|
It was Christmas Eve 1997. I can still see my dad standing in the kitchen of his and my mom’s log cabin on a small acreage south of Tulsa, Okla.
I had just hung up the telephone after talking with my photojournalism teacher at the University of Missouri-Columbia about taking a job at the North English Record. “Take the job,” my dad said to me as I stood there. “Isn’t that what you went back to school for?” I took his advice and called Alan Sieve at Marengo Publishing Company (MPC) to accept the offer that I had received earlier in the day. Later that day, my mom and dad were in the kitchen when my dad asked me if a thousand would do? “A thousand what?” I replied. “A $1,000 to help you get started,” Dad said. That was a like a breath of fresh air. I didn’t have a dollar to my name. I had finished school at age 37 that fall after wrapping up a couple incomplete courses at MU. I had moved back to Oklahoma in October while looking for a job. I spent about a month of that time riding shotgun with my brother in his semi-truck. I slept in the truck and ate at greasy spoon diners and truck stops along the way. We hauled furniture from Tulsa to St. Louis, Denver, Omaha and even Royal, Iowa, a small-town near Spencer. We stopped in the twin cities and rolled through Chicago, Cleveland and ended up in Maine and New York City. After returning to Tulsa, we hit the road again, this time to pick up a load north of Detroit and take it back to the Sooner State. We made a stop in Princeton, Ill., to stay the evening with a friend, who I had met in Tulsa before going back to school, and his family. That evening, Tom and I called home and my mom told me that Sieve had called earlier in the day looking for me. The next day, I called Sieve and he asked if I was interested in the North English Record editor position. I told him yes. Sieve then said he knew I was on the road (per my mom) and wanted to know when we could have an interview. I looked at Tom and said, “How about this afternoon?” Tom and I pulled into the Landmark Restaurant in Williamsburg a few hours later where I met with Sieve and the Williamsburg Journal-Tribune editor for an interview in a Ford Focus. They were asking questions while giving me a tour of North English. I was hired a week later on Christmas Eve. I rolled out of Tulsa on Dec. 27 that year with a few belongings in my truck headed for my new home and a new adventure. Most of my belongings were in a storage facility in Ashland, Mo., where I lived in college. All I had was a credit card for gas. Had my parents not given me that money, I don’t know how I would have made it. They were always so good to me and my brother. I’ve been in Iowa for 25 years this month. I spent nearly 18 years of that time working at the North English Record, Montezuma Republican, Brooklyn Chronicle, which included covering Victor, and the Poweshiek County CR papers. Today, I work a day job near Grinnell and since November 2018, I have been doing freelance work for the CR paper. I met my wife, Debbie, at the Iowa State Fair in 2003 while doing a story on State Fair Campers from the Montezuma area. We were married just more than a year later on Sept. 25, 2004. I was a day from turning 45 and hadn’t been married before. We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary in September. We bought a house together in November 2006 and have made a home in the years since. We’ve published four books, two Iowa photo books and two romantic suspense novels by Debbie in recent years. Her third book in the series is at the editor and she has books four, five and six in the series awaiting editing. She’s also written a Christmas book that she hopes to publish next year. I never had any idea growing up in the big city that I would move to small-town Iowa, meet my wife, buy a house and find my passion. I’ve written hundreds of stories and took thousands of photos and believe that I have made more friends than enemies along the way. It all started after I won a 35mm camera in a weight loss bet with a co-worker at the Tulsa newspapers in 1983. I started taking adult photo classes at a local community college, which led me to Rogers State College (now university) in August 1987. While at RSC, where I earned an AAS degree in graphics technology, I got the bug to continue my educational pursuits and landed at MU. I hadn’t taken an ACT test and barely passed high school English and still got into one of the top journalism schools in the world. I worked my through college, first with the US Postal Service as a part-time casual clerk at the Columbia Mail Facility and later as a custodian on the MU campus. I always said I cleaned lots of toilets and swept my way through journalism school. Thank you all for supporting me, encouraging me, sharing story ideas and helping me along my life’s adventures. And thanks to Debbie for believing and loving me just as I am. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.
0 Comments
I hope you enjoyed a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends.
