Brownstown-Sefton News
The “Roving Rooster”
A small, but feisty, little rooster has been venturing up our lane, which we believe is roving from his home roost in our neighbor’s chicken house.
He begins his “bugging” early in the morning, not heading home until later that evening.
We are in hopes that he won’t come all the way up to our yard, where “the girls,” Anita and Blackie (hens), spend their days bugging and singing.
He is a handsome little guy, and we don’t want them wandering off, following him. They stay in the yard now, and we don’t want them to start running around the neighborhood.
It was interesting that, for the first time, a hen was accompanying him. As we tried to drive out of the lane, they both ran in front of the car, zigzagging back and forth so we couldn’t get around them.
Finally, he took off toward home, leaving her to fend for herself. She seemed a little lost, but finally went in the right direction.
There is always something to look at in the lane, with rabbits, chickens, birds, sometimes even a wooly-worm exodus. If nature doesn’t provide a show, there are always the cows on either side to watch.
The Children’s Fishing
Tournament…
…was, unfortunately, affected by the inclement weather. Hopefully, next year, the weather will be more cooperative.
Local Celebrations
Birthdays: Ron Hunter, Levi Tackett, Austin Hunter, Shirley Goldsborough, Karen Morrison and Margaret Luster. Anniversaries: Chuck and Billie Enlow, John and Vickie Robinson, and Matthew and Jamie Smith.
Erin Drone Hired As
Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
During the Aug. 4 Brownstown Board of Education meeting, Doug Stover was employed as interim superintendent for the 2011-12 school year.
Also employed for the 2011-12 school year were: Erin Drone as pre-kindergarten teacher and Heather Biggs as the pre-kindergarten teacher’s aide.
Coming & Going
Attend Christian Missions School
Marilyn Yakel and Louella Christensen attended the Illinois Great Rivers UMW Weekend School of Christian Missions held July 29-31 at the Northfield Inn Suites and Conference Center in Springfield.
The Spiritual Growth Study, “The Journey: Forgiveness, Restorative Justice, and Reconciliation,” was led by Gifty Smith, a native of Liberia, West Africa, and now living in Flora.
The Geographic Mission Study taken by Yakel and Christensen was “Haiti: Challenges and Hope,” led by the Rev. Matt Hensen of Albion, where he and his wife and children now live.
He is the founder and executive director of Living the Adventure Ministries, an evangelistic and ministry approved by the conference as an advanced special. He has led mission trips to Haiti and many other places where disasters have occurred.
They were also happy to visit with Connie Wieck of Marshall, and hear her as the missionary speaker. She serves with the Board of Global Ministries, serving in Luzhon, China, teaching English at the Luzhon Vocational and Technological College.
Her students are college English language majors who will graduate after three years to become primary and middle school English teachers in the rural countryside under the auspices of the Amity Foundation. She has been actively involved in Missions Ministries since 1988.
Homesteaders See
Snows In August
David and Phyllis Bandy sent out the invitations to the descendants of Leonard and Avilla Jane (Kimbro) Snow to gather at their Mulberry Grove home at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6, for Phyllis’ home-made cinnamon and pecan breakfast rolls and coffee, visit and stay for the annual Snow reunion and Phyllis’ home-cooked dinner, which included fried chicken, pork steaks, turkey, chicken and noodles, home-made hot rolls and all the trimmings, including several kinds of homemade pies and other desserts.
Leonard and Avilla’s eight children were: Wayne, Carl, Arline (Snow) Blackwell, Fred, Murl, Dorothy (Snow) Maples, Elizabeth (Snow) Bandy and James.
All are deceased, except Murl Snow, age 93, of Greenville, and Dorothy Maples, age 89, of Auburn, Wash. Both were present at the reunion.
The 30 descendents attending were: (Carl Snow) Beverly Whetstone and granddaughter Stephanie of Bingham; Arline (Blackwell) Ava Taylor, Mulberry Grove; Bill and Panzi Blackwell, Brownstown; Joe and Betty Blackwell, Salem, Mo.; Jane and Earl Pipes, Versailles, Mo.; (Fred Snow) Fred K. Snow, Litchfield Park, Ariz.; (Murl Snow) Sandy Snow, Palinetto, Fla.; Ronnie Snow, Phillip and Melinda Snow and Bailey, West Middleton, Ind.; Tony and Sandra Self, Stewart, Ind.; (Elizabeth Bandy) David and Phyllis Bandy, Mulberry Grove; Brian Bandy, Chris and Halle; Wayne Bandy, Hoopeston; (James) Jim and Brenda Snow, Greenville; and Debby McCormick, Nathan, Kari, Zachary and Noa.
It was announced the Snow family cousins reunion will be held the second Saturday in September next year.
Mary Ellen Lovett Receives HCE Award
During the recent Wheatland Home and Community Education meeting, Mary Ellen Lovett was presented with a certificate acknowledging her 60-year membership in the Wheatland HCE.
The meeting was held at Mary Ann’s Restaurant in St. Elmo on Thursday, July 28.
The certificate was issued by the Illinois Association For Home and Community Education and signed by Marilyn Daughhetee, IAHCE president, and Sandra Bechtold, second vice president.
Fayette County HCE President Flo Allen made the presentation. Wheatland HCE Unit presented Lovett with a large box of chocolates.
Lovett shared some of her memories of the past years in Wheatland HCE. “My dad, Roy C. Smith, talked to Wildred Smith and a group of ladies (about the organization), and this started Wheatland Unit,” she said. “Wilfred Smith was our first president.
“It (HCE) was called Home Bureau then,” she said. “We learned a lot from the lessons. We learned leather craft and made leather purses, billfolds, and other things from leather. We made wooden trays and metal trays with designs etched in them with some kind of acid, and we learned how to upholster furniture.”
Although the HCE still have lessons at their meetings, she said that it has changed a lot over the years. She said that she was a young wife and mother when she joined the club 60 years ago, and has enjoyed the meetings and other club members ever since.
She was really surprised by the honor. “I never thought I would get anything like that,” she said…but all present were in agreement-Mary Ellen Lovett deserved the recognition and honor bestowed on her.
Hello. And Bye.
Hello. And Bye.
Hello. And Bye.