cognacforus

By Dan Cast

On the south side of Second Street in downtown Holden, Missouri, stands a striking historic edifice whose façade is much the same as it originally appeared. The Missouri Office of Historic Preservation describes it as having seven tall, elaborately hooded windows in an Italianate style building. The centrally placed doorway with a rope trimmed arch is flanked by pilasters with additional pilasters at the corners. Ornate stone cornices highlight the area beneath the roof. The building was a focus of cultural life in Holden during the late 1800’s and through the early decades of the 20^th Century. The upper floor was accessed by a long stairway ending in an auditorium which seated 390 patrons for musical, oratorical, dance, and various other entertainment events. At different times the building was named The Lyric Opera House, The Davis Theater and the Holden Theater. Some accounts claim it remained operational into the late 1950’s. I would dispute that as I frequented the Holden Theater in the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s but in a smaller building on the east side of the Lyric, now occupied by Country Creations Floral Shop. The ground floor was always occupied by retail shops and today houses the Key Coffee House, Kingdom Stone and The Lyric House Church. The upper level has been converted to an AirBnB. To me the building was always the Euglossian Hall. My former attempts to research that name led to a dead end.

I was on the verge of questioning my memory or my sanity over the Euglossian name when I found a copy of A Holden Centennial Pageant, written by my mother, Gene Cast, in 1958 where, indeed, The Euglossian Hall was referenced. In the same publication was an unreferenced photo of a news article attributed to C. G. Boisseau’s inquiry of Charles C. Tevis (1845-1928) as to why the hall was so named. Mr. Tevis responded that Euglossian is derived from a Greek word meaning oration. The Hall was erected by Mr. Tevis, the President of the First National Bank in Holden, together with Samuel S. Metzler, Grove V. Hall and Jas T. Willock. Urban Dictionary.com defines Euglossian as “fluency of tongue” which would seem an appropriate moniker for an establishment dedicated to oratory and music.

Further investigation led to the name, Ernest Kennedy Steele, born in Holden on May 24, 1874, the son of William Steele, Founder and President of Farmers and Commercial Bank (F&C Bank). Ernest was for several years employed at the Bank and assumed the presidency following his father’s death. He resigned that position after a brief period.

More important to my investigation, in 1905 Ernest Steele founded the Opera House in Holden. He then partnered with Walter Morhart and Fred Gregory. These gentlemen started a picture show in the Euglossian Hall with Miss Irene Morhart at the piano to enliven the silent pictures.

Quite by accident, I came upon the name, Edgar Lewis, born in 1869 in Holden. Mr. Lewis was first described as a ‘photo-play director’, a process by which still photos are displayed on a screen accompanied by a piano, an early precursor to silent movies. Mr. Lewis began his career as a stage actor and entered the film industry in 1911 as an actor, making his directorial debut two years later. He directed early silent films starring Douglas Fairbanks, William Farnum, Mary Pickford and Norma Talmage. He directed dozens of pictures between 1913 and 1930. He retired in 1935 and died in Los Angeles in 1938. He was truly a pioneer in the film industry and I don’t believe it to be any stretch of the imagination to suggest the likelihood that Edgar Lewis honed his early acting and production skills at the Lyric and Euglossian Halls.

Other notables said to have performed at the Euglossian Hall include Scott Joplin of Sedalia, Missouri, and Blind Boone of Warrensburg, Missouri.

One final note, an article on page four in the October 16, 1887 edition of the St. Louis Globe Democrat announced the death on October 15, 1887, of Mrs. Mattie Barrett Williams, an actress who was well known throughout the Western states for her performances in the role of the “Little Dutchess.” Mattie died of consumption at the Talmage House Hotel in Holden where her father, E.P. Barrett, was the proprietor. She was the star actress of the William M. Williams Troupe. Mattie was born in Utica, New York, on September 4, 1856, and died in Holden at age of 31. She is buried in the Holden Cemetery. Newspapers across Missouri displayed condolences for Mattie.

Mattie Barrett grew up in Holden and St. Louis. As a young teenager when the Euglossian Hall opened, I believe it was there that she was introduced to the stage and formed her love of acting which she parlayed into an amazing eight-year career cut short by her untimely death. She was surely encouraged by William M. Williams of Pleasant Hill, whom she married February 14, 1879. Mr. Williams was an actor and playwright.

From the Sedalia Weekly Bazoo, Tuesday, November 1, 1887, page five: In the death of Mrs. Mattie Williams, Holden loses a brilliant personage, of which, in life, she justly felt a pride. This was her home, the place of her marriage, the sacred spot of her final dissolution and where reposes all that is mortal of Mattie Willians, the renowned Little Dutchess.

My sincere personal thanks to The Center for Missouri Studies, The State Historical Society of Missouri, The University of Missouri Ellis Library, The Missouri Office of Historical Preservation, Gregory Bontz, Tim Bryant, Bruce Uhler, and Patricia Smith for your diligent help and support of this really fun and interesting look back at the history of the Euglossian Hall!

NEVER did I expect to be 78 years old! But here I am – healthy, strong, resilient, my brain works most of the time except for most proper nouns, living a busy but gentle life. I am a childless, cat lady with a mostly feral cat named Girl (I can relate, somewhat, to being feral). I have so many very close friends, and know many others who also an integral part of my life and grateful for all. My living environment is one of joy, I can listen to my classical music, my jazz, Eric Clapton, Lady Gaga and Rod Stewart, watch a YouTube video of almost anything along with movies, theater performances and operas all on my very large television screen (that I even, most of the time, know how to operate). I sit on my patio on the East side of my house and enjoy the birds, squirrels, racoons, other feral cat visitors, my neighbors, the sunrise and watch the moon appear in the evening.  I watch the world with interest, how things have changed and how some things have remained the same, and history that has repeated itself. I’ll give you some other examples.

NEVER did I expect to become an educated person. I had difficulty with school. I believed during grade school and high school that I was just bored. I know now that I am dyslexic. I didn’t read in the usual way. But I could always remember enough of what my teachers said during a class lecture to get about half the answers right on a test. I was very involved in extra curricular activities, band, orchestra, piano accompanist for our annual school operettas, glee club, an alto with our state award winning girl’s sextet, pep club, and other activities. I could also write – my English classes were my forte. I was the Editor of the Colt Capers (newspaper) and Editor of The Rhetorette – the high school yearbook. (Thank you Dr. Martha Booth!)

NEVER did I expect to go to college – I wasn’t interested. But my parents sent me off to The University of Missouri at Columbia. Because I couldn’t read (undiagnosed dyslexia), I hired people to read me the textbooks at the beginning of the semester so I could at least get through an exam. Well, it didn’t work like in high school and after two semesters, the University suggested to my parents that they find another place for me. SO, I NEVER expected to return to my hometown and attend Central Missouri State College. Something clicked and I ended up with a double major in Sociology and English with a minor in French. I hung out with the theater crowd; became a hippie and women’s rights fanatic! I learned to play Bridge, Hearts, and improved my Canasta skills that my great aunt had taught me. I met people who were smart, inquisitive like me, who were aspirational, many of whom I still consider friends, (there are no antiques like old friends…). Since those wonderful days I finished a masters degree and a PhD, both of which I NEVER expected to attain!

NEVER did I expect to find a career that was as absolutely satisfying as it was and to some degree still is!

Along the way…

NEVER did I expect John F. Kennedy to become President in 1961. I became a Democrat then!

NEVER did I expect the flawed Richard Nixon to become President in 1969.

NEVER did I expect George McGovern not to win the presidential election in 1972.

NEVER did Iexpect Ronald Regan to become President in 1981 and for his legacy to reign for years!

