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David Jennings Dorotha Horton Florence Lawhead Aggie Driskell Katherine Young Carroll Konecne Marcella Drapcho

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

Retired farmer tells story of helping others through 1980s farm crisis

By KELSEY HAUGEN CNA staff reporter khaugen@crestonnews.com

MOUNT AYR – David and Wilmina Jennings sit in recliner chairs in their new home, Maple Ridge Assisted Living, flipping through an album of photos dating back to 1944.

Some photos are worn and tattered, much like Wilmina’s memory of what happened in the 1980s.

But David remembers it all. An early-morning visit to the residence of a farmer feeling hopeless, distraught and a little insane. A phone call from a suicidal farmer who just couldn’t take it anymore.

Empathizing with others while experiencing the crisis firsthand – David was a farmer, too.

“It was terrible,” he said.

He took off his glasses and wiped away tears.

“I had so much strain and stress with those calls that I don’t know how I stood it,” he said.

David farmed for most of his life, first with his father and then with Wilmina. While experiencing the 1980s farm crisis himself, David was working for a nonprofit, PrairieFire Rural Action, answering phone calls and helping farmers with both practical and emotional problems during the crisis.

Focus on family Before coming to Mount Ayr two months ago, David never lived more than 10 miles from where he was born: Beaconsfield.

Right out of high school, he began farming with his father, Clark Jennings.

at one point, had as many as 1,000 hogs.

This year, the couple celebrates their 71st anniversary.

“It’s been all roses,” David said.

“It might be roses, but they’ve kind of wilted,” Wilmina said.

They raised two children, David and Mary, and now have four grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

“Sometimes dealing with your children was the No. 1 thing more than farming or going to church,” Wilmina said.

“You can turn your back on your farm if you want to, but that doesn’t work out. You have to do what you Entering the crisis The Jennings’ children have to do to helped on the farm up unmake your life til they went to college. complete.”

“That was something to

get used to,” Wilmina said.

— Wilmina Jennings “But, it all works, if you Wife of David Jennings want it to. You can turn your back on your farm or CNA photo by KELSEY HAUGEN your family if you want to, “Then, we moved up but that doesn’t work out. David and Wilmina Jennings, both in their 90s, have been married 71 years. The couple northeast of Ellston and You have to do what you withstood the 1980s farm crisis, and David helped other farmers through it, too. farmed near Ellston for have to do to make your to the Soviet Union, which “It really occupied our life were aged bad during that.” the next 47 years.” life complete.”

In 1945, David, 93, marIn the mid-1980s, a ma- drained a major market and aged us, as it did others,” FARM | 3A ried Wilmina, 91, who jor farm crisis struck. A for the United States and David said. “Many around us grew up in Ellston. They number of factors led to caused grain prices to both came from farm fam- the crisis, including high drop. Like many others ilies. interest rates, droughts who relied on agriculture Once they were married, and President Jimmy Car- for their livelihoods, Dathey began sharing the ter’s decision to embargo vid and Wilmina were in work of farming about 100 American grain shipments financial ruin. acres of corn and 100 acres of soybeans. They also raised hogs and cattle, and

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

FARM:

Off-duty calls

CONT. FROM | 2A

were aged bad during that.”

PrairieFire From 1984 to 1995, David worked for PrairieFire Rural Action in Des Moines three days a week while still farming full time.

“I answered phone calls about problems like I had and beyond,” David said. “My territory lasted from Nebraska to the eastern states, so it was far-reaching. You never knew when you picked up that phone whether they’d be crying or what was going on.”

The PrairieFire helpline received calls consistently for many years. The economic downturn primarily affected farmers in the Midwest, but it quickly rippled to other areas in the nation where agriculture played a major role in the local economy.

Some callers needed help saving their farms.

“I had a call on a Sunday evening that the FHA (Farmers Home Administration) was going to sell a guy’s farm out from under him ... It was my job to go in the next morning and get it set up so he didn’t lose his farm,” David said. “A lot of satisfaction came out of helping people save their farms; that’s what it was all about.”

Other callers just wanted to talk to someone who cared.

“They called for guidance and strength,” David said.

“That’s where (my) Christian background came in.”

David took countless heart-wrenching calls – some from suicidal farmers.

“I can’t explain to someone else what it really was like,” he said. “The strain was big, but I enjoyed every minute of (helping).”

One Sunday night in 1985, David was off the clock from PrairieFire and playing cards with Wilmina and friends. The phone rang, and a man asked David if he’d come over to his residence in Clearfield Monday morning.

“I said, ‘What’s the problem?’ And he said, ‘You come over, and I’ll tell you.’ So, I went over that morning, and I found him,” David said.

“He’d been planting wheat, and we went back over to his house to visit.”

The man was experiencing the despair of the crisis. He and David talked for three hours.

“I got him straightened out to where I thought it was safe, and then I left,” David said.

“I started down the driveway, and he came out running and stopped me. He said, ‘I was just sure this morning when you came over here that you were going to put me in the Clarinda insane asylum.’ He felt like he was going insane.

He did what I told him to do, and I never heard from him again.”

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accrued debt due to the farm crisis.

When David’s father Clark died, he bought the farm from his mother. So, during the crisis, he owned a farm and was also renting other land.

“I didn’t lose the farm, but it took me 20 years to clear it up,” David said.

Again, he took off his glasses and wiped away tears.

