Monday, April 27, 2009

Testing your memory

Can anyone give me any information or memories of the following men.

A man named (Winfield) he lived east of Wauneta along the highway

Lon Barnes-he lived down by the water treatment plant-he had a wooden leg

Ira Miles- he lived just west of the county line. He always walked and carried a gunny sack

Ernie Edwards ?

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Alumni Banquet

From Pat Molder ....
CV High School Alumni Banquet will be held May 23, 2009 at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $12 each. Contact Coral Ann Magnus at 620-758-2590.

1903 - Alumni Association was founded.

1906 - First alumni banquet was held in the Polson Opera House.

1896-1996 - CVHS Centennial. (That year a directory was published with all class members listed from the year 1896 through 1996. Tee Shirts with CVHS logo and "gimmie" caps with the logo were sold.

Pat's Memories - We were the 50th class to graduate ... 1946. The banquet was in the gym in the old high school building. Joe Leonard ('36) put together an elaborate musical program. He asked O.B. Stark and me to sing a romantic duet. Why us? And why me? I have a fair voice if singing in a group but I'm not duet material. After a number of practice sessions, Joe said he had to scrap our number because the program was running too long. (He was just being kind.) Joe was a musician of the finest quality and he sure didn't want me to mess up his program - and I would have. I was glad to be eliminated.

Now for the initiation: There was a tricycle race with tricycles built for a 3-4 year old. The boys had to pedal with a girl standing behind and there also was a diapering contest. The boys had to lay down on the floor while the girls pinned a diaper on him using a tea towel (cup towel in Texas).  I'm sure I remember right that my partner and I won both contests !!!

Pat continues with a thought ...  asking what memories do you have of the Alumni Banquet from the year you graduated?  Also, do you remember your initiation into the Association?


Friday, April 24, 2009

Opera House

No, this isn't it.

Thomas Polson established a general store in Cedar Vale, Kansas known as the "Opera House Store". It was so named because it had a stage complete with a curtain which provided the center of entertainment for the community.  The stage occupied the entire second floor of the store.  The store sold hardware, groceries, textiles, farm supplies and clothing.  At various times, the store offered the Wichita Orchestra and the skilled direction of Miss Love (straight from Chicago to fit the ladies hats).

T. M. Polson came from Elgin to Cedar Vale fours years ago and has become one of the active businessmen of the city.  He owns the Big Caney Roller Mills, which have a capacity of fity barrels per day; also an elevator at the railroad yards.  He has recently completed the Opera House block, which is a fine two story building, the upper floor of which is the Opera House with a seating capacity of 700.  Mr. Polson has opened up a stock of general merchandise in the lower part of the block.  The Cedar Vale National Bank occupies half the frontage to a depth of sixty feet, the remainder being used by Mr. Polson.

This information comes from Pat Molder. She is related to the Polson family. This is an abridged version of her entries along with that from a souvenir booklet concerning Cedar Vale ("Dawn of the Twentieth Century"). Thank you, Pat ... for this very interesting account of the Opera House. 

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

A Report from Reva

Reva Ramey Sawyer reports that Naomi (Grunden) Howell's mother passed away April 18th.  She was 93 yrs old. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family, Naomi.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Movies

Being inspired by Don's very successful post on the Pool Hall, I would raise the topic of the Leonard Theater. Surely we all visited that place often. I have written fairly extensively on the theater in early posts, so I won't go into detail right now. However, we must all remember the rats that skirted among the seats to collect the wrappers and stuff we dropped. And I have vivid memories of the Technicolor musicals I saw there for the first time. Also, the Saturday night Westerns that made western New Mexico familiar territory the first time I saw it "live."

What do you all remember about going to the movies? CV fans are waiting.

Monday, April 13, 2009

"The Pool Hall!"

"Trouble, that starts with "T" and that rhymes with "P" and that stands for Pool! We've got trouble my friends, right here in River City!" I'm sure you'll recognize those words of Prof. Harold Hill in "The Music Man!" Heard the lyrics the other day and I started thinking about the pool hall in Cedar Vale! I'm sure many of you remember the pool hall as an integral part of your education! So, here goes with a few memories of our pool hall!

Art Radcliff was the owner and Sonny Duensing was one of the faithful employees. Remember Sonny's great smile? He even showed us how to "rack" the pool balls! Well, you walked in and to your left was the "buy-things-off-the-shelves" merchandise, like candy, gum, cigarettes and chewing tobacco, among other things! Then came the "snooker" table. I held it in awe! A bunch of us young sprouts practiced "pool" on the tables in the back of the room. Never made it to the "snooker" table! Once, I worked up enough courage to ask ("Nick Adams?"), a famous C.V. snooker player, if I could play a game with him. He said, "Don, just keep practicing on those back tables!" He wore a beautiful ivory-colored Stetson hat, shirt pressed just so, and a crease in trousers that cut butter! He had a fancy belt with an elegant buckle, but not the kind that blinds you when the sun hits it. He was a kind of hero to me! Well, I've been "snookered" many times, and when that happens, I just go back to the "back tables!"

In the left corner of the large room, was the poker table! I can remember the chips. They were made of thin metal with scalloped edges. I can hear their metallic sounds as the players exchanged this strange sort of money! We" youngin's" kept our distance as we watched the "men" wheel and deal! Once in a while a lively game of pinochle was played. It was o.k., but it was those poker games that fascinated us!

On the south side of the room was a bowling alley! On occasion, a few of us got to be "pin-setters!" We sat up on a ledge at the end of the alley, watching those balls spinning their way toward the pins! Then came the explosion! Pins went everywhere, denting the wooden/hard plastic pit where they landed and once in a while, some flew up to where we were sitting! Sometimes a "7-10 split" would occur, when only the two pins on the outside of the back row were standing! One could almost hear one pin say to the other, "For sure, one of us is going a'skiddle, unless his beer makes him roll it right down the middle!"

I've probably gone on too long. Got started and couldn't stop! I'm anxious to hear your "pool hall" experiences right here in Cedar Vale City, and that starts with "C," which rhymes with "P," and that stands for POOL!!!!



Thursday, April 2, 2009

Carters Grocery Store

In the 70's and 80's my sons and I deer hunted in the Cedar Vale and Hewins area. Deer hunting always seemed to make us hungry so a trip to Carters grocery was always a part of the hunt. We tried to make it to the store around lunch time at least a couple of times during deer season. Carters was the only store in Hewins. You could buy groceries, work gloves, 22 rifle and shotgun shells and a few other general store items.

The store was owned and operated by Earl and Aldine Carter. It was also the local post office. Earl ran the store and Aldine was the postmistress. The store was heated with a wood stove with chairs and benches around it where the locals or passerby could sit and visit and get caught up on the local news. There were also many tales told around the stove, some true and some that may have stretched the truth a might.

Earl was known to be a bit conservative with the amount of wood he would put in the stove and I heard one of the locals say that one cold winter day he put his hand on the stove and it was not hot enough to burn him. Earl just grinned and continued with his work. Earl and my dad, Vic, grew up together in Hewins during the depression and being conservative was how they survived.

When we went to the store we would buy a box of crackers and have Earl slice us up longhorn cheese and bologna, both which came in rolls and was hand sliced by Earl with a butcher knife and wrapped in white butcher paper. We would then get a soda pop and set around the stove and devour the items we had purchased, while visiting with all present. I know that Earl's cheese and bologna was the best I have ever eaten. The Carters finally closed the store and a special piece of my deer hunting was lost, but not forgotten.