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My first rock-in-roll LP was Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Platinum and Gold” that I purchased for $11 in 1981.
I had just purchased my first home stereo system that year. Previous to that, I had two old television speakers wired into the headphone jack of a Panasonic cassette tape player/recorder to listen to music. I was uptown with my new stereo system, which consisted of an Akai stereo receiver, Akai turntable, a Yamaha cassette tape player/recorder and two Norman Lab speakers. It seems like I paid around $900 for it all. The receiver and tape deck have since bit the dust, but I still have the turntable and the speakers. I had the speakers tested a few years ago and more than 40-years later, they still sound as good as gold. The turntable is stored away. I’m sure with the addition of a new needle and some tender loving care that she will be good to go. At the time, I was working nights on the janitor crew for a grocery/drug store chain in Tulsa called Skaggs Alpha Beta. I became friends with the deli cook who arrived at work at 4 a.m. daily. She was known as Mama Jane, a name she garnered as a restaurant owner in the Tulsa area. I would make my way to the deli kitchen on my break most mornings and dig into the bacon she was cooked on big pans in the oven. Mama Jane lived in west Tulsa with her only son. Her husband, who was in the military, passed away within a few years after they were married in the late 1950s. We became good friends and that friendship lasted many years, long after I moved from Tulsa in August 1992. And it all started over a pan of bacon. I often called Mama Jane and would visit for an hour or more. After moving from Tulsa, when I was in town, I always tried to stop and visit with her. The store I worked at in Tulsa had a stereo cabinet I wanted. One morning, Mama Jane was walking through a store aisle and I enthusiastically asked if I could show her the stereo cabinet I wanted. “I will buy it for you,” she said to my surprise as I showed her. She said she would bring the $50 on Monday and she did. I ended having to go to another Skaggs location in Tulsa to buy the stereo cabinet as the store I worked at was out of stock. And it happened to be on sale, so I had $10 left over. I offered to give Mama Jane the change, but she told me to by a record album. I visited Sound Warehouse in Tulsa and bought the Lynyrd Skynyrd album. Never underestimate how a small act of kindness can impact your life. She gave me something from her heart that was the beginning of a life-long relationship. At one point in my life, I had well over 100 albums. I spent a lot of money buying LPs at Sound Warehouse, Honest John’s Records and Tapes and Peaches, a chain record store that once had a location in Tulsa. They even had LPs at Skaggs. I don’t have any of my rock-n-roll albums these days as I sold most of them. However, I do have more than 100 Christian rock albums. Having grown up in the Southern Baptist Church, I thought the only music was hymns sang on Sunday morning. I good friend, Rob, who I grew up with, took me to a Sunday afternoon concert in one of Tulsa’s city parks to hear Sweet Comfort Band, a California-based Christian band that had put on a show the night before at Oral Roberts University. It was a great show and I bought the band’s first album, “Breaking the Ice,” which I still have to this day. I saw them and other Christian bands in concert a number of times through the years. I’m glad to see the resurgence of vinyl, as it is called these days. It’s great to relieve the memories of listening to music of my time period. There’s nothing better than an LP spinning on a turntable and reliving memories. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.
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I call it a wave of patriotism flowing across this great nation and I witnessed it first-hand last week.
I joined up with a group of men and women with the Montezuma American Legion Post 169 and its Auxiliary and traveled to the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, April 25 with camera in hand and a bit of excitement in my heart. I was there to welcome home three veterans from Montezuma, Ron Curry, his son-in-law, Jim Failor and Dan Cook, who had participated in the #46 Eastern Iowa Honor Flight that day. Ron’s two daughters, Sue Failor and Kim Huth, were chaperons for Ron and Jim. Ron’s grandson was also present to greet him in Cedar Rapids. Dan’s son was his guardian on the flight. His wife, Nancy, and a grandson were there to meet them. I also met a couple from Grinnell that evening as I was leaving the airport. I wasn’t sure if they had participated in the flight or were there to support the veterans. They recognized me and it was nice visiting. There were hundreds of people of all ages who came to show their support for our nation’s veterans. Many carried and waved American Flags while others held signs and banners welcoming back their veteran grandfather, father, mother, son, daughter, or family member. The Cedar Valley Big Band from Cedar Falls was on hand providing music while some couples enjoyed dancing. One couple I met was from Welton, Iowa and they were dressed in 50s outfits and they knew how to swing to the tunes. I watched as photographers jockeyed for the best place to get that heartfelt moment of appreciation and thanks while honor flight staff and law officials milled about to make sure everyone had a safe experience. I captured a few moments with my camera of local legion members shaking hands and thanking the veterans, most they didn’t know, who had just returned from the long day spent in Washington, D.C. seeing the sights of our nation’s capital. “Thank you for your service” could be heard ringing out across the airport lobby as the entourage of veterans made their way in wheelchairs and by foot through the long line of supporters and family members who came to show their support. KCRG in Cedar Rapids reported that there were nearly 100 veterans on Tuesday’s flight. Their trip to Washington, D.C. included visiting WWII, FDR, MLK, Lincoln, Korean War, Vietnam, Arlington National Cemetery, USMC and USAF memorials. The veterans were also taken on a city tour where they were able to see the Smithsonian, Capitol, White House and various other historical buildings. The Eastern Iowa Honor Flight, which is a non-profit 501(C)3 charitable organization, was founded in 2009. Some of the men in our group had participated themselves in the #45 Eastern Iowa Honor Flight in November 2022 and others in previous flights. They knew what it was like to return home and be welcomed by so many. It was a heartfelt evening of patriotism and something that I will never forget. I’m a firm believer that this country needs more of that these days. I miss the days when there wasn’t so much division in this country, especially in our nation’s capital. There is always someone pointing a finger of blame on someone else. This reminds of June 11, 2022 and the dedication of the Harold “Pie” Keller monument at the Avenue of Flags in Brooklyn. That event was a showcase of patriotism like I had never seen. Tuesday’s event was right up there with it. I’m thankful for the privilege to participate in events such as the “Pie” Keller Memorial dedication and the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight and for the opportunity to share the stories of the men and women who have and who serve this great country. Thank you for your service and sacrifice. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. I was a bit nervous, and had dreamed the night before that I fell asleep during my presentation.
But once I got rolling, all was good and my presentation on feature writing to a group of 120 fourth graders at Davis Elementary in Grinnell on Monday, April 17 went off without a hitch. And I made it through without falling asleep at the wheel. The presentation came about after I wrote an article in this publication on a food drive that a group of third and fourth graders at Davis held earlier this year. The students set a goal to collect 500 food items and ended up collecting more than 1,800 food items. That’s news worth printing! One of the teachers at Davis, April Gosselink-Lemke, reached out to me to ask if I might be interested in talking with the students about feature writing. Original plans were to do it by zoom, but being a people person, I offered to come to the school and share in person. Debbie put together a power point to make my presentation go smoother. I typically talk off the cuff, so having a power point helped keep me on track during the 30-minute presentation. A number of students asked me questions or made general comments. Some said they knew me from the Poweshiek County Fair. One young fellow asked if his 102-year-old great-grandfather would make a great feature story. “That would be a great feature,” I told the young man. I’ve worked with young people and 4-H’ers for years helping them improve their photography skills, but to be able to share what I know and have learned about writing features was like icing on cake. It’s also a testament to the goodness of God. I’ve mentioned in the past in this column that I barley passed high school English. For me to return to college in my early 30s and attend and graduate from one of the top journalism programs in the world at the University of Missouri-Columbia is a miracle. It took me three tries to pass the 100-question grammar test. I had to score 80 or better to pass. Thanks to hours of tutoring, studying and believing in myself, I passed with an 82, and on my 36th birthday. I did not have the grades to get into journalism school. I needed at least a 3.0 GPA and I had a 2.5 GPA So, I wrote a letter to the School of Journalism Dean, pleading my case. I shared how I was a returning non-traditional student and that I was working my way through college. At the time, I was working nights as a custodian on the MU campus. I asked an advisor in the Ag Journalism program at MU to help me with my letter. I didn’t have a lap top, so I would walk to one of the computer labs, sign in and work on my letter. After printing out a copy, I checked out and then walked back to the ag school to talk about my letter with the advisor. This went on several times before finalizing the letter, which I hand delivered to the School of Journalism Dean’s Office. A few days later, I received a phone call that I had been accepted into the journalism school. What an open door of opportunity. Prior to journalism school, I was required to take extensive writing course in the History of American Journalism, which was a challenge in itself. I was also required to complete a news writing course, which I did in the summer of 1995. I was so nervous at the start of the course, but I kept going and didn’t give up. I was required to get a “C” in the course. I believe I received a “B-.” I was told early on that if you get a “C” in journalism school, you were doing great. I actually did a little better than that. I’m looking forward to more opportunities to share my God-given talents to encourage and help others, both young and old. No matter your background, your experiences, who your family is, how much money you have, what others think and a host of other roadblocks, if you believe, apply yourself, don’t give up, anything is possible. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. We have a number of animals at our country home northwest of Montezuma and enjoy each one of them.