After enjoying a tasty meal of ham, green beans and mushroom casserole, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, hot rolls and an array of pies and snacks, I settled into the lazy chair in my sister-in-law’s mother’s home in Colfax. It was late in the afternoon and the Dallas Cowboys were taking on the New York Giants in the annual Thanksgiving Day game. According to historical records, namely the internet, Dallas has played on Thanksgiving Day since 1966. Only two years did the Cowboys not play on turkey day. In 1975 and 1977, then NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle swapped out Dallas for the St. Louis Cardinals in an attempt to boost that franchise’s national exposure. I’ve been a Cowboy fan for many years and eagerly await the team’s return to the Super Bowl. When I was a youngster in middle school, or junior high as it was known back then, I was a Miami Dolphins fan. It might have been because my PE teacher was a Redskins fan. In high school and for several years afterwords, I enjoyed following the Houston Oilers as I loved to watch Earl Campbell, a Texas Longhorn product, run the ball. In the early 1980s, I switched my alliance to the Washington Redskins (now known as the Commanders). I always enjoyed watching John Riggins, a fullback with the Redskins. He was a bruiser. In September 1985, I attended a Monday Night game at Texas Stadium when the Redskins took on and hammered the Cowboys. The next day, I had the opportunity to meet the Redskins mascot, who was staying in the same motel where I stayed. I was able to purchase some Redskins memorabilia, including a Hog T-shirt named after what was affectionally called the most notorious offensive line ever, a hat and ink pen and several other items. A couple years later, I attended a Cowboy’s Monday Night game in the old Texas Stadium against the New York Giants. The Cowboys had signed Herschel Walker at the running back position. Walker was a former Georgia Bulldog who won the Heisman Trophy his junior year and went on to play three years in the USFL (United States Football League) with the New Jersey Generals before coming over to the NFL side. Ironically, my hometown of Tulsa supported a USFL team, the Oklahoma Outlaws, in the 1980s. They played their home games at Skelly Stadium on the campus of Tulsa University, which was about one-half mile from my boyhood home. I enjoyed watching Doug Williams play quarterback while he was in Tulsa. He went on to play for the Redskins and win the 1988 Super Bowl. After watching Walker led the Cowboys to a win in that Monday Night game, I have been following the Cowboys ever since. I’ve never been to the new AT&T Stadium in Dallas, but have attended seven games at the old Texas Stadium. Five of those games were on Thanksgiving Day. The other two on Monday Night. My brother went with me all five years on Thanksgiving Day. We enjoyed games against the Minnesota Vikings, Houston Oilers, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers. Dallas lost the first three and won the last two of the five games we attended. The Cowboys have gone 31-22-1 on Thanksgiving Day since starting its holiday tradition nearly 60 years ago. Their best Thanksgiving stretch came in the early 1980s, as they set a franchise record by winning six straight Turkey Day games from 1980 to 1985. I got to see games when Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson coached the Cowboys and watched players such as Danny White, Gary Hogeboom and Troy Aikman at the quarterback position, Emmitt Smith at running back and Michael Irvin at wide receiver. Aikman went on to led the Cowboys to three super bowls, the last for Dallas. We drove from Tulsa to Dallas and always stayed at the Red Roof Inn near the DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) Airport, the same motel where I had earlier met the Redskins mascot. Our trips typical included a stop at Dave and Busters, an arcade delight and fun place to visit, and we ate at various hamburger joints and restaurants. At least once, we made the trip to Fort Worth to visit the Museum of Science and History and Omni Theater. If you are ever in Fort Worth, it’s worth visiting. In addition to the Cowboys, I have attended three Kansas City Chiefs games. I saw the Cleveland Browns, Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos take on the Chiefs. I don’t recall who won the games. I haven’t attended an NFL game in the years since. I returned to college in August 1992 and the budget wouldn’t afford me the opportunity. Some years ago, I toured the old Texas Stadium and visited Valley Ranch, the former home and training facility of the Cowboys back in the day. That facility is long gone and the team is now based in Frisco, Texas. The Cowboys have a pretty good record this year. Maybe they will get it done and make it back to the big dance. If not, I still have lots of good memories of watching football games in Texas Stadium with my brother on Thanksgiving Day. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. |
Archives
November 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed