2023 3rdQ newsletter
Check it Out
Ruby Hare Journal 2023
Ruby Hare remembrances
Ruby Hare Chicken & Noodles Recipe
2023 Old Settlers Day Pictures
2023 Granite Brick Project Form for Memorial Garden
Around Town
Community U, with help from the 1st Christian Church and PRIDE, held their annual “Stuff the Backpacks” in August with school supplies. and Ice Cream Social
Former Elk City resident Orvilla Blecha celebrated her 105th birthday on Sept. 2nd
The Ruby Hare Journal
Ruby Shouse Hare kept a journal during her life and wrote a journal, it is interesting insights into the past, with her since of humor, a recipe of her chicken and noodles, prices during the 1930's and a map of the businesses in Elk City 1930-1940. Links below will take you to the pages. Her Journal was shared by her daughter Millie. Thanks for sharing.
Ruby Hare Journal 2023
Ruby Hare Chicken & Noodles Recipe
Ruby Hare remembrances
Memorial Brick Garden
The Elk City Senior Citizen group has begun a new community project, a memorial granite brick garden. We have been planning it for about a year. It is now ready to begin. If you are interested please fill out the order form. The bricks will be placed on the new cement area on north side of Community Building. We hope to have a small garden and benches along with the granite bricks. We are taking orders now and hope to have them set by next spring. If you have an Elk City mailing address or have lived in Elk City in the past you are eligible. We have many families who have been in this area since the beginning 1869 to present days. We are hoping to put together a history of those who made Elk City a special place.
2023 Granite Brick Project Form
Wandermore's
By Wandermore’s Visit in Kansas?
Town 393 of 627: Elk City, KS
Population: 260
County: Montgomery
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Elk City, the birthplace of the 53rd United States Secretary of War and the 25th Governor of Kansas, Harry Hines Woodring, was the first town to be founded in Montgomery County. The first settler was John Kappel in 1868, who established a trading
post there. Within the calendar year the town was founded, and several lines of enterprise ranging from general and hardware stores to sawmills and brick and tile works began to develop. The duties of postmaster were bestowed on William H. H. Southard when it was established on November 5, 1869. Once the Missouri Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroads rolled into Elk City, the population grew to as many as 896 people per the 1890 Census.
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What is Wandermore’s Visit627Kansas? If you’re reading this, congratulations! You’ve just stumbled across the greatest Kansas town documentation project in history. My name is Seth Varner and I’m a recent 23-year-old college graduate that’s on a mission to visit all 627 of Kansas’s incorporated communities throughout 2023. In 2020, I had the idea to visit every incorporated town in my home state of Nebraska, and I have since traveled to all 531 of Nebraska’s, 939 of Iowa’s, and 310 of South Dakota’s incorporated towns. The goal of my project is to showcase as much as I can about Kansas’s 627 communities (big or small), whether it be their history, architecture, food, etc. Although I won’t capture a picture of every object in every town (due to time, energy, and financial constraints), I’ll photograph as many businesses, churches, schools, and other points of interest as I can to provide people with a general sense of what the town looks like in 2023. I would appreciate it so much if you, the people of Kansas, could add to my posts by captioning the photos and sharing your memories or knowledge of the pictures I have taken for the enjoyment of others.
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Once I finish traveling the Sunflower State, I will compile a travel guide, “Wandermore in Kansas,” that will serve as a travel guide, history book, and living photo album all under one cover! It will be the most comprehensive guide to Kansas’s 627
incorporated towns ever created. Please consider helping me continue the promotion of small-town tourism by donating to the Wandermore travel fund. I share all of my photos/town posts to Facebook for free, so any donation to help me offset the cost of food, hotels, and the rising cost of gas is much appreciated. I have enabled a donation link after a few individuals expressed an interest in supporting my journey by donating funds. For every $5.00 donated, I will place one person’s name (at the
donor’s discretion) in the back of the Wandermore in Kansas book upon its release ($10 = 2 names, $20 = 4 names, etc.).
https://wandermorepublishing.com/checkout/donate ?donatePageId=6222a339ff9b6e6219a15328
Tumaini Childrens Home
Bridges Family
Greetings!! I hope you are finding a way to stay cool in this HOT weather. Kansas is an uncomfortable 104°
right now, and by Wednesday, we should reach 107°. Matayos, Kenya will reach a high of 89° today!! When we were in Kenya and the weather dipped to a beautiful 80-85°, Kennedy would say he was so cold...and out came the coats and sweaters. It's all in the perspective I think!!!