There’s Rex, our dog, and Harmony, Gazer and Sophie, our three mini horses. We also have a host of kitties, including Oscar, our outdoor Tom, who keeps the mice at bay. And inside we have Smokey, our beloved long-time kitty that arrived as a stray in December 2007. Smokey was a gift from God. In June of 2007, Debbie had lost her beloved cat, Squirty, who passed while we were on vacation with my folks in Branson for their 50th wedding anniversary. God filled the void when Smokey showed up at our door. By day two, we were feeding him leftovers and by day three, he was inside the garage and the next day, inside the house. And he’s been here ever since. He’s such a precious kitty and loves to take afternoon naps on my lap while I take an afternoon snooze. He enjoys his toy bananas with nip and sleeping at the foot of our bed. Then there’s Gizmo, a Siamese kitty, also a stray, who we took in after she showed up at our door in December 2013. Gizmo loves being petted and given belly rubs. Smokey arrived fixed and we had Gizmo fixed. We decided to take the stitches out ourselves. I held Gizmo upside down on my lap while Debbie carefully cut and removed the stitches. That made for a few tense moments. And I can’t forget about Sooner, our wild child kitty who drives Debbie crazy when she goes behind our television and crawls around the top of the kitchen cabinets and gets into other mischief. She and Smokey sometimes chases Gizmo around the house. Gizmo typically doesn’t back down and that can mean some tense moments Sooner was abandoned by her momma and Debbie bottled fed her until she was able to eat on her own. We’ve had our three horses since August 2016. We learned about them from a friend who saw them for sale on Facebook. We bought them from a family near Van Horne who had 24 mini horses for sale. We picked out the three that we wanted. Gazer, the only male mini, was once a show horse. He has the prettiest mane. Harmony is the biggest of the three minis and could probably qualify as pony. Sophie is loveable as are the other two horses. When Debbie opens the gate to let the minis graze on our small pasture, it’s fun to watch them run and jump about. And she has them trained well. When they are in the pasture, all Debbie has to do is shake the food container and yell their names and they come running. We don’t show the horses, just enjoy them. Debbie checks them and makes sure they have hay and food to eat. We feed them square bales because our mini horses love to eat, so you can’t put a big bale out or they would eat so much they would get foundered. And Rex, our chocolate lab, has been a part of our lives since November 2010. We bought Rex through a silent auction from a local family at Montezuma Schools that year. Rex is a good boy and loves being petted and having water sprayed on him on hot summer days. We have a Rubbermaid tub filled with water for him to take a dip in on occasion. Debbie does 99 percent of the work when comes to taking care of our animals. She’s really good with the animals and loves and cares for each of them. I call our hay guy when the supply gets low and pick up feed or other supplies when needed. I need to be better about going out and petting Rex and checking out the horses and giving Oscar a rubdown. He loves a good rubdown. Everyone needs an animal of some kind and we are blessed with some loveable ones. They are all precious and gifts from God. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. With storms brewing in late March and early April, the biggest concern in the Parker house was parking our van in the garage.