“We never got out of debt until we sold it.”

Selling the farm It was 2000 when the couple got out of debt and sold the farm. They had to retire at that point because David was no longer in good health, and they bought a small acreage in Tingley, where they lived for more than 15 years.

Despite the hardships, David said it was all worth it for the satisfaction of raising his crops. Plus, he has always found joy in his faith.

“I farmed most of my life, but my greatest love was the church,” David said.

Now, David and Wilmina

CNA photo by KELSEY HAUGEN

Pictured is the farm David and Wilmina Jennings owned for decades near Ellston.

They now display this barn frame and photo of their farm in their room at Maple Ridge Assisted Living in Mount Ayr.

live together at Maple Ridge.

They just moved in a couple months ago.

“It’s different being married that long and having to

be away from your home that you built, and the business that you made,” Wilmina said. “While we can still be together, it’s nothing like it was

before. But, we’re happy and proud to have lived this long and proud of the things we’ve accomplished and the children we have. That’s all good.”

Major debt As David and Wilmina farmed, they also worked side jobs. Wilmina worked outside the home, a rare feat in her time, as a nurse’s aide for many years. David drove a school bus for eight years and also drove a truck off and on.

“He worked in Des Moines, and I worked in the nursing home (in Mount Ayr), and that’s how we got along,” Wilmina said. “It was a lot of ‘Hello. Goodbye.’”

“Yeah, we didn’t get to see each other much during that time,” David said. “We just had to take advantage of the times we had.”

Though they worked more hours than not, the couple still

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

Lovely ‘live wire’

Ninety-eight-year-old Dorotha Horton’s youthful spirit resonates through her stories of farm life, marriage and passion for music.

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happy her father was when Highway 34 was paved.

“He was so tickled,” Horton said.

Horton only went through the eighth grade for her education. She didn’t go to high school. This was common at the time, especially when children were expected to help full time on the family farm after a certain age, as in Horton’s case.

Farm living

CNA photo by AMY HANSEN

Dorotha Horton plays music on her mandolin at Homestead Assisted Living and Memory Care in Osceola.

By AMY HANSEN

OST news editor ahansen@osceolaiowa.com

OSCEOLA — Even at age 98, Dorotha Horton can really jam out. In fact, that’s what she calls her music — her jams.

“I started playing when I was about 12 years old — got my first mandolin,” Horton said.

Horton, who lives at Homestead Assisted Living and Memory Care in Osceola, had her beloved mandolin sitting on her bed. Horton likes all types of music, especially Hawaiian and Irish songs.

When her hands are feeling good, she can play a song at the drop of a hat.

“She is so much fun,” said

Casey Spoelstra, activity director at Homestead. “She is a live wire, she is.”

Childhood Horton has lived in Osceola and the Clarke County area for the majority of her life. A childhood in the early 20th century is certainly different than what it is like in the 21st century.

“People were so poor then,” Horton said. “We never got to go anywhere. I just knew where we lived and where to get to school at.”

This was the era of the country schools, which is what Horton attended. She recalled when many of the roads in Clarke County were mud roads. Another memory of Horton’s is how

When talking about growing up on a farm, Horton’s face lit up.

“I liked it,” she said. “It’s the best place to raise kids.

Sure, many things for them to do and learn and experience on the farm that you don’t get to in town.”

Hours were spent milking cows, farming grain and raising chickens, cows, ducks, hogs and calves.

Horton got married in 1933 and pointed out she was a young bride. This was also the time of the height of the Great Depression.

As a young woman accustomed to farm life, Horton considered herself fortunate because her family could raise their meat and churn their own butter.

“We all got along very well,” she said. “We never went cold or hungry. We just worked hard and burned wood and milked cows. We had a good time.”

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Horton and her husband Don had six children — two boys and four girls.

Lasting marriage The couple was married for 68 years. That’s almost unheard of nowadays.

According to Horton, the secret to a long and successful marriage is for two people to respect each other. There will always be fights throughout the years, but it’s important to always be kind, especially with words.

“You got to be friends and like each others disposition,” Horton said. “He was real quiet and I was noisy, so it worked out fine. I made all the racket. You got to work together.”

Horton’s husband has since passed away. However, sitting on the top of a shelf in Horton’s room at Homestead are two pictures of the couple right next to each other.

Life at Homestead This is Horton’s third year at Homestead, and she is the third-oldest person at the facility.

According to Spoelstra, what people see with Horton is what they get. She said Horton is always on the go and up for activities.

“She is very sharp,” Spoelstra said. “She told me once … she stayed so young because she was always busy. She never stopped being ornery. She’s a lot of fun though.”

In February 2014, Horton was named the Valentine’s Day queen at Homestead Assisted Living. A coronation ceremony was held during the lunchtime hour on Feb. 14.

“That was fun. Of course, I had a nephew who said, ‘Remember, it’s just for one day, not a lifetime,’” Horton said while laughing.

Currently, Horton is also the Red Hat Queen at Homestead, which is the facility’s version of the Red Hat Society.

“Trouble” is the good-natured nickname Horton has earned at Homestead. Spoelstra lovingly attributed the name to Horton’s orneriness.

“Dorotha is like a ray of sunshine coming out of there,” Spoelstra said. “Nothing stops Dorotha.”

With being less than two years away from the age of 100, Horton’s mind is still sharp as a tack.

