Friday, November 21, 2008

HAVE A NICE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

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We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Was your stuffing tasty? And your turkey plump?
Hope your potatoes and gravy, had nary a lump.
Were your yams delicious and did your pies take the prize?
Now . . . if only the thanksgiving dinner will stay off from your thighs
.


Thanksgiving day is everyday

Thanks in my heart and on my lips to God

Humbly having a thankful attitude...

Acknowledging Him for all He has done and is

Never losing the spirit of heartfelt gratitude.

Knowing and telling Him of my appreciation

Shedding all self-reliance, pride, and self-sufficiency...

Giving God all of the glory, honor, and praise

Igniting the soul from the blaze of His grace and generosity.

Voicing my thanks and love of God to Him and to man

Identifying Him as the One from whom all blessings flow....

Nurturing the seed of thanksgiving in my heart

Generating thankfulness in others as I go.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

A BEAUTIFUL HOUSE GOING DOWN THE HIGHWAY

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John and Doris Harrell's home
was moved from Paradise to Russell
The house was moved in 1984
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Highway 281 was shut down during the days for about a week.
Then, the house set "somewhere" for several days due to rain.
John and Doris lived in a motel for about a month.
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From Devin . . . . .
"I had told you earlier that I had some pictures for you, and I finally got them scanned in today. These are pics of the Harrell House which used to be up by the Nazarene church, which they moved to Russell when I was pretty young. I don't even know who's house exactly it was, but I'm sure you do. I think the name was John Harrell? As I said, I was very young, but I do remember seeing this happen and I was sad at the time that someone would want to leave Paradise so bad that they would move their entire house with them!!! Also I thought it was such a nice house, I was sad that it would not be in Paradise anymore. But, I definitely thought - now there's something you don't see everyday! A house going down the highway in Kansas! So, here you go. I think my dad took these pics. Have a good weekend! Devin








John & Doris Harrell
1941
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3Doris Harrell 1965
Guess who's wedding!

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6Helen Burger & John Harrell
Late 1990's
















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This is one of the cutest photo's
of all of our relatives.
I did this without permission.
(And . . . furthermore, I'm not taking
a chance to ask for permission. Ha!)
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MORE MEMORIES OF THE PAST

Some of these photo's have been on before
but these have names to go with them.
Thanks Devin!


Devin said . . . .
"This picture of the Paradise Cafe is interesting because this was when it was undergoing renovations before opening as the Downtown Diner back in 2001. This building has lots of significance for my family, as it was my aunt Sharon's beauty salon when I was growing up, and before that my uncle Ronnie played here with his band Paradise, which included Gene Angel and Danny Hoisington. Unfortunately the cafe is no longer open.

Devin . . . . .

"Here is another pic of the Paradise Hotel.L to R: Fannie (Benwell) Saum, wife of Walter Jessie Saum, son of Randolph & Mary Saum. In front of Fannie, young Claude Hendershott (later to be known as Kenneth James Marshall) next to grandmother, Mary (Talbert) Saum holding baby brother Everett Winton Hendershott (child behind Mary not identified on photo), Ida May (Saum) & George Edmond Hendershott, parents of Claude & Everett."







"Here is another pic of the Paradise Hotel with other people."

Names? I will get them from Devin.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

YOURS TRULY

Our Grandchildren had Grandparents Day
at each of their schools.
This is "Me" from our 3 year old Granddaughter

Do you remember?
When I put the photo's on this blog after the Paradise Reunion
I wrote that in two more years I was going to have to wear darker make-up.
Our Granddaughter has solved the problem.
At least I'm not "bleached out". Right?
And . . . . what an easy "hair-do".
(Cotton balls - fluffy ones at that.)
I think I look rather "chipper".
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Hmmmpphhhhh! I received an e-mail from Dan Hoisington . . . . .
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"I looked at your picture and you sure have gone down hill since I last saw you! Maybe it was the election???

Saturday, November 15, 2008

MORE MEMORIES OF PARADISE by DEVIN

I should have found this for a Halloween posting, but I didn't find it until today, while I was reading Devin's blog. Well . . . . at least it isn't Thanksgiving yet.

