January Connection 2019

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A Magazine Dedicated to Southwest Missourians

January 2019

Outdoors All Around Glenn Fields’ original decor

Being Heard Children’s grief awareness

Health Hut HEALING touch

High Hopes Setting Goals for kids

Beyond

Dreams Cassville Youth Defies Imagination

2 | January 2019

www.edwardjones.com A magazine dedicated to Southwest Missourians

general manager Lisa Craft monettcommunity@gmail.com EDITOR Kyle Troutman editor@cassville-democrat.com ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Sheila Harris James Craig Marion Chrysler CONTRIBUTORS Murray Bishoff Meagan Ruffing Lisa Ramirez Darlene Wierman Melonie Roberts Sheila Harris Susan Funkhouser Pam Wormington Jared Lankford Jordan Privett Dionne Zebert Jane Severson Verna Fry Christa Stout Cheryl Williams Sierra Gunter PHOTOGRAPHERS Chuck Nickle Brad Stillwell Jamie Brownlee Amy Sampson

aurora____________________________ Jeramie Grosenbacher, CFP®

Connection is published monthly and distributed free in Cassville, Monett, Exeter, Washburn, Pierce City, Mt. Vernon, Aurora, Verona, Roaring River, Eagle Rock, Shell Knob, Purdy, Wheaton, Freistatt, Marionville, Seligman, Golden and other surrounding areas.

Connection is a publication of the Cassville Democrat, The Monett Times and Rust Communications.

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Connection Magazine | 3

staff editorial

Happy New Year!

Connection opens new opportunities to reach out in our community

W

e have all now entered into a new year that will be filled with new and exciting experiences.

One of my new experiences that began in 2018 was becoming General Manager of The Monett Times, Cassville Democrat and Connection Magazine. All of them have been rewarding but I will say that the fun publication has been the magazine.

I appreciate all of the comments that I hear from people about how they have enjoyed a certain article in the magazine. This is so very rewarding.

When I began working on the magazine it truly was a bit intimidating because it happened fast and I really did not know what I was doing. This magazine was originally created from the heart of my former boss and friend, Lisa Schlictman. I know how much love and hard work that she poured into it and I wanted it to continue to live up to the standards that she created.

I hope that I have done that with all of the help of my talented writers and staff. They all have a vision that adds a complete circle of a wide range of subjects that hopefully will be enjoyed by everyone reading.

I find the publication to be very rewarding from stories that honor those that have contributed so much to the area that have passed, area residents that have

their special creative hobbies, experiences shared by local residents and so much more. This magazine is definitely one of a kind that is very popular to our area.

But of course it would not have gained the popularity without the support of the community giving it the opportunity to be shared with one another. I thank you readers for your support, your compliments and the businesses that keep it going with your advertising. It is all possible because of you.

I am looking forward to 2019 to see what Connection Magazine will offer to the communities. We welcome any ideas, large or small, from readers because if you are interested that means there will be a lot of others that will probably be interested also. You are our backbone and strength to keep going every month and we welcome your input and comments.

We start 2019 with a variety of interesting stories that should be enjoyed by all. There are some months we try to stay with a theme but there are other months that turn out to be a variety of stories from a lot of different areas. Either way I believe it is a very positive contribution.

Again readers, you make us strong and I look forward to sharing 2019 with you. I wish every single one of you a Happy and Prosperous New Year filled with new and positive paths and love beyond all measure!

Thank you all and I look forward to another year of Connection Magazine for you to enjoy!

Lisa Craft

General Manager, Connection Magazine Lisa Craft is General Manager of Connection Magazine, The Monett Times and Cassville Democrat. She can be reached at monettcommunity@gmail.com or connection@monett-times.com

4 | January 2019

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Features 15 | Karate dreams

come true

Jonah Meshell, sixth-grader from Cassville, excels at martial arts training to teach his art

20 | Children’s Grief Awareness Day

15

Acknowledging grief through “Run and Remember” event in Monett allows children to express feelings and be understood

27 | Health Hut

Alternative and holistic practioner extends hand to healing with multiple energy therapies

34 | In with the outdoors

There’s no guessing that Glenn Fields of Wentworth has a real zeal for animals, nature and Native American artifacts

20 42 | Jumping Jacks reunion

Children’s shoe factory employees annual gathering in Monett honors the people and the place that created a generation of shoes

50 | J.T. Blankenship

Barber Shop

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For almost 60 years, J.T. Blankenship has been living his dream in Cassville

57 | Home again

Mitsi Sara returns to Monett for Class of 1961 reunion to find some things changed, but hospitality to be the same

j a n u a r y 2019

Connection Magazine | 7

Photos courtesy of Pete Rauch FREE

A MAgAzine DeDicAteD to SouthweSt MiSSouriAnS

January 2019

Outdoors All Around Glenn Fields’ oriGinal decor

Being Heard children’s GrieF awareness

Health Hut healinG touch

High Hopes settinG Goals For kids

Beyond

Dreams Cassville Youth Defies Imagination

ON THE COVER: Photo courtesy of Red Effect Media

See more featured photos on page 32

Through dedication and hard work Jonah Meshell has accomplished many of his goals.

One of which included taking the opportunity to help other children with obstacles believe in themselves and their dreams.

Contents 11 Cutest Kid

12 Parenting Column: Raise big ideas

24 Healthy Connection: Crock pot goodness 25 Recipes: Warming meals

32 Photo feature: Wonderful West

38 Housing Around: Less can be more Have an idea for a story you would like to see in Connection Magazine?

54 Cutest Pet

55 Rescued, My Favorite Breed

Email it to connection@monett-times.com

62 Connection On The Go

JOIN US ONLINE:

65 Familiar Faces

Facebook.com/MyConnectionMo Twitter.com/MyConnection_Mo

8 | January 2019

63 Community Calendar 70 Parting Shot

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Connection Magazine | 9

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Cutest kid

Carter Wayne Lombard

Carter Wayne Lombard, age 1, son of Stuart and Jessica Lombard of Wheaton Email your child’s photo to

connection@monett-times.com.

Photos should be sent in the original JPG format at the highest resolution possible. Remember to include your child’s name, parent’s name, age, city and your contact information. The contest is open to children ages 10 and younger. The photos submitted will be used for the sole purpose of this contest.

Connection Magazine | 11

Help your child make their own New Year’s Resolutions:

6 Tips to Encourage Their Big Ideas “Mom! Can we walk the dogs tomorrow?” My 9-year-old son Dylan yelled from the living room.

We had just taken our two dogs, Tommy and Conner on a walk on an unusually warm, November day. I’ll admit, walking our dogs is not something we do a lot of.

Mainly because they’re brothers and they’re intent on tangling their leashes to the point of tripping all those involved in their walking. But, in an effort to spend more quality time with my kids, aka, less screen-time, I opted for the challenge. The result was a beautiful, memory-making, hour-long walk that left me craving more time with my kids…and the dogs.

When we got home and Dylan asked me if we could do it again tomorrow, it got me thinking. Why not make his request into a New Year’s resolution? “Dylan, I think that’s a great idea,” I said, “and you know what?

We’re going to start doing this more often.”

Later that day, the kids and I sat down to write out our resolutions for the New Year.

It was something they were really interested in learning more about; specifically, what it meant to have an idea or a goal to work towards with the New Year coming up.

Meagan Ruffing is a parenting journalist who enjoys tackling big life moments with her kids. She is knee-deep into her master’s program to be a clinical mental health counselor and marriage and family therapist. This was one of her New Year’s Resolutions that she is following through with. Follow her on Facebook at writermeaganruffing to read more of her parenting articles and for your free downloadable New Year’s Resolution template, visit www.meaganruffing.com

12 | January 2019

Parenting column

1. Explain what a New Year’s 4. Make a New Year’s Resolution is. Start by getting a calendar out and showing your kids the month of January. Having something tangible for your kids to touch, hold on to, and write on is much easier than trying to explain in theory.

Better yet, head to the store and let your kids pick out their own calendars – suited to their personalities – and get them excited about learning how to make resolutions.

2. Start with a question.

Ask your children, “Is there something you want to try and do better in your life?” Or, “What’s something you’ve always wanted to try and do but haven’t?”

You may be surprised at their answers. Have them write down their ideas (or write them down for them if they are too young to write) and start a conversation.

Resolution for the whole family.

While each child can have their own, it’s nice to have one as a family. Walking our two dogs is going to be my family’s New Year’s Resolution because it’s something we can all do together and we’re all invested in.

5. Let your kids know that it’s okay if their New Year’s Resolutions fizzle out. Kids put a lot

of pressure on themselves. To avoid setting them up for disappointment before they’ve even attempted to tackle their resolution, let them know it’s okay if it

changes or turns out a bit different than they had first imagined.

This is part of life.

6. Start with something

small. If your kids are on the younger side like mine, start with something simple. It might be having them put their lunchboxes up on the counter every day after school or saying please and thank you more often. New Year’s Resolutions don’t have to be these big, huge things to tackle.

Think of them as small, life lessons for you and your kids. You’ll be instilling in them wisdom beyond their years.

3. Encourage and support

their ideas. No matter how silly your child’s idea for a resolution may be, cultivate their idea by supporting them with phrases like, “I love that idea!” Or, “I’ll help you with that by…”[comment with how you can provide support]. When your kids feel like they’re being heard and then you follow through with what they’ve said, they feel validated.

Enjoy your kids and dive in to this New Year of endless possibilities to be all that you want to be as a family. Kids first learn by seeing so model good habits for them when making your own New Year’s Resolutions. You’ll be so glad that you did.

Connection Magazine | 13

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14 | January 2019

Jonah Meshell and Richard Osborn Jr., head instructor at Next Level Karate in Springfield.

Local boy follows his Karate dream From a four-year-old student to 12-yearold instructor

M

ost young boys dream of being a ninja, firefighter, spaceman or cowboy, but at some point they usually abandon that dream.

That isn’t the case for 12-year-old Jonah Meshell, Cassville sixth-grade student, trombone player, church children’s choir singer and martial arts instructor.

Catilya Meshell, Jonah’s mother, said her son Jonah Meshell started showing interest in karate when he was about 18 months old.

He and his dad would wrestle around,” Meshell said. “When he turned four, we moved to Cassville. We make the joke that he had a trial lesson for karate before we had electricity in our new apartment.”

According to Meshell Jonah started at the RWTB in Cassville, and he just excelled.

“He was banging out belts taking private lessons, and learning weapons,” Meshell said.

“He was doing nunchucks at 5 years old, and was good at it.”

Meshell said Jonah competed in his first tournament when he was four. He lost, but that made him even more determined.

Karate Kid

Story by Jordan Privett Connection Magazine | 15

“He placed fourth in the next tournament he entered,” Meshell said.

“He was always competing, trying and working. He won his first grand championship when he was seven years old.”

According to Meshell, Jonah dabbled a bit in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where he earned his yellow belt.

“His passion was for the forms, learning weapons and how to do flips,” Meshell said. “When he started going to bigger tournaments, people started to notice him.”