NEVER did Iexpect Barack Obama to become President in 2009 (still a Democrat)

NEVER did Iexpect Hilliary Clinton to lose the presidential election to you-know-who and certainly NEVER expected you-know-who to ever become reelected! (now a more centrist Democrat)

NEVER did Iexpect to meet…

Bennett Cerf, Dan Rather, Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson, Bob Woodward, and George Stephanopoulos. Harry and Bess Truman, Aga Kahn, Teddy Kennedy, Robert Reich, Ann Richards, Hillary Clinton, Alan Simpson, Colin Powell and Dick Chaney. Dr. Donald Johanson. R. R. Knudson and Kate Millett. Fran Lebowitz, Lauren Bacall, Lily Tomlin, Mandy Patinkin, Anthony Hopkins, Rosie O’Donnell and Matthew Broderick. Placido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Kiri Te Kanawa, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Guy Lombardo, Ronan Tynan, Donny Osmond, Dolly Parton and waved hello to Elvis Presley! And…so many others, not so famous who were wonderfully talented musicians, artists, actors, writers and journalists.

NEVER did I expect to be so privileged to have all of my friends! They are the joys of my life – all so different, diverse, talented, smart, kind, loving and unique, worldly and mostly all globalists. To all of you, a very happy holiday season. I guess I will NEVER experience a world that is at peace.

 MAGNOLIA – BEST READ WITH A MINT JULEP

By Patricia Smith & Dan Cast

A few months ago, someone asked us why Magnolia was such a common name for businesses in Johnson County, Missouri. Doing some research, our research turned up some unexpected surprises!  Warrensburg, Missouri was home to two prominent venues, Magnolia Mills and the Magnolia Opera House, as well as the Magnolia General Store a few miles south of town and another business or two. There was also a very vibrant town named Magnolia in Johnson County Missouri! Trying to find out why Magnolia was such a common name has been a fun challenge for us and thought you might want to know the story.

First, some background about the word magnolia!  You may be familiar with the flower, Magnolia. The Magnolia flower was named by the Swedish botanist Carl Linneaus in 1737 in honor of the French botanist Pierre Magnol (1638-1715). The plant which Magnol had described is that we now know as Magnolia Virginiana, an evergreen American species which despite its name was already growing in Europe by the mid eighteenth century. The magnolia tree is a beautiful and ancient species that has been around for over 100 million years. It’s no surprise, then, that the name “Magnolia” has been used for centuries to name girls. It is known for its beauty and elegance, and it’s often associated with femininity and grace. It is also a symbol of perseverance and strength, as the tree is able to withstand harsh weather conditions and bloom year after year. Magnolias are also believed to symbolize nobility and dignity as well as a love for nature.

In the United States, the magnolia tree symbolizes luck and stability. It’s a staple in Southern gardens and delights people with its flower in the early to mid-spring. It is also known to often be used in traditional folk medicine.

And now…the Magnolia name in Johnson County, Missouri!

MAGNOLIA MILLS

Magnolia Mills, also known more recently as Innes Elevator Mills, was a historic grist mill complex located in Warrensburg at the corner of West Pine Street and Washington Street. The original building was built in 1879, and enlarged in 1884, 1888 and 1918. It consisted of a four- story frame mill building with a three-story frame elevator topped with a monitor roof and large cupola. A modern concrete elevator and mill were added in the late 1940’s. Only the concrete elevator remains of the original buildings. The initial owners of the mill, William H. Hartman and Isaac Markward were active in its daily operation for many years, and both became leading businessmen in the community. The time period in which Hartman and Markward were building the mill and developing their business represents a turning point in the technology of making flour. These two entrepreneurs were active community members, building and owning many houses and contributing financially to build a better Warrensburg by starting and operating another business in 1903, The Magnolia Milling and Investment Company. Part of the building still stands. We still don’t know why they named it Magnolia Mills.

MAGNOLIA OPERA HOUSE

Issac Markward and William Hartman expanded upon their mill’s success by constructing a combination office building and theater – The Magnolia Opera House, which opened on October 25, 1890. The three-story building sits at the northeast corner of Washington and West Pine. The theater seated about 800 people, with 300 balcony seats and room for 500 within its main seating area. This theater hosted community theater and traveling troupes for decades.

The Magnolia Opera House structure itself consisted of spaces used for offices and retailing. In fact, the ground floor included a shop the partners managed that sold Studebaker wagons and buggies, along with gasoline engines and farming implements. The Opera House still stands but has been converted into The Warrensburg Opera House Loft Apartments.

MAGNOLIA LIGHT, HEAT, AND POWER COMPANY

The partners were also involved in bringing electricity to Warrensburg, and in 1893 the Magnolia Light, Heat, and Power Company was incorporated. The power plant was located just one block east of Magnolia Mills. It brought 6,000 lights to Warrensburg and placed electricity into homes and businesses.

MAGNOLIA MILLING AND INVESTMENT COMPANY

This company was the original company formed by Markward and Hartman to purchase the Mill and other properties. After the death of his longtime business partner Hartman, Markward retired from the Magnolia Mills and sold the business to the Magnolia Milling and Investment Company.

Hartman remained active in the Warrensburg community but was no longer with the Magnolia Milling and Investment Company, which now had five shareholders. The Board of Directors included President, Daniel Bullard, Vice President, W. H. Hagemeyer, H. F. Kirk, along with two other individuals from Holden, Missouri. Bullard and Kirk came to the scene, both with prior milling experience, and Hagemeyer from a solid business background.

MAGNOLIA, MISSOURI

On May 9, 1886, W. H. Hagemeyer, Vice President of the Magnolia Milling and Investment Company, gave the land needed to found and establish the town of Magnolia, Missouri. Magnolia was located about 15 miles southwest of Warrensburg. The town was named Magnolia by Hagemeyer because he liked the Magnolia tree and how the name was used in the establishment of the businesses in Warrensburg

About the same time of Magnolia’s founding, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad laid tracks in Magnolia as a part of the east to west railroad system, a venture that led to many towns springing up on their line. Quickly Magnolia became a thriving community. The decision to bring Magnolia to this location was likely because of the two watershed systems and the site’s elevation of 883 feet, enough to provide a sustainable water system for Magnolia.

The town quickly thrived! With a bank, a lumberyard, two churches, a high school, a physician and general stores, Magnolia quickly grew into a vibrant town.

Magnolia ceased to exist in 1956 and today there is little to remind anyone that Magnolia was once was an active community. The only remnant is the original Baptist Church that is still standing.  It was nostalgic for us to walk around the area that had once been such a vibrant place.

And so, we come to an end – well, not quite! Very recently an old building in Warrensburg has been restored to house Magnolia Mercantile. One of the owners spent the first six years of his life growing up in Magnolia, Missouri. He now lives on his family land and operates this wonderful new venue! Read more about Magnolia on a future despersonages.com Blog – you will be introduced!

Thank you everyone who helped us with this history! Ann Houx, thanks for your diligence!

Lucinda Grimes Burgess was born on September 25, 1829, in Kentucky, the daughter of Ann and Obediah Grimes. She married William Moses Burgess on July 16, 1847. He preceded her in death as did one son. Lucinda died in Holden, MO on December 12 1910 and is buried in the Holden Cemetery. Following the Civil War and the death of her husband, Lucinda moved to Holden, MO. Holden was a rapidly growing town in central Missouri owning largely to the completion of the Pacific Railroad that ran through town connecting the east and west coasts of the USA.  A few years later, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad also traversed the town bringing much commerce and many travelers to the community.