"My memories of childhood Halloweens are all very fond. Some general things I always remember are going trick-or-treat at my grandparents farm before we would go anywhere else; the smell of candles burning inside jack-o-lanterns, popcorn balls (oh how the old people loved to give those out!), chili, John Angel's birthday, soaping windows, and those yucky wax lips - what were those all about?!?!
Yes, my childhood was quite idyllic and at times even Rockwellian.
As I got older, making the transition from "treat" to "trick" was something I went hog wild with. Paradise may have been a small town, but you could always count on some type of mischief going on in the wee hours of the night on Halloween. It was usually wreaked by an unlikely combination of older kids, a handful of younger ones who had either snuck out or convinced their parents they were simply going out for candy, an old codger or two, and some of the housewives and moms who were bored after their children were in bed. It was always a really fun time and one tradition we always tried to uphold was blocking main street off by hauling so much junk into the middle of the street that people had to take a detour. One time the morning after, people driving down main street were surprised to see a camper that had been pushed out into the middle of the street surrounded by various "junk" items like tires, barrels, and big old pieces of wood.There was always some point in the night when we either became convinced that a Russell County Sheriff was on his way to town, or we were calling them to try and get them to come out! And sometimes they even did.
One year, I had put together a whole bag of junk that I thought I could use for my trickery. Many of the items were unusable, but unfortunately I had brought some Elmer's glue and a lighter. For some reason, I - or perhaps one of my cohorts - decided it was a good idea to glue pieces of tissue to the windows at school, then light them on fire! It was thrilling at the time, but not so fun the next Monday at school when my friends and I had to clean all the windows with putty knives and ammonia, in front of every one's parents (it was a parent-teacher conference day).
Paradise was a really fun town to celebrate Halloween in. Sometimes just for fun, I try to go back and remember all the houses we would go to, and what we would usually receive from the residents of those houses. Halloween was the only time when you got to go around to every one's house and see inside. There were a lot of old people there, and they seemed to love seeing our costumes. They always knew who I was much more then I knew of them."

Friday, November 14, 2008

PHOTO'S OF YESTERYEARS


1st and 2nd Grades
1937-38

Pat said . . . . .

"This is a good pic and has a date by brother Delphan and sister Velma Hoopes is in this picture."








Pat thinks that one of these guys is Joe Kvasnicka.
Any help from someone else?

















Pat said . . . . .

"Vada Dwinelle, Pat Hoopes,
top is Linda Hoopes
two boys ? ? Sue Thompson,

Neva Bartlett, Dennis Albrect
bottom row is Sharon Dwinelle

and Elaine Brown"



The old Church steps.
I think it was Bible school time and don't know the year.
Found this in my box of pictures... Interesting !


PHS girls
Maggie Pooley, Marie Hoskins, Ilah Eden, Louise Dwinelle (my Mother), Nillie Stielow
Alice Hoopes (my Aunt ) Ruth Chesney, Carol Wilcox, Esther Bourn, (became my Aunt who later married Uncle Jim Dwinelle) Edna Brown, Lydia Bartlett,Margaret Marlo , Edith Mellan


This was taken at the Grade school building in Paradise. Don't know the year




Vada (Dwinelle) Krumwiede,
Patty (Hoopes) Preston,
Reva (Bear) Grant,
Dorene (Reich) Chrisler,
Alice (Pfortmiller) Wiggs,
Sundra (Marcotte) Clark

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

MORE FROM PAT


Pat wrote . . . . .
I know some of these but not all you might not want to use this?

