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SHUEYVILLE — After 22 years in Shueyville, it’s time for The Rev. Tom Carver to make like a Methodist circuit rider of old and disappear into the sunset. For, Tom has been assigned a new job, to become spiritual director for more than 80 Iowa Conference United Methodist churches in a 16-county area in northwest [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — For nearly 70 years, Al Meier has loved boxing, from donning gloves as a teen to being a national boxing official. He’s sat ringside with some of the greats, from George Foreman and Evander Holyfield to Sugar Ray Leonard and James “Buster” Douglas (with Al, at left). But, unlike the bravado often [...]
continue »PALO — Some are frilly, some are plain, some can shade or hold off rain. Some are silly, some dry tears, some can fold or hold back fears. One by one, Naomi Yates, shows her aprons and knows the dates. With 80 examples, each unique, she talks about each ones mystique. “I had a little [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — With such an early spring this year, the cars have long come out of mothballs, are spit polished and running great, and are ready for cruisin’. So, with the 25th anniversary of Cruisin’ for Camp Courageous this Sunday at the camp off Highway 38 southeast of Monticello, expect to see the street [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Rather than art being in the eye of the beholder, it has been put into the hands of the artists in a unique exhibit to be unveiled to the public Thursday night at Prairiewoods in Hiawatha. In an exercise reminiscent of a classroom assignment, artists in the local group, Creative Artists, received [...]
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MARION — Church bells ring in the distance as the sun shines brightly overhead and a breeze ripples through the grass landing strip at McBride Airport. It would be a great day to fly. But, gaze through a window of the metal-sided hangar and the only airplane inside is a skinless fuselage. No windsock flits [...]
continue »The first sentence read “Paris in springtime.” And so, 30 years ago this week, I was off and Ramblin’ in Paris. Such a place may seem far-fetched for the debut of an Eastern Iowa columnist until you realize this Paris IS in Iowa, northern Linn County, to be exact. On that spring day in 1982, [...]
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LISBON — When Elaine West joined the Friendship Club, a group of Mount Vernon and Lisbon area farm wives, the United States had yet to enter World War II. Donna Jordan became a member when The Beatles still topped record charts in the 1960s. Mollie Marti signed on eight years ago and, at 46, is [...]
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MARION — They danced the twist, wore colored socks and carried large purses. Their town had three gas stations, two movie theaters and a new Chevrolet dealership. A night watchman kept on eye on them if their parents didn’t, whether they were stopping at the local drive-in restaurant or heading out of town for a [...]
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ROBINS — In the cold, damp stillness of the early morning — the sky filled with stars and the sea dark as midnight — Barbara and Ron Ritchie of Robins felt a chill race up their spines. It wasn’t just the 41-degree air temperature hovering above the North Atlantic, but the fact that at that [...]
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