Upon her arrival in Holden, Lucinda, in her mid-30’s, followed the pattern in Sedalia and other railroad towns, opened a brothel which was frequented by the many Section Hands living in Holden and working for the railroad maintenance crews. Her establishment was located on Smokey Row, north of the business district and the railroads tracks. Prostitution became a profitable endeavor generating monies for the proprietor as well as city officials by way of per-capita “licenses” purchased to ensure that law enforcement turned a blind eye to the operation. Brothels of the period became not only a provider of pleasure but of social interaction between a variety of local personalities including the mayor and other officials.

Historically these professional ladies throughout the world have used passion, booze, and sex to obtain sensitive/secretive information. Such was the case when Lucinda Burgess became aware that two men were plotting the robbery of a mail train that would be arriving from the east transporting money to the banks in Holden to pay the railroad workers!

Through her acquaintance with the mayor and other city officials, Lucinda alerted the railroad security and law enforcement of the plot, date, and probable location.  It was, of course, in her economic interest to do so in order to preserve her clients and their means to pay for services.

On the morning in question, the two men walked from Pittsville, MO, a community nine miles north, to Holden to commit the crime. It is uncertain if the leak of information, or due to other circumstances, but the plot was abandoned and Lucinda had indeed serviced the entire community.

Following the aborted plot to rob the train, the plotters, George Riley and Charlie Jones, holed up in Lucinda’s bawdy house! A multitude of heavily armed security officers, law enforcement officers, deputies and railroad personnel had been dispatched on an armored train to foil the robbery and were not wanting to return home empty handed. They were determined to raid Lucinda’s establishment suspecting they would find the would-be robbers.  There, being the site where the leak of the plot originated, it would seem to be a likely place to begin their search.

Lucinda’s house was surrounded and entry was demanded. They found two men in bed with Lucinda, Charlie Jones and George Riley. Upon hearing the commotion, authorities surrounded the house; Charlie Jones pulled up his pantaloons and broke for the door being guarded by railroad detective, John Jackson. While escaping, Jones fired a shot which struck Jackson in the head above the right eye. Jones escaped in a hail of gunfire. Having lost his trail, dogs were brought in to bolster the pursuit.

George Riley was captured at Lucinda’s house and jailed. In the following days an informant agreed, for a sum of money, to disclose the whereabouts of Charlie Jones at a location near Bristol Ridge. Officers found him (again in bed) and ordered him up under the muzzle of a shotgun. Jones sprung up, knocking the shotgun harmlessly away, and bolted for the door where other officers brought him down in a heap of humanity. A shot was fired but went wide of it’s mark. Jones was arrested and charged with multiple robberies to which he confessed. He was also charged with the robbery of the Pittsville Post Office, a federal offense, and was turned over to federal authorities.

Lucinda Burgess died at the age of 81 years old in 1910. The facts suggest strongly that she was the true proprietor of her establishment and not subjected to the myriad of diseases encountered by practitioners in the trade. It was a profitable endeavor as evidenced by the fact that her daughter continued the business another five years after her mother’s death.

SELMO PARK

BY

ICIE F. JOHNSON for

The Kansas City Star, 1948

A MANSION OF THE 1860’S NOW A COLLEGIATE CENTER

Students at Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg delight in showing visitors through Selmo Park, a post-bellum home, now occupied by the school’s President.

Few landmarks have had the good fortune to be preserved for other generations, except as they have become the property of landmark societies or other groups for the safeguarding of the past. But Selmo Park, now the residence of the President of Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg has been one of those rare landmarks preserved for the youth of future generations, and the young people of Missouri are enjoying this beautiful old home.   Built in 1866 by Major Edmond A. Nickerson, one of the writers of the 1875 Missouri Constitution, the large rambling colonial house has domiciled the great of its generation and is now attracting the youth of another generation.

On September 29, 1926 the Board of Regents of the College purchased the ten-acre tract of land and the stately old Nickerson home from members of the family. For more than half a century, Selmo Park had been a show place of the town.  Now the old house is the center of campus life of the College.  President and Mrs. George W. Diemer, formerly of Kansas City, have made it a home away from home for the college students, preserving the hospitality for which the old house was renowned.

Students Are Proud Of It

Hundreds of young men and women stroll through the large rooms and marvel at the beauty of the old house when the yearly fall reception of the President is held. Quietly, almost in awe, the new freshmen climb the long winding colonial stairway to the second floor which is equally as interesting as the first. And many of the upperclassmen proudly show off the house to new students.  Often they stand and study the beautiful fireplaces, still as they were when the house was built, or marvel at the unusual floor of the old dining room, now used as the President’s study.  Sometime after the house was completed a cabinet maker laid the floor of old seasoned black walnut and dark oak which was cut by hand. The pattern is diagonal with the back walnut and dark oak intermingled.

The original chandeliers, which still hang from the high ceilings of the front parlor and music room, are similar to those found in the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City. Like all southern families, the family portraits had an important place in the Nickerson home. The candelabra with beautiful crystals catching the soft light enhance the attractiveness of the rambling house with its large rooms. The woodwork was enameled white when the house was constructed and that has never been changed. The only exception is the finishing of the woodwork is the black walnut bannisters of the stairway and the black mantles in the old home are colonial design, and attract much attention from visitors who wander through the rooms, admiring their southern atmosphere and beauty.

A Great Entertainer

Because of Major Nickerson’s prominence in the State, many of the nation’s greats shared his hospitality. Dr. W. Pope Yeaman, renowned Baptist minister was often a guest in those early years. Senator and Mrs. George Vest, remembered for his classic appeal for the old hound dog, Drum, and later a prominent lawyer and legislator of the State, were guests at Selmo Park as were Governor J. Hoge Tyler, of Virginia, a nephew of Mrs. Nickerson and Colonel Miner Meriwether of St. Louis and Memphis. Judges of the Supreme Court were often entertained by the Nickerson family. Madame Ernestine Schumann Haink sang for the family there. The list is long and many are forgotten who shared the pleasure and comfort of Selmo Park.

When Major Nickerson, who was born in Baltimore, came to Missouri in 1857, he settled in Union, where he practiced law. Right after the Civil War he came to Warrensburg and bought a large wooded tract of land south of the town. The brick and building materials had to be hauled over rough country roads and through the woods to the site of the new house. The walls of the house are of solid brick, also the inside walls. The side lights at the front door are made of ruby glass.

The Old Mansion Look

The big square brick house has large green shutters which give it the air of an old southern mansion as it sits far back from the busy noisy thoroughfare. Major and Mrs. Nickerson loved the out-of-doors and took pride in their home. They planted all kinds of trees that would live in this climate among the big forest trees already on their spacious grounds. They had a graceful circular driveway built in front of the house, and many people used to drive out just to see it.  The driveway was laid out by the civil war engineers who surveyed the first railroad across Missouri. They were assisted by Louis Nickerson, a brother of Major Nickerson. The younger Nickerson later assisted in building the Eads Bridge across the Mississippi river. But the driveway was changed after the college purchased the estate to meet the demands of automobiles.

A few additions have been made and some changes, but the old house stands sturdy and still attractive in its original state. Unlike the seven day wonders of today, Selmo Park, which was built for generations to come, will stand as a constant reminder of that period in Missouri history when leisurely comfort and splendor made a man’s home his castle.

                In memory of Emma Lou Diemer (1927 – 2024) and

                        Selmo Park (1866 – 2015)

Issac Jacobs bought 160 acres of Missouri open prairie in 1857 for twelve and a half cents an acre from the United States Federal Government in anticipation of the proposed railroad lines being developed by the Union Pacific Railroad to connect the east and west coasts by rail. In 1858 he petitioned the State of Missouri for a railroad depot to be located in the hamlet of Holden, Missouri. Thirty city lots were sold at $25.00 each in hopes that the development of the proposed depot and railyard could be accomplished. The railroad corridor between St. Louis and Kansas City began and very shortly afterward but the Civil War broke out stopping work on the railroad lines construction.

