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CHAMPION—October 22, 2007

        Champions sometimes drop their hands from the plow and their shoulders from the wheel long enough for a little diversion and a BLT over at the Junction Café in VanZant.  As it turns out people from all over had the same idea last Thursday.  Sue Murphy was there from Mountain Grovewith her mandolin, Norris Woods had his banjo and Jerry Wagner had his fiddle.  ‘Er long there were two banjos, three mandolins, a base fiddle, a dobro, and three or four guitars.  They played “Just Because,” “The Wednesday Night Waltz,” “On the Sunny Side of the Mountain,” and a great number of other songs and tunes.  The rest of the room was filled with people from far and wide.  Major Londa Upshaw who serves with the Salvation Army  in Hoona, Alaska was there.  (Hoona is 35 miles west of Juno on the Island of Chicakaff.)  Her sister, Darcy Cecil, from Boise, and their sister, Liane Upshaw Hihath, from Meridian,Idaho were there together with their Mother Betty Mae Harris, a.k.a. Susie Upshaw.  They were all planning to leave the very next day to be sure and get back home before Winter because Uncle Robert had frozen their gullets with that famous peanut butter ice cream and had made them all homesick.  Robert’s nephew, Dailey Upshaw, from Omaha, Nebraska was there too visiting with his folks and Dean.  In addition to the musicians there were near to thirty odd people enjoying the evening.  “Odd” is the key word with Robert.  Sharon was heard to say, “Don’t encourage him.”

        A note has come from a person named Eulalia Jasmin:  “Bravo with your Sesquicentennial Celebration!  I overheard them talking about the Ball and the decorations in Jean’s Healthway when I was passing through town on Saturday.  They said there would be a dozen huge tables with beautiful floral decorations and that there would be waltzes in beautiful ball gowns and bowls of floating roses.  Please be sure that those of us who were not invited to attend are not also denied the accounts of at least the Wallflowers.”  It would seem that Ms. Jasmin is an acquaintance of Cimaria Escondida who writes occasionally from Piedras Negras, MX.  They have missed connections this time.It is not known if Ms. Escondida made it to Ava for the Sesquicentennial.  Certainly there was a crowd.  Champion, Eva Powell, said that it was the best parade that she had ever seen anywhere.

        Another note from Darrell Haden who is happy that excerpts from “The Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave” are appearing in the Herald.  He says“The series has brought a letter from my cousin Robert Haden of Hartville and a telephone call from Howard Bailey of Ozark.  Bob will send notes he made from visiting with his grandfather, G.W.O. Haden.  Mr. Bailey described an encounter with the Headless Cobbler in the fall of 1941.  He is the grandson of a man I remember from my childhood, Dr. Daniel Near.  He was affectionately know as “Dan” or “Dad” Near. I remember his vineyard between our home and Rome.  His grandson, Howard Bailey, moved from Rogersville in 1932 and to near Good Hope in 1935 after three years at Rome.”

        Esther’s gooseberries are in the ground at last.  Her friend, Sharon, came over and got them planted before the last rain.  It was perfect timing.  It is pleasing to see that there are a few persimmons showing up after all.  Competition for them will be stiff, though, and wild things that might not ordinarily go for them will be happy for anything they can get this year.  Dustin Cline allows as how the antelope is tasty and was happy to report having killed a turkey.  A large flock of geese were seen flying over Champion on Sunday afternoon.  They had better keep their altitude over these parts as there are always itchy trigger fingers in Champion.  October’s Full Moon is called the Hunter’s Moon.  In a paper published weekly in Kansas City, former Champion Rich Heffern, talks about eating locally and eating well.  He says that in addition to tasting better and being healthier, locally grown food takes much less ‘fossil fuel’ to produce.  His research showed that the average food item travels over 1,500 miles.  Esther will just have to go a few feet out her back door for her gooseberries next year.  She still has tomatoes on her vines.  Another Champion’s Little Green Bean House is still producing green beans though the frost will get it sooner or later.

        So far in October 28 US Service People have lost their lives in Iraq.That brings the total to 3,834. That is a lot of empty places at supper tables back home.  Sergeant 1^st Class Richard S. Gottfried from Lake Ozark lost his life there on March 9^th, 2004.  There are a number of categories of wounded:  hostile and non-hostile, those requiring medical air evacuation and those not.  Among the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines of the United States there are many thousands of wounded people from that conflict.  Expressions of Love and Gratitude to them for their sacrifices and to the survivors of those not returning will always be appropriate.