Meshell said, at age eight, Jonah

was asked to join a national team that was starting up. At age nine, he competed with Team Heartland, and also began attending classes at Next Level Karate in Springfield.

“Jonah told the teacher that he wanted to earn his black belt,” Meshell said. “The teacher replied, ‘Well, you will have to learn my system,’ so we went to Springfield three nights a week for 10 months.”

According to Meshell, Jonah worked on every form the new system had, and, in the end, he had learned nine forms on top of his regular com-

Photo courtesy of Red Effect Media

Jonah Meshell beginning a competition, Jonah has trained in many different forms of mixed martial arts.

“When he started to go to bigger tournaments, people started to notice him.” ‒ Catilya Meshell, Jonah’s mother

16 | January 2019

petition forms.

“There is a picture of the day he got his black belt, and Jonah was weeping with joy,” Meshell said.

“While learning the new system, Jonah had to learn competition forms,” Meshell explained. “So on top of going to Springfield three nights a week, we had to go to Wichita as well.”

“There, Jonah managed to get private lessons with his hero Michael Guthrie,” Meshell said. “That was the craziest year; Jonah was competing at least once a month. We were back and forth between practice and competitions as far away as Nebraska, Oklahoma City, Arkansas, Minnesota and Kentucky. He still kept up with school.”

“Along the way, Jonah was diagnosed with ADHD,” Meshell continued. “At first he was very ashamed of it, but then he saw other children like him.”

According to Meshell, this year Jonah wanted a custom belt, so we called a place in Chicago who made it for him.

“The belt is orange for ADHD awareness, with his favorite Bible verse, Isaiah 43:2, on it,” Meshell said.

“The verse says: ‘When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.’”

According to Meshell, while Jonah was competing in Springfield this year at Ozark Mountain Nationals, a boy walked up to him with his mother and told him he liked the belt.

“The mother asked what it was for, and Jonah said ‘I have ADHD,’” Meshell said. “This little boy went on

Photo courtesy of Red Effect Media

Action shot of Jonah Meshell during a competition. Jonah earned belts quickly, and easily took to weapons work.

to tell Jonah that he had tried karate, but he had ADHD and couldn’t sit still. Jonah told him, ‘You can do it, I did it. You just have to push through, and try to focus your mind, and on your forms; that’s what I did.’”

Meshell said that’s when Jonah realized he was motivating the little boy, and took that as an opportunity.

“Jonah said, ‘I can share Jesus and my story, and maybe help a kid that is like me. I don’t want to be ashamed of this; it is how God made me,’” Meshell said.

According to Meshell, recently Michael Guthrie asked Jonah to join his national team called G3, to help Jonah get on a bigger team, which is what he wants to do.

“Jonah won three grand championships this year,” Meshell related. “I couldn’t even count how many first

places he has taken.”

According to his mother, because he has his black belt, Jonah is now able to give private lessons in Springfield.

“He hopes to join Team AKA out of Chicago,” Meshell said, “then ultimately become a stunt man in Hollywood when he grows up.”

Meshell said Jonah really focuses on his goals. He was determined to get his black belt before he turned 10 years old; he got it two weeks before his 10th birthday.

“He has done nothing but set goals, and we’ve watched him smash through them,” Meshell said. “We thought the ADHD thing would be something that broke him, because at first he was so embarrassed, but now he is 12 years old and has completely embraced who he is and how God made him.”

high marks Through dedication and hard work Jonah Meshell has accomplished many of his goals.

One of which included helping other children with obstacles believe in themselves and their dreams.

Tears of joy streamed down Jonah Meshell’s face as he was awarded his black belt.

Connection Magazine | 17

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According to Meshell, Jonah practices at least an hour to an hour and a half every day.

“He says, ‘I’m going to share my story, Jesus and karate,’” Meshell said. “He has this passion that is just amazing.”

Trey Treadwell, Jonah’s former RWTB instructor, said Jonah was always interested in the weapons work.

“He just took off with it and loved it,” Treadwell said. “He was very attentive, and he worked very hard for everything.”

According to Treadwell, Jonah never missed one class, and sometimes it would be just Jonah and him.

“He is an amazing kid, one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Treadwell said. “He was just my little hero. At six years old, he was doing knuckle pushups until he was about in tears; he just worked so hard.”

“In our style of mixed martial arts, with promoting belt ranks you have to learn weapons,” Treadwell explained. “Certain levels had different weapons, because they are more difficult to master. Jonah took his sword form way before he had to, and he did it incredibly. That was probably one of the proudest moments of my martial arts career.”

Jonah wants to thank his tumbling coach, Mark Galindo, all of his martial arts instructors past and present, Mr. Richard Osborn Jr., Michael Guthrie and David Burke for promoting him and supporting him.

Jonah said he wants to inspire children to follow their dreams by working hard.

“Don’t expect to reach your dreams if you’re not putting in the work,” Jonah said. n

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A memory wall, created for the Lost and Found Grief Center’s Run and Remember event, where attendees wrote memories of their loved ones and placed them on the wall.

Children’s Grief Awareness Day brings new experience to Monett High School 20 | January 2019

Healing by remembering

O

n November 15, Monett High School students received an invitation to wear blue for Children’s Grief Awareness Day. This was a new experience at the school, one that generated curiosity and expressions of support.

One in 12 children in Missouri will experience the loss of a sibling or a parent by the time they reach age 18. In recognition of that, November has been declared as National Child Grief Awareness Month, in addition to the day itself. To support the message and mark the occasion, Monett High School counselors placed a placard in

Story by Murray Bishoff

the hallway to remind students. The Student Council posted signs marking the occasion. Many faculty members wore blue shirts for the day.

Two students, Molly Poole and Natalie Turner, were among those wearing blue shirts that day. Poole said she had a close friend who had lost a parent and she wanted to demonstrate her support. Turner said her expression was more spontaneous as a way to show caring.

This outpouring grew from one student, Reagan Washburn, a junior, who lost her mother, Tiffany Washburn, in 2017 after an extended illness, at age

Reagan Washburn with her mother, Tiffany 43. When Reagan learned of the established day as a form of expression, she knew this was a way to touch others who may have had a similar loss. She approached Molly Martin, a Student Council advisor with Lacy Willis, who brought the matter before the StuCo membership, who responded positively, as did the counselors.

“I want the kids to be able to tell us what they’re passionate about,” Martin said.

Reagan enlisted the help of friend Becca Clark, a StuCo member, to make a banner, which hung in the high school commons for a week.

Connection Magazine | 21

“Since this was the first year, I think it’s been received pretty well,” Reagan said. “I hope that over the next couple years more people will wear blue.”

Other students came up to Reagan and asked what it was all about and why send the message to the whole school. She had a simple answer.

“Because so many kids have lost a parent or a sibling,” Reagan said. “The knowledge that there’s someone out there who cares means a lot. We all have each other. None of us are alone.

“A bunch of teachers said, ‘We will wear blue for you.’ Students see them as professional people. They may not know our names, but to know they still care means a lot.”

Reagan thought her mother would approve of the effort.

“I think she’d say, ‘I can’t believe Reagan is doing something out of her comfort zone.’ I think she’d have been so proud. Her friends said so.”

22 | January 2019

Reagan and her brother, Will, both attend weekly counseling sessions at the Lost and Found Grief Center in Springfield, where their father, Justin Washburn, takes them on different days of the week. It was from the grief center that Reagan learned about the Children’s Grief Awareness Day. One of the less known service agencies, Lost and Found serves 25 counties in southwest Missouri and is open to anyone willing to drive to therapy sessions.

“Lost and Found started in 2000 as a therapeutic grief outreach to families,” said Mehleena Maigi, director of development and marketing. “We offer therapeutic grief support groups.

It’s not therapy. Groups are offered at no cost to families that attend. They come two times a month. We have open ended groups. People can come as long as they need to, maybe three months or three years.”

The banner that hung in the commons at Monett High School for Children’s Grief Awareness Day, created by Reagan Washburn, left, and her friend, Becca Clark, right.

Lost and Found has eight full-time staff working on fundraising, operations and programs. Hourly employees with master’s degrees in counseling, child development or social work run the groups.

“Something we often say is, ‘Hope is our foundation,’” Maigi said. “When families come to us, if they recognize it or not, they’re coming out of a journey.

We teach how to remember and how to find a new normal. We’ve always done our work in a sensitive way that keeps the memory of the loved one in mind.

We think of ourselves as a forward moving model.”

Maigi volunteered herself in the four- to six-year-old groups.

A happy memory of the Washburn family together. From left, are Will and Reagan, and parents, Tiffany and Justin.

“That was incredibly gut wrenching,” she said. “There are big emotions from very tiny voices. It’s important to remember children are grieving, even if they grieve quietly.

I’ve noticed a community that comes out of being surrounded by someone who lost someone like you. If you have not lived it, you don’t get it. Lost and Found provides a place where people in grief can come to a place where people get it.”

The world at large, Maigi said, tends to be “a grief illiterate society,” where grief is simply not talked about. Lost and Found offers an environment where people can talk as much as they want.

“A theme I hear is ‘At Lost and Found, I don’t feel alone. I can talk about anything I need to,’” Maigi said. “We give people carrying such a heavy weight as much support as we need to.”

Most referrals to Lost and Found come from school counselors. Maigi said counselors are “truly on the front lines with grieving kids every day.”

The agency also has a positive relationship with many funeral homes.

Referrals also spread to a large degree by word of mouth. Information is available online at lostandfoundozarks.com or by calling 417-8659998.

“It takes lots of courage to call and more to walk through the door,” she added.

Reagan found her outreach to classmates encouraging as a learning experience.

“I’m taking a chance trying something new,” Reagan said. “I’ve got to pray it ends up really well.” n A group session at the Lost and Found Grief Center.

Connection Magazine | 23

Healthy connection

Crock Pot Cooking Having trouble finding time to cook a healthy meal for yourself or the family after a long day? Crock pot cooking is the answer!

Here are four reasons why crock pots are the way to go:

1. Low Time Commitment: 3. Versatile: Crock pot cooking makes it possible to have a hot dinner ready when you get home from a long day at work. There are tons of recipes that simply involve throwing some beans, rice, meat, and vegetables into a crock pot and letting it cook while you do other things.

2. Inexpensive: Ingredients such as dried beans are one of the most cost-effective protein sources one can buy. They can be cooked in a crock pot to prep them for other dishes throughout the week, or make them a meal on their own by adding other ingredients to spice them up.

Enjoy!

There are recipes for soups, casseroles, baked potatoes, yogurt, beans, rice, and more.

The possibilities are endless!

There are innumerable recipes on the internet. Pinterest is a great place to look for ideas.

You can also just Google recipes or check out social media such as Facebook or Instagram for fun new recipes your friends are trying.

