People

Marion County RECORD — Marion, Kansas

75 family members attend Walker reunion

Seventy-five family members attended the 45th annual reunion of the Charles and Anna Walker family July 12 at Hilltop Manor, Marion. The Edwin Walkers were hosts.

Attending were:

Paul and Joyce Brown, Wilma and Alfred Howie, Tim and Tammy Sare, and Carolyn Hoover, Abilene; Fern Gantenbein, Miriam France, David and Mary Rohrer, and Tony Herman, Hope.

Dave and Kayla Ascher, Betty Isaacson, Harvey Isaacson, Anna Currie, Lori Jennings, Mark and Karla Hoover, Aaron, Seth, and Noah, Salina; Stan and Judy Tasker and Kari, Bartlesville, Okla.; Mike and Kara Hoover, Sarah, Jonathan, and Anna, Elbing.

Bruce and Sara Major, Grace, Charlie and Lilly, Charlie and Cindy Reece and Chance, Hillsboro; Emil Carlson, Carlton; Elmer and Marge Hanson and Opal Hanson, McPherson; Elenora M. Walker, Dave and Carla Tharp and Jacob, and Haroldine Hicks, Peabody.

Bernie and Virginia Major, Mentor; Patty Melander, Assaria; Dennis and Gwyn Throne, Council Grove; Warren and Lou Walker and Chip and Amy Reece, Wichita; Terry Jones Manhattan.

Greg and Linda Carlson and Melissa, Brad Carlson and Randy, Mitch Carlson, Chelsi, Chase, and Chassidy, Paul and Jessi Helmer and Cheyanne, Gary and Shirley Carlson, Erik Kjellin, and Chelsea Voth, Marion.

Helmer family gathers at lake

The John and Dorothy Helmer family were hosts for the annual Helmer family reunion July 5 at Marion County Lake Hall.

Attending were:

From Newton: Dorothy Helmer; Verna Rowe; and Brenda Buller.

From Wichita: Byron and Doreen Hartzler and Christen; Jason Funk; Linda Stucky; Chaeli Keenan; Kyle and Stephanie Luna and Matio; and Aaron and Marcie Finck.

From Abilene: Roxann and Martin Colborn and John; and Alysha Weberg.

From Marion: Fred and Edith Helmer; Ann Boese; Pearl Helmer; Gary and Beverly Helmer; Ladd and Lucie Helmer; H. David Helmer; Darin and Jan Helmer, Lauren and David; Doug Helmer; and Ray and Denice Bina, James, Amanda, Aaron, and Danae.

From Assaria: Barb and Jerry Bessel; and Wendy Holtz, Alexis, Haylee, and Logan.

From Lost Springs: Gary and Vickie Hajek.

From Andover: Dan and Brenda Helmer.

From Oklahoma: Joey Helmer.

From Nebraska: Larry and Diane Boese; Holly Lawrence Maguire and Hudson; Michelle and Jarrod Truman, Tyler, Derek and Whitney; Larry Thane and Paula Boese, Sammy and Emmie; and Monica, Molly, and Emily Milana.

McCarty family has reunion

Family and friends who attended the McCarty reunion July 5 at Hilltop Manor were:

Darlene Papke, Dave and Becky McCarty, Kelly and Cheri Bonnell, Jeff and Debbie Dunnagan, Janell Hyatt and Sarah, and Nellie Franklin, Wichita; Dan and Janet McCarty, Rose Hill; Jessie Elliott, Madison, Tenn.

Jason and Alex Gannon, Augusta; Jack Adams, Hayes; Christen and Jack Crumrine, Andover; Randi McCarty and Brad Zeiner, Manhattan; Debra Adams, Delores Lee, and Bud Bailey, El Dorado.

Barbara Hein, Susan Bernhardt, Doug and Jeanne Penner, Jill and Hunter Hein and Byron, and Megan and Mason McCarty, Hillsboro; and Estelle McCarty, Doug and Lori Heerey, Gene Hett, Jerry Hett, Connie Williams, and Roger and Lucille Bitner, Marion.

Democratic women have luncheon

Marion County Democratic Women met for lunch July 24 at Marion Senior Center. Many wore western attire for National Day of the Cowboy.

Sue Clough conducted the business meeting, and Dee Duggan was welcomed. Volunteers are needed for the Democratic Party booth at the Kansas State Fair. Contact Harry Bennett to volunteer. Marion will be host for the First District Democratic Women annual meeting in March. Jane Vajnar closed with a reading about blessings.

The next meeting will be at noon Aug. 22 at Marion Senior Center.

Chat and dine club to meet

Marion County Park and Lake Chat and Dine Club will have a potluck dinner at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the lake hall.

Participants are asked to wear tropical attire in keeping with a Hawaiian theme and to bring a main or side dish. Appetizers and dessert will be furnished.

Poem group meets and shares

Marion City Library’s Poem in Your Pocket group met July 23. Jim Hett recited old favorites, and Jane Vajnar and Harriet Bina read original poems. Others reading a variety of poems were Connie Fisher, Margaret Wilson, Carol Hett, and Janet Bryant.