        Encouragement of any sort and descriptions of the ball are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Any kind of good news about Champions can be emailed to Champion News.  Jeff and Barb were home over the week end helping their Mom stack firewood and enjoying memories of the wonderful place that is Henson’s Store in the heart of Champion….Looking on the bright side!

CHAMPION–October 14, 2007

        As if Champions were not still reeling from their trip to the “edge of the world” at the Pioneer Descendants Gathering, many ventured over to Mountain Grove for the Quasquicentennial and Autumnfest on the week end.  It was reported to have been an excellent celebration with many renewed old acquaintances and interesting sights to see.  Coming on the heels of Norwood’s Farmer’s Day and just before Douglas County’s Sesquicentennial Celebration to be held the 19^th – the 21^st, it is apparent that organizers of these affairs are not concerned about getting their work done this Fall.  Perhaps they are on top of their harvest time chores or maybe they have hired hands to do the work.  Champions, like country people everywhere, are easily drawn off to town this time of year leaving their shovels in the manure piles and their forks in the hay.  With the lure of an undisclosed number of $150.00 cash prizes to be awarded willy-nilly and the spectacle of the costumes and hope of meeting old friends seldom seen , the sweet potatoes that ought to have been dug by now and the firewood that should be in can wait.  Someone remarked that the hard freeze last Spring has made harvest time easier this year with so few walnuts and not a persimmon or apple to be seen.  With no dogwood berries to speak of and few pawpaws, the wild critters are likely to have a hard time of it this winter.  So Champions flounce off to town to socialize and leave the wild things to harvest what little there is to be had.

        That’s what the folks attending the Alsup, Ousley, Livingston Reunion on the 13^th did.  Tom Alsup told a good story about his Dad, Noël Alsup, when they had the farm at Denlow.  Judy Kent and Mary Martha Williams kept the family laughing which has usually been Robert Upshaw’s job.  He made a fair showing of it however, and family from as far away as Alaska and Idaho enjoyed the day.

        Harley Krider is about to have a birthday.  He is not as old as his brothers but he is much older than most people in Champion.  He is an absentee cattle farmer living off in Illinois leaving family and neighbors to keep track of his interests here.  It is to be reported that the new Angus bull, Alexander the Great (perhaps), has made himself quite at home and seems to have a lovely domestic arrangement with the numerous cows and calves in the herd.  There are pictures of him circulating on the internet taking his ease by the pond with his harem busy by grazing and gestating–such a peaceful pastoral scene.

        Foster Wiseman spent some time in Champion over the week end.  He is learning about climbing that steep hill and running down it.  Over the years many a Champion has sped down that hill sometimes hanging a toe and face planting in the dirt with lunch buckets and McGuffey Readers flying.  Foster has been cautious, however, and so far has enjoyed the thrill of speed without mishap.  He was heard singing, “Sadie’s got her new dress on,” to Dustin Cline who is still loitering about the neighborhood when it pleases him to do so.  He has just returned from a trip to Colorado where he killed antelope which were just playing as they do in the song:  “….where the deer and the antelope play.  ”He came close to shooting a little duck and was heard talking about the fun it would be to ‘plink off’ little prairie dogs.  As to the duck,it was unclear whether he was just considering shooting it or if he had shot and missed.  Local turkeys don’t seem especially worried.

        The sumac is just dripping red, sassafras is starting to change color and some dogwoods and oaks are finally taking on the autumn hues.  This has been an unusual year weather-wise.  Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for saying the world is getting warmer.  Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones published the Atlas of World Population in the Penguin press.  According to them in 30 A.D. there were 170 million people in the whole world.  Right now the United States has almost twice that many people and the whole world boasts six thousand million people….that is six billion people—the number six and nine zeroes.  Since people are mostly made up of water (65% by some accounts), someone said that’s where all the water is going and that’s why its getting so warm.  (He’s thinking of them all standing around together in a line at Silver Dollar City.)  Population density in Champion is still pretty sparse and for as long as it stays that way Champions will be glad.  It is a relative term, however, and Champions are glad when their kinfolks move home and glad to welcome new neighbors.  The world is changing fast but things are still pretty mellow in the hills and hollows in the middle of Douglas County, Missouri.

