through a vocational education program. I also took auto mechanics, where I got to work on my car. I never sang in the choir or played a band instrument. I did enjoy learning all about the human body.
        I had a handful of friends through the years I enjoyed hanging around with and sometimes got in trouble, but for the most part, I was a pretty good kid.
         When I was a junior, I took a drafting class. This was an old-fashioned class where I drew plans for a two-story house on a drafting board. The teacher didn’t care for me too much and said I talked too much. He once reported me to the dean of boys, who promptly called my mom to complain about my behavior.
        After sharing his thoughts, my mom told the dean that he should spend more time working on the students outside smoking between class and not worrying if I’m talking in class. I will always appreciate my mom’s love and willingness to stand up for me when she thought I was wronged.
         My advice to students these days - no matter your background, family, school involvement, what other people think and so on, you have the ability and talent to do great things in this world.
         No matter what career path you choose, give it your best, keep on dreaming, keep on beliveing and show up on time.
           But for now, enjoy school and enjoy homecoming week.
           Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.

       The state fair is in the books and it’s time to pencil in high school football, volleyball, cross country, homecoming, craft shows, maybe a fishing trip and other fall events in the calendar.
           But before I do that, there was one last hurrah to wrap up the summer of 2024.
           Attending the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion (OTR) in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Aug. 29 – Sept. 2.
        The Old Threshers Reunion is a favorite that Debbie and I and our family have been attending since 2007.
         I love the old steam engines and the nightly spark shows, the variety of tractors, horses, old-time farming demonstrations, small gas engines, antiques and music and entertainment. There’s the Log Village, electric trolly, steam trains, steam carousal, vendors, good food, camping and meeting new people, a favorite of mine.
       I first learned of the OTR while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia. I spent several years sweeping floors and cleaning toilets while earning my agricultural journalism degree.
          I was cleaning in Jesse Hall, the main administration building on the MU campus, when I found an OTR brochure on an employee’s desk. I found a copy machine and made a copy of the brochure and shared it with my folks back in Oklahoma.
           After moving to Iowa in December 1997, I first attended the OTR in 1999. At that time, my family on my mom’s side held a reunion on the even years in the Bootheel of Southeast Missouri that I attended on Labor Day weekend.
          I returned to the OTR a second time in 2001. In 2003, my dad and his friend, Roger, made the trek to Mount Pleasant from Tulsa, my hometown, and I met up with them and we stayed Saturday night at a motel in Keokuk. When the reunion is going on, it’s hard to find a place to stay.
          My dad ended up being featured on the annual OTR video that a local company produces each year. Debbie and I got my dad the video for Christmas that year and he was watching with Roger when he saw himself in the Log Village
          In 2008, Debbie and I released our second Iowa photo book, “Family Reunion – Midwest Old Threshers,” published that year.
         We worked with the now late Lennis Moore, CEO of the OTR at the time, and Terry McWilliams, then public relations of the OTR and now CEO, on the book project. The OTR still has a few books left at Vera’s in Museum A.
          And in April 2009, I participated in the OTR Steam School. I spent a weekend at the OTR learning all about steam engines and then on Sunday, the last day, had the opportunity with other steam school participants to fire up a steam engine and drive it on the grounds. It takes three to four people to drive one of the bemouth machine, most of which are more than 100-years-old. They are basically a boiler on steel wheels.
          That was quite an experience for a city boy driving a steam engine. I got the lug wheels stuck on the railroad track and had to get the owner to come get it unstuck. I’m glad the train wasn’t running that day.
        I also enjoy collecting OTR buttons. Every year since its founding in 1950, the OTR has produced a collector’s button. Some years there was a button and then a souvenir button.
            I have them all but 1950, 1951 and 1954, some of the rarest of buttons. They are also quite expensive, from $300 to more than $500 apiece for the old ones, unless someone is selling a collection for a song.
           I just purchased some older buttons from a seller in Grinnell, who used to live in Mount Pleasant. If you happen to have some antique OTR buttons stashed in the attic, let me know. I might be interested.
           Some of the best parts of attending the OTR, is meeting new people who come from all over the country to relive and take a journey into the past. And there are lots of young families spending a day or a few days at the reunion.
           And this year, most of my family members spent Thursday and Friday canvasing garage sales in the Mount Pleasant area and as far north as Crawfordsville. It was a lot of fun!
            I love garage selling and Debbie says it reminds her of her dad, Wayne, and all the sales he attended back in the day.
              It’s good to keep it in the family.
         I hope you enjoyed Labor Day. You might consider writing down a trip to Mount Pleasant and the Midwest OTR in 2025. It’s an experience you will never forget.
             Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.