3My sis third one from the left and Sharon Dwinelle second and I think the Houser boy--
Iva, Angela Krob, Diane Anschutz, Lois Runkles, Sue Pfortmiller Rosemary Bashner, Mary lou Miller,----?(Karen Hudnall Heitschmidt Jakub), Sharon Miller, ?, Norma Hutchcraft
Boys-- Jackie Marqotte, Doug Roda, ? Boedecker, Ronnie Thompson, Marvin Runkles, Dennis Albrecht, Alex Thacker, ? Thacker, Thacker, ? Houser. ? and Gail Houser. There is a lot of ? but just can't remember. Pat

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Back row- Marjorie Hoopes ( my Sister) Shirley Cronn, Donna Bear,? Harber. Janith Rodgers, Norma Finch, Mary Pfortmiller ,Thelma Pfortmiller, Harold Eluert,
Front row ? , Ameila Schneider, Betty Dwinelle, Mary Strecker, Carolyn Oswald, Donnie Bridgewater, Forrest White, Glen Hoopes.
Three on the bottom is Wanda Strecker, Rita Bartlett, Shirley ( I think Montgomery) I am sure that's spell wrong..

The little girl on second row first one was from Fairport and for the life of me can not put a name to her. (Miriam Beller) This pic does not have a year either so your guess is good as mine because I have a sis , Brother, and cousin Betty in it and don't know if it is a pep squad or what we didn't have them but don't know what it is ... Pat

Monday, November 10, 2008

VETERANS DAY

November 11, 2008

Will you give this to my Daddy?



I received this
in an e-mail . . . . . . .

Last week I was in Atlanta, Georgia attending a conference. While I was in the airport, returning home, I heard several people behind me beginning to clap and cheer. I immediately turned around and witnessed one of the greatest acts of patriotism I have ever seen. Moving thru the terminal was a group of soldiers in their camos. As they began heading to their gate, everyone (well almost everyone) was abruptly to their feet with their hands waving and cheering. When I saw the soldiers, probably 30-40 of them, being applauded and cheered for, it hit me. I'm not alone. I'm not the only red-blooded American who still loves this country and supports our troops and their families. Of course I immediately stopped and began clapping for these young unsung heroes who are putting their lives on the line everyday for us so we can go to school, work and home without fear or reprisal. Just when I thought I could not be more proud of my country or of our service men and women, a young girl, not more than 6 or 7 years old, ran up to one of the male soldiers. He kneeled down and said 'hi.'The little girl then asked him if he would give something to her daddy for her.The young soldier, who didn't look any older than maybe 22 himself, said he would try and what did she want to give to her Daddy.. Then suddenly the little girl grabbed the neck of this soldier, gave him the biggest hug she could muster and then kissed him on the cheek. The mother of the little girl, who said her daughter's name was Courtney, told the young soldier that her husband was a Marine and had been in Iraq for 11 months now. As the mom was explaining how much her daughter Courtney missed her father, the young soldier began to tear up.When this temporarily single mom was done explaining her situation, all of the soldiers huddled together for a brief second. Then one of the other servicemen pulled out a military-looking walkie-talkie. They started playing with the device and talking back and forth on it. After about 10-15 seconds of this, the young soldier walked back over to Courtney, bent down and said this to her, 'I spoke to your daddy and he told me to give this to you.' He then hugged this little girl that he had just met and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He finished by saying 'your daddy told me to tell you that he loves you more than anything and he is coming home very soon.'The mom at this point was crying almost uncontrollably and as the young soldier stood to his feet, he saluted Courtney and her mom. I was standing no more than 6 feet away from this entire event. As the soldiers began to leave, heading towards their gate, people resumed their applause. As I stood there applauding and looked around, there were very few dry eyes, including my own. That young soldier in one last act of selflessness, turned around and blew a kiss to Courtney with a tear rolling down his cheek. We need to remember everyday all of our soldiers and their families and thank God for them and their sacrifices. At the end of the day, it's good to be an American.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

PARADISE DINNER AND BAZAAR

?

I haven't heard from ANYONE since the Paradise Bazaar.
Did anyone take pictures??????

I received an e-mail from Dan Hoisington today . . . . . . .(Nov. 10th).

"You have not received any pics of the Bazaar because there were only 2 people that showed up. They ate 10 turkeys, 15 gallons of green beans, 30# of mashed potatoes and 12 gallons of cranberry fluff. After eating they both went to the bathroom and have not yet emerged.

I could not take pics as I was the designated food transporter from the church to the auditoriam. The Russell paper took several pics and published them."