The garage is big enough, but instead of the van, there is stuff - lots of stuff. This makes parking the van inside next to impossible. I’m big on recycling cardboard boxes and sometimes I let them pile up in the garage before taking them to the recycle center. In addition to owning a cardboard factory, there are a number of other plastic tubs, boxes of stuff, tools, yard equipment, yard decorations and more stuff taking up a majority of the garage. If you have stuff, you might be a packrat. When the first round of storms rolled through Poweshiek County on Friday, March 31, Debbie, who was not feeling the best at the time, become concerned when the weather folks started talking about hail – big hail. “I think we should try and get the van in the garage,” she said. I agreed, but was also a bit under the weather and cleaning the garage in the next 15-minutes while a steam train of tornados and hail were on the horizon was not at the top of my to-do list. Debbie made an attempt, but cleaning can be an overwhelming task. I do appreciate her concern and efforts. Thankfully the storms passed with only a minor bout of pea size hail. Well, then comes Tuesday, April 4. I had been napping while Mother Nature was working outside to send round two of nasty weather our way. Again, Debbie, who by this time was feeling better, asked about parking the van in the garage when reports of hail and high winds were forecast for our area. Like Debbie, I was feeling better, so I said, “Let’s check it out.” We both dug in and 15-minutes later, we had the piles neatly arranged in bigger piles, opening a spot for the van. I pulled the van in the garage and was about 6-inches short of closing the door. There wasn’t much more I could do, so I hit the gas and pushed the wall of boxes, tubs and trashcans forward enough to get inside the garage. I had to walk outside around the van before closing the garage door. That is close, folks. Task accomplished and we did it together. We didn’t throw anything away, we just arranged how it was stacked. Of course, the storm, at least in Montezuma, didn’t do anything and we are thankful for that. When I headed out on Wednesday for work, a pile boxes had collapsed on the van. One was even stuck to the hood. Cleaning is a never ending project. There’s always something that needs cleaning from the toilet to well, the entire house. Our goal this summer is to clean the garage and the house. We hope to hold at least one, if not two, garage sales. We have lots of stuff and a great garage sale in the works. I’m hoping people will visit our garage sale and buy some of our stuff. Then I will be able to get the van in the garage – or fill it up with more stuff. Life is full of storms, challenges and more. My advice is to find the positive, work together to find a solution, put your hand to the plow and keep moving forward. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. It’s early Spring, my face is sunburned and I have aches and pains from being seated on a bleacher for more than eight hours. But, it was time well spent as Debbie and I enjoyed watching the Iowa State Cyclones play the number #1 OU Sooners in softball in Ames, March 24 - 25.
The Sooners visit Ames every other year and Debbie and I have attended at least two games of the three game set each of the last four times the Sooners were in Iowa. We arrived in Ames around 2 p.m. on Friday and headed straight for the stadium. There was no time to check into our hotel as we might not get a seat. We were surprised to find that the two big gates in front of the stadium were shut. After witnessing a fan open one of the gates and go through, we decided to follow and head into the stadium, too. The stadium quickly filled up within 30-minutes of our arrival. Most of the crowd was OU fans that came from all across Iowa and neighboring states. I talked with several fans and they thought nothing of driving several hours so their little girl or team could watch the back-to-back national champions play ball. There was group of parents and their children, all from Western Iowa, who were seated in front of us. Many of the young girls, around age 8, had made signs proclaiming their love for the Oklahoma players and the team. One sign read, “I play now for my team so someday I can play for OU.” Another sign read, “I am Jayda Coleman’s biggest fan.” Around the fifth inning, the