        It is not so in other places.  Three thousand eight hundred and twenty nine US. Service Personnel have lost their lives in Iraq so far.  Sixty eight of them have been from Missouri.  Everybody is from somewhere and Champions continue to send Love and Gratitude to all those serving their country in the dangerous places or just far from home places.  Still no word has come from Champion’s soldier, Staff Sergeant Raul Moreno who is serving in Afghanistan.  It may be that he has been transferred or that his time is up.  Until their mail gets returned to them though,  Champions will continue to write to him at SSG Moreno, Raul / 4-319^th TF SABER / FOBB NARAY / APO AE 09354.

        There is an old fellow in Champion who has been invited to his 50^th high school reunion.  It would be a long trip to get there and cost quite a bit of money, but it could be done.  He has decided not to go though, because he says that he remembers his classmates as having been young, beautiful, vital people and he doesn’t fancy looking at them all old and unhealthy and saggy.  He doesn’t want to know that their lives turned out any other way than the way they all thought it would be when they were kids together.  Somebody said that he just doesn’t want to have to report on his successes and failures or to have his accomplishments compared with others for fear that he wouldn’t measure up.  Apples and Oranges.  Could a person hope to accomplish more than a tranquil life on the side of a hill in Champion with spring water flowing down and the seasons changing?  The Dali Lama is visiting in the United States.  He lives in exile and has not been to his home in Tibet since 1959.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and accepted it on behalf of oppressed people everywhere.  He says that he believes in hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.  His residence is maintained in London where it is getting damp and chilly this time of the year.  It sounds like he would fit in quite nicely in Champion and the weather is better here.

        It would be good weather to plant the gooseberries that Esther Wrinkles received for her birthday if they aren’t in the ground already.  Inquires will be made and services offered.  So much of next spring’s garden has to do with what gets done this fall.  Linda, over at the Plant Place in Norwood, has some excellent suggestions about soil amendments and preparing the garden for winter.

        Suggestions and inquiries are welcome and people or things that would fit right in Champion can be reported to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Spectacles of any sort, examples of flouncing, and of tranquil or pastoral scenes may be emailed to Champion News.  Sunday the 21^st of October is the birthday of Anna Henson who was born in 1905.  She passed away when she was 77 years old and Champions miss her still.  Enjoy some fond memories of her and Ed at Henson’s Store in the Heart of Champion…where like the Dali Lama….Champions are looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION – October 7, 2007

        The “pull of the past” pulled many Champions all the way to Yates for the fifth annual Pioneer Descendants Gathering on Saturday and Sunday.  Betty and Dale Thomas host this charming event on their farm that boasts a mile of Bryant Creek running through it.  The weather was unseasonably warm and those attending strolled slowly around the perimeter of the expansive fields viewing the many exhibits and demonstrations.  It was a treat to see a horse drawn sickle bar mower in action.  There are plenty of them around rusting in farm yards being overgrown with briars or being used as landscape features, but to see one sailing along the edge of a field of tall grass behind a pretty pair of horses is just a delight.  As the grass lays right over, the driver, perched on his spring seat, looks as comfortable as can be.  That may not be the case, but there are few these days who know for sure.

        Over the course of the two days Levon and Karen Lambert ground 120 pounds of corn meal both yellow and white.  Levon has a gas powered grinder that’s a little on noisy side but the cornmeal is choice.  He said that when he was a kid living up Fox Creek from Champion his family would sit around the heat stove and shell corn.  When they got a toe sack full his Dad, Furley Lambert, would carry it down to Henson’s Store.  Ed Henson had a big old ‘hit & miss’ mill and he would grind their corn.  He also said that his Grandmother Lambert would grate corn from the cob on a grater that was used for cutting cabbage.  She would make corn cakes on the wood stove which he said were delicious.  When asked how long he had been grinding corn, first he said, “Well, yesterday and today,” then he said, “Quite a while.”  (Harlan Davis said that Levon Lambert could remember when rainbows were in black and white.)  Not to be missed are Karen’s lovely corn-husk dolls.  The pioneer ideal of utilizing everything available is exemplified in her deft crafting of these beautiful pieces.

