Those Places Thursday -- Hesston College 1952

Hesston College is a Mennonite College that was started in 1909 by the ‘Old’ Mennonite churches in the Kansas and surrounding area to provide Biblical instruction to young Mennonites.

Initially it was a four-year institution and included a high school academy, but it changed and adapted over the years. It was certainly THE place for young Mennonites to meet each other and find potential mates. By the early 1950s, it was a two-year school.

My mother, from Iowa, and my father, from Kansas, both attended Hesston and that is where they met. My parents talked of Hesston a lot while I was growing up. Over the years they would frequently encounter someone who had been there when they were there, and they stayed close with several people they met there. They frequently dated with two other couples. All 3 couples eventually married and were lifelong friends and even in retirement would go on ‘dates’ as a group.

My dad had a car, and we all know that having a car at college is a huge boost to your social life. They ended every date with a stop at Dairy Queen. That is so like my dad. He was big on ice cream every night.

One ‘date night’ story I was told recently by Roma, one of the dating group, is that they went to Bethel College to hear a lecture. They sat in the balcony of the large auditorium. They soon decided that the lecture was boring and were getting restless. Roma suggested that they count the bald heads in the crowd below them. This managed to keep them busy and entertained for a least awhile during a boring lecture, until they could manage to slip out and go to Dairy Queen! I wonder if the giggling from the balcony bothered the speaker!

There were of course, rules at Hesston and I think my parents were a little bit on the rebel side! Just a little. I know my mom was called into the dean’s office for wearing bobby socks instead of hose!!

When my dad’s younger brother, Lee, was killed, Dad was at Hesston. He said he was sitting in his car with my mom when someone came out and told him about Lee.

It was a few years and a few adventures yet before they married but the time at Hesston was the beginning of a long and happy relationship.

My mom took pre-nursing classes at Hesston and went from there to La Junta Mennonite Nursing School in Colorado. Her aunt, Maude Egli Swartzendruber, was working there and it had been decided that nursing would be a good career for her as well.

My dad, being a conscientious objector, had to sign up and go work in the 1W program – a work alternative service program. He selected Pueblo, Colorado as his first choice so he could be close to my mom. Fortunately, he got it. Pueblo is about 60 miles from La Junta so he could occasionally drive there to see her.

Years later we lived in Newton, Kansas and we always went to Hesston to the College Mennonite Church for church. The connections they made at Hesston stayed with them their entire lives.

Sentimental Sunday – Snippy the Horse

 

My siblings and I getting a first hand look at Snippy.

Any of us who lived in Colorado in the late 1960s will probably remember Snippy the Horse. I certainly do. I was ten years old in 1967 when the news of Snippy hit the air waves. Snippy was a horse that killed under strange circumstances – still strange to this day according to several articles. My siblings and I were fascinated by all the talk of UFOs surrounding the mysterious mutilation of poor Snippy.

We lived in southeastern Colorado and Snippy was from a farm south of Alamosa, Colorado, so it was close enough we heard a lot about it. Snippy, a three year old horse was found dead with all the flesh stripped from his head and neck. An autopsy revealed unexplainable missing organs. There were unusual signs in the field around him and several people throughout the area reported seeing what seemed to be UFOs during the days surrounding this event.

It seems there were plenty of official investigations but nothing conclusive ever turned up. Snippy’s body was autopsied and studied and eventually his skeleton became a tourist attraction. The pathologist that autopsied him shortly after he was found, said there were no signs of entrance in the body but the abdominal, brain and spinal cavities were empty.[1] This and the fact that high radiation levels were found in the area caused the University of Colorado’s Air Force sponsored UFO study to call in a nuclear physicist, a psychologist and an animal expert to investigate the area,  and talk with area residents about their UFO sightings.[2]

A few years later, a veterinarian who assembled the bones insisted that he found a couple of .22 caliber bullet holes in the hind quarter bones. Snippy spent a few years on the sidewalk in front of the Chamber of Commerce and according to the attached articles, was in a private museum for a while. She also spent years in an abandoned house somewhere before her bones were offered on eBay. The seller wanted $50,000 but an ownership dispute ended the auction.[3]

Poor Snippy – if only she could tell us all what really happened. As young children we were more than ready to believe in UFOs and spacemen.

Do you remember this story? What did you think? Have you heard other such stories? Let me know on the comments below.

Newspaper Links:

https://alamosanews.com/article/after-50-years-snippy-still-a-mystery

https://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/50-year-anniversary-of-the-snippy-case/

http://weekinweird.com/2013/01/08/death-dunes-ufos-start-cattle-mutilation-san-luis-valley/

---

[1] Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph, Monday, Oct. 9, 1967, pages 1 and

[2] Ibid. Thursday, Oct 12, 1967, pages 1 and 6A

[3][3] Ibid. Dec 7, 2006, page 20

Those Places Thursday - LaJunta Mennonite School of Nursing

The LaJunta Mennonite School of Nursing was located in LaJunta, Colorado. It began as part of the Mennonite Sanitorium (a TB facility) in Swink, Colorado in 1915 with the first class graduating in 1918. When the new Mennonite Hospital and Sanitorium was built in LaJunta, the training school was moved as well. In 1946 it became an independent institution the had well over 300 graduates. The last class was the class of 1958. More about the school's history can be read on the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO) site.