young girl excitedly ran back to her parents and exclaimed, that Jayda, an outfielder for the Sooners, read her sign and waved at her. All the girls carried softballs with Sharpie pins hoping to get autographs from the players and coaches after the game. The Sooners struggled a bit on Friday, winning game one, 3-0, in seven innings. We heard later that evening that it was the second biggest crowd in stadium history. After arriving at our hotel, Debbie looked out our room window to discover that the Sooners were staying in the hotel across the road. On Saturday morning, after watching the Sooners prepare to the load the bus for game day, we decided it was time to head to the stadium. Even though we arrived two hours before the game set to start at 1 p.m., we found a long line waiting to get into the stadium. There were also several tailgaters sporting OU flags, grills, lawn chairs and yard games in the parking lot. I spoke with one of the tailgaters and they hailed from Iowa, but love the Sooners. We quickly parked and got in line. By the time the gates opened 45-minutes later, the line had more than doubled and stretched all the way across the street from the stadium. When the gates opened, Debbie took off carrying our OU blanket we use for a cushion to grab a seat. I couldn’t keep up with her as people in line behind me passed as I moved my legs as fast as they would carry me. We could not believe the crowd as fans quickly filled the stadium to standing room only capacity, breaking Friday’s record and shattering the all-time stadium attendance record. There was an estimated 1,715 fans at Saturday’s games. That doesn’t count the fans outside the stadium. People were standing in the stadium aisles while others found a seat in the upper deck walkways or on top of the concrete dugouts and wherever they could. After waiting about an hour, it was game time. It was a beautiful day for a couple softball games – warm and sunny with a nice breeze. Iowa State went up early, 2-0, in game two before the Sooners got the bats cracking, scoring a grand slam and several single homeruns, winning the game, 13-3, in five-inning run-rule fashion. And not to leave Iowa State out of the mix, the Cyclones Lea Nelson come in to pinch hit in the bottom of the fourth inning and hit her first collegiate home run off of Sooner pitcher, Nicole May. It’s a memory she will never forget. The Cyclones also made several double plays and big catches in the outfield while playing tough in all three games, in spite of being unable to score many points. On the flip side, every time the Sooners scored a homerun, the team would look into the stands and yell, “Boomer,” at which the fans would yell back, “Sooner.” This was repeated two more times. At the end of game one, I made my way to the concession stand only to wait more than 30-minutes in a long line to buy two hot dogs and a couple cold drinks, arriving back at my seat just in time for game two. The second game of the double header Saturday was much of what happened in game one as the Sooners went up 8-0 in the top the first inning. OU sophomore pitcher, Jordy Bahl, a Nebraska native, kept the Cyclones scoreless with the Sooners winning, 10-0, in five-innings to take all three games to none. We saw Chris Plank, the voice of Sooner softball at the games. We thought about asking him for a photo with us, but didn’t get the chance. When listening to OU games on the radio, Debbie often tweets our names and we sometimes hear Chris read on air - “Debbie and J.O. Parker are listening in from Montezuma, Iowa.” Afterwards, we waited in the grassy area outside the stadium and watched as the players and coaches signed autographs and had pictures taken with the fans. It was there that we discovered that the large group seated behind us was the parents and family of OU’s Alex Storako of Frankfort, Ill. Alex played softball at Michigan for four years before transferring to Oklahoma for her super senior season. She crossed the barrier set up at the stadium to give her mom a hug and have photos taken with family and friends. We topped off the day with a stop at Culvers in Newton before heading home to Montezuma. The best part of the trip was spending time with Debbie enjoying something we love together. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. I was invited earlier this year to judge at my first 4-H fair in 2023.