Five people, 15 pieces of luggage carefully weighed to reach the maximum allowed of 50 lbs. each, 10 pieces of
carry-on luggage, and a whole lot of anticipation and excitement left for Kenya in early June, to meet with our Kenyan family!! After a 24-hour plane trip, and an 8- hour jeep ride, we reached our destination. Tumaini Children's Home is thriving because of the generosity in finances, prayer, and love that our sponsors provide, and we are forever thankful to God and to you for caring
about these children and those who watch over them. Along with loving on our Tumaini Children, we were also able to reach out to the community to share God's love. There is still so much that needs to be done but we know that God is faithful and, in His time and way, the "dream" will be reached. Again, we cannot thank you enough for allowing God to use you in blessing Tumaini Children's Home. Thank you for being His vessel.
"2023 Kenya Trip" meet Breeze, Alex, Yvonne, Eddie, Amy, and especially your Tumaini Children's Home Family. As
our Pastor reminded us during a discouraging and difficult time, be thankful that we (you) GET to do this ministry!!
Tid Bits by Jane
July
There was a large gathering at the park on July 2nd at the Freedom Saturday celebration to enjoy music, hot
dogs, ice cream and fireworks. Thank you Tuck family for another wonderful 4 th of July fireworks celebration! Also thank you to the churches that helped get this organized and the citizens that donated to make the show great. It was great to see
the community come together. God bless you all. Sadly this year was not without incident. Two young women were hit with flying fireworks. One was injured, hitting her in the chest and eye. She is expected to fully recover. As the emergency personnel were on the way to the 911 call, an incident with the truck and a spectator occurred. The spectator, Vicki Edington, was killed. Our prayers and thoughts with the first responders and the Edington family. The week of the 4th brought much needed rain to the area after several days of 100+ temperatures. The corn was in dire need of a drink. Reports of 1 inch to over 2 in the area will sure help the yield outcome. Some of the corn was already dying, as were the newly planted soybeans. It’s amazing how I can water everyday, but a rain sure makes all the flowers and gardens look amazing. A drink from God is no comparison to the garden hose, although in a few days I was back watering. Mid-July brought back the hot, hot days and a major thunderstorm, but not much rain for us. We didn’t even have the 80 mph. wind and hail other areas around did.
How’s your garden growing? I’m getting zuccucs, tomatoes, cabbage, onions, peppers. I’ve been so lucky to avoid the zuc bugs, but they are moving in. GRRRR. The gourds and pumpkins will be hard to keep alive. The tomatoes are starting to ripen. I heard on radio that nationwide the jalapeno seeds were mixed up with the banana pepper seeds when packaging. I have jalapeno plants producing yellow banana peppers! And I planted roma tomato plants and have pear tomatoes. Hmmmm.
Most seeds are packaged in China!! Beware of pkging. Small amounts of rain continue to fall and will help with the crops. They are not filling the ponds, but at this point it will take many inches, with possibility of flood to fill our ponds and watersheds. Not really what we want either, but probably will be what it takes. What I learned this month: We (as a people) are losing
our togetherness. We don’t spend enough time with each other. Time goes by in a flash and before we know we will look back and wondered why we didn’t spend more time with each other. When that day comes, we will miss the ones we neglected to see. The world is a crazy place and has made it hard to spend time with people, but we need to remember to treasure the times we have with those we love, friend or family. Marie Bryant shared these words of wisdom with me. I sure miss her.
