May 11, 2015
CHAMPION—May 11, 2015
Mother’s Day in Champion was sublime. It was written 5-10-15. Young people showed up. They called. They Skyped. They acknowledged the dear lady with enthusiasm and flowers and with the humility that accompanies genuine gratitude. Emotion ran high all day, sweet and sentimental. The internet was overladen with nostalgic photographs of mother and child in years gone way by. Recognition, if only annually, is a Champion notion and it made the old girls smile.
Sixteen riders left the square and sixteen returned, tired and happy with stories to tell.
Bud Hutchison’s Spring Trail Ride was an excellent adventure for sixteen horsemen and women. They took out of town just after ten in the morning—just after Wilma had them all lined up for another great picture. Look for it in the papers sometime soon. They ambled back into Champion around two in the afternoon, tuckered out but glad for the ride through the beautiful countryside in great weather, glad for the companionship, and glad for ice cream at the end of the trail. They relaxed on the spacious veranda and looked out over the Colossus of Champion.
 Betty Henson Appreciation Day had the Square busy most of the day on Saturday. The card says, “Dear Betty, Thank you for all the things you do. You are THE Champion!”
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The Betty Henson Appreciation Day in Champion on Saturday was long in the planning, but short on the advertising. Having an event be a secret for surprise purposes and well known at the same time turns out to be a trick. Regular customers and visitors to Henson’s Grocery and Gas, (a.k.a. Henson’s Downtown G&G, the Recreation of the Historic Emporium and The Champion Store) frequently enough say to each other, if not to Ms. Henson herself, that they are glad to have such an amenity in the area and are amazed at how much the hardest working woman in Champion gets done. Friends and neighbors and customers were in and out all day, happy to have the chance to say, “Thanks for all you do!” Those who missed out on the occasion, which featured lots of good visiting and free hot-dogs grilled on the spot, will still be able to express their appreciation with their patronage. When she says, “Thank you,” while handing them their change, they can say, “No, thank you. Thank you for keeping this wonderful place alive and thriving!” Champion!
Bonnie Brixey Mullins had her birthday on the 9th of May. She is planning a trip to Denlow for the Denlow School Reunion in a couple of weeks. It is always the Saturday before Memorial Day. This year that will be 23rd of May since Memorial Day is on the 25th. Her friends and family will be happy to see her. The Proctors will have their reunion that Sunday and the whole week end looks like it is going to be full of the good stuff. Good stuff will be happening for a bibliophile, Elizabeth Heffern, who celebrates her birthday on May 15th. Her Champion granddad says she is a great lover of books. She was born in 2007. Time is slipping away. Linda Cooley shares Elizabeth’s birthday, but in an earlier year. The sixteenth is shared by Skyline VFD Auxiliary worker, Friend of the Library, and grandmother to many, Karen Griswold, and by the father of Alexandra Jean and Zoey Louise, Champion granddaughters. He is a busy man, but took time out to call his Mom on Sunday. His grandmother, Exer Hector Masters, who would be 102 this year, and his cousin Rachel Cohen, still quite a young woman and a dynamic one at that, share their birthday on the 18th. The seventeenth will be the big day for Meikel Klein. He is a kindergarten student at Skyline School. It is still acceptable to be excited about a birthday when a person is of kindergarten age—or any age.
On Friday the 15th, the Douglas County Health Department will be at the Skyline School doing cholesterol checks for the community. The service is free of charge. A person wishing to have the test done will need to arrive at the school in the morning fasting since midnight.
Loiterers who watched Bud’s bunch clippity-clop out of town included The General, who says he has not been on a horse in many years. He drives a truck that looks quite a bit like a truck that a well-regarded farrier drives and like one of a youngish rascal in the area. The trucks are similar enough that The General gets accused of being places where he ought not to be. That is the story he tells anyway. Busy days in the garden kept some home on Wednesday. Weeds are responding with gusto to the rain and mild weather. Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place in Norwood informs that the 16th and 17th will be good days for planting root crops and good days for transplanting. Gardeners will try to get ahead of the weeds to join in next Wednesday’s Champion Confab that often enough includes politics. It is easy enough for some to construct a narrative that is supported by facts that are cherry-picked out of the wide range of media. People believe what they want to believe regardless of reality, present or past. Revisionism is the practice of rewriting history books to present a preferred version of what happened. In his work, ‘Isms’, Nouveau Champion Alan Von Altendorf references Winston Churchill who said, “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” It did turn out that way. The glory of victory easily overshadowed some of the darker aspects of the gentleman. Participate in the process or quit your bellyaching. Making an effort to be informed and exercising the hard won voting franchise is the best hope for writing a good narrative or one that suits you.
Johnny Gimble passed away over the week end at age 88. He was one of the most famous and influential fiddlers to ever pick up a bow. He fiddled with everyone from Bob Wills to George Strait, including Marty Robins and Willie Nelson. More sad news comes with tales of twisters and terrible weather around the country in every direction. Champions acknowledge their own good fortune and hope for relief for those suffering elsewhere. Marty Robbins sang, “After the storm comes the sunshine. The clouds are gone and the world is tame. Into each life there will be showers, but don’t the world look brighter, after the rain?” Frog, crickets and whippoorwills join in with old-folk’s tinnitus to make soothing evening music in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!
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