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers Ingredients 5 large bell peppers (you can use a mix of red, yellow and orange) 1 lb. lean ground beef (ground turkey works well too) 1/2 cup diced onion 2 tbsp A1 steak sauce 8 oz. tomato sauce 1 cup cooked brown and wild rice mix (any type of cooked rice will work) Salt and pepper 1 cup shredded colby jack cheese

Instructions 1.

discard the seeds and stems, but save the pepper portion of the tops and dice. Reserve 1/2 cup for the filling.

2.

Combine the diced peppers, ground beef, onion, steak sauce, tomato sauce and rice in a large bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper

4. Minimal Effort: There is no standing over the stove for long periods of time.

Once the ingredients go in, the crock pot does most of the work. You can even use disposable Crock pot bags so that no clean-up is necessary.

Cut the tops of the peppers off and

to taste. Stuff each pepper with the ground beef mixture and place in the crock pot.

3.

Pour about 1/4 cup of water into the bottom of the crock pot and cover.

Cook on low 6 to 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. Just before serving top with the shredded cheese and cover until melted.

These stuffed peppers have endless flavor combination possibilities. You could put an Asian spin on them by using teriyaki or soy sauce, cabbage, pork, and crunchy noodles to top with. Incorporate your favorite beans, corn, salsa, and black olives for a Mexican variation. Go for a classic Philly Cheese Steak with sliced beef, extra peppers and onions, and provolone cheese. Another possibility is an Italian twist using sausage, garlic, tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella cheese. If you’re wanting to keep things meat-free, a good substitute is mushrooms and quinoa and your favorite vegetables.

AMANDA MARTIN recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in dietetics and is currently in the Cox College Dietetic Internship program. She loves to learn new things about food and its effect on the body. She is excited to one day become a registered dietitian and help people every day through their nutrition.

24 | January 2019

recipes

Good New Orleans Creole Gumbo Ingredients 1 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup bacon drippings 1 cup coarsely chopped celery 1 large onion, coarsely chopped 1 large green bell pepper, coarsely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced 3 quarts water 6 cubes beef bouillon

Directions Prep 1 hour, Cook 2 hours 40 minutes, Ready in 3 hours 40 minutes

1 tablespoon white sugar salt to taste 2 tablespoons hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco®), or to taste 1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning blend (such as Tony Chachere’s®), or to taste 4 bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes 1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder 2 tablespoons bacon drippings 2 (10 ounce) packages frozen cut okra, thawed 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar 1 pound lump crabmeat 3 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 teaspoons gumbo file powder

 Make a roux by whisking the flour and 3/4 cup bacon drippings together in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-low heat to form a smooth mixture.

Cook the roux, whisking constantly, until it turns a rich mahogany brown color. This can take 20 to 30 minutes; watch heat carefully and whisk constantly or roux will burn. Remove from heat; continue whisking until mixture stops cooking.  Place the celery, onion, green bell pepper, and garlic into the work bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the vegetables are very finely chopped. Stir the vegetables into the roux, and mix in the sausage. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside.  Bring the water and beef bouillon cubes to a boil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Stir until the bouillon cubes dissolve, and whisk the roux mixture into the boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer, and mix in the sugar, salt, hot pepper sauce, Cajun seasoning, bay leaves, thyme, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Simmer the soup over low heat for 1 hour; mix in 2 teaspoons of file gumbo powder at the 45-minute mark.  Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of bacon drippings in a skillet, and cook the okra with vinegar over medium heat for 15 minutes; remove okra with slotted spoon, and stir into the simmering gumbo. Mix in crabmeat, shrimp, and Worcestershire sauce, and simmer until flavors have blended, 45 more minutes. Just before serving, stir in 2 more teaspoons of file gumbo powder.

Double Tomato Bruschetta Ingredients 6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil 3 cloves minced garlic 1/4 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 French baguette 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

35 minutes, 12 servings, 215 cals

Directions

Prep 15 minutes, Cook 7 minutes, Ready in 35 minutes

 Preheat the oven on broiler setting.  In a large bowl, combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.  Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown.  Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese.  Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Connection Magazine | 25

Dad’s Leftover Turkey Pot Pie Ingredients 2 cups frozen peas and carrots 2 cups frozen green beans 1 cup sliced celery 2/3 cup butter 2/3 cup chopped onion 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt

Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini Ingredients

1 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon celery seed 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1 3/4 cups chicken broth

Ham and Split Pea Soup Ingredients

1 1/3 cups milk

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes

1 cup chopped onion2 cloves garlic, minced

4 cups cubed cooked turkey meat, light and dark meat mixed

1/3 cup diced celery

5 cups beef broth

4 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

3/4 cup diced cooked ham

1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed

1/2 cup water 1/2 cup red wine 4 large tomatoes - peeled, seeded and chopped 1 cup thinly sliced carrots 1/2 tablespoon packed fresh basil leaves 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini 8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Cook 20 minutes, Ready in 1 hour 35 minutes

 In a 5 quart Dutch oven, brown sausage. Remove sausage and drain, reserving 1 tablespoon of the drippings.  Saute onions and garlic in drippings.

Stir in beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.  Skim fat from the soup. Stir in zucchini and parsley. Simmer covered for 30 minutes. Add tortellini during the last 10 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese on top of each serving.

26 | January 2019

Directions

Prep 20 minutes, Cook 25 minutes. Ready in 45 minutes

1/3 cup finely chopped onion 3 1/4 cups water 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

 Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste

 Place the peas and carrots, green beans, and celery into a saucepan; cover with water, bring to a boil, and simmer over medium-low heat until the celery is tender, about 8 minutes. Drain the vegetables in a colander set in the sink, and set aside.

5 tablespoons butter

 Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2/3 cup of flour, salt, black pepper, celery seed, onion powder, and Italian seasoning; slowly whisk in the chicken broth and milk until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Remove from heat; stir the cooked vegetables and turkey meat into the filling until well combined.  Fit 2 pie crusts into the bottom of 2 9-inch pie dishes. Spoon half the filling into each pie crust, then top each pie with another crust. Pinch and roll the top and bottom crusts together at the edge of each pie to seal, and cut several small slits into the top of the pies with a sharp knife to release steam.  Bake in the preheated oven until the crusts are golden brown and the filling is bubbly, 30 to 35 minutes. If the crusts are browning too quickly, cover the pies with aluminum foil after about 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups milk

Directions

Prep 20 minutes, Cook 25 minutes. Ready in 45 minutes

 Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.  In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.  Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.

Serve immediately.

Alternative healing offers emotional, health treatment Health Hut offers massage, sauna, acupressure, chakra healing

Health Hut of Cassville

A

lternative and holistic healing is an up-and-coming method being used to treat a number of afflictions. Practitioner Wendy Franklin-Cairus, N.D., LMT, Certified Health Specialist and owner of the Health Hut in Cassville, is trained in many alternative health modalities, including Tibetan chakra healing, touch for health with acupressure, muscle testing, sports massage, reiki, and emotion code work.

The spa, located at 607 Main St. in Cassville, is broken down into three rooms. The first is a cozy room where Cairus treats people with chakra healing, acupressure, massage and many others. The second room has the sauna, seasonal depression lamp and energizer Chi machine. The largest and final room is where Cairus, and another therapist that she hires, perform couples’

Story by Jordan Privett

massages.

“I started 15 years ago doing massages,” Cairus said. “I have always been a handy person and would always just kind of give people massages. My aunt finally hounded me enough and told me to go to school for it.”

Cairus said she was worried that she wouldn’t like it as a job, but she fell in love with it and has been expanding on it ever since.

“About three years ago, more and more people - especially when they’ve heard from someone else what the energy work can do - started getting interested in the methods,” Cairus said. “That excites me so much.”

Cairus said she went to a workshop for Crowder College students, where she showed them muscle testing.

“The process starts with being hydrated, then you put your feet about

shoulder length apart, and hold a something at your stomach,” Cairus said. “It can be a herb, a drink or a medication.

“Then, you close your eyes, and your body will either move forward slightly, or backward.”

According to Cairus, if you move backward your body is telling you that you don’t need that thing because it is pushing you away. If you move forward, that is your body telling you that you do need that.

“Your body is a natural lie detector; it will tell you what you need,” Cairus said. “I feel that sometimes doctors make it harder than it needs to be, and there are different, cheaper options that won’t damage your liver and kidneys.”

Cairus said she has a customer who is one of her biggest testimonies; she would fall, lose control of her legs and just had terrible issues.

Connection Magazine | 27

“She came to see me once for her problems and went about a year with no issues,” Cairus said. “She came to see me again recently because her symptoms came back, and I was able to help her again.”

The energy balancing and chakra healing are the more popular methods Cairus uses.

Cairus tests a client’s strength by having him or her put their middle finger and thumb tips together. She then tries to pull them apart. The client then takes off one shoe and lies on the bed.

Cairus then flushes the clients main meridian, by following the starting point of the meridian - or core of the body - with her hand to clear away any stagnant energy.

Then, with the client’s arm stretched out, Cairus applies about two pounds of pressure and focuses on each of the seven individual chakras. While she applies the pressure, the client pushes back, and Cairus is able to determine which chakras are the weakest.

Starting with the organ that applies to the time of day, Cairus uses acupressure to strengthen and sedate each organ, as needed.

According to Cairus, each organ is affected by anything from dietary habits to emotion, and Cairus is able to explain to the client why a certain body part is weaker or more active based on the chakra healing and acupressure.

“Every single person is different and needs to be seen at different frequencies,” Cairus said. “I always tell the client to listen to their body and come in as needed.”

“Water is the only free thing that we can do for our health,” Cairus explained. “Water regulates everything in our bodies. Every cell needs it, and if it isn’t getting it, the body will pull it from itself.”

28 | January 2019

According to a person’s blood type, there are foods that are beneficial or harmful to that person,” Cairus continued. “My favorite recommendation is to eat right for your blood type. About 11 years ago, I realized I was more fatigued than I should be. I followed the list of items that were beneficial according to my blood type - and cut out anything that was not beneficial - and I lost seven pounds in five days. I felt amazing.”

Cairus said she really tries to see no more than three clients a day, but she has had people who needed help and has seen eight people in a day.

“Seeing too many clients can really run me down,” Cairus said. “I like to give people my best quality.”

According to Cairus, she once had a lady come in that was extremely stressed, and she was sick for two days after treating her.

“Another time, I was doing emotion code work for three hours at a time for two or three visits,” Cairus said. “I didn’t charge her more than $75 each visit.”

Cairus said it isn’t about the money for her.

“I could charge $50 an hour, but I really want to help people,” Cairus said.

“There is so much disease caused by trapped emotions, and sometimes the pain just needs to be recognized.”

“Based on something I learned during my last trip to Kansas City, if you have an addiction or problem, I will tell you to close your eyes and focus on it, and tell me where you see it in your body. When you visualize the problem, it will have a shape and a color,” Cairus explained. “Usually, by the time we are done, the problem moves out through the crown or root chakra.”

Cairus always leaves an hour between each session.