Holden was officially founded in 1858 and soon began to build an infrastructure and develop the town’s core. Holden had received notification that the railroad corridor would include Holden as a full-scale operational center for the railroad to include sites for the delivery of track, maintenance for equipment that was being brought in, as well as skilled workers for every aspect of being a railroad center.  

 Plans for the completion of the final connection were set aside because of Confederate States Army General Sterling Price’s raid through Missouri in the fall of 1864. The booming construction labor force in Holden had been run off, and the work west of Warrensburg, attempting to connect with the completed line from Independence Missouri and Kansas City were suspended. Price ordered his Confederate troops to destroy every bridge west of Jefferson City. The population of Holden was reduced to about 100 people. Destruction by both the Northern and Southern sympathizers left the town with few major structures still standing.  

Later in the 1860s, the War had ended and work resumed to complete the rail line. As the tracks passed through Holden, a building boom began. Holden became the logistical backbone to provide the core of the operation, employing over a 100 railroad Section Hands who were charged with ensuring the completion of the line between St. Louis and Kansas City by building and maintain rails and bridges for 400 miles to the east and provide the same services for the 100 miles to the west toward Kansas City. The attendant machine shops, water tanks, piles of coal and sand sprang up rapidly. Coal mining provided the locomotives, factories, stores and homes with fuel as did the lumber industry in the Missouri Ozarks by providing the timber for cross ties and smaller bridges.

In the 1870’s, encouraged greatly by a gift of $70,000 possibly raised by local merchants and farmers to the railroad companies, the construction of an extension line began. The gift extended the railroad system from Paola, KS to Holden. Holden was the hub because of the existing Roundhouse sending the train back to the West. About 25 years later, MK&T expanded the line southwest to Windsor, MO to connect their East and West railroad lines.

By the 1880s, Holden had become an industrial and commercial center supported by an increasing number of side tracks and switches to access elevators, mills, meat packers, stock yards and other businesses that were opened to provide services for the workers and their families. Travelers and new residents were surely amazed by all of the tracks and activity.

These were the days before railway dining and refrigerated cars and Holden rose to the challenge. Both east and west bound trains stopped in Holden. Passengers could get off the trains and eat breakfast or their evening meal before continuing to their destinations. The icehouse provided large blocks of ice to keep perishable freight cold. The Talmage House Hotel, located between the Missouri Pacific and MK&T railroad tracks had a large kitchen and dining room conveniently located near both depots and fed a multitude of hungry travelers. Another dining establishment was located on the site now occupied by the Holden Image newspaper office.

If you can remember the opening scene from the television show “Rawhide” with cattle driven down Ohio Street in Sedalia, MO, you might visualize similar occurrences in Holden as livestock were gathered at the local stockyard for transport to Kansas City. If you can, I suggest a trip to the Sedalia Train Depot and Museum to learn more!

                                                                        -30-

I have spent way too much time trying to decide my “K” word for this Blog – so it’s not for a lack of trying that this entry is going to be a bit different! If you have a favorite “K” word and it isn’t included here – forgive me for the omission! The obvious choices were Kind and Kindness   but those are being over so overused right now and they don’t carry the strength they did previously.

The there are only 3,952 words in the English language (1.07%) that begin with “K”.  There are only 1,339 “K” words used for the game of Scrabble.

…Many words that begin with the letter “C” have the same sound as a “K”. To name a few, crash, crunch, click, clack, cluck, clock, can, computer, cater, cool, cupcake, complete, casual, come, cast, cake, cookie, castle and cold.

…Many words that begin with “KN” have an “N” sound only: know, knowledge, kneed, knee, knot, knob, knit, knew, knife, knelt, knotty to name a few.

…And so, kabob, kale, kangaroo, kaput, karat, kayak, kazoo, keel, keen, keep, kennel, kerosine, kettle, key, kick, kidney, kill, kilo, kiln, kin, kind, kindred, king, kiosk, kiss, kitchen, kite, kitten, to name a few, truly have the “K” sound

…And then there are the proper names! Kris, Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kylie and Kendall Kardashian, Katharine, Kamala, Kate, Kristen and Kennedy. In fact, there have been 986,072 girls named Karen and 841, 144 girls named Kimberly born in the past 100 years!

WHAT TO DO WITH KAREN CARPENTER, CAROLINE KENNEDY, CORRETTA KING AND KELLY CLARKSON?????

Kael, Kafka, Kahn, Kaline, (Te)Kanawa, Karan, Karloff, Kasparov, Kasselbaum, Katz, Kaufman, Kavner, Kaye, Keach, Keaton, Keats, Keeler, Keillor, Keitel, Keith, Keller, Kellerman, Kellogg, Kerrigan, Kissinger, Key, Keyes, Kidman, Kilmer, Kinkaid, Kinsey, Kipling, Kirk, Kirby, Kirkpatrick, Kitt, Klein, Knight, BEYONCE, Koch, Korman, Kristofferson and on, and on, and on….

Perhaps you can see the dilemma I had when trying to find a “K” word to write a complete Blog about!  And with that, I am going to leave “K” and wander on to “L”! Whew!

-CHAOS-

AN INTRODUCTION TO MY HOMETOWN – HOLDEN, MISSOURI

AS SEEN THROUGH MY YOUNG EYES, BACK IN THE DAY!

I was recently asked what or who has been the most influential in my life. After much consideration, I answered, “my hometown and my family.” My town, Holden, Missouri, located in Western Johnson County, has a rich and interesting history; one that I think effectively reflects the evolution of our society as a whole. I want to share my thoughts with you by giving you many of my experiences and thoughts about growing up in my little town.

Holden has been my home since I was two years old. World War II was just over and families were excited to build upon the promises of a future of peace and prosperity. My father, E. Benjamin Cast who also grew up in Holden, left to serve in the United States Navy during the war in many locations, but returned to Holden where his parents, brothers and sisters, and many friends still lived. My Dad returned to Holden and bought and operated the Cast Funeral Home that opened in 1946. I owned and operated the funeral home after his death in 2006 until I retired and sold the company in 2013. I still own and operate the Cast Monuments Company that keeps me very busy and connected.  

By the time I was six years old, Holden became mine to explore, a typical, thriving small town in 1950 with a growing population of almost 2000 people. Everyone knew most everyone and we had a modicum of security and basically knew no fear. My friend, Wilmer Carter, and I spent lots of time exploring Holden and we wanted to know all we could about almost everything! I came to know most everyone in town, too, which made it easier to sell the surplus from our garden to Holden residents, selling the fruits and vegetables from my Radio Flyer wagon.

My family always impressed on me the importance of hard work, thrift and good citizenship. At age eight, I got a bicycle for my birthday, which expanded my curiosity and ability to discover  Holden. I remember vividly riding north on Vine Street to the railroad tracks and seeing the stockyards for the first time. I learned that Holden had previously been a point for rail shipments of livestock into Kansas City. We had a milling company, four grain elevators, an ice plant, the Holden Creamery, the Rockledge Farm Equipment manufacturer, the Beaumont Canvas Company, the Dunhill Manufacturing plant, the local utility companies, two packing houses, three automobile and three farm implement dealerships, the Talmage House Hotel and a thriving business district. We had jewelers, hardware stores, croquet courts (one indoors), bakeries, appliance stores and drug stores. There were eight grocery stores in town and my mother, Gene, would send me to those stores and let me collect the Green, Yellow and Gold Bond savings stamps. I redeemed the stamps for tools and accessories for my bicycle!

I also began a lawncare business after my father purchased a rotary lawnmower! That opened new entrepreneurial opportunities and I had a thriving business!  I soon began trimming shrubbery as well and very soon opened a bank savings account at the Bank of Holden and began purchasing United States Government savings bonds!