I’m headed southeast to Keokuk County to judge photography at the 2023 Keokuk County Expo in Sigourney on July 10. This will be my third time judging at that fair. The first time was in 2019, when I judged photos and creative arts. I returned in 2020, this time judging entries without the 4-H’ers due to Covid-19. I enjoy judging 4-H photography and hope to have the chance to judge at one or two more fairs this year. I have judged 4-H photography in 11 different counties including Linn (Central City), Johnson (Iowa City), Washington (Washington), Keokuk County (Sigourney), Mahaska (Oskaloosa), Davis (Bloomfield), Poweshiek (Grinnell), Iowa (Marengo), Benton (Vinton), Warren (Indianola) and Marion (Knoxville) counties. I started judging in 2012 thanks to the encouragement of Cathy Lents at the Poweshiek County Extension Office. I took a judging course through Iowa State University Extension in November 2011. I have judged at county fairs every year outside of 2014. I judged at the Iowa State Fair in 2019. That was a different experience. At county fairs, I get to talk with the 4-H’ers. At the state fair, it is just me and the photo. That is a bit more challenging as I had to write down my thoughts on a forum given back to the 4-H’er. I would much rather talk with the 4-H’er in person. I have also held several 4-H photography workshops and also offered photo editing to help young people get ready for the county fair. I am always willing to help young people with their photography and 4-H projects. I don’t know it all, but I am willing to share what do know. Send me a message on Facebook and I will try and help. I have also judged open class photos at Poweshiek County for about 8 years and also in Iowa County a couple times. The Missouri Photo Workshop In 2003, I was able to participate in the Missouri Photo Workshop in Louisiana, Mo. The workshop, which is sponsored by the University of Missouri-Columbia, brings upwards to 40 photographers with all skill levels to a small Missouri town each year. The goal for each photographer is to find a subject and then a vehicle (subject) to tell the story. The workshop was founded in 1949 by the now late Clifton C. Edom, who taught photography at the MU School of Journalism. Edom was inspired by the gritty, content-rich photographs of the documentary photo unit of the pre-WWII Farm Security Administration (FSA). FSA director Roy Stryker and photographer Russell Lee worked closely with Edom in the creation of the workshop and served as faculty members during its early years. The workshop features judges from the National Geographic to major newspapers and magazines across the nation. I had two judges. One was with Sunset magazine in Oregon and the other judge was a long-time photographer and editor with the Louisville Courier newspapers in Kentucky. My focus was on community service and my subject was one of the Louisiana Police Department officers whose beat was the public schools. I rode in the police cruiser and took photos in the schools as the officer dealt with issues needing the attention of a law official. I got to know the officer quite well in the process. My photo story won the Spirit of the Workshop Award. At the end of the week, town residents are invited to a community showing of all the photographer’s work. It was a great experience and was made possible thanks to scholarship. If you would like to learn more about the workshop, visit https://missouriphotoworkshop.org. No matter what your talent or skill level is, I want to encourage you to get involved and help make life better for others. Sometimes the small things you do in life make the biggest difference. And if there is something you want to do or participate in, take a step and apply. Doors of opportunity are always swinging open. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. Growing up, my parents always taught me the importance of respecting my elders.
It was always Mr. or Mrs., never calling someone older than me by their first name. If I called an elder by their first name, I was sure to get in trouble. I chuckle sometimes these days when I hear kids calling their parents by their first names instead of Mom and Dad. There were things we did in our lives back in the day that seem to be a lost art these days. My mom never wore a pant suit to church. She always wore a dress, even for the mid-week service. My dad always wore a suit with a tie on Sunday mornings, as did most men in the church. He wore greasy work clothes to his factory job during the week, but when it came to church, he was clean shaven and donned a nice suit. God doesn’t condemn folks for wearing a pant suit or shorts and a T-shirt to church. My folks, especially my mom, lived by the creed of putting your best foot forward and wearing the nicest clothes you owned to church. It didn’t make them better people or more Christian, it was a way of life. My dad always carried a pocketful of napkins everywhere he went. On Sundays, he would wrap up his billfold and comb in a napkin to keep any grease from his work clothes from getting on his suit. Today, like my dad, I carry napkins in my pockets and sometimes forget to take them out and they ended being washed. My Tulsa neighbors to the south where Mr. and Mrs. Watson. I would have expected to get my backside swatted had I called them Frank and Lucille. The couple had a son named Johnnie who was about 10 years older than me and lived in California. The Watsons gave me an Argus twin-lens reflex camera in the early 1970s that Johnnie had as a youngster. I got my start in photography using that camera and still have it to this day. Mr. Watson was a Ford car man. He loved his LTDs. Our narrow driveways were next to each other and were divided by a strip of grass. The strip was maybe three foot across at the street and got wider as it went toward our detached garages. Mr. Watson’s LTD was wider than his driveway, so he had to drive in the strip of grass, which created a mud hole. After work, my dad would go behind our garage and dig up a patch of sod and fill the holes and then water everything down, trying to get grass to grow. It never did any good as