McCook, Nebraska · Sunday, March 14, 2010
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The Kays of McCook (03/08/10)
Recently, the descendent of one of McCook's early prominent families made news when it was learned that Harold Kay had stepped forward, with a substantial donation, to further the fund drive for a new Event Center at McCook College. A long-time resident of North Platte (though he has been back to McCook frequently over the years through his practice of the law), nevertheless, Mr. ...
Enjoyable times in the barber shop (03/01/10)
In thinking back over a period of many years I realize that I've spent a good bit of time in the barber chair, with many barbers -- enjoyable times that I fear I've pretty much taken for granted, and I'm sorry for that. So here's my belated salute to a few out of that grand group of fellows (and for most of my life the barbers were indeed males)...
Paul Claus, quintessential Alaskan bush pilot (02/22/10)
Paul Claus, the 52-year-old son of John Claus, has been flying in Alaska since he was 13, and had logged some 15,000 hours (by 1998) of flying in some of the roughest, most remote territory on our continent. In some 39 years of flying he has earned the respect and admiration of his friends and colleagues -- the Alaska Bush Pilots, some of the most daring and skilled flyers of small planes of anyplace on the planet...
The Quigleys of Indianola -- pioneer family (02/15/10)
Some of the people who came to Western Nebraska in the early days were adventurers, or speculators, looking for opportunities to make a fast buck. But, after 1862, many were Homesteaders, looking for a new beginning, a chance to wrest a living from 160 acres of "free" government prairie land. ...
The boys from Alaska (02/08/10)
A few years ago my wife, Jean and I had the good fortune to attend a Health Seminar in California. It was an informative week. We learned a great deal about what makes us tick, and how to care for our health. But the most interesting part of the trip turned out to be the people we met, ate with, and talked with at the seminar...
Plato Redfern and tthe Drake Relays (02/01/10)
The Drake Relays, a function of Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa has grown, over the past 100 years, to become one of the largest and most important track meets in the United States. Although Drake has traditional ceremonies surrounding football and basketball games, it is the Drake Relays that bring alums back to the campus, where festivities go on, almost night and day, for the week of the games...
Trouble with the law (01/25/10)
I have always attempted to be a law-abiding citizen, yet things have happened from time to time, things beyond my power to control, which have put me in a nervous position, in regard to the law. When I was about 10 years old our family took a vacation trip to Mexico. ...
Alfred Nobel (01/18/10)
One of the most anticipated events each year -- worldwide -- is the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, which honors a living individual who has significantly advanced peace in the world. This year the event was particularly meaningful here in the United States, since our own president was the recipient of this prestigious award. While the Nobel prizes are familiar, we are perhaps not so familiar with the man behind the prizes...
Gen. McCook and the defense of Washington (01/04/10)
When the Civil War began, in 1861, there were few families that contributed more to the Union cause than did the family McCook from Ohio, descendents of George McCook, an Irishman of Scottish descent, who had come to the United States about 1780. Altogether there were some 15 members of the McCook family, two brothers and 13 of their sons, who volunteered to fight for the Union cause...
The Nebraska Steihmrollers (12/28/09)
While "Cornhuskers" was the generally accepted moniker for the Nebraska football team after 1900, for a time another nickname was very popular. In 1911 the University of Nebraska hired one E.O. (Jumbo) Stiehm to be the new football coach, and the public was intrigued with the new coach and uses they could make of his name...
Napoleon in Korea (12/21/09)
When I arrived in Korea in 1951 one of my roommates was a very large black man from Omaha. "Just call me Napoleon," he said by way of introduction. "I'm the world's largest water-boy." He was an easy fellow to talk with. Napoleon had played a bit of football, which was easy to believe. He still looked as if he could anchor a line pretty well. He was also a Nebraska Cornhusker fan, as was I, and we spent a good deal of time remembering good times (and bad) of past football seasons...
