Opinion

Trivia Too

Trivia Too – Treasures found at the river

When I was a kid, about nine years old, I was allowed to go visit friends. I was a student at Central School, which was where the grocery store is now on Fourth Street, and my friend lived right near there. On one nice summer day, we decided to go down and see the houses that were on stilts in an area that was called Schmoldtville. It was called Schmoldtville because Mr. Schmoldt had his lumber business where the softball diamond is. The houses on stilts along the end of Wall Street were over a deep, swampy area and had pieces of tin around the poles to keep the rats from climbing the poles and coming into the homes. This was the first time that I had ever seen this, and it was all very exciting to see. We continued our walk over to the edge of the river where there were no levees. Right there near the river, I really found a treasure. It was like a half shell with perfect holes in it. I sure wanted to take this home to show my parents.

Bits and pieces

Bits & Pieces – Copy machine vs coffee machine

We just completed our first week at our new location and we love it. The adjustment has been easy, getting everything done has been an experience. We’ve had great help by friends and we truly appreciate them. But like in all moves, there are opportunities to pitch and purge. We were also moving from a much larger building to a smaller one. We had a lot of wasted space in the other building. Now, we are learning to use our smaller space wisely.

Photograph of the entrance popularly known as the ‘Gate of Death’ in Auschwitz II-Birkenau (today turned into a symbol of the camp and the atrocities perpetrated by the Nazi regime) after World War II.

Trivia Too – Holocaust survivors reunite

Seventy-seven years ago I was in Europe fighting the Germans. I cannot forget what I saw in regard to the Holocaust. We soldiers had no idea of the extent that Hitler had gone to exterminate so many people from so many countries. Before leaving for Europe, I saw pictures of people who were sent to camps—men in one boxcar, women in another, and children in a third—all screaming, never to see each other again. Over six million men, women, and children were killed during the Holocaust. I have two stories here that are about people who survived the Holocaust. WHY? BECAUSE WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO EVER LET YOU FORGET AND ALREADY THERE ARE SOME WHO SAY IT NEVER EXISTED. 

Reverend Philander Chase

Looking Back – Illinois’ frontier seminary 

Illinois became a state in 1818, but was still very much a frontier state in the 1830s. 

Illinois’ rough and tumble frontier status did not deter Rev. Philander Chase from planning to open a theological seminary on the prairie. As the first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Illinois, Chase was in a position to turn his dream into a reality.

Focus on Faith

Focus on Faith – God works to draw people to Himself

Lately we have experienced some pretty amazing growth at our church. We have been praying for younger people and couples to come for a couple of years. And God has been steadily bringing them to us!     This week we baptized four people at our church! We are thankful for each one of them. Thankful that God broke into their lives and revealed his love for them and that they,

Flag

Honor our Veterans today and everyday

This Saturday, November 11, is Veterans Day, a day that we take pause and thank those who served our country to help make it not only a free country, but the greatest nation on  earth. 

    Many wars have been fought on this land and lands abroad by men and women who risked their lives for us, and yes, some gave the ultimate sacrifice, their lives.

President John F. Kennedy

Looking Back – Courage and the lack thereof

Courage. Once, it was a quality we expected in our leaders. President Herbert Hoover put it this way:

    “The imperative need of this nation at all times is the leadership of uncommon men or women.”

Our Founding Fathers were uncommon men who exemplified courage. Benjamin Franklin summed up that courage shortly after signing the Declaration of Independence:

    “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

    Those patriots had put everything on the line – property, status, personal freedom and even their lives –  by declaring independence from Great Britain.

Focus on Faith

Focus on Faith – That’s impossible!

Here I go again with another pop culture moment. Let me tell you about another one of my favorite movies, “The Empire Strikes Back.” This is second of the three original Star Wars movies. There is one scene in particular in this film that has stuck with me over the years. 

    A boy, Luke Skywalker, is trying to use the ‘force’ to lift his spaceship out of a thick and murky swamp, where it stuck after he crashed it there.

Letters to Editor

Culbertson has new medical record system

Dear Editor,

    As I write this letter, the entire team at Culbertson Memorial Hospital is beginning to utilize our new Electronic Medical Record system, Oracle Health Community Works. On Sunday night we officially turned on the new system. In addition to the Culbertson personnel, a large team of consultants are on-site to ensure our conversion goes smoothly.

Trivia Too

Trivia Too – A little history on bison

I remember as I was looking at my book, The Life of Thomas Beard, about telling how the French explorers stopped at different places along the Illinois River including a stop at where Beardstown is now located.  

As the buffalo were sighted from their canoes, they wrote how the unusual animals would travel in the thousands and sometimes single file and sometimes as a herd.  When they traveled as a herd, they would leave a dark path of soil on which the others could then travel on.