        “Home is the ultimate value that humans venerate,” someone said recently.  Kirk Dooms met his Aunt Esther Wrinkles at the Pioneer Gathering and took her on a short ride over to the old homeplace of some of their ancestors and it was a real treat for her to touch this home base again.  Sometimes just a short time away from Champion can cause a great longing for home though the journey be a pleasant one and full of happy meetings and alluring sights.  Wandering Champions now home include Fae, who spent her birthday in Branson kicking up her heels.  Her sister, Kaye, had her heels wet out in the Atlantic Ocean.  It will be interesting to learn if Richard rolled up his britches legs to step out into the surf.  They spent Sunday with their niece, Linda, over in Murfreesboro , TN and then headed home.  Louise sashayed over to Poplar Bluff and came home with a new car for her birthday.  Zoey Louise, who has the same birthday also has a new car for her birthday, though hers’ is pink and has pedals.

        A court mandated trip to Ava brought a Champion some splendid adventure in the big town during the last week.  With jury duty canceled this Champion was left wandering about on a fairly deserted Monday morning Square and was brought up short to see a roadrunner in the storefront of Memory Lane, Antiques, Etc.  The startled Champion pulled out her digital camera and maneuvered perilously into the street to attempt a photo.  The bird was too fast, however, and soon was perched on the window sill of the florist on the North East corner of the square.  As the photographer approached and without so much as a “Beep Beep!” the chaparral cock crossed the street and made as to enter the law offices there.  A woman exited the door about that time and the bird took a quick left and ducked around the corner and then up the alleyway parallel to the North side of the square.  It was an exciting moment…it all happened so quickly.

        There were Civil War re-enactors at the Pioneer Gathering in authentic dress and armed with some of the best weapons of that time.  A conversation was overheard at the Gathering about a new weapon which is a bomb that only destroys magnetic fields.  “The implications are enormous,” they said.  All electricity would go down including everything with an alternator or a generator, every computer and ATM machine, cash register, dialysis machine and on and on.  It certainly gives pause for thought.  A family sending their boy off to the Civil War did so with the understanding that they might never see him again and might never know what happened to him.  Today CNN and other entities have websites on the internet that routinely post the names and photographs of those killed in action.  It is a different world now.  One searching through the alphabetical listings of those names with morbid trepidation hopes not to find the name of a family member, friend or loved one.  Just in Iraq since the conflict began 3,811 fatalities have been confirmed by the Department of Defense with four additional as yet unconfirmed.  Two countries to the east of there in Afghanistan, Champion’s own soldier, SSG Raul Moreno Jr. is serving over on the north east border with Pakistan at FOB Naray.  Love and Gratitude go out to him from Champion Friends and  to all his fellow Soldiers serving there and in every dangerous place.  Cards and letters of encouragement and appreciation can be sent to him at SSG Moreno, Raul /4-319 TF SABER / FOB NARAY / APO AE 09354.  It just takes a regular 41¢ stamp.  His email address is: raul.morenojr(at)us.army.mil  Some others who are serving on active duty from this area are Seth Barbe, Keith Baty, Adam Bresler, Christopher Brown, Dustin Brown, Andrew Dale, Chad A. Davis, David Fry, Clay Hatcher, Thomas Hutchinson, Brian Jarrett, Daniel Keene, Timothy Kelly, Cory Morris, Trevor Pence, Amos Reed, Matthew Rossignol, Lyndall Spangler, Arlin Stigall, Brian Thompson, Matthew Thompson.  There are many more as well as this new war touches every neighborhood in the land.  Every Soldier who serves is a Champion.  Anyone wishing to have a Soldier’s name appear in the Champion Items may send it in my mail or email together with any other information about him or her.

        Comfortable things, venerable things, or things that pull, sashay, or allure are welcome to be reported to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Startling things or things that happen quickly need to be emailed to Champion News.  They don’t grind corn at Henson’s Store any more, but there is frequently someone there who remembers when they did over on the North Side of the Square in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

The Headless Cobbler – Episode One

        This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the publication of THE HEADLESS COBBLER OF SMALLETT CAVE:  The Origin and Growth of a Douglas County, Missouri Legend.  It was written by Walter Darrell Haden of the University of Tennessee with pen and ink illustrations by the author.  It was published by THE KINFOLK PRESS, of Nashville, Tennessee in 1967.