I entered first grade in 1949 (we didn’t have a kindergarten). My class had forty students in one room with the same teacher who had taught my father in first grade. Miss Long was kindly but her rules were more strictly applied than allowable today.

During the 1950’s Holden was very active! Families from surrounding farm communities came to shop and socialize every Saturday, crowding the streets as they visited the multitude of stores, restaurants, and the Holden Theater, a modern movie theater. Most of the businesses were open until the movie theater cleared at about ten p.m. and many restaurants were open until midnight.

The Holden Chiefs, a semi-professional baseball team, provided sports entertainment weekly for large crowds. The team was highly competitive against teams from the Kansas City metropolitan area and Eastern Kansas featuring the likes of Sachel Page. The ballpark was built largely by Verle “Stub” Roberts, the owner of the Johnson County Lumber Company and was the Manager of the Holden Chiefs. Stub was also a scout for several major league teams as well. We had the Chamber of Commerce Park, that over the years housed livestock sheds, a go-cart track, the Boy Scout Cabin, and a swimming pool. Today, the area is owned by the City of Holden but the pool and the Boy Scout Cabin are gone. Basketball courts and picnic facilities have been added as well as a horse show arena, the Holden Saddle Club.

I will be writing much more about Holden as I write more for this blog. So much has changed and much as stayed the same and eventually I will bring you into the present! I was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Johnson County Historical Society and I will share these stories in their quarterly newsletter. Holden has had a very rich history and many very interesting people have lived here. Your input is appreciated; you can reach me at castsmith713@gmail.com

Thank you for reading – stay tuned…DBC     

(YES, Another “J” – Another Johnson! Best read with Russian Vodka…)

Something happened to me on Saturday, October 29, 1960, a day that that I’ve never forgotten as it awakened my mind! I heard a presentation titled “The Russian Rulers Told Me”, given by Bea Johnson at the Missouri Association of Future Homemakers of America in Hendricks Hall on the campus of Central Missouri State College in my hometown of Warrensburg, Missouri. I had never heard of Bea but her words had a HUGE impact on me at the time. So, let me introduce Bea Thrailkill Johnson to you!

Bea was born in Warrensburg, Missouri to Florence (Coleman) and John Thrailkill on November 21, 1910. She attended College Laboratory School, and College High School, then enrolled at Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg before continuing her education at the University of Missouri – Columbia, receiving her degree in Journalism in 1932. (Of note – she transferred to MU at the insistence of her parents because they didn’t like the young man she was seeing at the time!)

After graduation Bea moved to Kansas City. She began her 26-year career as a radio and television personality, first at KMBC radio in 1936 using the name Joanne Taylor! Later she became the Women’s Director at KMBC television in 1952. She now had her own television show, a daily telecast titled Happy Home. During that time, she received national attention for her on camera interviews with Lady Astor, Aristotle Onassis, Prime Minister Nehru of India, J. Edgar Hoover and Marshal Zhukov of Russia. (Zhukov served as Chief of the General Staff, Minister of Defense and Presidium of Politburo.) She travelled to five continents and spoke in 47 states. She earned many awards for her radio and television work as well as many local and national awards for providing opportunities for women. She was named to the National Defense Advisory Committee and other national groups by presidents of both political parties and was active in local and national art and philanthropic organizations.

In 1955, Bea arranged for a group of American women journalists to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, for a worldwide broadcaster’s conference. Following the conference, Bea arranged for these women to receive press credentials from the White House as accredited correspondents to cover the Big Four Conference, there in Geneva.   This conference was attended by United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Prime Minister Faure of France, Sir Anthony Eden, (Prime Minister of the United Kingdom) and Premier Marshall Bulganin of Russia. There were six credentialed women from the United States and only two additional women from around the world allowed to cover the very important summit.

In 1959, Bea travelled to Russia where she was the first American – man or woman – to ever record and transcribe interviews with Nikolai Alexandrovich Bulganin (President of the Soviet Union), Marshal Zhukov (who she had previously interviewed on her radio show in Kansas City) and other Kremlin dictators. She was the first woman from the free world to ever enter their offices, hear their voices and record unforgettable interviews regarding the “Russians of Russia”. A newspaper account reported that her tour was the “Reddest Red” carpet tour ever documented by any American in our history. Bea arranged the tour, accompanied by other American journalists, and upon her return to the United States, Bea took her lecture, “The Russian Rulers Told Me on tour – and thankfully to the FHA Conference I attended one Saturday in Warrensburg, Missouri.

I was so attentive to her words – never even having imagined that a woman could have experienced, or figured out how to travel to Geneva (let alone Russia) Her talk in Warrensburg, for me, was eye opening and I decided that perhaps I could accomplish something too that was out of the ordinary, verging on extraordinary and figure out how to do that. Then the women’s movement came along later – and I discovered it was possible! Though I grew up around very successful women, her words have guided me throughout my professional career! Gain knowledge, work hard, process well and your dreams can become your reality!

Bea’s recordings and documents are available at the University of Kansas City Library, the National Archives in Washington, D. C. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas provided a tribute to Bea in the Congressional Record after her death in 1976. You can find copies of her cookbooks on Amazon (featuring very fabulous recipes from very famous people), read more about her life online, and learn so much more!

I was fourteen years old on that day that changed my life!

By the way, she married R. Dean Johnson (her first date and the one her parents didn’t approve) in 1974. They remained happily married, with two daughters.      

            

He can turn the world on with his smile! I have a new blog partner! Dan and I grew up 17 miles away from each other, he in Holden, Missouri and I in Warrensburg, Missouri. My high school played against his high school in sports but we really had no connection beyond that. So, after getting to know him over the past nearly seven years, it seems that we have been following each other around the world, literally, for our entire life. You will learn of his love for his hometown, find out some interesting history of Holden, and also learn of Dan’s interesting and amazing experiences that he has had throughout his life. He is a graduate of Westminster College, a private college in Fulton, Missouri, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. He then joined the Army and was stationed various places but spent the longest time in Vicenza, Italy, a place he truly loves!

Dan then joined the family business back in Holden, having received a degree in Mortuary Science, to join the Cast Funeral Home and Mortuary. He has since retired but still continues with monument sales for the Company. He is a consummate historian – his home is a remodeled sanitarium, a residence and medical facility built in Holden in 1905. Much of the house contains original doors, windows, porches and staircases. The front entrance way to the house is truly magnificent with original grand glass paneled doors, high ceiling and floors.

He decided early in his career that he wanted to learn more about the human condition and enrolled at Central Missouri State College (now UCM) and received a Masters Degree in Sociology (a year before I did…and we still didn’t meet). We have fun reminiscing about our professors and how much we both learned from them – Drs. Britten, Pittman, Dee, among others.

So, I am so pleased to welcome Dan to the world of blogging – we promise to be diligent in getting posts published as often as possible and give our readers interesting, insightful and likely thought-provoking entries. I will still be snarking my way through the alphabet! Join us please!      

Four years ago, at a lovely wintertime Salon, hosted by a dear friend, I met Ray Crisp! At some point along the way, as our conversations usually do, the Salon conversation turned to the new ways to communicate! Many of us were, admittedly, far behind the latest methods and internet developments used for touching other lives but about mid-conversation, Ray Crisp said that he wanted to start a Blog.  Instantly I said I wanted to do the same. I was certain that neither of us knew much information about what a Blog actually was, or could be, but we set a date to talk it over!