According to Horton, the secret to her longevity is her genetics. Her mother lived to be 98 and a-half.

As for herself, Horton would be fine with someday becoming a centenarian, or a person older than 100.

“If I feel good, it’d be all right,” she said.

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

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Strong education positions Lawhead for blessed small town life

By KYLE WILSON

CNA managing editor kwilson@crestonnews.com

MOUNT AYR — Her parents both attended college.

And, at an early age, they impressed on their only daughter Florence the importance of getting a quality education. Florence started school at the age of 5, walking 3/4 of a mile each morning to Silver Point Country School in rural Mount Ayr. “That was in the late 1920s,” said Florence, now 94 years old and residing at Maple Ridge Assisted Living in Mount Ayr. “I was an only child so I walked to school by myself. The Lindbergh kidnapping was in the papers at that time. So, my mother worried about me a lot.”

The Lindbergh kidnapping was one of the most sensational crimes of the 20th century whereby 20-month-old toddler Charles Lindbergh Jr. was abducted from his family home in New Jersey.

The toddler’s body was discovered in May 1932 just a short distance from the Lindbergh home and a medical examination determined the cause of death was a massive skull fracture.

Richard Hauptmann was later found guilty of murder

LEFT: This is a picture of Florence Lawhead shortly after her marriage to Charles in the 1940s. Florence graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri, with a teaching degree. (Contributed photo) ABOVE: Florence Lawhead plays bridge with Lori Haver, Cheri Dessinger and Phyllis Sickels at the Mount Ayr senior center in March. Florence first learned to play bridge while staying with her husband Charles on a military base in Texas. (CNA photo by KYLE WILSON)

in the first degree and was executed by electric chair in 1936.

“That was such a sad story,” Florence recalls.

Top 10 percent At country school, Florence excelled in several subjects, especially mathematics. She graduated from country school with 108 other students. Final tests for seventh and eighth graders

were taken in the assembly room at the Ringgold County Courthouse.

“You were given a pencil, and a chair with a desktop that you flipped over to write on,” Florence said.

“And, I remember geography and U.S. history being the toughest because you might not even fully cover those subjects until seventh

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8A

Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

LAWHEAD: CONT. FROM | 7A

then the family took the cream to the train station where it traveled to Just Right Dairy in St. Joseph, Missouri.

“If it arrived there sweet, they made ice cream. And if it didn’t, they’d make it into butter,” Florence said.

Florence graduated from Mount Ayr High School in 1938. She then went to college like her parents had requested. She married Charles Lawhead, a high school classmate, in December 1941, just 10 days after Pearl Harbor.

At that time, Florence was in her third year at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri, working on her teaching degree.

Charles was in dental school at the University of Iowa and he was drafted right away to serve in World War II. “Things really picked up quickly after we were married,” Florence said. “The whole world was turned upside down.”

Charles was not sent overseas immediately. Instead, he was placed in an accelerated program so he could finish his schooling faster and be able to use his skills for the war effort.

“He was going to school on Saturdays even. He never had a break. He finished dental school nine months early,” Florence said.

By the time Charles had finished school, Florence had completed her teaching degree and had been working in the business office at the University of Iowa. Charles was then sent to Rockford, Illinois, for military training.

Meanwhile, Florence received a visit from Pop Warner, superintendent of Diagonal Schools, when she was home one weekend in the summer of 1943 visiting family.

“He begged me to teach,” Florence said. “The reason he did that was because all the men were gone and they didn’t have any science or math teachers available.

Women just didn’t take those courses at that time.”

She accepted with the caveat that as soon as Charles was done with training and was settled at a military base that she would leave to be with him. Florence taught algebra, geometry, physics and biology at Diagonal until Charles reported to Paris, Texas, in the spring of 1944.

The couple was at Camp Maxey in Paris, Texas, for

Meet the

“My father-inlaw said a professional man’s wife does not work or get involved in politics. That was probably right at that time.”

Staff of

RESTON UTOMOTIVE

— Florence Lawhead

about two years whereby Charles worked near a military hospital in the camp.

He did dental work for eight hours per day, getting soldiers prepared to go overseas by doing fillings, restorations, extractions and more.

“The government didn’t want them going overseas and having a toothache,” Florence said. “That wouldn’t have worked very well. They didn’t have time over there to get dental work done.”

Meanwhile, Florence and other military wives on the base would wrap bandages of all sizes three to four times per week at the nearby community center. The colonel’s wife would also take them somewhere one time per week to play bridge.

“I still play bridge,” Florence said. “It’s good for your mind. It makes you think. In bridge, to be a good player, you about need to know where all 52 cards are.”

Even at 94, Florence gets in her Lincoln Continental and drives herself to bridge clubs in Mount Ayr about twice per week. She often plays with 72-year-old Phyllis Sickels, who is retired after working as vice president of operations at WoodLink in Mount Ayr, which manufactures and markets recycled birdhouses.

“Florence is such a lovely person to have in our group,” Sickels said. “She’s also a pretty good bridge player. She’s an aggressive bidder and that’s how you win in bridge.”

Sickels said they play together in two groups, one that meets at someone’s home and the other meets at the senior center located about 1/2 block off the Mount Ayr square.

Both groups meet at 1 p.m. and coffee and dessert are served.

“We have all kinds of desserts,” Sickels said. “I like to make a chocolate upside down cake. Another lady always brings pie. The play is always competitive. We all are doing our best to win, but were a compatible group, too, that enjoy each other’s company.”

