May 1997 - Life in Oak Springs, the Homeplace

Life in Oak Springs, the Homeplace

May 1997

This series of posts on each Friday during 2015 continues the stories of “The Homeplace Saga” series of family saga, historical fiction families in the area of Oak Springs following the novel “Christmas at the Homeplace.” Here is a peek at ‘Life in Oak Springs,’ and the surrounding valley, in May of 1997.

At the High School year-end awards ceremony, among those recognized for outstanding achievement was Heather Gates for her FFA (Future Farmers of America) Project. Her instructor noted that she achieved the highest rating in school history on complexity, as well as execution and recordkeeping. Her project would be in competition at the next state convention, he said, and he added he would be very surprised if it did not win there.

Heather’s project involved the breeding of her Palomino mare, Sunshine, who recently gave birth to a healthy foal. A yearlong project, Heather had recorded the mare’s vital signs daily, and chose an optimal breeding time. She fully participated with Dr. Jennifer Bevins in the artificial insemination process and fully documented it. She then continued to keep track of the progress of the mare throughout the gestation period and the live birth.

The Commencement Speaker at the Oak Springs High School was Professor Dr. Raynor Crimmons, with Central Arizona University. Dr. Crimmons is on the Graduate Faculty of Management and teaches all his courses online. He is currently a resident of Oak Springs. The topic of his speech was “Be All That You Can Be!”

Lyle Cunningham announced that after being in the business for 42 years, he had sold his “End-‘O-the-Road” auction house business effective May 31, 1997. Lyle thanked all his customers over the years. He said that the new owner would be making an announcement about the new operations in due time. When asked when came next for him, Lyle said he was pleased to say that he would continue, and probably increase, his volunteer time with the McDonald Conservancy. As a board member, he added, he felt there was much more he could now contribute to this fine community asset.

Locals:

Graduation exercises for Ozarks Community College were held on Saturday, May 24, on the college campus, in the Community Theater building.

Travis Inman, of Inman Real Estate, invited members of the community to a tour of open houses on Sunday, June 1, starting at the Inman Real Estate Office in downtown Oak Springs. Five three-bedroom homes will be featured, each of similar size but each with differing amenities. The tour will begin promptly at 2 pm.

Social Notes:

Several graduation parties were held around the valley in connection with the families of graduates of this year’s High School Seniors.

A graduation recognition party was held at the Homeplace Country Inn Heritage Room on Saturday night, following Commencement at the High School, honoring the graduating seniors of workers of The Bevins Trust and affiliated companies. Commencement Speaker, Dr. Raynor Crimmons, was honored guest. He was pleased to spend some time with each of the graduates and their families.

"May everyone have a homeplace, if only in your mind."




Dr. Bill  ;-)