here came Mr. Watson, sloshing his way out to the street. One day I was asking for it when my dad told me not to ride my bicycle through his mud hole, as I called it. Here I come to test that theory and rode right through his mud hole. Dad grabbed me off my bicycle and proceeded to tan my hide. It’s the only time I remember my dad doing anything like that. It was usually my mom who ran the roost and took control of spanking my butt when I erred in life. In the early 1960s, my folks had the kitchen remodeled. They had two pantries on either side of the refrigerator and inside one of them, my mom drew a circle just a little bit higher than my nose. When I got in trouble, which I did on occasion, I would have to stand on my toes and stick my nose in that circle for what seemed like an eternity. It probably wasn’t more than 10 minutes. My mom wanted me to learn how to play the piano. It was her dream as a kid growing up in Missouri to play the piano, but my grandparents were too poor to own a piano. When I was a youngster, mom baby sat some neighbor girls and a cousin and earned enough money to buy a piano. I started taking lessons in the second grade with an older cousin on my mom’s side of the family. I progressed to take lessons from Mrs. Murry in west Tulsa. I went on to participate in several recitals where I performed Handel's “Hallelujah Chorus,” twice, the Beatle’s “Let it Be,” and “Joy to the World,” by Three Dog Night. I didn’t stay with the piano as I would rather spend my evenings and summers running around outside with the neighbor kids and school chums. I have no regrets, just lots of good memories growing up in a loving, caring family who molded me into the man I am today. I will always be thankful to my parents for working so hard to give me and my brother, Tom, the best they could. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. I pulled in my driveway last Tuesday and noticed the passenger side rear tire going flat.
“I think the tire is going flat,” I told Debbie as I stepped into the garage while taking a double look at the tire. With only one vehicle in the Parker household, a flat tire puts a halt everything. Thanks to my family, I was able to hitch a ride to and from work on Wednesday and got my tire fixed in the process. Flat tires are part of life. I put them in the category of running out gas a mile from the station. I’ve done that several times, including when I was moving to Iowa from Oklahoma after accepting the editor’s position at the North English Record. I ran out of gas on Interstate 44 four miles from Joplin. After calling the Missouri Highway Patrol road service and waiting for an hour, I ended up walking to a nearby rest area and calling for auto road service a second time through my insurance company. The highway patrol offered to call for me and the officer gave the tow company wrong directions. After three plus hours, I was back on the road and made it to Kansas City. Back in my days of youth, I was job hunting in my hometown of Tulsa and ran out of gas. I had $3 in my pocket and a gas can in my trunk. I walked to a neighborhood gas station and used my last dime to get all the gas I could. Back in the late 70s, $3 would almost fill up your tank. I remember gas wars where gas was 19 cents or less per gallon. That’s a far cry from $3 plus gas prices today and nearly $5 a gallon a year ago. More than once the low gas light has come on in our van. It’s my own fault. There is something about pulling into a station and filling up the van with a half a tank of gas. That’s enough gas to get to work for a couple more days. Debbie often reminds me of the time when we were on our way for a weekend get-a-way to Hannibal, Mo. It was late and we were rolling south along Highway 61 in Missouri when I realized we were almost out of gas. Thankfully, we found a gas station a few miles down the road and I was able to top off the tank and arrive safely in Hannibal. Another time, I was in the Bootheel of Southeast Missouri doing a story for the Missouri Magazine at Lamberts Café in Sikeston while in journalism school. I forgot to top off my tank and ran out of gas on Highway 60 between Sikeston and Dexter. God sent a couple hillbilly angels along to help me out. I got in their old beater and wondered if I would get out of alive. It all worked out as they took me to a nearby town and got me some gas and helped me get on the road again. At least running out of gas or getting flat tire is better than smashing into one of the thousands of Iowa’s deer lurking in the road ditches. I’ve hit four deer since moving to this fine state. The first came in the spring of 2001 shortly after moving to Montezuma from North English. I was on my way to a playoff basketball game at English Valleys when a big buck rolled out of the ditch and smashed into my company van by the East Iowa Bible Camp near Millersburg. I just kept on driving. I stopped in Millersburg to check out the damage. I could barely open the drivers’ side door, but the old girl was still running and nothing was leaking. The second time came as Debbie and I returned home from our honeymoon to the Great Smoky Mountains in October 2004. A big buck hit us by the Highway 63 entrance to Diamond Lake. That was an insurance nightmare that I don’t want to repeat. All I can say is, if you rent a car, buy the overpriced insurance. I’ve hit a couple deer on the Ewart Road. One in March 2019 on the way home from an indoor track meet and a second one in September 2021 on the way to work. My brother-in-law straightened out the big dent and we replaced the headlight and all is good with the world. Our van has 223,000 plus miles on it and it keeps on going, dents an all, like the Energizer Bunny. Life can presents lots of challenges far greater than running out of gas, getting a flat tire or even hitting a deer. When that happens, my advice is to dig into your heart, keep believing, keep praying and keep on walking. The future is looking bright! Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. My hat goes off to the young people at the Poweshiek County Schools who participate in sports and other school activities.