Jason Kurima and Haley McCord enjoyed their first couples massage at the Health Hut in cassville. Kurima is the owner of iPhone Restorations in both Monett and Carthage.

Infrared sauna that is available for $15 per person at the Health Hut in Cassville.

Touch for health, muscle testing and emotion code work are some of several holistic health modalities certified health specialist Wendy Cairus uses to bring balance and healing to the body, spirit and mind at her new clinic, The Health Hut in Cassville.

Her clinic is open by appointment. For more information or any questions, Cairus can be reached at 417-669-3424.

“You know how in real estate the motto is ‘Location, Location, Location,’ I think my motto is ‘Water, Water, Water.’” ‒ Wendy Franklin-Cairus, N.D., LMT, Certified Health Specialist and owner of the Health Hut “Sometimes we end up doing more for the client than they had actually planned,” Cairus said. “I never charge the client more if I do more, though. I just charge them for what they originally came in for.”

Cairus has a set fee for everything she offers, but if it isn’t something people can afford, she tells them to just give her what they can.

“Mostly, my business comes from word of mouth, so I want people to leave here satisfied and telling others what I can do,” Cairus said. “I actually get hired out for celebrities that come through. I just recently worked the concert for Lindsey Stirling.”

Wendy Franklin-Cairus is a certified health specialist who recently opened The Health Hut, at her clinic in Cassville. She also did a workshop at Crowder College in Cassville where she helped students learn the basics of her work.

Offered at the event were a number of oils and health items.

Connection Magazine | 29

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Cairus has been working out of the spa in Cassville since February 2018.

Before that, she worked out of her home in Purdy, or traveled to clients’ homes.

“I am definitely a people person, and, this day and age, people can be so self centered,” Cairus said. “The only thing we can do as people is to give, and I feel like if this is why I am here, then my life has purpose. I want to help people however I can.”

Cairus said she has worked on babies before, and her oldest client came every week for seven years, until two weeks before he died; he was 98 years old.

“I went to school for massage therapy for a year,” Cairus explained, “and I have traveled all over the country to study other alternative healing methods.”

According to Cairus, the students at Crowder were so excited about some of the things she had shown them that they asked her to come up with some workshops and come back.

For the new year, I would suggest that people keep in mind that diet is huge, and to focus on eating better for their body, energy and health,” Cairus said. “You know how in real estate the motto is ‘Location, Location, Location,’ I think my motto is Water, Water, Water.”

Cairus said slow and steady steps make you successful, and you can’t make too many changes at once.

“I want to balance you so that your body functions,” Cairus said. “I don’t want to push herbs or treatments on anyone.”

Cairus said the public is welcome any time, and she is always happy to answer questions.

For more information or to make an appointment, Cairus can be reached at 417-669-3424, or by visiting The Health Hut on Facebook. n

Wishing you a happy & prosperous new year!

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1-800-255-4194 Connection Magazine | 31

Red Canyon, Wyoming

Mt. Moran from Snake River Bend

32 | January 2019

Shadows on Monument Valley, Arizona

P h o t o f e at u r e

by Pete Rauch of Monett

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park

Bald Eagle at Indian Creek

Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Wonderful

WEST Connection Magazine | 33

The trophy room in the home of Glenn Fields, of rural Wentworth, looks as if it might be at home is a display the magnitude of Wonders of Wildlife in Springfield. The mural, depicting a river, seems to flow out from the wall to a pool in a corner of the room where it is surrounded by wildlife native to the area.

It’s a jungle in Local hunter brings the outdoors inside

34 | January 2019

I

n a world where man caves and she sheds are taking over the garages and back yards of both urban and rural inhabitants, a Wentworth man has tipped the scales and turned a spare room in his home into a museum-quality showplace for his hunting trophies and memorabilia.

Glenn Fields, of rural Wentworth, has enjoyed bow hunting and camping with his wife, Teri, in Alaska, Wyoming, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Canada.

“We tried to go someplace every year,” he said. “My wife doesn’t hunt, but we both enjoy camping.”

His love for the great outdoors was something he has carried from childhood.

Story by Melonie Roberts

“My best friend, Kenny Beachler, and I found a do-it-yourself taxidermy kit in the back of a magazine,” he said. “We were a couple of 12-year-old kids, and we sent off for that thing, and when we got it back, we trapped a weasel. We taxidermied it, and were so proud of that thing. I took it and showed my mom and she asked, ‘What is that thing?’

“Kenny kept that thing for 60 years, and then he died, his family gave it back to me,” he said. “I can’t believe he kept it for all those years.”

The worn and ragged carnivore, crooked teeth still set in a permanent snarl, still holds a place of honor in the trophy room, atop a shelf with other hunting memorabilia on display.

This bobcat looks as if it is ready to pounce on a rattlesnake poised to strike in the trophy room display of Glenn Fields, of rural Wentworth. Fields has dedicated a room in his home to serve as his “man cave,” where he displays his mounted game and trophies collected on various hunting trips in North America and Canada.

there “That was our first, and last, attempt at taxidermy,” he laughed.

When the Glenn and Teri bought their rural home in the late 1980s, among other remodeling projects, they closed in the upstairs and created what most would have called a spare bedroom. Fields opted to turn it into a haven where he could display his trophy animals, taken on various hunting excursions over the years.

“I found a mural that I liked and cut it down to go on the wall,” he said.

“Then, I used epoxy to make it appear as if some of the water had flowed out into the room, and placed several animals on the border. I bet I poured and tore that thing out a half a dozen times before I got it to look right.”

He then created some faux rock ledges to hold some of his collection, and mounted others on the walls. He was able to incorporate a tree limb into the exhibit, mounting squirrels and birds among the branches graced with a bird’s nest and hornet’s nest and faux foliage.

“This is just a place where I can put all of my mounts,” he said. “Before, they were scattered all through the house.”

Nearly all native fauna are represented in some fashion, such as birds in flight, a fox and her kits, a fawn, and a bobcat swiping at a snake. An otter, raccoon and woodchuck linger on the banks of the river pouring from the mural and into the room. A

bear watches from a pedestal across the room, while a buffalo head, bent to graze wildflowers, contains a miniature diorama in the hollowed out mount.

On the floor is a bearskin rug, a testament to his earning the 1998 Pope and Young bowhunting record in Saskatchewan, Canada.

On the wall is a leather skin containing the arrows and metal dated tags for each of his kills, is stretched on a wooden frame such as those used

by American Indians during the frontier days.

In another alcove, Fields displays both authentic and replicas of tools used by American Indians on the Plains.

Connection Magazine | 35

“I first became interested in American Indians and their traditions when my wife and I visited the Museum of the Fur Trade Store near Chadron, Neb.,” he said. “It is a replica of an actual trading post. At one time, 5,000 Sioux Indians would be camped outside a trading station at one time. It must have been an impressive sight to see.”

Fields then designed and made a ceremonial buckskin outfit to place on a mannequin in his exhibit. The mannequin is painted in traditional Sioux war paint. The mural behind the display was painted by a high school art student.

“It took me two years to make that buckskin,” he said. “I did all of the beading myself, based on patterns and symbols I researched. I used to be able to tell you how many thousands of beads went into that thing, but I’ve forgotten, now.”

He also managed to acquire some 36 | January 2019

pipestone, only available in Pipestone, Minn., from which to craft a replica peace pipe.

“No matter what tribes were there mining for pipestone, it was considered a sacred place and no fights were tolerated,” he said.

The canvas used to make the teepee was smoked to color the fabric, and then fabricated to the contours of the room. A replica lance stands in a corner of the room, near a hanging display of other American Indian artifacts, including a turtle shell rattle.

“When we went to the Museum of the Fur Trade Store, my wife snuck around and bought me an original war club from the 1880s,” he said. “It’s a hand-grooved stone head on a bent willow shaft and wrapped with buffalo sinew to hold it in place.”

The elk hide strap features original beading.

Fields has also collected a handful of

antique pieces used to melt lead, scoop the molten liquid into a bullet mold for the muzzleloaders used during that age.

“Teri’s step-dad actually found those items,” Fields said. “He flushed a grouse on a hunting trip and it flew into a thicket. When he went after it, he stumbled on an old log cabin that had collapsed on itself and become overgrown. He was able to get in and recover a few things, including a brass lock and a honing steel to sharpen knives.”

His trophy rooms gives homage to the men who hunt large game with bows and arrows, and the Plains Indians who were resourceful and skilled in carving out their livelihoods with wood, stone and primitive metals.

“I like researching their methods and then trying to replicate them,” Fields said. “For me, it’s a fun thing to do.” n

(left) Glenn Fields, of rural Wentworth, took canvas and smoked it to color the fabric, and then fabricated the teepee for display in a room dedicated to Native American culture. The background mural was painted by a high school art student.

Glenn Fields, of rural Wentworth, incorporated a tree branch into his trophy room, where he displays a number of native species perched among its limbs. Fields is a hunting advocate, taking his larger trophies with bow and arrow.

This is one of five black bears taken over the course of several years by rural Wentworth resident, Glenn Fields. He holds a 1998 Pope and Young record for bow hunting a black bear in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Glenn Fields, of rural Wentworth, laughingly recalled a boyhood attempt at taxidermy, undertaken by himself and his best friend Kenny Beachler.

They trapped a weasel and, with a kit ordered from the back of a magazine, went about preserving their trophy for posterity.

“It was our first, and last, attempt at taxidermy.” ‒ Glenn Fields of Wentworth describing trying to taxidermy during his childhood

Connection Magazine | 37

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Prepping for sale Less is more with room to exhale

L

ately, I’ve been thinking of selling my house, not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because the idea of downsizing holds some appeal. With less house and yard maintenance, I tell myself, I could pull my shell in tighter around me and spend more time on crab-like activities: writing this column and finishing up the eight or so books I’m reading, for example.

On the flip side, if a smaller house became claustrophobic, maybe I’d be forced to get out more. A little socializing is good for the soul, I’m told.

When it comes right down to the thought of moving, though, I’m faced with a huge obstacle: my stuff. My ability to form emotional bonds to inanimate objects amazes me. I’m not exactly a hoarder, but closet-cleaning fills me with anxiety. I’m beginning to understand now why so many people just die and let their kids dispense with their belongings. It seems practical, really. I suspect, though, that a minimalist existence – purposefully chosen – might prove to be liberating for this aging crustacean.

With that in mind, I spoke to a few real estate agents to gather some advice for

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those who are considering selling their homes. Julie Vaughn, Owner/Broker of A-List Properties in Monett cut to the heart of my dilemma.

“Get rid of as many personal effects from your rooms as possible,” she advised, “especially family photos.

People like to visualize their own stuff in your house; it’s hard to do when they’re looking at the faces of your children on the walls. If necessary, rent a storage building and clear out extra furniture. An over-crowded room can make it seem smaller than it is, something unappealing to prospective buyers.”

Becky Green, Owner/Broker of RE/ MAX Properties in Monett, stresses the importance of what a person sees before they ever walk into a house.