Chris Gilbert Technician

Contributed photo

Charles and Florence Lawhead stand together for a picture in Rockford, Illinois, where he received military training in the 1940s.

Coming home Florence and Charles returned to Mount Ayr in 1946. Florence had just had their first child, Camille, and Charles went into practice with his father Carlton C. Lawhead on Taylor Street in Mount Ayr. The couple had two more children together including Collus and Carlin.

Florence would never teach full-time again.

“My father-in-law said a professional man’s wife does not work or get involved in politics. That was probably right at that time,” Florence said.

Florence did substitute teach for schools in Ringgold County. And, she got involved in the Mount Ayr community. Almost the entire Lawhead family is “musical” and Florence was the choir director at First Christian Church for many years.

She was national alumni president at Northwest Missouri State in 1960, was worthy matron of the local Eastern Star chapter in 1966 and the state’s grand ruth of Eastern Star in 1967, among serving on many other local organizations.

Charles practiced for 39 years in Mount Ayr before health problems forced him into retirement. The couple moved to Arizona permanently in 1993. He died in

March 2008.

“He never intended on retiring. He was just going to slow down,” Florence said.

“But, things never go the way you intend.”

Charles did have the blessing of working alongside his son Collus for about 10 years. In all, the family practice was open for right at 100 years — from 1914 to 2014 — in Mount Ayr. Collus said he enjoyed working alongside his father and serving the Mount Ayr community.

“Dad knew what he was doing and I learned much from him over the years,” Collus said. “Neither one of us wanted to retire. We both enjoyed the job, we enjoyed living in a small town and raising our family in a small town.”

Florence lived in Arizona until 2014. She was 92 years old at the time and wanted to move back closer to family. Camille lives near Kellerton and Collus still lives in Mount Ayr. Florence has beaten cancer twice, including a bout in the winter of 2014 that put her in the hospital for about one month.

She has six grandchildren Racinda, Randy, Lauran, David, Christopher and Connor. Christopher is currently in his second year of dental school at the University of Iowa and will be the family’s fourth-generation dentist.

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9A

‘Just the good die young’ At a peppy 94, former Greenfield nurse and WWII soldier’s wife Aggie Driskell keeps a playful perspective on life.

■

By IAN RICHARDSON

CNA staff reporter irichardson@crestonnews.com

Aggie Driskell may be 94 years old, but don’t let that fool you. Her wit would rival that of someone a quarter her age.

“You know what they tell me,” she joked during an interview one February afternoon. “Just the good die young.”

Since June 2015, Driskell has been a resident at Creston Specialty Care, where she’s known for her snappy sense of humor and her can-do attitude. It’s something that’s kept her going through some of the tougher moments in her life, from being orphaned as a child during the Great Depression to later losses of loved ones.

That sunny disposition is also something her son, 70-year-old Dave Driskell, said has made an impression on him over the years.

“When she gets

“When she gets up in the morning she has a smile on her face, and she goes to bed with a smile on her face, and that’s irrespective of how the day went,” Dave said.

“She’s had a bunch of shots thrown at her, and she’s stood up every time.”

Early life Driskell was born on March 5, 1922, in Creston.

She had a brother, Ray, and a sister, Irene.

By the time Aggie was 11 years old, both her mother and father had died, and she was taken in by her aunt and her uncle, Ray and Rachel Cunningham, who lived in Creston where Quiet Harbor Estates are today.

As kids, Aggie said she and her friends had to make their own fun. Their escapades included impromptu ball games or, in the winter, sledding.

If she and her friends got up to too much mischief, Aggie said one of her family members would inevitably find out.

“I always lucked out to have somebody with their nose stuck in business,” she said. “I had an uncle that was the president of First National Bank, and every time he’d see me do something, he’d call.”

During high school, Driskell joined the speech team and played guard on the girls basketball team. While the girls never had much success, she said the boys won state twice during her high school career.

up in the morning she has a smile on her face, and she Mr. Driskell goes to bed with It was after graduating a smile on her in 1940 that Aggie went on face, and that’s a double date with fellow irrespective of how CHS grad Don Driskell.

Their relationship took off the day went.” quickly.

— Dave Driskell

Aggie Driskell’s son

“We went out to eat and then to a show and made another date and another date

CNA photo by IAN RICHARDSON

Aggie Driskell, 94, sits in a chair at Creston Specialty Care. Driskell has spent her life in Creston and Greenfield, where she was a longtime nurse at Greenfield Hospital.

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and another date, and before the summer was over, we were married,” Aggie said.

The Driskells moved to Greenfield so Don could take a job as a butter maker at Greenfield Creamery.

When it closed years later, he drove a maintainer for the county. Aggie spent 35

years at Greenfield Hospital working as a practical nurse.

World War II Aggie was age 19 on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. She said she still remembers AGGIE | 10A

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

AGGIE: CONT. FROM | 9A

where she was when she heard the news.

“I was taking care of patients — taking blood pressure, I think,” she said. “I just remember the whistles started. We couldn’t imagine what was going on.”

Don, who had served four years in the Navy and had been promoted to an officer, was one of the first men called back into the armed forces during the war, Aggie said. He joined in 1942 and went to Japan for three years. Ray also served in the Army during the war.

Aggie said when the war ended and Don returned, they held a big celebration.