We do not receive the Russell paper and I can not seem to log on to it for whatever date it was in the paper. Could anyone scan and e-mail or send the photo's from the paper?

HELLO FROM GARY AND JUDY MILLER

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Gary and Judy Miller
2007

We received an email from Gary & Judy Miller in Jan. - 2008.
Actually it was from Judy.
Judy said . . . .
"You have my permission to post the website from Israel giving the explanation that we enjoyed our eleven day trip to Israel in November, 2007. Thank you."
Here is their trip. Enjoy! http://picasaweb.google.com/heir2joy

Friday, November 7, 2008

PHOTOS FROM THE PAST

Paradise High School Football Team

This photo was sent to me from Devin Strecker . . . . . . .

"The pic of the Paradise Football team is sent by my mom's cousin, Bobbie Harrison, who's father was Claude Hendershott. She says: 'Because this photo was among my uncle, Everett Hendershott's collection, I feel that he must be one of the young men in this photo of the school football team. The question is, which one? I haven't been able to recognize him.' Did Paradise High School have yearbooks back then & if so, does anyone have access to them? Devin"

From Vada . . . . .
Picture was taken in the 20's or 30's.
Ray Dwinelle is in the front row, holding the football.
Other players are possibly . . . . . .
Leo Dwinelle; Norman Hutchcraft, Glen Booth, Earl Dodson, Ernest Strecker, Ewing Hutchcraft, Joe Kvasnicka, Dean Miller, Hubert Pfortmiller, George Morrill, and Ronald Hockett.
Perhaps someone else can come up with more names and put them in order??

SPORTS DAY DAY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

6Dec. 1957 - basketball tournament at Fort Hays State College.
They won top honors.

Front row
Neva Barlett, Alice Pfortmiller,
Reva Bear, Linda Hoopes,
Sharon Dwinelle.
Back row
Creta Spencer,
Sue Pfortmiller, Lois Runkles,
Pat Hoopes, Vada Dwinelle,
Eva Lou Sire

Paradise - 1st place
Russell - 2nd
Great Bend - 3rd
Lyons - 4th

ANOTHER AMAZING PHOTO

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The Year?
Around 1906?
Thank You Pat!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

FROSTY WHITE'S DAUGHTER

OK! Since the election is over, I'm posting this.

The girl on the right is Stasha Case.... she is the daughter of Frosty White. Stasha lives in KC and has all her life.

Her cousin, Michele Peterka (Janette's daughter) sent this to me. I got a kick out of it.

Enjoy! Thanks Michele.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCQN9ClIZVM

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

PODUNK

According to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Main Entry: Po·dunk
Pronunciation: \ˈpō-ˌdəŋk\
Function: noun
Etymology: Podunk - village or locality

: a small, unimportant, and isolated town

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So . . . . Paradise is listed in epodunk.com
They can't tell me that Paradise is a small, unimportant and an isolated town.
No! No! No!
Paradise IS small and a little isolated, but unimportant?
No! No! No!

OUR CHALLENGE

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“We can work arm in arm without seeing eye to eye.”
(Ricky Skaggs on the Mike Huckabee Show)

Monday, November 3, 2008

VOTE - NOV 4TH

I just can not resist
Be sure and watch it all the way through - to the end - to the very end.

We hope that each one of you took advantage of your US Citizenship and voted.
We should Vote for the principles that we stand for - for our future, for the future of our loved ones, extended family, for our friends and Vote for OUR COUNTRY.
Vote with your conscience and Vote with conviction.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

ELAINE BROWN JACKSON

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Hi, Elaine,
I have been wondering how you have been doing since your accident. I imagine others are wondering also. May I suggest you write an update for the Paradise Educated blog. I'm sure seeing your picture published with various men's quartets will jog people's memories. I hope you have been able to resume your playing.

Your cousin and former music student,
Norma


I am glad Norma sent this. I was thinking about it too after posting the names on the Boys Quartet's photos. Elaine, we do need an update from you. OK?