My mother attended the school and graduated with the class of 1955. Her father's sister, Maude Egli Swartzendruber, was for a time, the director at the school and wrote about the school in her book, "The Lamp in the West."  Aunt Maude influenced a lot of young women, including Mom, to go into nursing.

Phyllis Egli & Maude Egli Swartzendruber

Phyllis Egli & her mother, Edna Peterson Egli

Brochure (my aunt Glenna Schrock Egli is on the right)

Mom and Dad met while they were both attending Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas. After Hesston, Mom went to LaJunta for training and Dad went into alternative service (1W) with the selective service. He tried to get assigned to LaJunta; several young Mennonite guys were assigned there, including Mom's brother, Tom Egli, but Dad was assigned to Pueblo, Colorado. The next three years they dated long distance and wrote almost daily letters. Nursing students were not allowed to be married.

I don't know if all the nursing classes were as close as Mom's but I don't think any group could have been closer. They kept in touch through a 'circle letter' that came as a large packet of letters that Mom loved to read. Then she would take out her old letter, write a new one and send it off again. Every few years the group would get together for a reunion. We learned to know many of her classmates and their families over the years.










Swartzendruber, Maude. The Lamp in the West. Newton, Kansas: La Junta Mennonite School of Nursing Alumnae Association, 1975.

Independence Day revisited - and a Ford/Chevy MONDAY MYSTERY

I was looking through old photos today and found this photo dated July 4, 1915. This is my grandmother, Edna Peterson Egli. She was 15 years old. With those stripes, I can't help but wonder if she was wearing red, white and blue?

As I was looking through the file of photos of her, I came across one of her with a car. I knew she'd won a car in 1922 - I wrote about it in her bio which you can read here.

Although the notes I found about Edna say the car was a 1922 Ford, I found this picture of Edna with a car that may or may not be the one she won. The photo is dated 1922 but as you can see, the car is a Chevrolet. If you search the internet for pictures of 1922 Chevrolet, you will find some nice images of this car.  I would like to find a newspaper article from when she won the car - you would think there would be one since it was won for selling newspaper subscriptions. Anyone out there have access to 1922 Manson Journal?

Wordless Wednesday: Colorado Skiing - 1953

Faces From the Past -- A Picnic in Kiowa County

Once when I was very young, my grandmother, Beatrice Schmidt, and her sisters, Vi Dirks and Edna Schmidt, decided we should all go on a picnic out in the field near where they grew up. The group included those three and my Aunt Judi, my mom, my sister, Nancy, my brother, Arlin and I. We walked in a shallow creek bed for a good while and I think the reason the whole event sticks with me so well, is because we all found ourselves covered in leeches and had to peel them off of ourselves. Anyway, I found a few old slide photos of that day. My guess is it was the very early 1960s.

This one is one of my all-time favorite pictures.

Tuesday's Tip - Small Town Blogs and Websites

Some time ago I found a really interesting blog. I was googling for an obituary when this blog popped up. It is called "Too Long in the Wind"  and it is part of  Pawnee Rock.org. This blog has years of interesting tidbits about the area of Kansas that many of my ancestors lived in. While I never lived in Pawnee Rock, I have visited there on numerous occasions and have visited the cemeteries and taken many photographs. (see Find A Grave for my contributions in Barton County, Kansas).

The Mennonite settlement near Pawnee Rock has long been a part of my research and I've found I have a connection to almost everyone in the Bergthal and the Dundee Cemeteries.

This blog, by the website creator Leon Unruh, is both historical and contemporary and makes the community come alive. He links to other articles and obituaries and adds comments and stories for the people and places he is familiar with.  He includes photos - old and new and often includes letters and emails from other people. He talks about the town and how it has changed over the years. And of course he blogged about the Bergthal Mennonite Church closing.

The whole Pawnee Rock website is interesting and they even have scanned the entire 1950 yearbook from the high school!

Perhaps such a blog exists for your family's town! It is worth searching for. And if not, maybe it would be a great blog to start!

Thanks, Leon, for bring Pawnee Rock, Kansas to life for me.

Those Places Thursday - Kansas MCC Relief Sale, Hutchinson, Kansas - "The Junk Man"

The Mennonite Relief Sale in Hutchinson at the State Fair Grounds has been a part of my family for many, many years. I remember going when the auction was in the old sale barn. My grandparents, Beatrice and Harvey Schmidt, were almost always there. It was a time to see people from all around the state and even outside the state that you hadn't seen in awhile.