“We had a big party when he got back,” Aggie said. “A lot of his friends were gone, too. They all got together.”

Kids and grandkids While living in Greenfield, Aggie and Don had three sons: Mike, Pat and Dave. Aggie said their family was also one of the first in Greenfield to purchase a

television.

“We were the third ones in Greenfield to have a TV,” she said. “I think about that now — I hate to get out of my big chair, but back then you got up to even turn it up or down.”

The couple would move back to Creston in 1985.

Aggie currently has nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. Two of her sons, Mike and Pat, have since died. Don died in 1994.

Looking up Driskell’s nine decades haven’t been without their health problems. She has had ruptured cysts and uses a pacemaker. But her attitude keeps her bouncing back.

“You don’t have the time to lay around and think about how sick you are,” she said. “You think about how well you’re going to be.”

And that, said Joedy Wynn, activity director at Creston Specialty Care, makes her an encouragement to others.

“Aggie’s positive about

Contributed photos

LEFT: Aggie Driskell graduated from Creston High School in 1940. This photo was taken when she was 18 years old.

In high school, she was on the speech team and played guard on the girls basketball team. ABOVE: Aggie, right, poses with her brother, Ray Toland, and her 2-year-old son, Mike. Ray served in the Army during World War II.

everything here,” Wynn said. “She’s willing to try anything, do anything new and very pleasant to the other residents. She’s very ornery, but very caring. She’s just a good gal.”

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

A mom to many

By KELSEY HAUGEN CNA staff reporter khaugen@crestonnews.com

While 91-year-old Katherine Young has worked a variety of jobs throughout her life, from a furniture store to restaurants to an insurance agency, her greatest love was child care.

Young says her best achievement in life is the family she raised. But, her own children weren’t the only ones she has cared for.

For many years, Young babysat for other families, and to this day, she still keeps in contact with some of the now 30- and 40-somethings she began taking care of when they were children.

“She was like my grandma; we were like family. I called her Mom,” said Deena Cavender.

Young began babysitting Cavender in Diagonal when she was about two weeks old.

Now 38 years old and living in Zearing, Cavender still receives phone calls from Young.

“She came up the day my son was born, and she came to his birthday parties,” Cavender said. “I talk to her on the phone now and then, not as much as I’d like to, but I think about her every day.

She’s probably the most loving woman I’ve ever known.”

Of the many jobs she has worked throughout her life, Creston 91-year-old Katherine Young found the most fulfillment in child care.

■

Hamner Furniture

Estes Park

Young was born in Creston in 1924 and graduated from Creston High School in 1942.

In high school, she worked part time at her father Max Hamner’s business, Hamner Furniture, which was on North Pine Street in uptown Creston. The new and used furniture store was originally owned by Young’s grandfather, Etna Hamner.

“It was a great big, three-story building that was there for a long time,” Young said. “It had a big show window up in front with different furniture displays. It was a nice place with so many friendly customers and lot of friends who would stop in on Saturday nights to visit with us.”

Young started working for her father around age 16 and continued working there for a few years after high school.

“He was a good man to work for,” she said.

Though Young’s mother, Mary, was mainly a caretaker for the family, she would occasionally work in the furniture store, too.

“Dad sold old cook stoves, and Mom would fire up a cook stove there and bake biscuits and have coffee for people who came in,” Young said. “(Customers) would sit there at the little $29.50 tables and drink their coffee and have a little snack.”

In 1943, a year after Young graduated high school, she and her cousin got a wild hair and took off for Estes Park, Colorado, with no plan of what they would do when they got there.

“My grandpa tried to talk me into going to college, but I talked myself out of that,” Young said.

The two teenagers took jobs at a dude ranch in Estes Park, doing everything from housekeeping to waiting tables in the restaurant.

But, Young’s cousin found out her mother had cancer only a couple weeks into the trip and had to return home.

Young didn’t go with her.

She kept working in Estes Park from July to September.

“It was quite a trip,” Young said. “I got to ride the horses there. I did a little bit of everything.”

Restaurant jobs In 1945, at age 21, Young married her first husband, Harold, who was from Shannon City. With him, Young had her daughter Judy and son, Mike.

While living in Creston, Young worked a number of jobs.

“Down where the Chamber of Commerce office is now, there used to be a Phillips station, and my brother ran that,

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Katherine Young, 91, sits in her room at Homestead Assisted Living in Creston. Young was born and raised in Creston and has worked a variety of jobs in her lifetime, from restaurant management to child care.

and there was a little cafe right beside it called The 34 Club, and his wife ran that,” Young said. “He went into the service ... and later, I ran The 34 Club, and that was kind of fun. My sister was down there helping at that time, too.”

Another of the many restaurants Young worked as a waitress in was one called The Quick Lunch, which used to be on North Pine Street.

“A hamburger was 20 cents, and a cheeseburger was a quarter,” Young said. “Coffee was a nickel a cup.”

At one point, Young also worked in an insurance office, but she realized she preferred

the restaurant business and taking care of her children.

Family Young and Harold got divorced, and not long after that, she met David Young of Diagonal, who was a military veteran.

“I was working at a grill, and David was working with some construction company on the old Catholic church,” Young said. “He would come into the restaurant with other workers, and that’s where I met him.”

Young doesn’t remember when or how he proposed.

“Maybe I proposed to

him,” she joked.