“You can’t undo a home’s first impression,” she emphasizes. “Make sure the front porch and door are clean and in good condition.”

“And make sure the grass is cut,” Becky’s newly-licensed son, Tyler Green, is quick to add.

While Becky Green agrees with Julie Vaughn that a de-cluttered house looks better to prospective buyers, she says that a totally vacant house is often more difficult to sell.

Buying? Selling? Call me!

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Connection Magazine | 39

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“Without furniture, it’s hard for buyers to visualize it as a lived-in home. Their focus will be solely on the bare walls, ceilings and floor-coverings, so all three had better be in pristine condition, or they’ll be open to criticism,” she explained.

Some real estate agencies provide (or insist upon) “home staging” services, and will make suggestions about what to get rid of in order to enhance your home’s appearance to prospective buyers. While their efforts may seem cold-hearted, they ultimately have your best interest at heart.

Susan Cearley, also of RE/MAX Properties in Monett, points out the importance of the initial listing price of your home.

“A lot of people think they can start out a little high with the price, then come down later, if necessary,” Cearley stated, “but, for a seller, that’s not wise. A house generates the most interest when it first comes on the market. If it’s over-priced, it could drive prospective buyers away. They might not bother looking, and they’ll never notice if you later drop the price. This is especially true of a house listed with a real estate agent. Your home’s listing will go into our multilist system to be viewed by agents all over the area. If your home is out of the ballpark on price, chances are, they won’t bother showing it.”

Cearley suggests getting a market analysis from a real estate agent or appraiser before advertising your house

for sale. Data on properties in your area that have sold within the last year (and that are currently on the market) can be pulled from the multilist for comparison purposes. A market analysis can give you an excellent idea of what to price your home for. If you choose to list your home with a real estate agency, a commission fee should be calculated into that figure.

When your house is officially advertised for sale, it’s important to keep it ready to show at all times, a daunting thought for someone who prefers to write than to scrub floors.

“Your home’s availability to be shown is also important,” states Tyler Green. “If we have to work around your schedule in order to show your home, sometimes a prospective buyer will lose interest in looking. If you’re willing to leave a key to your house in our office, or in a lockbox in a convenient location, it facilitates the sales process.”

It has been said that the sale of a home ‒ and the moving process ‒ can be one of life’s most stressful experiences. It’s no wonder that many people put down roots with no thought of disturbing them. However, if a move can be viewed as the necessary bridge from a pleasant experience at Point A, to a potentially more rewarding one at Point B, then it can seem a little less intimidating.

So maybe it’s time for me to call Monett Rental & Sales and check U-Haul rental prices. Or, at the very least, start cleaning my closets.

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Connection Magazine | 41

In October 1997, Jumping-Jacks celebrated 50 years in Monett. Pictured at the party, from left, were: Lela Heseman, personnel department; Marjorie Layton, buyer; Missy Wrobleski, office manager; Gerry McCaffrey, CEO; and Millie Heim, sales administrator.

On hand for the cutting of the first pair of shoes in VaiseyBristol’s first factory in Monett on Oct. 20, 1947 were, from left: John Moerchen from the Fred Rueping Leather Company, J.C. Hildreth, former Monett care dealer; Gene Arend, vice president and treasurer; Leonard Brisbee, electrical contractor; George Meierhoffer, general manager; Margaret Smith, purchasing agent; Rex Halterman, VP over lower floor operations; Earl Kessinger, in charge of upper floor operations; Al Pfitzner, VP over second floor operations.

42 | January 2019

The first Vaisey-Bristol factory, on Fourth Street viewed from Front Street in 1947, converted from the Martin Hotel.

If the shoe fits…

I

t’s been 15 years since the last paycheck was cut, and nearly 17 years since the last shoe was made in Monett.

Faces are older, but smiles are still bright, and the laughter is probably more genuine–free from repercussions.

For the nearly 50 former employees of Jumping-Jacks Shoes and their spouses who gathered at Angus Branch Steakhouse in Monett in December, the annual Jumping-Jacks reunion is a big event. It’s the one time of year when employees of the Monett-based shoe company see each other.

These veterans of Monett’s first post-

Story by Murray Bishoff

World War II industry are all that’s left of the Vaisey-Bristol Shoe Company, transforming the employment landscape in the longtime railroad town beginning in 1948. The company’s Jumping-Jacks children’s shoe put a piece of Monett in households across America. U.S. Shoe owned the company from 1961 to 1980. The company went public in 1985, closed due to bankruptcy in 1990, and returned in 1991 as part of Munro and Company.

Due to overseas competition, production in the factory stopped in 2001, as the last 50,000 pairs of shoes were made. Operations continued into 2003.

Photo courtesy of Maddy Picard

Jumping-Jacks employees reunite to share stories, memories

Connection Magazine | 43

Captured on the job in May 1967, Fred Eimer at left is pictured removing a carton of shoes from the lower part of a 2,440 foot long conveyor system at Jumping-Jacks Shoes, while Grover Wilheim at rear removed cartons from the high line, where incomplete orders went back to the warehouse for filling. File photo/The Monett Times

The second home for Jumping-Jacks in Monett. The plant building at left, facing 13th Street across from Burl Fowler Stadium and built in 1957, is used today by 3D Corporate Solutions. The warehouse, at upper right, built in two sections in 1965 and 1967, today houses SRC Automotive. File photo/The Monett Times 44 | January 2019

The Jumping-Jacks office in the early years.

Melissa Wrobleski, daughter of Gerry McCaffrey, who retired as Jumping-Jacks CEO, and former company employee Mary Lou Lombard, organized the annual event. Wrobleski said the reunions started at the Black Kettle in 2002 in the company’s last days.

The reunion stopped a few years, then restarted and remains an anticipated gathering.

“Every year, somebody new comes,” Wrobleski said. “Last year we had 58 former employees. We were a family and are still a family.”

As they sat around the big meeting room, the stories came out, different experiences in different departments as jobs varied, but also many similarities– tales of colorful characters–and work settings long faded away.

John Birkenbach worked for the shoe company for 45 years, right after graduating from Monett High School in 1956.

Connection Magazine | 45

“They told me to join the National Guard and work at the shoe factory,” Birkenbach said. “I started at 90 cents an hour, stocking the warehouse.”

Birkenbach recalled his boss, Bob Carder, had nicknames for everyone.

Ambrose Hagedorn was “Pollack.”

Morris Casper was “Spook.” James Garringer was “Mouse.”

“I was ‘Judge,’” Birkenbach said.

“That wasn’t the only name he called me.”

Ron Van Amber, who also worked in shipping and who started at $1.25 an hour in 1966, recalled the occasional practical joke. He recalled Hagedorn once sent him out to find a “computer dabbler.” Such a thing didn’t exist, but it took Van Amber some time to find that out.

“I was so mad,” Van Amber said.

Many stories bubbled out about the odd or outrageous characters around every corner. Virginia Lavigne recalled one fellow from Wentworth who talked about taking a shower with a garden hose, who told about getting struck by lightning one day, and who complained another day about packing a lunch the night before, only to have an opossum eat it overnight.

Van Amber recalled that though his department closed in 1993, he still occasionally found himself back in the factory in his dreams. He was not alone. David Probstfield worked for the shoe company for 40 years, much of the time as packing room foreman.

“There are dreams still where I’m arguing with someone, and I get so mad,” Probstfield said. “I’m at the point where I’m going to slug him, and my wife, Soni, wakes me up and I find I’m hitting her. I wake up and I’m glad it’s just a dream.”

Probstfield started working for Jumping-Jacks at age 21 and stayed 40 years, not including seven years with Juvenile Shoe in Aurora. At first the

company officials wouldn’t consider him. Probstfield credited the Monett priest for pleading his case to Joe McCaffrey, Gerry McCaffrey’s father and a manager for the original Vaisey-Bristol Shoe Company. That opened the door.

Mary Lou Lombard and Marjorie Layton worked in purchasing for 20 years, buying all the shoe components except the leather. For them, the reunion is about seeing old friends, and recalling good times. Many shared stories about Gerry McCaffrey, both good and bad. His shouting was legendary, easily heard through the office walls.

“Gerry took care of his people,” Lombard said. “But he’d yell at you. All I had to do was cry and he’d be good to me.”

Probstfield recalled at the end of his career when he was helping to shut down the Monett plant on Thirteenth Street, he had finally earned a desk. He had it for one month and hated to let it go.

“They were going to take it away,” Probstfield said. “I complained to Gerry. He said, ‘I’ll get a couple guys to

take it to your house.’ I still have it.”

The generosity of the company didn’t stop there, or with the employees. Bob Scobee worked in style and development, and each year his department was charged with going to the elementary school and make sure every child had a pair of shoes. The company gifted pairs to those who didn’t have shoes.

Scobee was one of those who stayed with the company’s subsequent owners. He moved to Boston in 1987, ultimately retiring from Munro Shoes. He moved back to Monett five years ago.

“It’s so nice to be able to come back after all those years,” Scobee said. “It’s just like old times. We were a very close group of people.”

Kim Stubblefield Rudy likely held a record of sorts for starting at the company as a shoe model at age 4. She came back for a real job at age 15. She worked in shipping and receiving, in the factory and in the print shop, moving on at age 22. She had a bonus in the company with her mother, Mary Stubblefield, working the switchboard.

Charlotte Wormington at the company switchboard in 1967.

46 | January 2019

Jumping-Jacks switchboard operators Carolyn Wormington, Mary Stubblefield and Bernice Cochran.

Former Jumping-Jacks employees, from left, Marjorie Layton, Phyllis Melby and Mary Lou Lombard.

“Jumping-Jacks was a national brand with a good reputation.”

“I was an operator and receptionist for seven years,” Mary Stubblefield said. “When I started, we plugged in cords for phone connections, manually ringing phones and running all the paging systems.”

She had the nickname of “A.J.,” for racer A.J. Foyt. She said it was because of the way she drove, but Stubblefield was also known for her speed on the phones.

“We always felt the McCaffrey family was extended family,” she added.

Bernice Cochran worked as a relief operator. She called it “a fun job.” Carolyn Wormington worked the switchboard for 13 years, and worked as Gerry McCaffrey’s secretary for five years.

“We dressed up when we went to work,” Wormington said. “We’d wear the nylons and the short skirts. It was a lot like the TV show ‘Mad Men.’ There was a lot of stuff going on, Christmas parties and things. Those were the ways things were done then.

If I had to go back, I’d change a few things.”

James “Spiz” Stephens was another employee with nearly 40 years experience on hand. Stephens started when Jumping-Jacks’ Cassville factory opened in February 1964. He worked on the line in Cassville and moved into sales.

“I was the guy from the home office with the cheap prices,” Stephens said.

“I sold surplus, old styles and cosmetic defects. I had a lot of good experiences traveling from coast to coast. There was a good market. I sold to the best stores in the country. Jumping-Jacks was a national brand with a good reputation. I also sold to stores like Famous Footwear and Marshalls.”

As a valued employee in high standing, Stephens received other assignments. One was running a time study in the factories.

