Tuesday Profiles - Karen Bevins Winslow

15 August 1996 Profile

Karen Bevins Winslow

62 years old

This Profile is the first of a series of weekly profiles of major characters in the "Back to the Homeplace" novel that also appear in "The Homeplace Revisited," as of the beginning of the second novel, 15 Aug 1996.

Karen was born July 24, 1934, to Frank and Mildred (McDonald) Bevins, at The Homeplace farmhouse near Oak Springs, Missouri. 

She attended Oak Creek School #4, a one-room school near the Homeplace, from kindergarten through the 8th grade, when she went to town for high school.

She graduated from Oak Springs High School in the Class of 1952.

She was a classmate of Harry Flanders, now the local banker, all thirteen years. 

She graduated from Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, in 1956 with a degree in Nursing.

Jason Winslow was born in Washington , Iowa, on July 1, 1934. He graduated from Washington High School in the Class of 1952. He went to Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville, graduating in 1956 with a degree in Finance. He went directly to Southwest Missouri State University, in Springfield, and earned his MBA in 1959. While in Springfield, working for a CPA firm, he became interested in Financial Planning. During this time he also met Karen Bevins. He applied for a job with a Financial Planning firm in Tucson, Arizona, and was accepted.

Karen Bevins and  Jason Winslow were married on 27 November, 1960, at the First United Methodist Church in Oak Springs and moved to Tucson.

Children born to Karen and Jason in Tucson:

Matt, 1962, 34 in 1996

Lori, 1964, 32 in 1996

Erin, 1967, 29 in 1996

Kevin, 1970, 26, 1996

In 1987, Karen had been in her 16th year at Good Sam's hospital in Tucson when they moved to Oak Springs, Missouri, where she was born and lived until she graduated from high school.

Both Karen and Jason have been active in the Bevins Trust since it was created following the death of her mother in 1986.

Jason died in an automobile accident returning from Jefferson City, the state capital, on Bevins Trust business, on March 26, 1993.

Between about 1989 and 1992 Jason and Karen remodeled and added onto her parents farmhouse, always know as The Homeplace, into The Homeplace Country Inn with ten rooms to rent and a large Heritage Room meeting room. Karen has continued to operate and manage the Country Inn since Jason's death. It is nearby both the Bevins Stables and Horse Trails and the Oak Springs Mill.

5th Annual Author Extravaganza - June 18, 2011

5th Annual Author Extravaganza

Town Crier Bookstore, Emporia, Kansas

June 18, 2011

William Leverne Smith, otherwise known as Dr. Bill (William L.) Smith, has again been invited to return to Emporia, Kansas, where he was a university professor for 15 years to participate in the 5th Annual Author Extravaganza. This major book signing event will occur shortly after the release of Dr. Bill's second novel, 'The Homeplace Revisited.' Also available for sale and to be signed will be his first novel, 'Back to the Homeplace' (released Spring 2010) and '13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories' (released March 2010). He will be accompanied by his wife, Nancy, who last summer published her book, with their daughter, Annette Lamb, through Visions to Action Publishing, 'After Glow: The Poetry of Laura Wilson Anderson.'

The Homeplace Chronicles on Facebook

'The Homeplace Chronicles' 

on Facebook

Come join our Facebook Page

The Homeplace Chronicles

Surname Saturday - WINSLOW 1

Surname Saturday

WINSLOW 1

This is a guest post by Karen BEVINS WINSLOW (a fictitious character in "Back to the Homeplace"). Karen is the oldest daughter of Frank and Mildred (MCDONALD) BEVINS, one of their four children. These four siblings and their families are the major characters of the novel: Back to the Homeplace. [This blogging exercise is a part of the research for the upcoming novel, "The Homeplace Revisited" by William Leverne Smith]

The Jason and Karen (BEVINS) WINSLOW family

Jason WINSLOW was born on 1 Jul 1934 in Washington, Iowa. He died 26 Mar 1993, in an automobile accident just outside of Jefferson City, Missouri. Jason worked as a Financial Planner in Tucson, Arizona from 1960 to 1987. He worked with the Bevins Trust from 1987 until his death in 1993.

Karen BEVINS was born 24 Jul 1934 near Oak Springs, Missouri, the daughter of Frank and Mildred (MCDONALD) BEVINS. Karen  was a practicing nurse from 1956 through 1987. Since 1993 she has bee the operator and manager of The Homeplace Country Inn and has served as a trustee of the Bevins Trust since 1987.

Jason and Karen (BEVINS) WINSLOW were married at the First United Methodist Church in Oak Springs, MIssouri, on 27 Nov 1960.