The couple got married in 1960 in Diagonal and later had a daughter, Becky, together. So, they had three children total with Judy and Mike.

Today, Young has seven grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and some step-grandchildren.

“They’re all mine, and everybody keeps in touch with everybody,” Young said.

“They’re all my family.”

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12A

Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

YOUNG: CONT. FROM | 11A

at his house because he knew how far he could go. But with me, if he wasn’t minding me, I’d sit him on a chair or stand him in a corner.”

Child care became a job for Young, but a job she found joy and fulfillment in.

“I enjoyed doing it,” she said. “I always wanted to keep my kids little. I hated for them to grow up, but they did it anyhow. I just liked having kids around and always kept them occupied.”

Back to Creston In 1982, the Youngs moved back to Creston because David’s health was getting bad, and they had to make several trips the Veterans Affairs hospital.

In 1991, David passed away.

After that, Young kept busy with family. She baked frequently and often took care of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

“I always kept coloring books on hand for the kids to color, whether it be kids I babysat or my grandkids and great-grandkids,” Young said.

“I’d have them write their name on the bottom of each coloring page, and I’d put the date on it when they colored it.”

Then, a few years ago, when Young’s family held a reunion,

CNA photo by KELSEY HAUGEN

An old photo of Katherine Young’s late husband, David, is on display in her room at Homestead Assisted Living in Creston. Before she met her husband, he was in the military and served in Japan.

she went through all the old coloring books and tore out pages colored by her children and grandchildren.

“I made these booklets of pages and gave them to my great-grandchildren to show them how their moms or dads used to color,” Young said.

“The moms and dads, my kids

and my grandkids, were so sur- ing at Homestead to ease conprised. They couldn’t believe I cerns from her children. She had saved all that.” said they’re happy to know she’s somewhere safe and has Homestead In January 2013, Young staff there for her if she needs moved into Homestead As- anything.

“Everything’s going good,” sisted Living in Creston due to health concerns. She soon be- Young said. “It’s been a pretty came healthy enough to move good life. I can’t find anything out but decided to continue liv- to complain about.”

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With

child, Becky, was in second grade, they moved to Diagonal. That’s when Young began caring for additional children beyond her own.

“My husband came home one day and said there was a couple downtown that had a two-week-old baby, and they were looking for a babysitter,” Young said. “Well, I’d never even met the mom and dad, let alone done much babysitting. But, I ended up doing the babysitting, and the little girl, Deena, was about two weeks old.”

That’s when Young’s lifelong relationship with Cavender began. She was enthralled

by Cavender, much like she was with her own children.

“I remember her so well growing up and things she would say,” Young said.

“There was one time, when Becky was still at home and eating breakfast in the other room, and Becky hollered out, ‘Mom, can I have this?’ Pretty soon, I heard this other little voice say, ‘Mom.’ I walked over there, and (Deena) said, ‘Can I call you Mom?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, honey, we’ll have to ask your mommy

about that.’”

When Cavender’s mother picked her up from Young’s house, Young repeated Cavender’s question about calling her “Mom.” “Deena’s mom said, ‘Oh yes, I think that’s so nice. As long as I’m still Mommy, you can be Mom.’ So, I’m still Mom to that little girl, who is now 38 years old,” Young said.

“We still keep in touch.”

Shortly after Young began watching Cavender, she took on another babysitting job. She would sometimes babysit both young girls on the same day.

“The two girls got along so well and had so much fun together,” she said.

Young always tried to make her time with children special.

She wanted to keep them entertained.

“I remember drinking chocolate milkshakes and watching sports together and going to the lake to go fishing,” Cavender said. “We did all kinds of stuff.”

Soon, word got out that Young was babysitting, and she took on more children.

“There was one little boy that everyone in Diagonal was feeling so sorry for me for taking care of him because he was a live wire,” Young said. “He was like a different little boy

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13A

Longtime racehorse breeder to celebrate 70 years of marriage had four children: Steve, Terri, John and Jimmy.

Traveling salesman As their kids grew up, Carroll worked as a salesman for a high-end clothing company based in the Northeast.

His job took him all over the eastern portion of the United States on trips that could last two weeks at a time.

“He’d go to New York City and Kansas City and Chicago and Minneapolis,” John Konecne said. “He was a real talker, had a great voice, had a really good singing voice and was a real salesman.”

CNA photo by IAN RICHARDSON

Ninety-year-old Carroll Konecne sits in his wheelchair at Creston Specialty Care. Konecne, who’s married to 89-year-old Evelyn Konecne, has lived in Creston his entire life.

Carroll Konecne, 90, and his wife, Evelyn, 89, will be married 70 years in June.

■

By IAN RICHARDSON

CNA staff reporter irichardson@crestonnews.com

When Carroll Konecne attempted to enlist in the Air Force in the mid-1940s, the 6-foot-2 high school basketball and football player couldn’t pass his physical.

The reason: a suspected heart murmur.

But more than seven decades later, Konecne is the one having the last laugh.

Now 90, his heart seems to be beating just fine.

The same could be said for his 89-year-old wife, Evelyn.

The couple, who both graduated from Creston Schools in 1944, have known each other since elementary school.

This June, they’ll celebrate their 70th anniversary.

And, watching them sit near each other in Evelyn’s room at Creston Specialty Care, where they both currently live, it doesn’t take much to see how they’ve lasted this long.