We met for coffee that same week and vowed to figure out not only what a Blog really was but how we could collaborate and start our own! We read all we could about blogging, established a Code of Ethics for ourselves, started to dream about what we wanted to post on our Blog and practiced writing a Blog – each of us writing a Blog about the Nine Muses. I wrote mine after doing lots of research about the Muses – it turned out rather term-paper-ish! Ray made up new stories about the Muses set in 2019! We knew we were going to be just fine working together, both with grand imaginations and diligence!

What to name it! We wanted a recognizable name so we looked at names of liquor, looked for one that was not a universal choice for people, and finally landed on Cognac! Because it was taken, we created cognacforus.com. And there we were! Our audience became worldwide and strong and we were thrilled with the responses we received!

The ownership of our Blog has now passed to me. You can read a small paragraph about Ray at the beginning of our Blog. Beyond that Ray, for me, became a friend, a mentor for me (always correcting my sentence structure or use of certain words) and a shared with me the details of his wonderous life! Ray, I’m so happy that you came to Warrensburg and we discovered each other and created our cognacforus.com. Thank you!

To our readers, remember that should you be in Flagstaff, AZ you may want to take a drive through Crisp Hill, aptly named for Ray. You are missed, but I know for certain that you are now at peace. Much love from Patricia.

Welcome to the first installment of the Icie Chronicles!  Over the past couple of months I have been so fortunate to discover Icie Florence Johnson.  A prolific journalist, columnist and writer of non-fiction, Icie found her way into my life because of three library size boxes labeled Icie Johnson in the tombs of the Johnson County Historical Society here in Warrensburg. I somehow recognized her name and decided to see what those boxes contained! I will soon formally introduce Icie to you – so stay tuned!  But for today, the fourth of July, I will give you one of her essays.  Enjoy!

THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN

By Icie Johnson (1976)

The recent dedication of the extension to the Capitol building in Washington D.C., renewed the interest in the story of the statue on top of the dome of the original part of the building. A variety of conflicting stories are told about this woman. She does not represent an Indian. Her name is not Pocahontas. She was not given to the United States by a foreign country.

The statue was designed by Thomas Crawford, father of the American novelist, F. Marion Crawford, and the plaster model was executed by Mr. Crawford in his studio in Rome.  The statue is an American product in every sense of the word, for it was created by an American, cast in an American Foundry, and paid for by American taxpayers. The statue represents the ample figure of a woman symbolizing the greatest treasure of American democracy – freedom. Her official name is the Statue of Freedom.

When Mr. Crawford had been commissioned by the United States to model a statue for the top of the Capitol dome in Washington, DC, the country was in the throes of civil strife. He visualized the dream of all Americans – that of freedom – and now union. His statue must symbolize that powerful moving spirit of a young nation determined to guide its own destiny.

In his studio, a young Crawford drew his plan for the great statue which he wanted to represent his best efforts. His statue would be a woman – a strong, robust woman like those pioneer women who had helped to win American Freedom. Like a mother, she would symbolize the eternal struggle for protection of mankind’s God-given rights. That was Mr. Crawford’s dream for his statue.

In the spring of 1856, Crawford presented his first plan for the statue, but there were criticisms. Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, didn’t like the liberty cap on the lady’s head and suggested a helmet instead. Crawford made those changes, and the day he completed his model, he sighed wearily and said, “Genius of America! You’re finished!”  Ill and almost blind, the famous American sculptor, only forty three years old, touched the great plaster model with affection and understanding of what her symbolism would mean to young America, for her home was to be on the national capitol of the United States.

Mr. Crawford had named the statue, Armed Freedom, but she was officially named Statue of Freedom and was thus accepted by the United States government in 1857. Soon after Mr. Crawford completed his plaster model of the statue, he went to London where he died October 16, 1857.

For six months after Crawford’s death, Lady Freedom remained unclaimed in his studio in Rome. She was take in several sections aboard the “Emily Taylor” bound for New York. When the boat sprung a leak, it was necessary to put into Gibraltar for repairs. Again on the sea, the boat ran into stormy weather, and more leaks developed. This time most of the cargo had to be thrown overboard and for a time it looked as if Lady Freedom would never reach her destination. But it was finally agreed to save the statue and the crippled boat limped in Bermuda in July. The boat was then condemned and sold.  For five moths Lady Freedom lay in a dusty storehouse waiting for the United States to claim her again.

In December of 1858, parts of the statue arrived aboard the boat “G. W. Horton” in New York. There had not been enough room on the vessel for the whole statue, and the other parts did not arrive in New York until later. It was March of 1859 before the last of the statuary was shipped to Washington on the schooner, “Statesman”.

When all of the portions of the statue were received in Washington, they were sent to the Clark Mills foundry located near Bladensburg, MD. Here the plaster model of the statue was to be cast in bronze but because of the conditions created by the Civil War, the work on the statue was ordered stopped in May of 1861. For another six months, Lady Freedom was the forgotten woman while Americans destroyed each other in another devastating war.

During the blackest of the war, someone got the idea that the completion of the Statue of Freedom might spur the people on to victory. So the statue was completed and this announcement was made by the architect of the Capitol Extension in November of 1862. The Statue of Freedom, which was intended as the crowning feature of the dome and was completed and moved to the grounds east of the Capitol where it was placed on a temporary pedestal in order that the public might have an opportunity to view it before it was raised to its final position.

The Statue of Freedom stands nineteen feet six inches above the dome. Its total weight is 14,985 pounds and the final cost, including the $3000 paid to Mr. Crawford for the model was $23,796.82.

The flowing draperies which adorn the great bronze woman are held at the waist by a huge broach having the letters “U.S.” which are easily read as one gazes up at the statue. A wreath, presumably an olive branch of peace, and a shield also designated with stars and bars are held in her left hand. The head of Lady Freedom is covered by a helmet encircled with stars and surrounded by a crest composed of an eagles head and an arrangement of feathers suggested by the costume of American Indian Tribes. It is these feathers that give the impression that the statue is an Indian figure and many stories have been told from generation to generation about the Indian maid, Pocahontas atop the Capitol dome. The Statue of Freedom was erected in parts, but the final date for placing the completed head and shoulders of the statue above the Capitol was December 2, 1863. It was a gala event designed by the War Department with a special order providing a national salute of thirty-five guns to be

 fired from a field battery on Capitol Hill at the moment the American flag was unfurled from the top of the statue. The last gun from the salute was to be answered by a similar salute from the twelve forts which fortified the City of Washington at that time.

In spite of the war anxiety, people came in great numbers that cold December day to watch the symbol of American Freedom secured to her final place on the Capitol dome. Uneasy eyes watched the movement of the statue as it was slowly carried upward by a steam hoisting apparatus from the ground in front of the building. In twenty minutes, the three hundred feet were covered, and the head and shoulders of Lady Freedom were moved to their place and secured to the other parts of the figure.

As soon as the assembling of the statue was complete, the Stars and Stripes of the Union was unfurled over the head, and the National Salute resounded through the hills of Virginia and Maryland. This simple ceremony was said to spur the people on to more determined acts to save the Union which was still being threatened by the war between the states.

The original plaster model from which the bronze status was cast is now a museum piece in the National Museum.  

An interesting word. It is an adjective meaning not eradicable; not capable of being eradicated, rooted out, or completely removed.  Thinking about world developments and the current divisive culture now in the United States, I decided to look backwards a few decades and revisit the happenings I lived through and try and understand why American culture is what it is now. Because our world is made by history and because knowledge of the past offers new perspectives about the present, studying history gives us deeper insight into our lives and the lives of others. These are reasons enough to pursue it.

In 1905 George Santayana (a philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist, born in Spain, raised and educated in the US and identified himself as an American although he always retained a valid Spanish passport) was born Jorge Agustin Nicolas Ruiz de Santayana y Borras, made a speech in which he said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  Winston Churchill changed the quote slightly in a speech in 1948 to the House of Commons saying, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” Being an old person, I remember the past and I have learned from it. Because our world is made by history, and because knowledge of the past offers new perspectives about the present, visiting history should give us a deeper insight in our life and the lives of others. Here is my selected recounting of history…

*1959 – SHOULD WE REALLY PLAN TO GO TO THE MOON? 

