Chamber officials had a few anxious moments for a time when last year's Grand Giver said he would not wear the beard and red and white costume this Christmas season.
The late Henry Flau took on that job and nourished enjoyment from talking with children and giving out candy canes.
Many of us thought there would never be another booming voice to surprise us during a dull meeting like that of Bus Wymore.
Our judgment was wrong. Bruce Eppenbaugh filled the gap . . . er . . . trousers . . . well and brought many wide-eyed youngsters within the circle of his arms. They all remember Santa Claus in Nebraska City. Bruce has given up the job. His little girl is four and it was a bit difficult last season to conceal his identity at a party attended by his own youngster.
Well, there will be another Santa for the job and we are assured he is ready to harness Dancer and Prancer and make his annual visit to town. If he happens to be "pushing" paint and wallpaper, it's probably because Chris' full-time job is rubbing off.
We can see him now as he rides off into the snowy sunset . . . "so long children, see you next year and don't forget Otoe Paint and Wallpaper company."
Traveling by bus.
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Neels have returned from a vacation in Phoenix where they visited their daughter and family, Mr. and Mrs. Ron (Eileen) Bergman. He is administrative assistant to the superintendent of Swift.
Mr. and Mrs. Neels traveled by Greyhound and enjoyed every minute of it. They boarded the bus in Nebraska City and made connections in Kansas City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Flagstaff and then on to Phoenix.
The trip covered about 1,800 miles, but it was not uncomfortable, Fred said. There weren't so many passengers that they couldn't stretch out occasionally on two seats and rest. The trip took two days. The bus, of course, continued on the highways at night.
Fred said they had ample time at stops to stretch their legs at meal times. It was a good trip. They enjoyed it and left 100 degree plus temperatures to come home to 16 or 20 degrees.
From George Fenske's files
The woman was well-known in the community for two things: her heavy European accent and her gladiolas.
At six o'clock one morning she phoned her daughter, but dialed the wrong number. A sleepy man's voice growled "There's no Linda here. Who's this?"
The woman was afraid to identify herself because it was so early in the morning.
"Well, it's a good thing I don't know," he roared, "or I'd come over there and pull up every gladiola in your yard."
Hap Stansbury is back in the hospital, but welcomes visitors or telephone calls to room 508. Hap developed pheumonia and had a heart attack. He can probably tell you a great deal about his appreciation of the monitoring unit at the hospital.
Did I ever tell you about the time that Hap was a mid-wife to a Cocker Spaniel?
Tootsie is gone now, but when we still had her and lived next door to Hap and Grace, she had her first litter of pups in the basement of the home. Hap came over when Millie called for help. He looked after the Cocker Spaniel and her pups and was forever a friend of the dog. The Stansbury daughters also thought that their dad was pretty super, too.
Ex-Marine David Snodgrass is back in town. He completed a hitch with the U.S. Marine Corps, plans to get into some type of engine repair work and then go to school in Colorado in the fall.
You know him as Dave or David. We know him as "J.R."
He worked here during high school in the pressroom. At that time Dave Davison was going to Peru State and working in the mailroom with Junior Hughes, a high school student.
Well, we found that if we hollered "Hey, Dave" two of the boys would answer. We found also that we couldn't call one of the Daves a "Junior" because the red-haired Junior Hughes would answer. So somehow we tagged him with "J.R."
The Snodgrass children were alone at young ages. After their parents died, they looked after each other. There's a special closeness in the family.
And so it was not unusual for J.R. to stop in to say hello and goodby. He picked up his sister Mrs. Kenny (Marlene) Heng and three children in Colorado and planned to take them to Dallas and Houston to visit relatives. Another sister is Mrs. Rick (Debbie) Shallenberger. She also worked at the News-Press.
The best of luck to our ex-Marine friend. The Corps lost a mighty good man when J.R. didn't "ship for 6."
Dunno about that ARS.
In all of his years of visiting or wintering in Sun City or Wickenburg, Ariz., somehow ARS apparently never took the time to visit the Meteor Crater.
Ah . . . hah! Got one on him.
Our first visit to the crater was in 1965 and the second was last summer.
Nothing changes much in a crater, but there was one thing I sure wanted to show the youngest of our family — the airplane in the bottom of the crater. It was there in 1965, but has since been removed.
The information officer (or whatever) refreshed our memory. The plane was piloted by a sightseer, something meehanical happened in flight and he crashed in the crater. No one could remember if he was killed. Anyway, the plane was at the bottom of the crater for a number of years. I've got some pictures of it, but can't find them in my Great Filing System.
When we first visited the crater site there was just one small building. Now it's a pretty fancy tourist spot. It's five or six miles off the main highway . . . and past a very well operated souvenir shop that has a pot, free coffee and a sign . . . if you wish to donate for the free coffee . . . (Wonder if Art saw that!)
We don't pretend to know much about the state of Arizona, but we did visit the "winter quarters" of the late J. H. Sweet and now occupied by ARS, during the construction of the property.
JHS gave us a note and invited us to stop in at his place that summer we drove to California in 1959 to see relatives and "take a look at the place."
We got the royal treatment at the office in a new community named Sun City. Our family remarked for years afterwards that the Del Webb people are pros at public relations and good salesmen. 10586 Oakmont was still under construction and our host explained this and that. We took a couple of pictures, returned home and reported to JHS.
Our friend, the late Virg Hill, who was a Kansas and Nebraska newspaperman and later a reporter for the Phoenix Gazette used to write that we were wasting valuable time by looking at the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert. He said the scenery would be around long after he was gone.
And so we did as he suggested. Virg and his wife, Ruth, are gone now and we're still driving to California.
Now, we're taking some time to see more of Arizona.
Stolen from a preacher.
The Rev. John Green, first Evangelical Lutheran church. Middle age is that difficult period between adolescence and retirement when you have to take care of yourself.