Harold Sutton, McCook's 'Mr. Republican' (12/14/09)
Harold Sutton was born in McCook in 1889, the son of Col. Harvey Sutton, the colorful organizer and long time leader of the famous Burlington Band, and the owner of one of McCook's most successful business, the Sutton Jewelry Store. From all reports, Harold was a rather pampered (but only to a certain degree) young man, who had lofty goals, and figured that his father would help him to accomplish all his dreams...
With the Army Nurse Corps in World War II (12/07/09)
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, there were fewer than 1,000 nurses in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Eighty-two of these nurses were on Oahu, Hawaii, serving three Army medical facilities on the island. They were swamped by the early casualties of the bombing, and joined with Navy and civilian doctors and nurses to care for the wounded, as casualties quickly mounted...
Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Part 2 (11/30/09)
Douglas MacArthur was a fellow who apparently was born to be a leader of men. His grandfather, Arthur MacArthur Sr., a jurist in Milwaukee, and onetime governor of Wisconsin (briefly), was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Arthur was a Democrat, but was politically skillful enough that he was appointed to this office by the Republican President, Ulysses S. Grant...
The Thanksgiving tradition (11/23/09)
The days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday are busy ones at the bakery, but fun days as well, as this is the unofficial beginning of the holiday season, and we start to make the special treats that are reserved for just this season. Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday for a lot of people. ...
MacArthur and Inchon (11/16/09)
MacArthur and Inchon In November of 1951, during the Korean War, our Army unit was treated to a short cruise, from Sasebo, Japan to Inchon, on the west coast of Korea, the site of General MacArthur's daring invasion of the Korean Peninsula, a little over a year before...
Harry Strunk receives a miracle (11/09/09)
Harry Strunk was not outwardly a religious man. Yet he readily admitted that he had been the recipient of events that, if not miracles, were beyond the ordinary. Harry's miracles usually came as an inspiration that came to him in a moment of contemplation. Then he worked like the very dickens to see that his inspiration turned into reality...
The bowl that started it all (11/02/09)
In 2009, football bowl games, in which the Cornhuskers are one of the contestants, are pretty much of a given. Many fans plan vacations around the annual bowl game. On the rare occasion that the Huskers fare so poorly that they are not invited to a bowl, there is general discontent throughout the state. This was not always the case...
Part 2: Lindbergh after the flight (10/26/09)
While Lindbergh was waiting at Roosevelt Field New York to take off on his historic flight across the Atlantic, an aviation buff engaged him in conversation. The fellow was Harry Guggenheim, the heir to one of America's largest mining fortunes (copper, silver, gold)...
Lindbergh's McCook connection (10/19/09)
In the early 1920s, a young, beanpole of a man used to fly into McCook, out of Bird City, Kan. -- as an aerial barnstormer. The fellow was Charles Lindbergh. Ray Search, an early McCook aviation buff, told of flying with Lindbergh (whom Ray only knew as "Slim") during one stopover in McCook while Lindbergh was on a barnstorming trip to various Southwestern Nebraska towns...
Harry Strunk and the RVCA (10/05/09)
Each summer the Great Lakes in Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas become the playground for countless numbers of fishermen, boating enthusiasts, and picnickers. This is to say nothing of the primary beneficiaries of the lakes -- the area irrigators, and citizens who are protected from the ravages of floods from the region's rivers and streams. ...
John G. Neihardt, 20th century mystic (09/28/09)
In the early 1970s John G. Neihardt used to spend a great part of his days at the Bennet Martin Library, in downtown Lincoln. He was a very small man, not much over five feet tall, and perhaps 120 pounds. At that time he was in his 90s, his eyesight was bad and failing, and he seemed very frail. But he was friendly, and though people did not bother him while he worked, someone always seemed to engage him in conversation when he got ready to leave the building...
Honoring Chief Crazy Horse (09/21/09)
There are only a few names of the great Indian chiefs that most Americans will immediately recognize, and fewer that people will be able to tell anything about. Chief Crazy Horse is a fellow that is familiar to most of us -- indeed, he is destined to become the most famous of all the great Indian Chiefs when the Monument in the Black Hills, which honors him, is completed...
