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  ;-)

Hometown Monday - L is for ...

Hometown Monday - L is for ...

We are continuing this series of posts of excerpts from the novels, novellas, and short stories of "The Homeplace Saga" family story-telling, with a new twist. We have adopted a format from the: "Blogging From A to Z Challenge." Each week we will share a published except related to a person whose name begins with that letter. 

This series of posts is to provide an insight into the story lines that may not be clear from other promotional pieces about "The Homeplace Saga." These will also be coordinated with the content of the developmental Wiki, "Beyond the Books" - to expand the information available there, as well. [Links in the text, below, provide more information on that person or entity]

Today we look at names beginning with the letter L.

For L, we have (with one long excerpt, below):

Laura (Evans) Inman - sister of Nicole; dau of Jack and Mona Evans

Linda (Winters) Ogden - mother of Christopher Ogden; wife of Carter

Lisa Flanders - daughter of Harry Flanders 

Lori Winslow - oldest daughter of Karen and Jason - lived in LA, airline flight attendant

Lyle Cunningham - outside trustee; has auction house; father of Mona, grandfather of Nicole and Laura Evans

Our excerpt today is from the forthcoming novel, "Christmas at the Homeplace," recently released, now available at Amazon.com… for Christmas purchases:

This excerpt is from "Christmas at the Homeplace" is from Chapter 5,  Friday, November 1, 1996:

As Mona Evans walked out to their mailbox, like she did nearly every day, she thought about what might be in the box. Her daughter, Laura, wife of Travis Inman, and their two children had lived with them all this calendar year while Travis was overseas in the service. It had been an interesting experience that would soon be coming to an end. She wondered how things would actually change.

Mona, and her husband, Jack Evans were active in Oak Springs community life. Mona had cut back on some of her activities this year to spend more time with her grandchildren. Jack was the local State Farm Insurance Agent, current President of the Chamber of Commerce, and the son of Doc Evans, long-time Oak Springs veterinarian. Mona was a daughter of Lyle Cunningham, operator of the local auction house and sales barn. Lyle was a Trustee of the Bevins Trust, as well. 

Nevertheless, it had been a busy year. Jack and Mona’s other grown daughter, Nicole, had moved back to town, and just married Christopher Ogden, the young attorney. 

Mona knew that Travis’ parents, Grover and Hedda Inman, who owned and operated Oak Springs Realty, were anxious to have him home, as well. Would the news be in today’s mail?

Mona pulled three envelopes out of the mailbox and her heart skipped a beat as she realized that one of them was from overseas. She went back inside, immediately, to find Laura without even looking at the other two, which she recognized as routine bills. Laura was in the laundry room, sorting kids clothes for a load of wash. Laura opened the letter from her husband, Travis, with high anticipation and some trepidation. She read it to her self a first time through. When she got to the part about his return, she read it out loud for Mona to hear, as well.

“He says here, ‘Our unit has received word that we will ship out on schedule so as to be back in Missouri for us to be home by Christmas, unless some unforeseen incident occurs to prevent our return.’ He goes on to mention that other support units, like his, have begun moving out, so it appears likely his will do likewise. Oh, Mom, it will be so nice to have him back home.”

“We all look forward to his return. We’ll keep planning for a Christmas return, but be happy whenever it is. That is for sure. It will be wonderful for the little ones to have a father again.”

“And,” Laura said quietly, “We can get a place of our own and let you and Dad have your house back.”

“You don’t need to be even thinking about that issue. We love having you here. Once he gets back, you can begin to think about what comes later.”

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

Bill  ;-)