*1969 – HOW SOON DO WE GET OUT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM? (FIRST MOON LANDING, JULY 20, 1969)

*2022 – SHOULD A PRIVATE BUSINESS OWNED BY RICH GUYS BE INVOLVED WITH SPACE TRAVEL?

*1959 – SHOULD THE BLACK MAN HAVE A PLACE IN WHITE SOCIETY? (KING AND MALCOLM KILLED BLOODILY UNDER TELEVISION LIGHTS)

*1969 – SHOULD BLACK SOCIETY HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHITE SOCIETY?

*2022 – SHOULD WHITE PEOPLE BE CONCERNED WITH BLACKS REPLACING THE WHITE MAJORITY?

Two Kennedys, Chappaquiddick, Che, Vietnam, Biafra and Czechoslovakia. Churchill and Eisenhower, Dulles and Stevenson, Nehru, Ho, Schweitzer, MacArthur and John L. Lewis. Khrushchev, De Gaulle, Thurgood Marshall

*1959 – IS THERE ANYTHING MORE DANGEROUS THAN COMMUNISM?

*1969 – IS THERE ANYBODY MORE BORING THAN AN ANTI-COMMUNIST?

*2022 – AND NOW THERE IS SOCIALISM, A TERM MANY DO NOT DEFINE CORRECTLY.

Pope John, Radioactive Strontium, Little Rock, the Military Industrial Complex, nuclear era showdown and backdown between the United States and Russia over Cuba.

*1959 – IS THERE ANYBODY WHO THINKS WE SHOULD NOT RESIST AGGRESSORS?

*1969 – WHY NOT RESIST THE DRAFT?

*2022 – IMMIGRANTS ARE AGGRESSORS?

Kennedy, the Birchers, Bishop Pike, Gagarin, Freedom Riders, the Berlin Wall.

*1959 – SHOULD THE GOVERNMENTS MAKE CONTRACEPTIVE INFORMATION PUBLIC?

*1969 – SHOULD POT BE LEGALIZED?

*2022 – I REST MY CASE.

John Glenn, The Cuban Missile Crisis, Pope John (Pacem in Terris) Medicare

*1959 – WHICH COLLEGE ARE YOU GOING TO?

*1969 – CAN ANY COLLEGE EDUCATION BE RELEVANT?

*2022 – AGAIN, I REST MY CASE.

Berkeley, Mario Savio, North Vietnam, The Beatles, Dr. Strangelove and Becket, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music

*1959 – WHICH POLITICAL PARTY DO YOU BELONG TO?

*1969 – ARE POLITICAL PARTIES OF ANY SIGNIFICANCE AT ALL?

*2022 – WE STILL HAVE A TWO PARTY SYSTEM WITH MANY STEMS WITHIN.

*1959 – SCHOOL SHOOTING IN THE BROX

*1969 – SCHOOL SHOOTINGS IN CHICAGO, LOS ANGELES, WINSTON SALEM, TOMAH.

“Mounting evidence that society is out of control breeds disillusionment with science”, explained Alvin Toffler, a futurist of the 1960’s, “History is a great alternative to the super industrial environment we don’t know how to live in.” Could the same be said for the super technological environment?

The way that some will live in the new world is simply by pretending that it is the old one. “When faced with a totally new situation,” Marshall McLuhan wrote in “The Medium is the Massage,” we tend always to “attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the recent past. We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

 The draft, Hawks and Doves, Vietnam, Arab-Israeli war, Dominican Republic, France quits NATO

 If you don’t believe there’s been a changing of the mental guard – think your own thoughts as have now browsed over this sketch of time tick-tocked towards today. Think your own thoughts as you browse you brain for answers…

…and thank you to Robin Hoar for the idea!

“I live in my small home town Warrensburg, Missouri. I choose to live here after being gone for nearly 40 years. It is easy to live here.  Last night coming from having cocktails with friends, I was stopped at a railroad crossing by a freight train for 18 minutes… freight trains and Amtrak are on the rails that run right through the middle of town, all day and all night long.  I had my sun roof open, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide Overture was playing on my Sirius Radio, and the train crept slowly by me and I felt happy that this, truly is, as LB wrote – the best of all possible worlds…”

I wrote the above paragraph two years ago.  I have been stuck on the next letter for this Blog for months – having thought of “H” words that would have been provocative but not insightful on any level – except perhaps only in my mind.  So, here is Home Town, Warrensburg, Missouri…

Growing up here was simple – it was the late 1940’s so the war was over, it was the 1950’s so it was Eisenhower as President, jobs were mostly held by men in industrial or agricultural occupations or in the skilled trades. My situation was different, my Father was a Dean at our local college so I went to the College Laboratory School on the college campus instead of the public school. My Dad drove us to the college every morning and I walked home from school every day. Sometimes, I would stop at the Rexall Drug Store downtown and have a green river or I would just go directly home and my Mother would fix me a Pepsi and maybe some popcorn. We didn’t have Sesame Street or other children’s programming – well mostly because we didn’t have televisions! (Do I sound “old” now…?) And we played outside in our neighborhoods after school until we went home for dinner.

My parents often hosted dinners at our house on an inclusive basis. We had international students from around the world, we had faculty from all disciplines, and we had neighbors and other friends from the community. I was always included and learned so much about other cultures and global perspectives. Looking back, I see those events as salons – where a lot was talked about and many slides were shown when people had taken fascinating trips!

School was likely as normal as an elementary school was in the 1950’s, however there were not many of us at College Laboratory School so our classes were small.  We took the four R’s, but had music, art and physical education classes every day. Those classes were held other buildings on campus and we thought nothing of walking outdoors to our classes. 

We went to assemblies with the college students every Wednesday in the large auditorium the Administration Building on campus. We probably didn’t know of the folks we heard speak or perform at those assemblies but I know now that it was people such as Aga Kahn, Bennett Cerf, Bea Johnson, the Norman Luboff Choir, Eric Sevareid and others who came to campus.

I, of course, attended College High School on the campus – it was an experience certainly in the early 1960’s. John Kennedy was President and Lyndon Johnson was Vice President. We took English, History, Science and Math classes. We had a girl’s glee club and a boy’s glee club. Most of the boys played sports. We were all part of a stage performance every year, from the Nutcracker to a not so famous operetta, Love Pirates of Hawaii! We had Homecoming activities, Snow Dances, and junior/senior proms. We had a Student Council and the National Honor Society. Some were cheerleaders and some were avid Pep Club members.  We had a Chess Club, and other special interest clubs to keep us busy mostly after school. Many of my classmates were the children of military personnel from the Air Force Base that is nearby. We also had classmates who came to our school from a nearby K-8 school in a nearby town. Again, there weren’t very many of us and we all seemed to get along splendidly!

And then, President Kennedy was killed.  I was a senior that year and Editor of our yearbook, The Rhetorette.  The day of the assassination, we were having pictures taken for that yearbook – it was a solemn day. We had closed circuit televisions in many rooms and we all gathered together and heard the announcement. It was a Friday, November 22, 1963. We couldn’t have anticipated how the United States would change in the coming years.