By the way . . . . as I was going through the yearbooks I was looking at the photo's of the girls ensembles too. I saw two of our blog contributors in several of the photos. Pat and Norma were among others in the ensembles. Pictures will be on the blog at a later time.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

GREETINGS FROM WALDO, KS

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Another Neat E-mail
this one from
Carolyn (Finkenbinder) Schultz

Greetings to the Harrell's from a former Waldo resident and a 1960 graduate of Waldo High School. Just found the website and it is absolutely wonderful. Saw lots of familiar faces. Will be a regular viewer.

Who could ever forget THE Paradise quartet of Millard H., Randell W., Van H. and Forrest W. I think my memory is right but then age does have it's drawbacks.

In case you are interested you may want to check out

http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Waldo/

We started the Heritage Room in the Waldo Senior Center (the old school house) about two years ago. At first we simply wanted a place to safely store the school memorabilia but it has grown to the point we are making plans to remove a wall and enlarge the room. Lots of items were donated and/or loaned for display from former businesses and organizations. Many of the items are being displayed in cases and wall units from the former Mitchell Drug Store which closed in 1970. They had been stored in a building south of Lindsborg since the store closed. We have also started a genealogy file which includes obituaries, family, business and organization histories. The main goal is to make sure nobody asks, "Where's Waldo". When you are back in the area give me a call (or e-mail) and I'd be thrilled to meet you in Waldo to open the room.

Again, thanks for a great website. Take care and stay safe.

Carolyn (Finkenbinder) Schultz
Lucas, KS
785-525-6427


Thank You for your e-mail Carolyn. I love to get e-mails like this.
Since you mentioned boys quartets, I decided to find photos of the boys quartets in the Yearbooks that we have. For some reason, we don't have the yearbooks for 55 and 57.
Or . . . . if we do, I can't find them. Does anyone have yearbooks for those years? If so, could you scan the boys quartet photos and send them to me? Thanks!



3Boys Quartet 1959

Arlin Chesney (bass)
Gene Eulert (first tenor)
Eric Harberer (baritone)
Millard Harrell (second tenor)
Elaine Brown (accompanist)



3Boys Quartet 1958

Randall Weller (bass)
Jon Anderson (baritone)
Millard Harrell (second tenor)
Van Hoisington (first tenor)
Elaine Brown (accompanist)








3Boys Quartet 1956

Forrest White (first tenor)
Van Hoisington (second tenor)
Harold Eulert (baritone)
Randall Weller (bass)
Elaine Brown (accompanist)








3Boys Quartet 1954

Ben Howe (Bass)
Harold Eulert (Baritone)
Vernon White (Second Tenor)
Forrest White (First Tenor)






Girls - I will do a series of photo's of you too. These were because of Carolyn's memories.

Friday, October 31, 2008

AWESOME

Pat Preston sent these neat pictures.
Can you name the year - or close to it?


3Wow! You can see the old hotel, the elevator, a neat windmill, the water tower for the railroad, the old school, the old Methodist Church and everything in between.

Looking from Hoopes to the Thompson hill



A different view 6

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

PHOTO'S FROM THE 1930'S

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These pictures were sent to me from Norma Hutchraft Williams.
She sent copied photo's on regular paper, then I scanned them on my computer.
Therefore the quality isn't too great.
But they are such neat pictures.
Thanks Norma!

The above photo is of Ed Helms - 1932
Ed was Lucy Hutchraft's Father
Ed ran a Sinclair filling station on the corner between Brown's Store and the old Methodist Church. He and Jon Bach an Watt Houser hung out together and, according to Bill Hutchdract, judged everything that went on in town. He wrote the Paradise News items for the Paradise Farmer. He taught himself to read and was a carpernter among other thing.
(We will be having a lot of things on the blog from the Paradise Farmer in the future.)

3Paradise Football Team - around 1931.
Luther and Ed Hutchcraft are in the photo.
This is possibly a posed picture.

Notice in the background is the back of the High School and the old Methodist Church is on the left.