The group meets at 7 p.m. the fourth Thursday each month at the Marion City Library. Meetings are open to the public.

Horse to visit senior center

Dusty Bina will bring his horse Friday to celebrate National Day of the Cowboy. Duane Freed of Reverse Mortgages of Kansas will speak Aug. 5.

Menu

marion senior center

For reservations, call (620) 382-2942 by 9 a.m. Each meal includes choice of coffee, iced tea, milk, or water.

Thursday – Swiss steak, macaroni salad, cucumber salad, watermelon, rolls.

Friday – Meatballs, scalloped potatoes, Italian blend, grapes, rolls.

Monday – Chicken salad bowl, honeydew melon, Rice Krispies bar, breadsticks.

Tuesday – Hamburger steak, oven brown potatoes, mixed vegetables, fruit salad, rolls.

Wednesday – Barbecued ribettes, hashbrown casserole, green beans, blueberry cobbler, rolls.

Author walks
in Civil War soldier’s boots

By SUSAN BERG

Managing editor

It’s a journey through four years of history that many would like to forget — retracing the steps of a young Union private during the Civil War.

For semi-retired Tabor College zoologist Max Terman, it’s also 10 years of research and soul searching, resulting in his latest book, “Hiram’s Honor.”

“I wanted to know what my great-uncle Hiram (Terman) thought and felt during his time in the war,” he said.

The college professor’s interest in his ancestor and the Civil War began with his father. They had relatives who had fought with an Ohio regiment.

“My father would tell stories about Hiram,” Terman said.

Even though he never met the man, Terman had a memory of him.

After finishing his research of the soldier, Terman feels as if he has walked in the young soldier’s boots.

Visiting battlefields and sifting through pages of military records, Terman was able to follow the footsteps of his relative, from Pvt. Terman being captured at Gettysburg to being a prisoner of war at Andersonville and then being one of the lucky ones who actually made it home alive.

The Civil War was like no other war — with brother fighting against brother, Americans fighting Americans.

It was a bloody four-year war with 2.2 million Union and 1 million Confederate soldiers battling and more than 500,000 men dying.

Terman’s research began by locating where the 82nd Ohio Infantry was formed.

The National Archives and Library of Congress provided much information about the unit and the war.

Terman and his wife, Jan, located Hiram’s farm in Rome, Ohio, and discovered Hiram had married after the war, fathered two children, and lived to be 88 years old.

“I learned what an extreme experience this was,” Terman said.

The 82nd marched more than 3,000 miles.

“It is overwhelming the sacrifice they made — keeping the Union together, fighting slavery, standing up for their principles,” Terman said.

Writing the novel in first person, Terman expressed the emotions soldiers felt at the time.

Reading historic Civil War letters shed light on the soldiers’ plight.

“The letters showed different human natures,” Terman said.

Some soldiers were deeply religious and some were not, using profanity to describe conditions.

To create Hiram’s friends, Terman used combinations of personalities from actual letters.

Terman also researched those Civil War soldiers buried at Marion Cemetery.

He visited re-enactment events at Battle of Mine Creek at the Missouri/Kansas border and met with residents from the Hillsboro area.

During the annual Bruce-Crofoot Benefit Golf Tournament, played with Hillsboro and Marion teams, Terman talked with Marion resident Jeff Goering, also a Civil War enactor.

“It helped to get their perspectives,” Terman said.

The research and subsequent book was written for the ancestors of Civil War veterans — many residing in Marion County.

The 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war will be celebrated in April 2011. Terman wanted his book published before that milestone.

Terman will be the featured speaker at the Sept. 21Living in Retirement program.

July 29, 2009 — Page 4

Living Center to help train care providers

St. Luke Living Center will be host for a four-day class for area care homes in making long-term care more personal.

Person-directed care is a new, nationally recognized, model.

That allows residents to get up in the morning when they choose to, eat what and when they want, bathe when they want, and participate in outings not usually associated with nursing homes. That approach also includes decorating a nursing home to feel like a person’s own home.

The Living Center’s class, affiliated with the Grow with Evergreen Resources for Transforming Innovations (GERTI) movement in Johnson County, will be Aug. 18 though 21. For more information, contact Janet Herzet, director of aging services at the Living Center, at (620) 382-3117.

Follow the yellow brick road . . .
to the library

Marion City Library will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of the film “The Wizard of Oz” during August.

Activities, games, and trivia will be offered throughout Oz week Aug. 3 through 8.

The library will show the movie at 9 p.m. Tuesday on the library lawn, weather allowing. Moviegoers should bring lawn chairs and snacks.

From 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 7, games, activities, and refreshments will be provided at an Oz party for children ages 6 to 10. Space is limited. Reservations are required. For more information, contact the library at (620) 382-2442.

Linnens elected to bank group

Barry Linnens, chairman and president of Cottonwood Valley Bank, Cedar Point, is chairman-elect of the Community Bankers Association of Kansas.

He will serve until August of 2010.

Linnens attended McPherson College and Emporia Sate University with an emphasis in banking, real estate, and insurance.