Women in the war (09/14/09)
Prior to World War II the traditional place for women in America was in the home. They were homemakers first, and handled the sacred task of rearing their children. To be sure, women had held jobs in the workplace for generations, but these jobs were "women's" work, like teaching, nursing, waitresses, and sales persons in stores where women were the principal shoppers. ...
Health tips from the Tarahumara (08/24/09)
For the last several months our temporary living quarters have been adjacent to the new walking/biking/ jogging trail east of Kelley Park, in East McCook, to my mind, one of the great new improvements to McCook. It is surprising how much that trail is used -- by strollers out to exercise their dogs, by women pushing baby prams, by power walkers, joggers, and bikers -- individuals and families. ...
War dogs at Fort Robinson (08/17/09)
The use of dogs in war goes a long way back in time, probably to the moment that man domesticated the dog. Dogs were recognized early on for their acute senses, their intense loyalty, their speed and stamina. In Ancient Greek and Roman times dogs were trained to attack enemies. ...
J.E. Kelley, McCook's greatest benefactor (08/10/09)
When John Kelley died in 1942, Bishop, George Allen Beecher, presided at his funeral at St. Patrick's Church. In his eulogy he honored Mr. Kelley as "The Greatest Community Benefactor to have lived in McCook" -- strong words, as McCook has had a good many citizens over the years who have contributed a good deal to our community...
The remarkable Teddy Roosevelt, Part II (08/03/09)
Vice President Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States in 1901, when President William McKinley was assassinated. He was 42 years of age, still the youngest person to become President of the United States. Though the presidency was unexpectedly thrust upon him, he assumed the responsibility of the office with great enthusiasm. He probably enjoyed his time in office as much or more than any man who has held that office...
The remarkable Teddy Roosevelt (07/27/09)
Each summer the little town of Medora, in the Badlands of western North Dakota, becomes the destination of choice for thousands of tourists. Medora is located on Interstate 94, and is on the route from Minnesota to the Black Hills. It is also billed as the Gateway to Roosevelt National Park. ...
The coffee shop ambassador (07/20/09)
My Dad, Walter, was a paradox (as I suppose most people are). On one hand he spent a great deal of his life being hurt or peeved over a perceived slight or a hurtful remark by one or another individuals in Plainview (where I grew up and Dad lived for over 60 years) -- he could carry these encounters for years, even to the next generation. ...
Lime Jello with cottage cheese -- from the sky? (07/13/09)
The Museum of the High Plains plays host to a great number of interesting visitors over the year, especially in the summertime. This year we were privileged to visit with one, Robert Golka, who is a consultant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a wide range of scientific subjects, including the Para-Normal. ...
Charles Barnes and the Indianola ochre mine (07/06/09)
In 1890 the citizens of Indianola were in a high state of excitement. Ochre had been discovered on land owned by John J. Lamborn, of the 1st National Bank of Indianola. The ochre was said to be of the finest quality of any mine in the U.S. Mr. Lamborn, himself, bankrolled the early work in establishing the mine...
Heeeeere's Johnny! (06/29/09)
News of Ed McMahon's death this week brought back a flood of memories of Ed, the ultimate sidekick, and his boss, Johnny Carson, who entertained America for over 30 years. I didn't know Ed McMahon, other than as a fan of the Tonight Show, and Star Search -- and I always hoped he'd call with a big check from Publishers' Clearing House. That never happened. But Johnny Carson was from Norfolk, near Plainview, where I grew up, and I always felt a certain kinship with him because of our hometowns...
George Flippin, Cornhusker (06/22/09)
Nebraska is not normally a state that one associates with being on the cutting edge when it comes to social change, yet in 1891 the University of Nebraska football team accepted its first black player, George Flippin to its roster, becoming one of the first predominately white colleges in the United States to have a black player on its team...