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1931 Paradise BasketBall Team

Luther Hutchraft with ball
Dean Brown, Owney Hoopes, Ray Dwinelle,
George Morrill, Ed Hutchcraft




Sunday, October 26, 2008

ANNUAL PARADISE DINNER & BAZAAR

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The Annual Paradise Dinner & Bazaar is Nov. 1st.

Have you gone to Paradise for this? It is wonderful! You get to see so many people, the food is scrumptious and the ladies have wonderful crafted items. The neatest thing about this is . . . you get to see how many younger ladies are in our Paradise Methodist Church working at this. What a wonderful sight! It looks like there will always be a future in the Church.
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A note from Dan Hoisington . . . . .
"The dinner this year is in the auditoriam instead of the church. The thought is that it will not be so crowded and people can sit and visit instead of having to eat and leave so someone else can sit down. This is more work for the ladies as some of the food will have to be prepared at the church and taken down the hill. If it works well they will continue to have it at the auditoriam, if not it will be moved back to the church."

We will not be able to attend this year as Millard is teaching a woodcarving class at Agusta, Ks, Nov. 1st and 2nd. This is absolutely Millard's most favorite thing to do. You can click on Millard's Foundwoodcarvings Blog and scroll down and see how much fun he has in his woodcarvings classes. (You can click on the blog on the left of this posting - under the 2008 Santa Face.) He has received an order for 45 2008 Santa Ornaments and has orders for 5 more. He is carving and carving and . . . . . carving and doing more carving. Actually, he is having the time of his life. Retirement is very rewarding for him.

If anyone goes to Paradise this week end and if you have a camera, I sure would appreciate it if you would take a picture of each of the Class Photo's in the hanging glass frames in the gym. If possible, it would be best to take them out of the glass so they do not glare. It would be SO neat if I would receive them in an e-mail. Do you suppose that would be possible for anyone?
Also . . . Please take pictures at the dinner and bazaar and e-mail them to me. Thanks!
(Also, take a picture of someone's plate of delicious food.)


Saturday, October 25, 2008

WHERE IS YOUR PERMANENT RECORD?

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I received an excellent e-mail question from Norma (Hutchcraft) Williams.
I would like to know too.
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"What happens to our dreaded "permanent school record" when schools are consolidated? Wouldn't it be neat to have your own permanent records?
Norma"
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Now that we are old enough to laugh at ourselves, it would probably be interesting.
I do know that the Sr. Class pictures of several years are still hang in the gym. We tried to take pictures of each one at the last reunion, but the the sun was shining so bright, there was too much of a glare on them. The crazy thing . . . . . we could have probably taken each one out of the glass holder and taken a photo. I guess by that time, we were too tired to think.

If anyone would like to have a project while they are in Paradise, you could get a key to the gym and take a photo of each Class that is on the wall. I'm sure you could take each one out of the glass and get a great picture. That would be GREAT! I would love to put each class on this blog.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

SMALL TOWNS

This was sent to me several months ago from one of our alumni. It is so true.

SMALL TOWNS


Those who grew up in small towns will laugh when they read this.
Those who didn't will be in disbelief and won'tunderstand how true it is.

