Bits about communities
John E. Peterson, Special to The Gazette
Originally published 02:40 p.m., April 17, 2008
Updated 02:40 p.m., April 17, 2008
I used to write columns about communities in our area very often. I have just about run out of information about our communities. That is disturbing to me because I find the subject intriguing. However, I have now gathered a few bits about communities. I would share them with you, if I had my way.
The Saffordville community had a soup supper at the Toledo Township Community Center on Feb. 29. I received an invitation to attend. It came in a letter from Leila Merry. The Merrys live down near Olpe now, but I assume they once must have been in the Saffordville area.
Unfortunately, the invitation letter did not arrive until Feb. 29. It had gone to the other John Peterson in Emporia. He sent it on, but it was too late. I am not sure we could have attended anyway, but that made it impossible.
Below the invitation, Leila had written, “If I had my way, you would know how much we appreciate your mentioning our little community in your writings.” Such a comment gives me much pleasure. And it is a pleasure for me to write about our little communities. Thank you, Leila.
On an early March Thursday evening when one of my columns had appeared, a message was on our voice phone. The lady who called had not left her name nor her number. She did leave this message.
After telling me that she regularly read my columns, she said that somebody had told me a bit about the community of Mulberry Hill, which was out in the Wolf Creek area. I had mentioned it in a column long ago, she said. She wanted to know if I could give any more information about it.
Well! I went through all of my columns of the last two years. I could find no mention of Mulberry Hill. I must admit, however, that it sounds vaguely familiar. Can any of you out there tell us anything about Mulberry Hill? Certainly, both I and the lady who left the phone message would like to know about it. Somebody would tell me about Mulberry Hill, if I had my way.
The mention of this next community did not come from a reader of my Gazette columns. It came in a letter to me from Lyn Scott, who teaches out in Berkeley, Calif. Lyn was an honors student of mine here at ESU and he grew up on a farm north of Council Grove.
In his letter, Lyn mentioned having been back to the farmhouse near Kelso, Kansas. He told me that his father had started in the first grade of the Kelso School in 1927. The eighth grade had four students graduating from it.
Lyn mentioned that Kelso was a bit north of the Council Grove reservoir. I looked on my maps and found no reference to it. Then, I happened to see an old, old map in my pile and, by golly, it was shown there. Just north of the big Council Grove Lake, as Lyn had said.
All news to me. Do any of you know anything about Kelso? If you do, you would tell me about it, if I had my way.
A couple of columns ago, I wrote about two of my favorite routes for driving here in Kansas. One was Kansas Highway 99, going north and south, the other was the east-to-west route Kansas Highway 4. I had mentioned some of the interesting things seen when one drove those routes, including small towns and communities.
The evening that column appeared in The Gazette, Viola Miller stopped me as we came into the Presbyterian Manor for dinner. She just gushed about how important that column was to her because it brought back so many memories of towns and communities. She was going to keep it, she told me, and read it every so often. It would always make her think about those communities. I am pleased that you liked it, Viola.
Permit me to close this column with a couple of comments about communities and community spirit. A long time ago, Coralea Cranz of here in Emporia gave me an article from the Sedan paper. It was written by Rudy Taylor, who writes for five papers down in that area.
The article was about how we no longer congregate and get together. We are losing our community spirit. People are becoming more “loners” in their activities. Taylor points out how important our group activities were in our early history, how important the congregation of American society was to us. He thinks it is “paramount to its survival.” I think he is absolutely right. We need to keep our community spirit.
My other comment is based on an article in The Intercollegiate Review. It is a journal of scholarship and opinion. The article in it which caught my attention deals with literature which speaks to the importance of community, to both the individual and society. Again, I totally agree.
Enough! Communities are great! Whether small towns, neighborhoods or groups regularly getting together, they are of much importance. We would all feel that way about it, if I had my way.