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CHAMPION—April 6, 2009

        April slipped in to Champion quietly as the March lamb left and all was springly sweet and pleasant those first few days.  T.S. Elliot was right though when he said, “April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.”  Mr. Elliot wrote his poem, “The Waste Land,” in 1922, and it lives up to its name with some very dreary imagery.  Clearly, he was not from around here because even the brutal cold winds of those next few days with threats of snow and frozen flowers did not frost the spirits of Champions though they may have been picking ticks from their long handles.

        Long time Champion Minnie Snoddy marked her 100^th birthday recently.  She lives at the Ava Place and her daughter-in-law, Louise Hutchison, said the dining hall was so full of people they couldn’t be stirred with a stick.  It was a great party.  The Mayor gave Ms. Snoddy a key to the city but nobody said what it unlocks.  These wonderful gatherings always unlock a lot of memories though, so the day was full of all the best things…family and friends.  A big group from Iowa, which included her son, Manuel Hutchison, and much of his family, joined with local family to honor a great Champion.

        Those Tennessee boys have been back in the neighborhood.  They are growing up fast.  They like coming to Champion and are always a big help on the farm.  Dakota has been doing a lot of scrubbing in the dairy barn and there is not much telling what all Dillon has been up to.  He is great entertainment to his younger cousins, Foster and Kalyssa.  He and Foster have the same kind of cowboy boots…snakeskin with brass trim–very fancy.  Kalyssa is developing her singing voice.  Her vocabulary is expanding rapidly and so is her vocal range.  It has been clear since she was just a little thing that her Grandfather Krider’s music legacy has found a fine home.  That gift has been spread liberally among Lonnie’s grandchildren.  Some will not give up volume for control, but that is just a matter of youth.  Their great uncle Harley has some volume and some control of some things.  He was part of that Arthur Peterson led trio…he and Eldridge Hicks and Larry Wrinkles.  Those three could blend voices, it is said, in such a way as to draw tears from the eyes of cynics, snobs, and beaurocrats, as well as from the eyes of honest farm people and shopkeepers.  Perhaps the trio might reunite and reprise some of their earlier work.  They may last have sung together in the 1960’s, so they might better hurry if the legend is to be preserved.  Harley and Barbara will be back in town for the Champion Easter Parade and Egg Roll so a musical interlude might be forthcoming.  Fashionista Barbara will be setting the standard for Spring attire as usual.  Hopefully their visit will overlap with the Tennessee contingent and if Vivian Floyd can make it over from Rogersville, Champion will be roiling in pleasantness!

        Sometime after his Mother’s 100^th birthday party, Wilburn Hutchison went over to the Plant Place in Norwood and got himself some Egyptian Walking Onions.  They are also known as winter onions and dividing onions and probably other things.  He had been looking for some for a while so he was really pleased to learn that Linda had some.  She has her Almanac for April out as well which indicates that the 10^th of April all the way through the 14^th will be good planting days.  When April finally decides to behave herself, gardeners can get back out there and get some groceries in the ground.  Unsettled weather is, well, unsettling and while Champions are not dependent upon the weather for their happiness, their gardens are different stories.  Patience is a Champion virtue put to the test by natures vicissitudes.  “Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.”  That’s Longfellow’s advice in the “Psalm of Life.”  He sounds like a Champion.

        The Military Service is an honorable calling from which the entire population benefits.  Love and Gratitude is the soldier’s due from the Nation he serves.  The men and women in the dangerous places of the world doing now what is asked of them will have requests of their own when they get home.  Their families struggle in the difficult economy and Champions find ways to help.

        Charlene Dupre has her good right arm pinned together with some big fancy pins.  She can still manage to hold a hand of cards, however, and on Saturday night she sat in for the absent Vera Cruz player at the Fortnight bridge game.  She was the decided victor with a  score of 7050.  Brushy Knob came in second at 4850 and Champion third at 4230.  Norwood was low with 4090 points.  That player took home $.50 and Charlene walked off with the grand prize money of $1.40!  The Champion hostess served chicherrones, Cheetos and cherry pie.  She means well.

        Music adds richness to life.  It holds keys to memory and emotion, lifts spirits and opens the floodgates to release great sorrow.  What a wonderful gift!  Rudy Valley sang, “Keep A Little Song Handy wherever you go and nothing can ever go wrong.”  Things can and do go wrong, but those little songs can be a comfort.  Songs about love and home and tomatoes are all welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO. 65717.  Guy Clark, who wrote that song about home grown tomatoes, also wrote one about tornadoes.  He said, “take the paint right off your barn……blow the tattoo off your arm!”

        Champions will hope to have no reason to sing that song as some are very attached to their tattoos.  For almost any situation there is a song.  Email interesting ones to Champion News.  At the www.championnews.us website in the “School Reunions” category a person can hear a short selection of Lonnie Krider, Wayne Anderson and Wayne’s daughter singing “We Live in Two Different Worlds.”  The administrator of that site hopes to have more of that good music up soon.  Meanwhile, a person can stand out on the porch at Henson’s Store and gaze down the broad expanse of Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive and feel a little melody rise up in him.  Now he can send picture postcards taken from that very spot to lift the hearts of unfortunates living elsewhere in the dull and dreary parts of the world.  Champions are a melodious lot and are ever Looking on the Bright Side!