The sale is a charity sale - with all proceeds going to MCC - the missions branch of the Mennonite churches. There was always a quilt auction with quilts made and donated by churches and individuals. Plenty of other things get auctioned off as well, but the quilt auction has been a big draw for some time. But maybe even more of a draw than the quilts, is the food. Because, while not everyone can afford to bid on a quilt, everyone can enjoy the food.

We attended and enjoyed the sale during the years my grandparents were alive, but after they died, the sale took on a new meaning. My dad had worked out an agreement with his dad, Harvey, regarding the years and acres of accumulation of stuff. Grandpa Harvey loved auctions and there was more than a little stuff piled up on his farm. Someday I'll write more about that.

One of the first years

But for now, it is enough to say that Dad and Grandpa came to an agreement that what the family did not want, could be sold at auction with the proceeds going to MCC. So after Grandpa died, Dad took on the project of taking several trailer loads of stuff to the MCC sale in Hutchinson every year and selling it. Dad was fondly known as the "junk man" at the sale and people looked for him and his stuff every year.

He sold old tools, wheelbarrows, buckets, wagons, tractor seats, pumps, jacks . . .the list goes on and on. Any number of things in just about any condition. Many people used these rusty items as yard art. Occasionally someone would find something they'd been looking for - a particularly collectible tool or hood ornament.

These pictures were taken in some of the last years and by the looks of it, they were taken at the end of the two-day sale.

One year they made the news in the Hutchinson paper's coverage of the sale.

The sale was always a great place for family from all over the country to meet up and have fun. There are lots more stories and pictures from years of going to sales but I'll save those for another time.

Wordless Wednesday - Kansas Harvest Years Past

BIRTHDAY BIO - Phyllis Egli Schmidt - The Early Years

Last year I wrote about Mom on her birthday and today I am going to write a little more about her early life. I have learned things about my parents since their deaths because I have been going through old pictures and letters and miscellaneous documents. It has been an interesting journey and there are so many things I wish I could ask them.

Mom kept several scrapbooks when she was young that I don't remember ever seeing when she was alive.

Some had lots of photographs and some were pictures that she had cut from magazines.

Fortunately she wrote about the photos and the people in them.

    

Phyllis, Harris, Tom

Many of them were pictures of her with her siblings and her cousins.

Cousin Kathryn, brother Harris, Phyllis

Tom, cousin Richard, Phyllis, Harris

Phyllis lived near many of her cousins and they often talked of all the times they shared as kids. These pictures are a glimpse into that childhood.

Phyllis and her cousins, Sandra and Karol

BIRTHDAY BIO - Ken Schmidt 1932-2011 - The Early Years

Kenneth 1936

I started Dad's bio blog in 2013 on his birthday, and continue here . . . .

Kenneth 1935

Kenneth was the oldest child. His brother was two years younger and the two of them were constant companions as they grew up. They worked together on the farm, they went hunting and fishing and they went to school in a one room schoolhouse up the road from where they lived.

Ken and his brother, Lee, on bicycles

Harvey and Kenneth

Kenneth - first duck

The back of this photo says that Ken skipped school to go quail and duck hunting with his dad south of Coldwater.

 

1932 Chevy, Ken and Fred Smith

Ken liked cars. His early letters often mentioned that he had stopped at a dealership to look at the new cars.

Harvest - the boy in center is Ken

Ken with his sister, Judi and their dog

Kenneth's sister, Judith, was several years younger than her brothers. They thought the world of their adorable little sister, although I know they teased her as well.

One of Ken's school papers tells what he like to do . . .

Ken - school assignment "What I Like To Do"

Family Friend Friday - Martha King Espander

Growing up we had a large group of family friends that were single people. Generally they were people that my parents worked with and/or we went to church with. Over the years many of them married and moved away but I remember them as being part of our family.

One of those was Martha King. Martha was in nurses training at LaJunta Mennonite School of Nursing with Mom. She was older than many of the students but was in Mom's class - the class of 1955. After they graduated, Mom married and settled in Greensburg, Kansas. Martha, like many other Mennonite nurses, got a job at the hospital in Greensburg. At that time the hospital, Kiowa County Memorial Hospital, was run by the Mennonite Church.
           




I remember Martha often coming out to our house for dinner. She and my brother shared a birthday - June 5.

Tom Egli family, Ken Schmidt family and Martha on the right. 1958

We all remained close to Martha for many years and I remember her being at our house in Rocky Ford, Colorado. She lived in Walsenburg, Colorado and later in Pueblo, Colorado. I remember her commenting one time that "I am older now than my mother was when she died." Her mother died at the age of 45, when Martha was only nine years old. Her mother's birthday was the same as mine, Nov. 8.


Martha was very excited when she met Otto Espander, a widower in Walsenburg and they were married May 8, 1970 when Martha was 50.  But sadly, Otto passed away June 9, 1971. Martha lived in Pueblo the remainder of her life. She died August 17, 1996.

L to R: Rita, Susan, Phyllis, Nancy and Martha 1976

I have wonderful memories of this caring woman, who loved others and had a strong faith in God.