August
Summer seems to have rushed by. If you’re getting ready for school with enrollment, school supplies and new clothes, you probably feel like summer is about over. Thanks to the Community U girls, with assistance from 1st Christian Church for sponsoring the school supplies. Pick u was the 3rd at the church. Approx. 80 children were helped. Thanks to all the individuals and organizations that helped them. All the first day of school pictures are fun to look at on the Facebook pages. Those were fun times when Brace & Allison were in school. Miss it, at times! The hot weather in July and August was about too much along with the lack of rainfall. The corn harvest started early for most with most reporting low yields that weren’t lucky enough to get a rain shower. Some area famers were making silage. Others had a decent crop. The soybeans were dying by the middle of August.
The 2nd week of August brought some cool down & we received apprx. 1 inch. Farmer friends to the east, near McCune received 5”. A nice rain would still save the dying crop. Not sure a few tenths will make much of a difference. It’s amazing how much all the vegetation looks better, even with a few tenths plants, in pots or field, than watering with a hose. Our rural water
districts have issued Stage 3 ban on all watering and etc. Water to be used for human and animal consumption only. The farmers haven’t had to worry about the worms, maybe it’s too hot for them. Might be hard to
spray with no water! I still wouldn’t want to be a pioneer It has been so hot, with 113 being reported, heat indexes up to 125. Just walk outside and the heat & humidity take your breath away. My skin burns from just the heat. Some people are floating frozen jugs in their swimming pools to cool it off. Are you planting fall gardens? It seems too hot and dry to think about planting, but the time to seed is now. Seems like by the time I need to plant for fall garden, I’m tired of gardening. I’ve had plenty of tomatoes & peppers to eat, can and share. The zuc bugs have moved in too. A good friend returned from England recently. Sounds like she had a great trip.. What I learned this month: In my ongoing quest to clean up “my stuff” so the next generation doesn’t have to... I stumble on memorabilia I’ve hidden away or better yet, never put away and this time I find a note from my dad: “Small things are more often remembered than the Big things”. Oh how so true. The most beautiful things are not associated with money;
they are memories and moments. Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them.
September
Labor Day is the last hooray of summer, camping, dove hunting, swimming and etc. I’m always sorry when summer is over, but the change is nice. Did we notice a change this year, it’s still hot and dry, just like summer! We hoped for some rain and cooling off before Old Settlers’ Days arrived, that didn’t happen. The 20 deg. Drop to the 80’s & 60’s in the morning was nice for awhile, going right back to the 100’s for several days.
Most area farmers were done harvesting corn by mid- September. If you were lucky to receive some rain on a
field, the corn made decent yields, but most of the corn was low yielding due to drought and some fields of corn
did not even produce one ear! The beans are maturing, not sure those yields will be any good either, some of plants decided to die due to lack of timely rain. Some of the farmers are baling the soybeans to sell as hay instead
of beans. The farmers are debating when to plant wheat. A small shower might cause the wheat to sprout and die
without rain. How long will the seed lie in dry dirt without rotting? Enough rain to make the pond people happy does not make the crop people happy, but ponds are so low, the farmers might welcome a flood just to have water. Ponds are critically low even if you don’t have cattle. I have fish I enjoy feeding in my pond & I wonder if they will have enough water going into winter. We actually caught some out of one pond that will be dry soon and put into a bigger pond, but it may be in the same situation. Cattlemen are starting to feed, as the cattle are out of grass, that’s going to be a long feeding season for some and the threat of running out of feed as well as water. Many have already been sold or shipped to other areas. I also worry if the perennials are dying or just shutting down from lack of water. It’s hard to water enough to help them. Our rural water district coming from Moline & Quivera Lake at Sedan has put a ban on water usage for recreation, gardens or flowers. Animal or human consumption only. It’s going to be a long fall and even longer next summer if we don’t get rainfall. Some old timers say the 50’s were dry and lasted for 4 years. School and fall sports are in full swing at most facilities. Too hot!! Dove season was the first of the month, heard
reports of hunters limiting out early on the first morning. We had nice hot weather for the fair, but cooled down
a little in the evening on Sat. night.