Our pal Bill (06/15/09)
Bill Lyons was one of the first people we met when we came to McCook. Bill was an attorney, and represented the fellow from whom we bought the bakery. In 1957, rental houses were scarce in McCook, and we were having trouble finding a place we could afford. ...
McCook's man in Washington (06/08/09)
Like most people locally, I have enjoyed keeping track of McCook's favorite son, Ben Nelson, since he left our town. When we bought the bakery here in McCook in 1957 one of our early employees was Ben Nelson, a newly turned 16-year-old who answered our ad for a donut fryer and delivery boy...
McCook's Candy Man, Alex Gochis (06/01/09)
During the 1930s there were wonderful Greek restaurants in most of the hub cities across Nebraska. Norfolk and Fremont, in Northeast Nebraska, each had a "Greek" restaurant. As a child I always looked forward to a trip to Norfolk, because my family invariably stopped to have a sandwich and fountain treat at "Traynos" restaurant. ...
The Norris House, 2009 Edition (05/18/09)
Though Nebraska's Sen. George Norris died in 1944, his inspiration and influence on the country has never stopped. The latest example occurred earlier this year when a new model of the "Norris House" was unveiled in Washington. Note: The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has, for the last five years, conducted a contest for the best designs for alternative energy sources, agriculture applications, green chemistry, green buildings, sustainable water use, and other sustainable technologies at the National Sustainable Design Expo at Washington DC.). ...
The 1918 flu pandemic (05/11/09)
To borrow the opening lines of Charles Dickens' classic, "The Tale of Two Cities", 1918 was the best of times -- it was the worst of times. On the plus side, 1918 marked the end of World War I, the first of the world-wide wars, which had raged in Europe since 1914. That was good. But, on the minus side, 1918 marked the beginning of the outbreak of a flu epidemic, which by 1920 had become a flu pandemic, circling the globe, and reaching even to the Arctic and remote Pacific Islands...
Ford Tri-Motor; passengers take flight (05/04/09)
In the early 1920s an extraordinary engineer/salesman, William Stout had an idea, which he believed would revolutionize the aircraft industry. Using some of the ideas of the German engineer, Hugo Junkers (the manufacturer of many of the World War I German war planes), Stout thought that his plane could be used, not only for transporting goods, but also for hauling passengers across the country...
Annie Cook and her evil obsession (04/27/09)
In the 1920s, during the period of Prohibition in the United States, North Platte, in Southwest Nebraska, carried the non-flattering title of "Little Chicago." Prohibition spawned an epidemic of crime across the U.S. to be sure, yet North Platte seemed to excel in the Midwest as a den of iniquity, mirroring the reputation of its big brother on the banks of Lake Michigan...
McCook women on the home front (04/20/09)
World War II was the last time, perhaps the only time, that our nation was near universally united in a common cause -- that of defeating our enemies in Europe and in Asia. Our young men (and some women), between the ages of 18 and 35, who were physically able, served in one or another branch of Service. Those who were not physically fit for combat found a way to serve their country in vital war industries, building tanks or planes for "our boys", as did so many women...
Howard Hughes, man of mystery (04/13/09)
One of the most famous, most interesting, and most controversial figures of the middle years of the last century would have to be -- Howard Hughes. According to author, Stan Lee, "He was an inventor, an aviation pioneer, an adventurer, a multi-billionaire, a ladies man, and finally, a first class nut case."...
The Rapid City Flood, 1972 (04/06/09)
The devastating Republican River flood of 1935 has left a lasting impression on us in Southwestern Nebraska, especially residents in the towns along the Republican. At that time natural forces combined to produce a "Once in a 100-year storm," which dumped unheard of amounts of rain on drought parched lands north and west of McCook. ...
The lottery: What if you won? (03/30/09)
I'm sure that at one time or another each of us has pondered (if just for a moment) just what we would do if we won big money in the lottery. For most of us that is probably pure speculation, because one has to buy a lottery ticket in order to have a chance to win and most of us never even take that first step...