“She’s been easy (to get along with),” Carroll said.

High school sweethearts Carroll was born January 31, 1926, in Creston. His father worked for the railroad, and his mother was a homemaker. Carroll participated in several activities in school, including sports and plays. He would go on to play sports at Tarkio College in Missouri.

Evelyn was quieter and

less involved in school, spending her time working at a local theater and a drive-in ice cream shop.

The two began dating in high school, and by senior year they were “going pretty steady,” Evelyn said.

For dates, the two would often go dancing at the Chicken Inn. Back then, the Chicken Inn would have groups come and play big band music, and both Carroll and Evelyn say they were pretty good on their feet.

It was two years after graduation when they decided to tie the knot. But the decision didn’t involve your typical down-on-oneknee proposal.

“We didn’t propose,” Evelyn said. “We just had been going together, and we were going to get married.”

Carroll and Evelyn married in 1946. Together, they

While Carroll traveled, Evelyn ran the house and kept an eye on the children.

Carroll lost his job when the company went bankrupt. After that, he worked briefly for a few other clothing businesses, including Stetson, before taking retirement.

That’s when he began to pursue his other passion: horses.

Horse-breeder Carroll’s daughter, Terri Main, said she can’t remember a time when her father wasn’t into horses.

“Everyone around town, I

think, knew that was always dad’s love,” she said. “He’d come out in the morning and do his chores and spend time out there, and then he’d come home for a few hours, eat lunch and come back later in the afternoon and do more stuff out there and stay until maybe 5 o’clock. … He always thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Carroll and Evelyn lived in town, but they partnered with others who had acreage outside of Creston to hold the horses. When Terri was older, Carroll spent most of his years as partners with her and Tim Stalker, who was HORSES | 14A

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HORSES: CONT. FROM | 13A

married to her at the time.

“I had the barn and the land.

(Carroll) was the brains,” Terri said. “We have a 10-acre farm, we have a big barn with it and an arena and stuff out there, so that’s where dad had the horses. He got them ready for the trainer, and that’s where he did the breeding.”

John said Carroll would put bids on horses at the sales in Kentucky, researching their pedigrees and buying mares and foals of big-time studs. Then he would bring them back to Iowa.

“With racehorses, it’s all about breeding and who’s who and their bloodlines, and my dad is like an encyclopedia when it comes to that stuff,” John said. “He’s a very intelligent man.”

Carroll began horse breeding in the mid-1980s. When Prairie Meadows began racing horses in 1989, Carroll began racing there. And he did well.

“That was always my best track,” Carroll said. “They would have the best money.”

He worked with thoroughbred trainers Dick Clark and Suzanne Evans, two of the premiere horse trainers at the time.

Evelyn said while she never got into the sport, she would come to support the family’s racers.

“I would just go to eat,” she joked.

Passing it down Carroll would breed hors-

Contibuted photos es for nearly 30 years before putting his last horse up for BELOW: A younger Carroll and Evelyn Konecne pose for a photograph. This June, the Konecnes will have been sale. It’s something that kept married for 70 years. him active as he began aging.

“He’d still try to ride some 2-year-olds when he was 70 years old,” John said. “He was stubborn that way. He didn’t want to stop.”

But Carroll was forced to stop when he suffered two strokes in his 80s, one affecting the left side of his body and another affecting his speech.

While neither Carroll nor Terri work with horses anymore, the love of them stuck with John. Now 57, John breeds quarter show horses full-time with his business, John Konecne Performance Horses, which he’s owned for 28 years.

Carroll may have sold his last horse, but he still fondly remembers those racing days.

Hanging inside his room at Creston Specialty Care are photographs of his winning horses, along with their crews, keeping close the memorabilia of one of his life’s loves.

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

‘I wasn’t afraid’

Marcella Drapcho, now 94, once traveled overseas as a nurse during World War II, and she cared for soldiers in France.

■

By BAILEY POOLMAN Sue Shawler, Drapcho’s World War II. Drapcho was pital in Carroll.

CNA staff reporter bpoolman@crestonnews.com

The day Marcella Drapcho, now 94, was able to go home was a day many know as VE Day. On Victory in Europe (VE) Day, Drapcho and a friend of hers were on leave visiting a town in northern France when people erupted into cheers and dance on the streets.

“They said the war is over, the war is over,” said

daughter. “Then they found out that if they could get back to their base right away, then they could get on one of the first transports home. So they bartered with all the soldiers with rations and stuff to get them back to their base, and they ended up being one of the first ones shipped back.”

Shawler, a nurse in Creston, explained the last day her mother went through while overseas during

15A

in the United States Army Nurse Corps and worked in an evacuation hospital in France until the official end of the war in Europe.

Before the war Drapcho, the fifth child of Pauline and William Pietig, was born in Carroll County, seven years younger than her closest sister. She graduated from a Catholic school in Roselle in 1939 before continuing her education at St. Anthony Regional Hos-

After three years, Drapcho was a nurse.

That same year, the Nazi Germany military invaded Poland, sparking the official beginning of World War II after several years of global military campaigns in other countries leading up to the event.

“I joined the Army Nurse Corps, and I spent my first year and a-half at Camp Polk, Louisiana, and I worked at the ENT (ear, nose and throat) clinic,”

Drapcho said. “Then, I volunteered for overseas duty.

I was sent to France.”