‒ James “Spiz” Stephens, 40-year Jumping Jacks employee Connection Magazine | 47

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“My job was figuring out the piece rate,” he said. “To be fair, I couldn’t lean on the side of management or the workers. That was one of the most interesting parts of the job.”

Quality came up again and again.

Birkenbach recalled part of his job was seeing that the shoes were packed right and looked attractive to the customers.

If they didn’t, he heard about it. Van Amber was a puller and a checker who packed the orders, making sure customers got what they wanted.

Probstfield said it was that drive for efficiency and quality that prompted Gerry McCaffrey to hire him back as packing room manager. After that he was sent to different factories as the quality manager.

“Then for six months at night I worked a second shift on another job, working with high school kids to train them,” he said. “They just weren’t getting it on their own. I’d go home to rest and come back to the packing room. I was more or less a shoe man for 47 or 48 years. I worked with all these people here. A lot of these people were my employees.

“I look forward to meeting a lot of the workers and renewing friendships with the office people. We talk about a lot of things, how our lives changed, how we’ve done other work since then.

It was a good living–it kept my family going, and I enjoyed it. I was sad to see it close. I packed the very last shoe.”

Many of the employees have a special company memento. Melissa Wrobleski said when the Fifth Street factory was torn down in 2014 to make room for what is now the Glen and Sharon Garrett Park and the Jerry D. Hall Memorial Pavilion, she and friends loaded a car full of bricks and brought them to the reunion.

Everyone interested took one home.

“A lot of memories were made down at Jumping-Jacks,” Mary Lou Lombard said. Everyone at the reunion agreed with her. n

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Connection Magazine | 49

Local barber remembers starting dream in

1961

Barber Shop F Look Better, Feel Better barber sign was given to Blankenship from an old barbershop in Washburn. According to Blankenship the sign is more than 80 years old.

50 | January 2019

or nearly 60 years, J.T. Blankenship has owned and operated a barber shop in Cassville. After attending Cassville High School, then working in a chicken plant in Monett, Blankenship put himself through school to become a barber.

J.T. Blankenship, owner of J.T. Blankenship Barber shop in Cassville on Hwy. 112, said he first started barbering in Springfield on North National in 1961, in a shop owned by a man with the last name Blankenship.

“He and I never did figure out if we were any kin,” Blankenship said. “We talked about our kinfolk, but never came up with any relative that we both knew.”

Story by Jordan Privett

Blankenship said he worked in Springfield for three and a half years.

“I came down to Cassville in 1964, and went to work for Mal Hudson,” Blankenship said. “I had worked for him for about a month, when he came in one morning and told me he didn’t want to own the shop anymore; he was going to sell it. He told me, ‘If you want a job, you’re going to have to buy the shop.

I’m going to work for whoever buys it, but if someone besides you buys it, you’re going to be out of a job.’

So I bought the shop in 1964,” Blankenship said. “Hudson worked for me until 1967, when I sold the

barber shop to Charles Epperly. Epperly owned it for about a year, and I bought it back in 1968.”

Blankenship said he moved from where the Video Mart is now.

“They built this building, and I moved the business in here in December of 1969,” Blankenship said.

“I have rented off of R.G. Edmondson ever since.”

Blankenship’s barber shop stands out from others, with wooden benches, walk-in only appointments and a laid-back atmosphere.

“I want people to come in and visit,” Blankenship said. “And if they would like, get a haircut.”

J.T. Blankenship sitting in his barber chair, and co-barber Olivia Hilburn stands behind him. Olivia is from Springfield where she worked for four and a half years, and had her one-year anniversary of working with Blankenship on Dec. 13.

Blankenship said he went to school for six months, and after he took the barber test he went to work for Blankenship in Springfield for an apprenticeship for 18 months.

“Then, I had to go back and take the board test so I could get my license,” Blankenship said. “We still have to renew our license every other year on the odd years.”

Connection Magazine | 51

“I can’t imagine doing something I didn’t like for the rest of my life... Do something you love.” ‒ J.T. Blankenship, owner of J.T. Blankenship Barber Shop According to Blankenship, he was raised near Jenkins, and went to high school in Cassville.

“I wanted to come home” Blankenship said. “I had a chance to come back and get that shop that Mal had, and that’s why I’m here now.”

TJ Eakin, in the process of getting his hair cut during the interview, said, “J.T. gave me my first professional hair cut when I was 12 years old. I’m 62 years old now and keep coming back.”

“I’ve been in the barber business for 57 years; in March it will make 58 years,” Blankenship said. “It’s what I always wanted to do.”

Blankenship said that back when he was in grade school, he just decided that he wanted to be a barber, and he never did change his mind.

“After high school I worked in a chicken plant in Monett until I got enough money to go to school on,” Blankenship said. “When I got enough money, my dad told me, ‘Son, you got a good job–you better stay with it, you’re making good money.’”

According to Blankenship, he was making $1.10 an hour at the chicken plant.

“I went to barber school, and I’ve never looked back,” Blankenship said. “Dad asked me, ‘What if you don’t like that barber business?’ I said, then I can always come back to plucking chickens. I haven’t plucked a single chicken since.”

Blankenship said he hasn’t gotten rich in the barber business, but he has made a living.

52 | January 2019

Blankenship has collected many items over the years of being a barber. This glass bottle of Wildroot hair tonic has been on his counter for more than 20 years.

“A lot of people do all kinds of work, but I can’t imagine doing something I didn’t like for the rest of my life,” Blankenship said. “If you are doing something you don’t like, get out of it and do something you love.”

“I’ve had some funny things happen during my days as a barber,” Blankenship said. “People have asked me why I don’t write a book.

There have been good times, there have been a few sad times - but mostly good – but I don’t want to write a book.”

According to Blankenship, he and his wife, Silva, went to school together. After they graduated, he went to work at the chicken plant and she went to work in a garment factory in Crane.

“When I went to barber school,

and started working in Springfield, we went to Miami, Okla., and got married,” Blankenship said. “We have two daughters and one son together; they all live close to the area.”

Blankenship said at the barber shop they just do hair cuts.

“We don’t do shaves or shampoos,” Blankenship said. “I used to though, back when I first started, I offered all of it, but once I moved down here it wasn’t really popular enough.”

When Blankenship first came to Cassville, a haircut cost $1. Then it went to $1.50, then $2, and just kept going up.

“We have had $12 hair cuts now for about 3 years,” Blankenship said.

“The prices of the things we have to buy have gone up. I used to be able

Roger Reinhard has been getting his hair cut by J.T. Blankenship for 26 years. Blankenship said the flat top hair cut is still one of the most popular cuts he does.

to buy a set of clippers for $39; now they cost me $189.”

Blankenship said he always gives a child’s first hair cut for free, and a free haircut on a customer’s 90th birthday.

“I used to give a free hair cut to men for their wedding, but marriages just don’t last that long anymore,” Blankenship said. “I had this one boy come in and say, ‘Give me the best hair cut you ever gave me.’

I asked him what the occasion was, and he said he was getting married.

About a month later, the same boy came in again and said, ‘Give me the best hair cut you ever gave me.’

I told him that’s what I did the last time. I asked him what happened. He replied, ‘That marriage only lasted three days, but I’m getting married again.’” n

Olivia Hilburn works alongside Blankenship in his shop. When Roger Rienhard comes in for his hair cut every six weeks so does his wife, Joanne Reinhard.

Connection Magazine | 53

cutest pet

If you think your furry or feathered friend is the cutest in the area, let us know!

We invite you to share a photo of your pet to be featured in Connection’s Cutest Pet contest.

Email your pet’s photo to:

connection@monett-times.com Photos should be sent in the original JPG format at the highest resolution possible.

Remember to include your pet’s name, city of residence and your contact information.

Ellie and Bella on their first birthday.

Owned by Silvia Dodson of Monett.

54 | January 2019

Ellie and Bella

rescued, my favorite breed

2019

is here!

A time to celebrate a new year with all the promises of 12 months to fill with the best of everything. It is also a time for resolutions to do better than we did last year, to be more helpful and thoughtful to others and more kind. Some of these resolutions should concern our pets and their care.

One of my favorite little guys at Faithful Friends was a dachshund/chihuahua mix who came into the shelter being heartworm positive. Heartworm is a serious disease that will kill a dog if left untreated. The good news is that there is a cure for heartworm, the bad news is that it is very painful for the dog.

Little Louie was a cheerful, happy dog who was always ready to run into the play yard, inspect the perimeter and every foot of the playground for new sights and smells, and then play ball for as long as someone would throw it for him. He would then snuggle with the volunteer and was totally satisfied to be held for a little while. Then one day when I arrived at the adoption center, I noticed that Louie would go outside, but simply lie down and look sad. He was lethargic and didn’t want to move. I didn’t know what happened to the happy pup from previous days, so I got help. Turns out

UPDATE: Of the 10 pets that have been featured in this column, 6 have found their furever homes. Pepper and Guinness (dogs) and Aries and Cora (cats) are still waiting for their families.

Hallow he had received his last heartworm shot the day before and it affected him terribly. He was still in pain the day after, suffering the after effects. I sat down, held him for as long as I could, hoping it would soothe his pain and then carried him back into his kennel, where he lay looking pretty pitiful under his cover. Dogs survive the heartworm treatment, but it is hard on them. Little Louie’s story ends well, he was fine the next time I saw him and he has since been adopted. He will live a normal life so long as he gets the usual heartworm preventative each month. No more heartworm shots!

Our area of the country is very susceptible to certain hazards for our pets, so to keep them healthy and with you for as long as possible, please discuss the necessary vaccinations and preventative treatments for your cats and dogs with your vet. Flea and tick treatment is a must, even in the winter, because certain ticks can survive extremely cold weather and cause serious health issues for dogs and cats.

Each one of our animals has a

special story, and the stories are both sad and heartwarming, but what is most amazing, the animals come through all sorts of hardship and still call humans their friend.

Here is another example. Hallow was a cute little kitten found by the side of the road by two young girls on, you guessed it, Halloween night. She had a bad wound on the base of her tail from an unknown incident. The girls were upset and felt so badly for the poor little kitten. Not knowing what else to do, they brought her to Faithful Friends.

The injury was severe enough that she had to go to the vet right away and unfortunately, the tail had to be amputated to keep any infection from spreading.

But, as we find with so many of our pets, she perked right up, recovered from the surgery and is now ready for adoption. Does she miss part of her tail? Not that anyone could tell. She is very lovable, likes to sleep on any human’s chest, but now and then a little ornery side comes out too.

She gets along with other cats, dogs and even guinea pigs.

Christa stout

Connection Magazine | 55

ENJOY THE FREEDOM

www.freedombk.com

As always, here are some more adoptable animals at Faithful Friends:

Calamity. Calamity and her sister Jane arrived at Faithful Friends some time ago. Her sister was recently adopted, and Calamity is looking very sad these days, hoping to find her own home very soon.