1) You can name everyone you graduated with.
2) You know what 4-H means.
3) You went to parties at a pasture, barn, gravel pit,or in the middle of a dirt road. On Monday you could always tell who was at the party because of the scratches on their legs from running through the woods when the party was busted. (See #6.)
4) You used to 'drag' Main .
5) Most people went by a nickname
6) You scheduled parties around the schedules ofdifferent police officers, because you knew which ones would bust you and which ones wouldn't.
7) You could never buy cigarettes because all the store clerks knew how old you were (and if you were old enough, they'd tell your parents anyhow.) Besides, where would you get the money?
8) When you did find somebody old enough and brave enough to buy cigarettes, you still had to go out into the country and drive on back roads to smoke them.
9) You knew which section of the ditch you would find the beer your buyer dropped off.
10) It was cool to date somebody from the neighboring town.
11) The whole school went to the same party after graduation.
12) You didn't give directions by street names but rather by references. Turn by Nelson's house, go 2 blocks to Anderson 's, and it's four houses left of the track field.
13) The golf course had only 9 holes.
14) You couldn't help but date a friend's ex-boyfriendor girlfriend.
15) Your car stayed filthy because of the dirt roads, and you will never own a dark vehicle for this reason.
16) The town next to you was considered 'trashy' or'snooty,' but was actually just like your town. 17) You referred to anyone with a house newer then1955 as the 'rich' people.
18) The people in the 'big city' dressed funny, and then you picked up the trend 2 years later.
19) Anyone you wanted could be found at the local gas station or the dairy bar.
20) You saw at least one friend a week driving a tractor through town or one of your friends driving a grain truck to school occasionally.
21) The gym teacher suggested you haul hay for the summer to get stronger.
22) Directions were given using THE stop light as a reference.
23) When you decided to walk somewhere for exercise, 5 people would pull over and ask if you wanted a ride.
24) Your teachers called you by your older siblings' names.
25) Your teachers remembered when they taught your parents.
26) You could charge at any local store or writechecks without any ID.
27) There was no McDonalds.
28) The closest mall was over an hour away.
29) It was normal to see an old man riding through town on a riding lawn mower.
30) You've peed in a cornfield/wheat field.
31) You laughed your butt off reading this because you know it is true, and you will tell everyone about it that may have lived in a small town.

I would not have wanted to have been raised any other way.

Tough times don't last... Tough people do.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

COMMENTS

How Exciting
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We have a Comment from a new person today. It is almost as close as having a Comment from Arlin Chesney, as it is from his daughter, Christina. And, such a neat comment and Thank You to your "Daddy". Thank You, Christina.
Right now you can click on it on the left side of this page under Comments. When new Comments are made, it will be moved on down - but you can always scroll down to Older Posts and click on the comments under "Classes of 1958-59 Pictures".
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This is exciting to me, as I do not know who is reading this blog. As of this morning there are 4915 clicks on this blog. I never know if it is the same 10 or 12 or if we get new "hits". It would be nice if more would Comment or even if some would email me and say "I read the Paradise Blog", but that doesn't seem the nature of people. If you scroll to the bottom on the left hand side, you can view the Hit Counter.
I have mentioned this before, but at one time (for 2 days) we had a hit counter on the blog that told us who was looking at the blog, at what time and where they lived. We felt that was in invasion of privacy, so took it off and just got a counter. The counter started in July with 100.
With Comments and e-mail's like this one and like Brad Hoopes and Michele Peterka (all three, children of our alumni) and even Devin (although he did go to grade school in Paradise), it makes my time spent on this blog even more enjoyable. However, I don't need a lot to make this job too much more exciting. I am absolutely loving every minute of it.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

GRASSROOTS ART CENTER-LUCAS, KS

THE GRASSROOTS ART CENTER
IS FEATURED IN THE
NOVEMBER, 2008
COUNTRY EXTRA MAGAZINE
(Pages 40 and 41)

Monday, October 20, 2008

FRIENDS IN 1956

Roger Miller, Don Haberer, Alvin Webster, Van Hoisington, Marvin Dwinelle.
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This picture was taken on Vada's birthday 12/9 in '56.
It was taken south of their house in Paradise and you can see their windmill to the back right.
I like the car and the tv antenna.
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Vada sent this photo and said . . . .
"This might be of interest to some grads on the Blog. Marvin was killed in a car accident November 1, 1963 along with Ronald Thompson and Randall Houser. Gail Houser was thrown from the car and survived."
6
I remember this very well, as it was my first year of teaching in Paradise. I didn't know the boys, but it was quite a shock to all of us. It was a very hard time, to say the least. Thank You Vada for the picture and . . . memories, good and bad are of interest to each of us.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

SENIOR CLASS OF 1928

6 The Grade School in this photo was built in 1909

Class of 1928

Eurith (Mellard) Esch,
Carol Brown,
James Dwinelle,
Alice (Hoopes) Gager,
Harold Hockett,
Louise (Dwinelle) Hoopes,
Kenneth Wilcox,
Ruth (Chesney) Morgan





Can you name them from left to right, top to bottom,
including the teacher or Princial?