And then there was college – unlike you might expect, I went off to the University of Missouri my freshman year. I flunked out.  This small town girl wasn’t ready for a big university, very savvy “city kids” from St. Louis and Kansas City, a French class that began at 7:30 every morning and walking miles to get there, a dormitory full of lots of girls and a huge shared bathroom. So, my sophomore year I returned to Central Missouri State College, lived at home but felt much more comfortable (and I so dislike that word) for the next four years or so. During those years I met friends who are still friends today. I finally mastered the French language, minored in French and went to school for a semester in Dijon, France. I became a Sociology major because the curriculum spoke to me. I ended up with an English degree because of all the classes I had to take to bring up my down hours. But graduate I did, finally, met my first husband, and ended up getting my MA in Sociology.

I was a hippie for sure, I learned to be a good bridge player, I loved the theater and the music that I was exposed to in college, I learned about the world, I learned about politics, I learned about law, and by the time I really got myself out into the real world I was prepared. Prepared to accept the process of learning for what it is. Growing up in a small town had its benefits certainly.  I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I am still friends with most of my high school classmates. Prior to the pandemic, we gathered every year for a day of friendship and talks about how lucky we were to have had our experiences together. There is one of us that still remembers all the words to Love Pirates of Hawaii….We live all over the country now, all retired from some astonishing careers, are great grandparents but still hold our home town close.

I was 50 when I returned to Warrensburg – the year Lady Diana died. After getting my PhD in Administration and Management from Southern Illinois University, I had a very successful and long career as an administrator of nonprofit, employment and training organizations and working with state and federal governments and educational institutions in the field of public policy. So, I have been back in Warrensburg for 24 years.  I started my own consulting business in 1998 and have been very successful with great contracts until recently when my favorite word has become NO.

I have been very happy to be home, actually in my parent’s house that they built in 1964, around people that I have known my whole life, around so many new friends, involved in the community in so many ways, involved with the college that has become a university. Someone suggested that I am a legend. I accept that label.

When I returned though, a man that I have known my whole life asked me, “Why did you move back HERE?” I answered, “Why did you stay here?” I’m pretty sure our answers to that question are the same.

…and I know where the airport is!    

The first Broadway musical I ever saw in New York was in the summer of 1970 – Katharine Hepburn in COCO, recreating the life of the famous French designer Gabrielle Chanel. It was at the Mark Hellinger Theater, we were able to get “standing room only SRO) tickets for $5.00. The show had been sold out for months despite getting reviews that were not so favorable. The reason it was so successful of course was because everyone came to see Katharine Hepburn in her return to the stage after an absence of seventeen years.  I was absolutely breathless when the big curtain went up, and there was Hepburn coming down a huge spiral staircase as the orchestra music began to swell.  The first line of the show was Katharine Hepburn saying “SHIT!” She was Coco Chanel from that moment on and I was star struck and hooked!

At the time, the only thing I knew about Coco Chanel was that the perfume Chanel No 5 was my choice for fragrance. I had never thought about the person that might have designed it. So my introduction to Coco was through seeing this musical. As I have found out since, Coco Chanel had a very interesting and intriguing life. I am writing about her today on August 19, 2021 which would have been Coco’s 138^th birthday!

Gabrielle Chanel was born in 1883 in a poorhouse hospice in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France. One of six children, her family moved to Brive-la-Gaillarde but when she was eleven years old her mother died and she was sent to an orphanage that was operated by sisters of the convent Aubazine. The orphanage was where Coco learned to sew. At eighteen, she moved to Moulins, lived in a boarding house and worked as a seamstress.  She also sang in a cabaret frequented by cavalry officers. She appeared on stage as well and it was there that she adopted the name of Coco. In 1906 she moved to the spa resort town of Vichy, hoping to become a noted performer, a career that didn’t work out.

Coco returned to Moulins and met a young ex-cavalry officer named Etienne Balsan and she became his mistress. He showered her with diamonds, beautiful dresses and pearls – Coco’s introduction to wealth and prominence. In 1908 she began an affair with Captain Arthur Edward Capel, a wealthy member of the English upper class who gave Coco an apartment in Paris. She wanted to have a shop, where she would design and make dresses – the Captain made that happen for Coco and she excelled at both designing and making clothes for upper class Parisian women. The affair with Capel lasted nine years and ended when he was killed in a car accident.

Coco then reopened her shop in Paris and became a licensed milliner adding hats to her collections. Her shop at 21 rue Cambon was named Chanel Modes. She had also opened a shop in Deauville expanding her collections. She also opened a shop in Biarritz on the Cote Basque and her business began to really thrive. In 1916 she met the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia and began an affair with him. At the same time she was now registered as a couturiere and established her famous Maison de Couture in Paris.

In 1920 Coco met the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Diaghilev an impresario of the Ballet Russes. Now she was designing and making costumes for the ballet. Coco found herself in high society and established relationships with Pierre Werheimer, Misia Sert, Jose-Maria Sert, Luca Turin and the writer Colette. This grew into wider circles that included the highest level of British Aristocracy – Winston Churchill, the Duke of Westminster, Edward, Prince of Wales and Arthur Grosvenor who had an affair with Coco for ten years. It was said that Coco attracted her friends and acquaintances because of her genius, lethal wit, sarcasm and maniacal destructiveness the intrigued and appalled everyone! She and these aristocrats also shared a daily morphine and cocaine habit that Coco continued until her death

In 1931 Coco met Samuel Goldwyn. He offered her $1M ($75M today) to design the costumes for his stars. She went to Hollywood twice a year travelling to California from New York in her white train carriage luxuriously outfitted for her use. She designed for Gloria Swanson and Ina Clair. Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich became private clients.

By 1935 Chanel couture was a lucrative business employing 4000 people. She was being challenged for notoriety by Elsa Schiaparelli and Karinska for edgy unique designs. And then World War II began. Coco closed her shops saying that it was not a time for fashion. During the war Coco lived at the Hotel Ritz, a hotel known for being a residence for upper-echelon German military staff. In 1940 she lost control of Parfums Chanel but at the end of the war she fought to regain control of her brand. It has been said that Chanel had a good relationship with the German officers and supported their occupation and mission. However she was instrumental in securing negotiations between the Germans and the British with Winston Churchill for defections of some Germans to the British Secret Service. After the war Coco was investigated for being a Nazi sympathizer but was never found to be guilty of such activities.

In 1945 she moved to Switzerland with Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage a former Prussian Army officer and Attorney General. Chanel was being challenged again in the fashion world by Christian Dior, Cristobal Balenciaga, Robert Piguet and Jacques Fath.  She began to sell her designs in the United States and became firmly established in the couture world here.

Gabrielle Chanel died in 1971 at the Hotel Ritz where she had lived for more than 30 years leaving a legacy that still exists today! Known for the little black dress, Chanel suit and Chanel bag, she also leaves a story of her unprecedented life for all of us to enjoy. I’m so pleased that I saw that Broadway play – and I actually saw it twice. My favorite Chanel quote – “You can be gorgeous at thirty, charming at forty, and irresistible for the rest of your life”.  Happy Birthday!

We are so pleased to be able to bring you a poem by Jayne Barnes Raso! Patricia has been friends with Jayne since her time spent at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Jayne is a kindred soul for certain. Well known for her insightful spirited poems, articles and her wonderful letters, Jayne now lives in Louisiana. This poem, Chocolate Waters is from her memories from 2009.

CHOCOLATE WATERS

What I collect and Why: Words

Because they are so delicious on the tongue

Delicate, tart, sweetly sibilant when sung

Sliding softly, bellowing stridently – Ha!

(I interject that I collect the best that I can find)

French and Greek whispered cheek-to-cheek

The tongue’s own Valentine

It’s fine to keep them anywhere

Even bottled up inside

Though I prefer to let them rip

Or slur or slip from off my lip

Concupiscent, magnificent, belligerent, divine

I share them promiscuously

People rarely even ask

But the best I share with those who dare

To whirl and skirl and sour and twist

And meet me mind to mind.