No matter if you are a starter or sit on the bench, your hard work and dedication is much appreciated. Everything you do makes the team better. And thanks to the parents and family members who haul kids to practice a make sure they show up on time and have clean uniforms, shoes and whatever else they need. And thanks to all the coaches, assistant coaches and volunteers who spend hours coaching and working with young people making them better. And thanks to the students for going to practice and playing your hearts out each and every game. It’s a joy for me as a journalist to be at the games and school events taking photos and supporting the teams and events. Both Montezuma teams had great seasons on the hardwood as did the Grinnell Lady Tigers. The Braves lost in the district semifinal round to a tough Baxter team, 82-69. The Bravettes lost in the regional championship round to a good North Linn Lynx team, 69-40. And the Grinnell Lady Tigers also made it to the district final round, falling to Vinton-Shellsburg, 52-43, in Class 3A action. And there were five wrestlers who advanced to state from the three area schools. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the sport you love I don’t want to leave out speech and drama, FFA, school plays, music concerts, honor choirs, honor bands and so much more. I always enjoy promoting what the area young people are doing and their many successes, no matter if it is sports, academics or extracurricular activities. Outside of a brief stint running the mile in ninth grade, I didn’t participate in sports. I do remember one race that featured three ninth graders and two seventh graders. I ran my heart out and finished third in my grade. I was ahead of the second place finisher for three laps. I had some kick at the end, but it just wasn’t enough to catch him. I got a ribbon and I couldn’t have been happier to have finished the race. I went out for football my junior year, but didn’t make the cut. In the 1970s, Oklahoma high schools held spring drills. My good friend, David, and I showed up at the spring meeting our sophomore year. Some of the big football players laughed when we walked in the room. We didn’t pay it no mind as we were there to try. David had played football in junior high. I had not played before. Neither of us made the team. I kept falling down during drills and the coach sent me home. I went out for basketball in junior high and didn’t make the team. I was big, but not coordinated enough to play the game. And I played baseball in second grade, but spent more time star gazing then looking for the ball. I think I was scared of the ball. I do remember that when we won a game, we all got a cold Pepsi in the bottle. I enjoy high school sports, but also like college sports. My favorites are football, basketball and softball. Debbie and I enjoy watching softball and are OU Sooner fans. We are looking forward to going to watch the Sooners in late March when they play at ISU in Ames. We’ve seen OU in Ames three previous times. Two years ago, we met Paige Lowary at the game and got her autograph and had our picture taken with her. Lowary, who played her prep career at Dallas Center Grimes, started her college career at the University of Missouri-Columbia (2015-16), where she played two seasons before transferring to Oklahoma and helping led the Sooners to a second national championship in as many years in 2017. We hope she will be there again this year. I also had a chance to get OU Softball Coach Patty Gasso’s autograph at a game at ISU. After the end of one of the games, I saw her by the dugout and called her name. She came over and talked with me and autographed a softball and Sooner cap. Our dream is to attend the College World Series in June in Oklahoma City down the road. And soon it will be March Madness and basketball craziness in the Parker house. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. |
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