She is so misnamed, there is not a mean bone in her body, but instead, she is the calmer one of the sisters and would make a perfect companion for someone who loves to snuggle and pet her.

of Southern Missouri

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56 | January 2019

Woodrow. Woodrow is an American Bulldog mix, who is just a mush ball around people. He really wants to be a lap dog. He walks well on a leash, gets sidetracked sometimes by a scent – he has such a fantastic nose - and is a favorite at the center where volunteers love to take him out to play.

For more information on any of the Faithful Friends animals or to volunteer, go to

www.FFAANeosho.org, contact us on Facebook, or by calling the adoption center at 417.592.2512. We always need volunteers and we always have adoptable dogs and cats!

‘There’s no place like home’

Mitsi Sera comes back to Monett after 60 years

F

or Mitsi Sera Nakai, coming back to Monett this fall was a dream come true.

After 60 years, she returned to the town that was home from 1951 to 1958, her formative years. She was a member of the Monett High School Class of 1961, and came back for the class reunion in October. Though her family moved her junior year, her classmates still considered her part of their class and welcomed her with open arms.

Mitsi, the daughter of first generation Japanese immigrants, had a unique experience as the only minority living in Monett at the time. Nonetheless her experience was positive. She looked forward to seeing her old stomping grounds again, but found it all fresh and new, as the Monett she knew — before

Story by Murray Bishoff

there was a Highway 60 — was very different from the Monett she found.

Mitsi’s parents lived in Fresno, Calif., when World War II broke out. As people of Japanese heritage, they were placed in an internment camp in Arkansas during the war, and found little to return to after the war, when Mitsi was 2.

“My father was a chicken sexer,” Mitsi said. “California doesn’t do poultry. He went to set up a business, said, ‘This is what I do,’ and found work in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He went to work for Max Heim’s hatchery in Monett in 1951, when I was eight.”

Mitsi went to the Forest Park School as a third grader. Her father, she noted, recognized the hazards of being a minority at a time when African American porters slept on sleeping bags on the

Mitsi Sera, freshman yearbook photo from 1958

Connection Magazine | 57

Mitsi’s 13th birthday party. At front row, from left, are Patricia East, Mitsi, Ann Meuser and Becky Suit.

Class photo from Mrs. Vogt’s sixth grade. Mitsi Sera is on the second row, left end.

58 | January 2019

floor of the Frisco depot. Her father, she said, went to the Monett City Council to ask permission to move his family to town, and received it.

“The kids responded to me pretty good,” Mitsi said. “I didn’t have a problem. When you’re young, you don’t pay much attention to being a minority. It left no impression on me. The main thing is the town itself.”

That was apparent from her involvement. Mitsi recalled being in twirling, dancing, ballet, acrobatics, and even the golf team. She was in Vivian Rauch’s dance studio and was placed in “every competition.”

“I did the hoop baton and the fire baton in parades. I’ve got pictures of me throwing that at homecoming,” she said. “I was busy, but everything fit in. I don’t think I would have in California.

Here it was all right here. If my parents couldn’t take me, I could walk. I learned a lot from Sister Mary Jane at St. Vincent’s Hospital. They really taught you.

In California, you had to have worker permits. They had so many rules and regulations.”

Her classmate, Judy Thurston Thomas, who invited Mitsi to come to the reunion, was in Brownies with her.

“She was different,” Judy recalled. “I wanted to touch her her.”

“I never felt I was different,” Mitsi said. “They never made me feel different.”

Mitzi’s daughter, Sharey Bryan, had another take.

“They thought she was a midget!” said Sharey who is much taller. Mitsi conceded she was short, like her parents, while her daughter managed greater stature with a father who was 5-8.

Mitsi with David Kleiboeker, whom she was dating either freshman or sophomore year in high school. (left) Twirler clipping from The Monett Times

Connection Magazine | 59

Mitsi on her wedding day with husband Roy Tsuneo Nakai.

Within a Japanese family, traditions mattered. Mitsi said her family experienced no trouble in Monett, but they left when her father considered her reaching dating age. Wanting his daughter to marry a Japanese man, the family moved back to California, where Mitsi met Roy Tsuneo Nakai and started a family of her own. Circumstances and her husband’s years of poor health kept Mitsi from traveling. He passed away in 2017.

“I knew Mitsi was living in California,” Judy Thurston Thomas recalled.

60 | January 2019

“When the anniversary of the internment camps came, I went to look for her. I went to Google, found her phone number and called her. ‘This is a voice you haven’t heard in 40 years,’ I said in the message I left her. She called me back. I learned her husband had died a week before mine. I knew what she went through. [The reunion trip] evolved from that.”

When the two of them finally saw each other, the years fell away. Judy said she recognized Mitsi immediately. Mitsi said she recognized Judy’s voice.

Mitsi’s daughter and husband made bringing Mitsi back their treat. When they got here, Mitsi had difficulty recognizing Monett.

“It’s not the Monett as I remembered it,” she said. “I was surprised how it’s grown — the businesses, the houses. We went to the high school and all I could say was ‘Oh my gosh!’ What stayed the same was the people. We went to Walmart, and people would say, ‘Excuse me.’ I said, ‘OK, people here still have have that country, small hometown feeling.’ That’s very nice.

“At the reunion, everyone made me feel so welcome. California is a cold state. I miss the people the most. Because the town was small, everybody knew everybody. I was here from age 8 to 14, from a little kid to what I thought was a big shot. Fresno is so big that it’s overwhelming.”

Mitsi found her old house was gone, as was the high school and the Cubs Den, where the kids would hang out.

Judy recalled fondly the Big Boy restaurant, on the northeast corner of Ninth and Cleveland, where the Brown Gables had been in a previous decade.

“That was where the rough and tough go,” Judy recalled. “We’d go to see the motorcycles. It was the place your mother told you to stay away from but you couldn’t wait to get in. If you wanted to skip school, that’s where you’d hang out. Principal Wayne Wright gave us a lecture about that.”

Both recalled how Monett had exceptional schooling. Judy noted that when the junior college closed in 1954, the teachers stayed. High school students had access to college quality.

“Monett had a very strict system,” Judy said.

“But it paid off,” Mitsi said. “When I went to Fresno High School, there were 1,000 in my class. In Monett, there were 88. School here was so advanced.”

Both Mitsi and Judy commented on

Mitsi with her daughter, Shelley Bryan, and her husband, Mike, at right, following the Monett reunion.

“I’m taking lots of good memories home of people I hadn’t seen for 60 years. If my kids weren’t in California, I’d come back.

It’s home.” ‒ Mitsi Sera Nakai

Judy Thurston Thomas, center, addressed the reunion at the Monett Museum.

the attractiveness of Monett’s schools today and the sports facilities. Mitsi observed downtown was more familiar.

They talked about the Dairy King, the Lucky 7 Cafe on Fifth Street, the Dog N Suds at Circle Drive and Highway 37 (“Too far south for most kids to go,” Judy said), the Swirly Burger at Ninth and Broadway, the Tasty Freeze at Fifth and Broadway, and Saturday at the Gillioz Theatre, where admission was 10 cents, popcorn was a dime, allday suckers were a nickel, and the serials ran weekly.

“You have a much slower pace of life here,” said Mitsi’s daughter Sherry, who runs a tax accounting business.

“That’s what I like about it,” Mitsi said.

“I’m taking lots of good memories home of people I hadn’t seen for 60 years,” Mitsi said. “When your impressionable years were here, you tend to keep that in your heart. If my kids, her daughter and my great grandchild weren’t in California, I’d come back.

It’s home. I don’t know how else to put it.” n

Connection Magazine | 61

connection on the go

Larry Roller and Mary C. O’Banion took Connection on vacation to Gulf Shores, Ala.

On a Making Memories Tours on the Blue Ridge Mountains, Music & Memories Tour Mary Ann Pendergraft, left, Terry Duncan, center, and Norma Clinton held a Connection Magazine at Cumberland Falls, Kent.

Ruth Thompson of Cassville is shown with the Elvis edition of Connection Magazine while enjoying a recent trip to Panama City Beach with her daughters, Charli Jo, Wendy, Ruthanne and Becky.

62 | January 2019

Ken and Paula Dodson, of Purdy, Dawn Real, of Purdy, with their son/brother at Fort Jackson, SC. David Dodson is a 1995 graduate of Monett High School graduating from Army Chaplin training as a Captain with the 82nd Airborne, stationed at Fort Bragg, NC.

community calendar

January 2019 Jan. 2 Blood pressure check at Central Crossing Senior Center at 10:30 a.m.

Jan. 3 Benefit Counseling by appointment at the Cassville Senior Center. Call 847-4510.

Paint Class at the Cassville Senior Center at 9:00 a.m.

Jan. 5 The Seligman Chamber of Commerce will host a dance at the Seligman Chamber Event Center at 7 p.m.

Admission is $5 each, and attendees are asked to bring a snack to share.

No alcohol or smoking is allowed.

For more information, call 417-6623612.

Jan. 7 Notary Services available at the Central Crossing Senior Center in Shell Knob, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Jan. 12 The Seligman Chamber of Commerce will host a dance at the Seligman Chamber Event Center at 7 p.m.

Admission is $5 each, and attendees are asked to bring a snack to share.

No alcohol or smoking is allowed.

For more information, call 417-6623612.

Jan. 15 Grace Health Services (feet) at the Central Crossing Senior Center in Shell Knob. Call for an appointment 417-858-6952.

Jan.16 Blood pressure check at Central Crossing Senior Center at 10:30 a.m.

Grace Foot Care by appointment at Cassville Senior Center. Call 8474510.

Jan. 17 Lunch entertainment by the Shell Knob Strings at the Central Crossing Senior Center in Shell Knob.

Activities BINGO

Held every Tuesday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the American Legion Unit 137 in Mt. Vernon. A smoke-free room is available.

Paint Class at the Cassville Senior Center at 9:00 a.m.

Jan. 19 The Annual Cassville Chamber of Commerce membership banquet will be held at the Cassville High School commons area beginning at 6 p.m.

Oak Pointe Bridge Club

The Seligman Chamber of Commerce will host a dance at the Seligman Chamber Event Center at 7 p.m.

Admission is $5 each, and attendees are asked to bring a snack to share.

No alcohol or smoking is allowed.

For more information, call 417-6623612.

Bingo every day at noon; Exercise every Monday at 9:45 a.m. Pitch every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30; and Pinochle every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12:30 p.m.

Jan. 23 Nell’s Nails begins at 9 a.m. Call 8474510 for an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome at the Cassville Senior Center.

Jan. 24 The Pierce City Senior Center Dance will hold its regular monthly dance.

Oak Pointe Bridge Club meets every Monday and Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Lunch can be purchased for $3.

Call 417-235-3500.

MONETT SENIOR CENTER

CASSVILLE SENIOR CENTER

Dominoes every Tuesday and Friday at noon.

Exercise class every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10-11 a.m. Call 417-847-4510 for more information.