The Norden bombsight in World War II (03/23/09)
One of the most closely guarded secrets of World War II was the Norden bombsight. This was the invention of a Dutch-born American, Carl Norden, who had come to the United States in 1904, after completing his University studies in Switzerland. In the United States, Norden went to work for the Sperry Corp., which was developing gyroscopes for improving ship stabilization for the U.S. ...
McCook Air Base depended on local housing (03/16/09)
In April 1943, after extensive construction during most of 1942, the Army activated an Army Air base at McCook, to be used for the final training phase for Heavy Bomber Crews for B-24 Bombers -- later including B-17 and B-29s. These McCook trained bomber crews served admirably in action against the enemy in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific, all key areas of operations during World War II...
Prisoners in our midst (03/09/09)
In 1941 the United States was ill prepared for war. It had been little more than 20 years since the country had fought "The War to End All Wars." We should have been more wary of the hostilities going on in Europe -- and the Japanese were certainly making war overtures in the Pacific, but both these trouble spots were a long way from the United States...
The original Ponzi schemer himself (03/02/09)
It seems that when major scams are uncovered (and there have been a lot of them lately), the news media always finds someway to bring forward the name Ponzi, or Ponzi Scheme, to explain how investors have gotten ripped off by someone who built a financial pyramid without having real assets at the base of that pyramid. It might be interesting to take a look at the infamous man who is forever identified with this scheme...
John Bratt, Frontier County pioneer (02/23/09)
The Civil War ended in 1865, and Nebraska achieved statehood in 1867, but our region, the Southwest portion of the new state, was already an important cattle raising district by that time. One of Nebraska's first cattle barons, a man who controlled the lives and fortunes of most of the white men who lived in the region, was a transplanted Englishman, who also spearheaded the creation of Frontier County...
Carl Orrin of Santa Claus Lane (02/16/09)
Carl Orrin of McCook never considered himself a creative artist, or a trailblazer in the field of commercial art, yet he was a fellow who was able to blend art with new technology to produce some stunningly beautiful artistic displays, which were greatly appreciated by the people of our area...
On the Buffalo Jones Ranch (02/09/09)
Some folks flee the rigors of a Nebraska winter by going to the South, to Florida or Texas. Some try the tempting climes of Arizona or Hawaii. Through a difficult set of circumstances my wife, Jean and I were forced to change our address for the winter, but instead of those favorable winter destinations, we chose to go east --to the eastern edge of McCook. ...
Lincoln's journey to his first inauguration (02/02/09)
In 2009, President-elect Obama made a noteworthy one-day journey from Philadelphia to Washington for his inauguration as President. He had already moved to Washington, even into Blair House, some two weeks before, and his days in Washington had been filled with numerous, friendly meetings with proposed staff members...
McCook's own Leo McKillip (01/26/09)
In 1946 the McCook football team was receiving rave reviews all across Nebraska. In that day McCook High competed as a Class A school, in the West Big Ten, with perhaps the smallest enrollment in Class A. McCook's school population was dwarfed by the Omaha and Lincoln schools, as well as by Kearney, Grand Island and Fremont. ...
The Blizzard of 1888 (01/19/09)
Note: The January meeting of the Buffalo Commons Storytellers produced many good stories about the great Nebraska Blizzard of 1948-'49. Since the blizzard stories proved so popular, it seemed appropriate to bring back some stories about another great Nebraska Blizzard -- in 1888...
To the Omaha World Herald (01/12/09)
Recently we got word that after Feb. 1 the Omaha World Herald would no longer be delivered to us in McCook -- or anywhere in Southwest Nebraska. I realize that newspapers, like any other business must make changes, but this news was very disheartening to me and my family. ...
McCook's Glen Beneda and the Flying Tigers (01/05/09)
Prior to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, which signaled America's entry into World War II, there were a number of American men fighting for peace in the world, by joining forces with Britain and China, as volunteers. Some of these men, known as the American Volunteer Group -- AVG -- formed the Eagle Squadrons in England and fought alongside the RAF in the Battle of Britain. ...
Walt Sehnert
Days Gone By