I. Jason and Karen WINSLOW had four children:

1. Matt WINSLOW, born 1962 in Tucson, Arizona

2. Lori WINSLOW, born in 1964 in Tucson, Arizona

3. Erin WINSLOW, born in 1967 in Tucson, Arizona

4. Kevin WINSLOW, born in 1970 in Tucson, Arizona

II. Matt and Susie WINSLOW had two children:

1. Tyler WINSLOW, born 1990, Boston, Mass.

2. Emily WINSLOW, born 1993, Boston, Mass.

Families are Forever!  ;-)

Epilogue of "The Homeplace Revisited"

Epilogue of "The Homeplace Revisited"

I hope that sharing "the ending" of my second novel, here, will encourage you to become a regular follower and join with me in a new adventure in the continuing saga of this fictional family.

Epilogue

Life goes on.

The Homplace familiy saga continues.

Although the 'third book' in The Homeplace Series will probably not be published until 2014 (Set in 2001 - about the time of the 15th anniversary of the Bevins Trust) the family saga will continue to develop in a variety of new ways.

Follow the story on FACEBOOK at The Homeplace Chronicles and here at The Homeplace Series Blog.

Starting in July 2011, the stories of the Bevins family, the Bevins Trust, Oak Springs and all related story elements will continue in a variety of formats (some currently unimaginable) based here including (possibly):

1) regular blog posts

2) local newspaper stories (Oak Springs Enterprise, including a Years Gone By column) in excerpts

3) short stories and novellas

4) graphic novels

5) television series

6) multi-media or simulation, such as Second LIfe

7) videos

8) (what would you like to see) - come to our FACEBOOK page and tell us. Or, visit the blog and leave a comment.

*********

"May each of us have a Homeplace to hold onto, if only in our minds."

Bill ;-)

Flora and Fauna Friday - Prothonotary Warbler

Flora and Fauna Friday

Prothonotary Warbler

Have you seen a Prothonotary Warbler in the Missouri Ozarks. It has an olive back with blue-grey wings and tail, yellow underparts, a relatively long pointed bill and black legs.

For reference: http://www.city-data.com/states/Missouri-Flora-and-fauna.html

*********

"May each of us have a Homeplace to hold onto, if only in our minds."

Bill ;-)

News stories on endangered bats in the Southern Missouri Ozarks

Last month, I wrote about the bats in the Southern Missouri Ozarks that are endangered and live in caves in the region. They play a key role in the family story I tell in my upcoming second novel, "The Homeplace Revisited" coming our later this spring. The fictional story also has a wind power component.

Today, our local news source, OzarksFirst.com, published a story related to these bats, and, in reviewing the story I found another story, from last year, that explains the bat situation in the area of my fictional story even further. I just had to share both stories with you. I hope you find them of interest. ...and, that you follow my blog here and read the novel, when it is released in a couple of months.  WLS

*********

From Ozarks First. com, March 28, 2011:

Students to Evaluate Bats & Green Energy

(Springfield, MO) - At least eight students have a guaranteed summer study. A biology professor at Missouri State University was awarded two grants to study risks to endangered bats. West Inc. gave the grants totaling $116,000.

The money will be used to find potential risk factors to endangered bats from the operation of wind energy facilities in northern Missouri. Most of the students will be graduates working on various bat research projects dealing with conservation of bats.

*********

While looking back to find this article, I also came across the following from last year, that is relevant, as well:

From May, 2010, on Ozarks First.com:

Bat Disease Reaches Ozarks Caves

(paraphrased early part of report)

All caves at Ozark National Scenic Riverways in Shannon County have been closed. Bat researchers from Missouri State University found an infectious fungus in five gray bats. That fungus causes White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). WNS is considered a serious disease that has been responsible for the deaths of more than one million bats since its discovery in New York in 2006.

The first occurrence in Missouri, the twelfth state to document the disease, was discovered in Pike County in April. Six bat species were known to be vulnerable, but the recent find is the first known case in Shannon County, and the first case in the federallly endangered gray bat.

(it further said)

"Missouri is home to at least 12 species of bats," explained Missouri Department of Conservation Cave Biologist Bill Elliott. "They are our front-line defense against many insect pests including some moths, certain beetles and mosquitoes. Insect pests can cause extensive forest and agricultural damage. Missouri's 775,000 gray bats alone eat more than 223 billion bugs a year, or about 540 tons. They also play a vital role in cave ecosystems, providing nutrients for other cave life through their droppings, or guano, and are food for other animals such as snakes and owls."

*********

"May each of us have a Homeplace to hold onto, if only in our minds."

Bill ;-)