CENTRAL CROSSING SENIOR CENTER, SHELL KNOB, MO. Regular events:

Jan. 25 Monthly Birthday Lunch at the Cassville Senior Center begins at 11 a.m.

Wii Bowling every Wednesday, 12:30 to 3 p.m. New bowlers welcome.

Jan. 26 The Seligman Chamber of Commerce will host a dance at the Seligman Chamber Event Center at 7 p.m.

Admission is $5 each, and attendees are asked to bring a snack to share.

No alcohol or smoking is allowed.

For more information, call 417-6623612.

Cards Galore every Friday with Pitch beginning at 9 a.m.

Jan 28 Cassville Senior Center will be serving Breakfast beginning at 8 a.m.

Friends’ Bridge every Friday. Call Quita at 417-271-9803 for details.

Domino Poker, every day from 12:45.

Qigong Exercise every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10 a.m.

Arthritis Exercise class is held every Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.

Mah Jongg every Monday and Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Line Dancing every Tuesday and Thursday from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

Quilting for Charity every Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Balance and Flexibility class is held every Monday from 9:30 to 10 a.m.

Connection Magazine | 63

Support groups Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

Celebrate Recovery

ADVERTISER INDEX

Aurora: Alcoholics Anonymous of Aurora

Cassville: Celebrate Recovery meets at the

Acambaro Mexican.................................... 14

meets at 8 p.m. at Aurora Community of Christ Church at 120 E. Elm every Tuesday and Thursday. Call 417-229-1237

Cassville: Alcoholics Anonymous of Cassville meets at 8 p.m. at 1308 Harold Street in Cassville every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Call 417-847-3685.

Eagle Rock: Alcoholics Anonymous of Eagle Rock meets at 7 p.m. at 86 & P (Mitchel Plaza) every Monday and Wednesday.

Call 417-271-0434.

Marionville: Alcoholics Anonymous of

Marionville meets at 8 p.m. on Highway 60 next to Dairy Queen every Sunday.

Call 417-463-7640.

Monett: Alcoholics Anonymous of Monett

meets at 7 p.m. at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, 405 Seventh Street, every Sunday and Wednesday. Call 417-489-5058.

Mt. Vernon: Alcoholics Anonymous of Mt. Vernon meets at 8 p.m. at the Christian Church on 703 Hickory every Monday.

Call 417-489-2413 or 417-440-1567.

Washburn: Narcotics Anonymous and

Alcoholics Anonymous group meets at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of every month at the First Baptist Church Activity Center, 618 Second Street in Washburn.

417-489-7662.

Al-Anon Cassville: Al-Anon Family Group meets at

8 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in Cassville every Thursday of each month.

This is for family or friends of alcoholics.

Caregiver Support Group Monett: Caregiver Support Group meets

at Oak Pointe of Monett from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday of each month at 1011 Old Airport Road in Monett. For more information, call Kathy 417-235-3500.

Shell Knob: The Alzheimer’s/Dementia Care-

givers Support Group meets at the Central Crossing Senior Center, 20801 YY-15, the third Thursday of every month at 2 p.m.

The Caring People (Single Mothers)

Cassville: The Caring People, a Single

Mom’s Support Group, meets the second Monday of each month from 5:30-7 p.m. at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall in Cassville. This is jointly sponsored by The Caring People organization and First Baptist Church, Cassville. A meal and children’s activities are provided. The meeting is open to anyone. For more information, call 417-847-2965.

64 | January 2019

Family Life Center in Cassville every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Meeting at the same time is Celebration Station for children. This is for anyone with hurts, habit or hang-ups.

Golden: Celebrate Recovery meets at 7 p.m.

Advanced Plumbing................................... 38 Aire Serv....................................................... 40 A-List Properties........................................ 39 Allstate Insurance...................................... 39

at the Golden Baptist Church on Route J in Golden every Monday of each month.

Dinner is served at 6:15 p.m. This is for anyone with hurts, habit or hang-ups.

Barry Electric Coop.................................... 19

Monett: Celebrate Recovery meets at New

Bull’s Eye Power Washing........................ 38

Site Baptist Church, 1925 Farm Rd 1060 in Monett, on Thursdays. Doors open at 6 p.m. Childcare provided. The Landing, a Celebrate Recovery group for teens, meets at the same time and site.

Purdy: Celebrate Recovery meets at First Baptist Church, 301 Washington St. in Purdy at 10 a.m. on Mondays.

Seligman: Celebrate Recovery meets at

MOZark Fellowship, 28277 Frisco Street, every Wednesday. Food is served at 6 p.m., and the meeting begins at 7 p.m.

Diabetes Support Group Aurora: The Aurora Diabetes Support Group meets the third Wednesday of each month at Mercy Hospital in Aurora in the private dining room at 4-5 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Note: There is no meeting in December.

Barry Lawrence Regional Library...............2 Bruner Pharmacy...........................................5 Carey’s Cassville Florist............................ 48 Carson Construction................................. 41 Coast to Coast............................................ 41 Coldwell Banker......................................... 41 Community National Bank....................... 31 Cox Medical Centers................................. 72 Crane Familiy Dentistry............................ 19 Crown Double K Realty............................ 38 Diet Center.................................................. 49 Doug’s Pro Lube......................................... 30 Edward Jones.................................................3 First State Bank of Purdy......................... 71 Fohn Funeral Home................................... 10 Four Seasons Real Estate......................... 40 Freedom Bank of Southern Missouri..... 56 Friendly Tire................................................. 18 Guanajuato Mexican Restaurant...............9

Grief Care Support

Honey Bluff Shenanigans......................... 48

Marionville: Grief Care Support, sponsored

J&J Floor Covering.................................... 40

community support by Integrity Hospice, is held the last Thursday of every month at 10 a.m. in Marionville at Methodist Manor, 205 South College Ave. in the Alice Lounge. Care group is for anyone experiencing grief through loss.

Monett: The Grief Support Group meets the

first and third Tuesday of each month at Oak Pointe of Monett, 1011 Old Airport Road from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For more information, call Kathy at 417-235-3500.

Narcotics Anonymous (NA) Monett: Vision of Hope Narcotics Anony-

mous group meets at 8 p.m. every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday in the upstairs of Monett Community Church, 2101 E. Cleveland.

Monett: Narcotics Anonymous meets at 8

p.m. the first Tuesday of every month in the basement of St. Lawrence Catholic Church, located at the corner of Seventh and Cale streets in Monett, 417-442-3706.

Washburn: Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous group meets at 7 p.m. the first Tuesday of every month at the First Baptist Church Activity Center, 618 Second Street in Washburn.

417-489-7662.

K&K Insurance............................................ 39 Ken’s Collision Center............................... 49 Kiddie City......................................................6 Lackey Body Works................................... 31 Les Jacobs.................................................... 18 Monett Rental & Sales.............................. 39 Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce....6 Ozark Methodist Manor........................... 30 Ozark Regional YMCA.................................5 Peppers and Co.......................................... 48 Purdy Health Clinic.......................................9 Quick Draw Gun......................................... 14 Race Brothers............................................. 71 Re/Max Properties.................................... 41 Riehn, J. Michael; attorney..........................9 Scott Regional............................................. 19 Security Bank of Southwest Missouri... 10 Shelter Insurance...................................5, 31 The Coffee Café............................................6 The Jane Store............................................ 30 Tomboy Treasures...................................... 10 White’s Insurance...................................... 18 Whitley Pharmacy...................................... 14

familiar faces

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St. Mary’s Catholic School in Pierce City held its annual Fall Carnival, dinner and Halloween costume contest on Oct. 27 in the school fellowship hall.

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Heather Eckhart holding Eloise Eckhart Briggs, Jim, Pam and Quinn Barchak Joy and Harold Lombard, Darren Gibbs Otto and Tommy Cahalan Wittley, Jessica and Reece Cahalan

6. Beth, Linda and Jemma Fenske 7. John Case, Forrest Summers 8. Audrey and Dena Chapman 9. Tom and Melissa Cahalan 10. Bailey and Hannah Gurnee

Connection Magazine | 65

familiar faces

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St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Monett held its annual Fall Feast, hosted by the Parish Council of Catholic Women, on Nov. 4 in the church fellowship hall.

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66 | January 2019

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1. Ben Layton, Janice Schmidt 2. Richard McNerney, Tom Carroll, David Saunders II 3. Donna and Bill Verhoff 4. Dave and Kathy Parrigon, Margaret Arnaud 5. Juan and Maria Cerrano 6. Abby, Alex, Jayden and Gabriella Apostol 7. Charles and Karl Wilke 8. Mary Schad, Adline Bartkoski 9. Charles Johnson, Leslye Milton 10. Patricia Kaiser, Donald Manning

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Jolly Mill Christmas open house was held Friday, Nov. 30 and Saturday, Dec. 1, at the historic mill, kicking off the first of many holiday activities during Yuletide.

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Rosie and Melvin Bailey Courtney Garner with daughter, Delainey Garner, 20 months John and Melissa Lemaster Evan Eckhart, Erin Eckhart, Jason Eckhart and Zane Eckhart

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Taylor Larsen, Kelly Larsen and Courtland Larsen Brynlee Moller, Dexton Moller and Bentley Talbert Karsyn Haase, held by cousin, Kristie Haase Jillian Garner and Evie Chapman

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11 9. Sire Coy, Sierra Coy and her brother

Kevin Coy 10. Stephanie Duffy and Sterling Duffy 11. Chris Harper and Brittany Harper

Connection Magazine | 67

familiar faces

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3 The Monett High School Student Council hosted district senior citizens at the annual Golden Age Banquet on Nov. 15.

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Bob and Valete Brown, Maxine Hall Lee and Gayle Chapman George Ballay, Doris Sisco Jerry Marbut, Bill and Kris Archer, Juanita Marbut

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5. Judy Needham,

Barbara Foster,

Sue Barnes,

Edna Haynes 6. David and

Lou Ellen

Honeycutt 7. William and

Yvonne Wood 8. Mary Britton,

Irene Andes 9. Betty Yancy,

Lucille Stoll 10. Wilma Hall,

Mary Weiser

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Berean Christian Academy held a dinner and recreated a USO show for Veterans Day on Nov. 10.

Angelic McAlister, Kylie Whitlock Ina, Doug and Don Goddard Rachel Schrock, Phyllis Byler Susan, Steve and Crae Salsman Front: Ian Shrum, Amy and Theresa Rosebaugh Back: Bill Rosebaugh, Chayton Shrum

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8 6. Ann and Ken Hall 7. Steve Mankins, Alan Frantz 8. Stephen and Tiffany Buechler 9. Paige Copeland, Lexi Keeling,

Drew Howerton 10. Ron Badger, Luke Blinzler

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10 Connection Magazine | 69

Parting Shot

A

“

utumn is the eternal corrective.

It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance.

What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?� ‒ Hal Borland

Mark Twain National Forest by Ruthie Townsend

70 | January 2019

happy New year!

May your New year BriNg Joy aNd happiNess!

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Connection Magazine | 71