Stories from Saturday, October 3, 2009

Brian and Eileen Parks of Ballard, Mo., announce the engagement of their daughter, Brooke Parks, to Travis Shepherd, son of Sheryl Shepherd, of Nevada. The wedding will be Oct. 10, 2009, at the First Christian Church in Butler, Mo. Brooke is the granddaughter of Dale and Betsy Parks and the late Juanita Coulter, of Urich, Mo. Brooke is a 2004 graduate of Ballard High School, and she earned a bachelor's degree in Health Promotion and Wellness at Missouri Southern State University...

Troy and Tina Werner, of Nevada, announce the engagement and upcoming marriage of their daughter, Traci Werner, to Cole Vap, son of Jeff and Jan Vap, La Crosse, Kan. Traci is a 2003 graduate of Nevada High School and a 2007 graduate of Pittsburg State University receiving a Bachelor of Science in Recreation with an emphasis in Therapy. She is an activity therapist employed by Larned State Hospital in Larned, Kan...

Faylon and Cheryel Griggs, of Nevada, will observe their 25th wedding anniversary with an open house on Oct. 11, 2009. The event will be held at the 3M Clubhouse in Nevada from 2-4 p.m. The Griggs family would welcome the presence of friends and family. For more information call (417) 884-5122...

Elsie Vernette Mitchum, 89, Nevada, passed away on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, at Christian Health Care of Nevada. She was born March 18, 1920, in Nevada, to Curtis Earl Peak and Elsie May Wolfe Peak. She married Robert Raymond "Ray" Mitchum on Jan. 6, 1946, in Nevada, and he preceded her in death on March 2, 1997...

Dorothy Frances Campbell (Courtemanche) entered the arms of the Lord on Sept. 30, 2009, surrounded by the love and music of family and friends. She was born in Brockton, Mass., on Dec. 28, 1928 to Wilfred and Beatrice Courtemanche. In 1951 she joined the U.S. ...

Fred E. Stinebaugh Jr., age 54, resident of Arcadia, Kan., died Thursday morning, Oct. 1, 2009, at his home. He was born Aug. 26, 1955, in Lafayette, Ind., the son of Fred Stinebaugh Sr. and Martha Porter Stinebaugh. Fred worked most of his life as a truck driver. He greatly enjoyed motorcycling as well as camping and fishing...

Alfred "Al" William Nichols, 84, of Prescott, Kan, died Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, at Prescott Country View Nursing Home. Services will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, Oct. 5, at the Coffel-Schneider Chapel, Pleasanton, Kan. Visitation will be from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Sunday, at the chapel. Contributions are suggested to the Prescott Countryview Nursing Home. Interment will be in Pleasanton Cemetery...

David and Corina Hallam, of Kansas City, Mo., are proud to announce the birth of their daughter, Esther Frances Hallam. Esther was born on Sept. 22, 2009. She weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces, and measured 19 1/4 inches. Maternal grandparents are Bob and Frances Blecha, of Auburn, Neb...

The Kansas Motor Carriers Association made a life-saving donation to the Kansas Highway Patrol earlier this week when they donated 105 child safety seats to be distributed statewide via KHP troopers and child seat technicians, according to a statement released by the KHP...

The Nevada SmartStyle Salon inside Wal-Mart is participating in the Clip for a Cure, a fund raising project to help the Regis Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. There are events planned each week of the month of October. For the first project stylists are donating their time and energy on Oct. 3 to give $10 haircuts with all proceeds going to the foundation...

"We are doing something a bit different with the program for the October quarterly meeting of the Vernon County History Society," said Bushwhacker Museum Coordinator Terry Ramsey. "Our programs generally focus on Vernon County History but the story of four Protestant students from rural southeastern Kansas discovering a Polish Catholic woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1912-'43 is just too compelling not to have a program about it."...

Happy Holidays. It's a greeting and a sincere wish, one that troops in the field find hard to achieve. One Vernon County bank is hoping to help one overseas unit achieve a happy Christmas season. Charlotte Buerge, Metz Bank, who earlier this year was involved with a drive to send coffee for the troops, is now organizing a drive to get a forward operating base assigned to a unit within the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing some holiday cheer...

Nevada, Mo. -- Closing the City-County Community Center for renovation has caused a number of area non-profit organizations to scramble for alternative places to meet. The only alternate location that the city has is the recently completed Marmaduke Community Building...

"Serious comedian" Keith Deltano, will be using comedy to encourage good decision making when he brings his show, "Virginity Rocks" to area public schools as well as an evening rally and parent workshop that is open to the public. Deltano will be appearing in area middle and high schools Oct. 5 -- 9, and lead a Parents' Workshop on Oct. 8. For a complete schedule of Deltano's public school appearances as well as information on the workshop, go to www.aokyouth.org...

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Learning from Gordon Parks has helped Veretta Cobler down the road to success. Cobler, a Fort Scott native who now lives in New York City, is a professional photographer who will exhibit a retrospective of her photographs, as well as talk about her career and friendship with Parks, at 9 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 10, in the theatre of the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center at Fort Scott Community College, 2108 S. Horton St...

Hi neighbors. There is some good news if you are a history buff or genealogist. The two-volume set "Nevada & Vernon County Heritage 1855-2005 Pass It On!" family history book has been marked down to $75 for the set. The original price was $100 a set; but with several books left to sell, the Vernon County Historical Society wants to get them out to the reading public. ...

I retired from teaching English down here at Cottey College on Sunday, May 18, 2003. I started thinking about retirement some time last year. Sometimes I think I'm not yet ready for it. Other times I think I am, plenty. Frankly, I wouldn't even have begun toying with the idea if my health hadn't taken a great big hit (heart attack and its consequences) at the turn of the century, and left me a different person than I was before I lost my right leg below the knee. ...