Drapcho met her future husband, Joe, a captain in the U.S. Army, while at Camp Polk. But, she volunteered to be sent overseas and didn’t see him for about a year and a-half. She was a first lieutenant of the 124th evacuation hospital in Alsace-Lorraine, a region of France near Normandy.

Normandy is a region in France that was occupied

by Nazi Germany for part of the war. The region was invaded by the Allied Forces, consisting of the United States, Great Britain, Free France and Canada, in June 1944, which became known as D-Day. The invasion of Normandy led to the liberation of several French towns, and eventually the entire region was liberated in 1945.

“The war was on, and they were urging volun-

teers,” Drapcho said. “I wasn’t afraid.”

World War II While overseas, Drapcho was stationed with other nurses at a hospital that took in injured soldiers. The tented hospital had a grassy floor and wooden cots for soldiers to stay on for more than 24 hours. The soldiers were then sent to a general hospital after being cared for.

“There was a river next to us, and on the other side of the river were the Germans,” Drapcho said. “We didn’t even think about it.”

The tented hospital housed soldiers with mostly arm or leg injuries. Drapcho had about 50 soldiers in her ward, and she even cared for an injured German civilian once.

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Creston News Advertiser Friday, March 25, 2016

DRAPCHO: CONT. FROM | 15A

Drapcho said. “I would put glass thermometers in three mouths, and then I would go back and take their temp, pulse and respirations, and I suppose some blood pressures. And I went to put the thermometer in this German’s mouth, and when I came back to take it out, the whole end was gone – all the glass, the mercury. I couldn’t speak German, and he couldn’t speak English, so I sent for one of our officers who could speak German.

He asked, ‘What did you do?’ He (the German) said,

‘Well, I just spit it out.’ See, he bit the glass off and the mercury came out, and he just spit it out. I don’t think he knew what a thermometer was.”

Drapcho worked for about a year and a half in the evacuation hospital. She and the other nurses would work 24-hour shifts and sleep in tents as well.

“I wouldn’t want to do it today,” Shawler said. “I think it was very adventuresome, especially for her because she’d never been away from Carroll really and never flown. It was quite a big leap of faith to do that and then go overseas not knowing really what it was all about.”

VE Day was celebrated May 8, 1945, when the Allied Forces of World War II accepted Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender and became the day the world war ended in Europe. Former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler killed himself April 30, 1945, and his successor, Karl Donitz, officially authorized Germany’s military surrender.

After coming back to Iowa, Drapcho began working at St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll, where she always felt more secure.

“Everything was always questionable,” Drapcho said of France. “Maybe it was just because you’re working with people you know (in Carroll), you can trust their opinion. Whereas, you don’t know everything (in France).

They’re just there today and gone tomorrow.”

Family Drapcho’s heritage lies in Germany, when her grandparents immigrated to the United States from Germany.

“I’ve got a story about my grandpa. His parents died, and he and his brother decided to come to America, but they didn’t have the money,” Drapcho said.

“They knew a man that worked on a ship, and he smuggled them on board and hid them, one in a pickle barrel and one in a cracker barrel, until they got out to sea. Then, they had to

CNA photo by BAILEY POOLMAN

Sue Shawler, right, smiles for the camera with her mother, Marcella Drapcho in March.

Shawler is one of many family members who took the medical care path after Drapcho, who was a nurse during World War II in France.

work for their passage, and they came to Iowa.”

Drapcho’s father was the oldest in the family, and after marrying her mother, purchased the farm, located between Roselle and Halbur, where Drapcho was born.

After World War II ended, Drapcho came back to Iowa in January 1946. Her father died that following March, and her future husband, Joe, went to the funeral with her.

“That was the first time that we met after the war,” Drapcho said of Joe. The couple waited until after Lent to be married.

Together, they had six children: Joseph, Michael, Sue, David, Robert and Rosemary.

When her youngest was 5 years old, Drapcho went back

to work at St. Anthony Regional Hospital as floor supervisor for five years. Drapcho’s husband died of cancer several years after she quit working at St. Anthony.

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Marcella Drapcho and her late husband, Joe, pose for a photo on their wedding day in April 1946. Drapcho and her husband were separated during the war for several years before they got married.

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105 South Sumner Avenue • Creston • 641-782-2332 www.callahanrealestate.us

Di Miller at 3’s Company Manicures • Pedicures • Acrylic Nails Perms • All Types of Colors • Waxing ...plus all your favorite salon products!

912 N. Sumner • Creston • 641-782-4078 Appointments Available Mon, Tues & Fri 8am-4pm • Wed 8am-8pm Now accepting major credit & debit cards

We Do Birthday Parties!

Let Our Party Hostess Entertain your guests with Games, Jumping on the 42’ Trampoline and Obstacle Courses on the Tumbling Mats 1 hour of high energy fun at the

218 N. Pine St. in Creston, IA.

Then enjoy your birthday treats and gifts for up to an hour.

Includes tables, chairs, invitations, set-up and cleanup.

Fun Easy Memories

Do you or your children suffer from recurrent, persistent and chronic: ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔

Allergies Ear infections Dizziness Sinusitis Sore throat Frequent nose bleeds Other symptoms affecting the head and throat

If yes, you may benefit from consultation with our new full-time ENT provider.

Matt Bolinger, MD Providing quality care for ALL ages and specializes in Surgery.

To learn more check out www.GreaterRegional.org or call 641-782-3887