We combined all the activities into one day. Hopefully worked out better. New ideas and new volunteers are needed. Please help out to keep the fair. A major cool down and a few rain showers helped during the month. They sure washed the dust off. What I learned this month: If you find happiness, no matter what stage of life, consider yourself blessed.
Alumni Minutes of the Past 1963
Newspaper article no date but sure Elk City Sun - Large Crowd attends E. C. Alumni Banquet -
The annual Elk City High School Alumni Banquet was held in the school auditorium on Wednesday evening of last week. Two hundred and sixteen persons were present for the occasion. The crowd was one of the largest in the history of the association. The banquet was served by members of the W.S.C.S. of the Methodist church.>p>
Wm. T. Newkirk was the presiding officer, Brice Durbin of Columbus served as the toastmaster for the program. Group singing was let by D. M. Lessman. A vocal solo was presented by Dianna Lawrence and a piano solo by Marilyn White Inlow. A tribute to the seniors of 1963 was given by Ernest Edmonds. Guest speaker was Dr. Rex Taggart of Ottawa, Ill. member of the 1963 graduating class. Mrs. Jack Clarke of Independence had charge of the program.
Actual minutes a follows:
216 alumni and friends attended the annual E.C.H.S. alumni banquet held @Wednewsday night, May 29, 1963, in the high school auditorium. Cassium Davis, class of 1891, Samuel Davis, class of 1892, were graduates present who graduated before 1900.
Invocation was given by Herman Schwatken Group singing was led by Dick Lessman, accompanied by Marilyn White Inlow, while an excellent dinner prepared by Circle 1 of the Methodist church was being served. Bill Newkirk, president, presided at the meeting and introduced Brice Durbin, toastmaster for the evening. The program consisted of a vocal solo by Dianna Lawrence accompanied by Alice Miller. A tribute to the seniors of 1963 was given by Ernest Edmonds, Superintendent of Elk City High School. The speaker for the evening was Dr. Rex Taggart of Ottawa, Illinois, who gave a very interesting address. A tribute was given in honor of Mrs. Mae Harmon Cox, who passed away the previous evening and had been an alumni of 69 years. The program closed with a piano solo by Marilyn White Inlow. Roll call of classes was then held and business meeting followed. Mrs. Raydene James Benfield read the officers for the 1964 year. They are:
President Bessie Elmore Hare
Vice President Ruby Elmore Truitt
Secretary-treasurer Ardis Cox Moore
A collection of $58.80 was taken to help pay expenses. The meeting adjourned with all singing the school Alma Mater.
Committees: serving - Helen Newkirk James appointed to contact W.S.C.S. Circle 1 of the Methodist church
Program - Jane Boylan Clark
Table Decorating - Susie Tusing Rankin, Diana Bryant, Kay Reed, Mary Ann Aiken Hogan, Carolyn Lawrence Williams, Steve Chism
Tickets - Dyarl Newkirk - Jane Boylan Clark
Nominating - Raydene James Benfield, Edna Mae Reynolds Cox, Vadis Schwatken Kimrey
Host-Hostess - Mr. Mrs. James Cox and Vada Brown Wright
Financial Report
Balance Forwarded $40.00
Tickets Sold - 252.50
Collection $58.80
Total 361.30
Expenses
W.S.C.S. Circle 1 of Methodist Church 216.00
Elk Ciy Sun for printing $45.63
Loyalty class for table paper 2.85
Raydene James Benfield - telephone call 1.52
Jane Boylan Clark - telephone call 1.50
total 267.50
Balance on hand $83.30 Marie Whistler Hiatt Secretary Treasurer 1963
Rita Inlow Shares
Newspaper and date are not available
Elk City - Mary Edmonds Wins Homemaker Honors
Mary Edmonds, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Edmonds, was honored in an Elk City high assembly this morning as the 1967 Betty Crocker Homemaker of tomorrow. Mr. Edmonds is the daughter of Superintendent of the Elk City district.
