Fall perfect time for wiener roasts, Halloween parties

On Saturday afternoon, Oct. 22, a birthday party was held at the Shead Farm, rural Garland, to honor Cademon Ray, 4, the grandson of Larry and Vickie Shead. Special guests for the weekend from Tulsa were Mondo and Leeca Jenkins and three children, Roman, Paislee and Tyson. Also enjoying the party were Cademon's sister Atalie and baby brother Ryan, parents Joel and Mitzi Ray, grandmother Mary V. Shead and hosts Larry and Vickie Shead. A wiener roast was held at noon followed by a very special buggy birthday cake made by Cademon's aunt Haley Shead of Fort Scott. Her family was unable to attend because of sickness.

Cademon gave to his little friends the plastic bugs and the edible gummy worms to enjoy, along with the cake and ice cream. The honoree opened his gifts and then, in turn, gave the others gifts of fish on little fishing poles and plastic planes for flying.

Visitors of Mae Watt this past week were her son Tom Watt and grandson Tommy Watt from the Kansas City area.

Janelle Rawlings of Joplin, Mo., spent Sunday afternoon with her parents John and Judy Rawlings, rural Missouri. That evening, the three visited Ruth Holland from Lamar, who was spending the day with her son, Howard and Louise Holland. They enjoy Ruth's favorite card game of pitch when the two families often get together. Janelle was especially pleased to see the picture of her dad taken on Friday night as he knelt down on the grass roasting wieners at the cookout on the Arcadia Christian Church lawn.

En route to Mountain Home, Ark., on Saturday, Ralph and Cindy Shead called home to tell family they would be visiting her aunt Ardie McKinney over the weekend and would be preaching in her Christian church on Sunday. They returned to their home in Carl Junction on Monday and back to work at LATM in Joplin.

The speaker on Wednesday at Class No. 10 was newcomer Carol Bridgewater. She first read the poem, "The Night Before Jesus Came." Then her topic was marriage and love.

President Patty Peterson opened the meeting by reading "The secret of contentment is realization that life is a gift, not a right." Roll call asked for "your favorite thing about fall." Answers were cooler weather, fall flowers, fresh vegetables, leaf colors, festivals and wiener roasts.

Speaking of flowers, it was told that a big beautifful bouquet of fall flowers are in Mary Lee Payne's front yard. Drive by and take a look.

Betty Dehn volunteered to be the hostess for the Nov. 16 meeting. Patty lead in closing with "The Lord's Prayer" and "Irish Blessing." Judy Rawlings served homemade cupcakes with coffee or orange juice and lots of choices that included M&Ms, chocolate bars and orange slices as our Halloween treats. Special guests were Barbara Scott, Judy's sister from Fort Scott, and Evelyn Bryant from Missouri. Others were Carole Garrison, Kelly Reeves and Mary V. Shead.

Betty and Lou Dehn recently returned to Arcadia after a flying trip to San Francisco where they crossed the Golden Gate Bridge en route to Sonoma. On the drive they encountered a wild hog crossing the road in front of them. Because Sonoma and Napa Valley are wine country, they noted the grape vines everywhere. They were unable to continue driving north into big redwood tree forests but saw smaller ones which are large in comparison to their trees back home.

Christie, Wayne Parrish, Jenny, Ryan, Allyson, Karter and Kadin Dugan took Vera and John Parrish and Mildred Nicoletti to Branson, Mo., for a recent weekend. They had dinner at Lambert's then drove to Silver Dollar City. On Sunday they attended church and then went shopping.