This is the highest honor to be bestowed on a senior girl in the home economics field and at the assembly today a pin was presented to the winner by Mrs. Ralph Earhart, home economics instructor at Elk City.
Along with the pin Miss Edmonds also received a letter of congratulations from Betty Crocker which stated "Homemaking is much more than being able to cook and sew. It requires real qualities of understanding and a sense of high values". These are the attitudes for which the Homemaker of Tomorrow winners will be honored.
The examination was given throughout the United States in December and are open to all senior girls. Elk City was proud of the fact that every senior girl took the test!
Miss Edmonds will be eligible to compete in the state contest from which a winner and runner-up will be chosen for national honors.
The Good Old Days
Messrs. A. C. Sewell and Bascom Kelly have been appointed a committee to procure the fireworks for the Fourth. They have already sent for a supply and promise one of the finest displays ever seen in Elk City. Three illuminated balloons will be sent up.
The Elk City mills will hereafter grind corn by the roller process, having put in a set of rolls for that purpose. It is a difficult job keeping track of the improvements made by the mill company, as they are constantly building additions and putting in improved machinery.
The Coffeyville Independent says: "Among the many beautiful tributes to our nation's heroes that were rendered in essay form on Decoration day, we think that by Flora McKenzie, at Elk City takes first rank and we give it space in our soldier department in hopes it will stimulate others to follow in the same channel"
Frank H. Baker, a nephew of John and S. E. Borders, came in Friday morning and stayed until Sunday afternoon. An Ice Cream reception was given him by Mr. and Mrs. Borders on Frida evening and quite a number of young people were invited. It is useless to say they had a good time eating cake and ice cream.
Thomas Coyne, who made the run into Oklahoma six years ago and secured a good claim in Kingfisher county drove into Elk City with his family this week, having deserted his claim. He put in six years of hard labor on the place and raised one crop. He was compelled to leave or starve. He wants plowing to do and anyone desiring his services should leave word at this office.
An old gentleman named Fonburg, who lives a few miles west of this city was found lying in his field Tuesday, having been kicked by his horse. The accident occurred on Friday and he was so badly injured that he could not walk or even crawl to the house, and for five days and four nights he lay in the open field exposed to the heavy rains and blistering sun. He lives alone, which explains the reason of his not being found sooner.
Our base ball boys have adopted a brilliant red uniform for state occasions. One day last week while marching down the street enrobed in scarlet splendor, they met a cow that was being driven to the slaughter. The animal evidently considered the appearance of so much red on the street as a personal affront, at any rate she objected to it and made for the crowd, and in less than two minutes she had vanquished the enemy and treed the entire club.
The criminal business for the present term of court is probably through with, as the case of Cole, the Missouri Pacific car robber, will doubtless go over until November. The result thus far is six recruits for the pen. They are Cain and Hildebrandt, who were in the hold up business on the river; Conor and Schrinser, the Rutland cattle thieves; Lawrence; the horse thief and Reynolds, the would be murderer whose story is told in another column. None of them have yet received their sentences.
Obituaries
Edington, Victoria Lynn passed away July 1st In Elk City, cremations has taken place
Ure, Betty Absella, age 99, passed on August 1, 2023.
Counsil, Kleta Jeanne (White), 74, died Saturday, September 9, 2023, cremation has taken place, ashes buried in Oak Hill.
Sanborn, Garnet Joyce age 83 of Elk City, Kansas, passed away, September 13, cremation has taken place
Linden, Mason D. age 92, passed away September 14,
Hall,John W. age 87, passed away August 28, cremation has taken place, ashes buried at Oak Hill and Military Service
Stots, Kimberly Grace 57, passed away September 13,