        Walter Darrell Haden was born and reared within “hollerin’” distance of Smallett Cave.  A graduate of Ava High School, he studied at Missouri University and at Southwest Missouri State College for his B.S. degree and at Northern Illinois University for his M.S. degree.  He taught grade school one year in his home community, high school English nine years in Sterling-Rock Falls, Illinois, and college English for one year at Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee.  He has done graduate work beyond the M.S. degree at Illinois Stat Normal University, Purdue University, and at Vanderbilt University.  He was a professor of English at the University of Tennessee at Martin until his retirement last year.  His prose has appeared in the Tennessee Philological Journal, the White River Valley Historical Journal, the Secret Place, and the Douglas County Herald;  his poetry in the Denver Post, the Chicago Tribune, Springfield (Mo.) Daily News, Colorado Springs Free Press, and Towers Magazine;  his songs recorded and published by major companies in Nashville, Tennessee.

        Mr. Haden has graciously given his permission for excerpts of his book to be published in the Herald over the next few weeks in commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of its publication.  The book also ties in nicely with the Sesquicentennial Celebration of Douglas County particularly as Halloween approaches.

        So it begins:  “On a dark night a strange light is seen and a tapping echoes from the depths of an Ozark cave.  The observer with imagination and a sense of the past is returned to tales and times of the American Civil War in the Missouri Hills and to the hardy race whose superstitions created a “hant,” the Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave.

        Beginning in its second century, the legend this book follows depends for its existence upon what is probably the most mysterious geographic feature in Douglas County, Missouri’s Springcreek Township, Smallett Cave.  The legend is a local invention based upon real persons and historical happenings,  but it may also be a reworking of elements from older folk tales, both indigenous and imported.

        Theories concerning the origin of folk stories in general, as well as the reasons for their evolution, are studied in order to determine why the Headless Cobbler Legend has grown when and where it has in Douglas County, Missouri.

        The author is asked sometimes how far back into the cave he has explored.  His “Not beyond the mouth” is something more than a pun.  It may be further evidence with which Mr. Haden supports a central thesis of his book:  that those who first told the Headless Cobbler Legend intended the tale to last.

        Next week look for the first of several installments of The Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave! 

And the tale involved a staccato tapping from within the cavern coming from the hammer of a phantom shoemaker—the “Headless Cobbler.” 

The Headless Cobbler – Episode Two

        The Headless Cobbler is rumored to have made his first appearances at the Smallett Cave during the American Civil War.  Allegedly, passersby could hear sometimes during the early hours of the evening a distinct staccato tapping like that of a hammer bradding tacks through leather on a shoe last.  Superstitious reporters of the cave spook have held that the apparition never appears before the dusk of the day, if not later in the evening, tramping along the roads and banks adjacent to Springcreek.  The Cobbler is reported to have for a head only a dangling clump of shoes.

        One of the earliest and most prevalent stories bout the Headless Cobbler originated with the writers great-grandmother, Mrs. Rezin Moten (Frances Indiana [Kay]) Haden, who died January 3, 1932.  Her eldest son, and the writer’s late grandfather, Walter D. Haden, recounted the following story in an interview at his home in Ava, MO, December 22, 1960:

        Ma and a renter’s wife—Mrs. Hall, I believe—were on their way to sit up with a woman who was dying with consumption—Mrs. Cloud, I think.
        The two women were walking up the road from alongside Springcreek and the old cave across from it.  Ma told us later that just about “dusky dark” a man without a head stepped out into the road in front of them.  On one of his shoulders he had a Bible.  As the two women and the headless man met, he didn’t say a thing, Ma said, but the women lit out, and the strange man walked on in the opposite direction.  They hurried on east to the Cloud home, where later that night the sick woman died.  Mrs. Hall, M, and her sister, Aunt Julia Sellers, laid out the corpse for burial while the menfolks started work on a casket.  It was a hot night, so the womenfolks, when their work was done, sat down in some cane-bottom chairs to cool awhile in the yard of the home.  Ma had leaned back in her chair while she smoked her clay pipe.  All of a sudden from between the back of her chair and the side of an old earthen cellar, a commotion began.  At first she thought that it was the headless hant.  I reckon for a while there was almost another woman to be laid out.  But then she found out it was just her chair mashing a calf that had been dozing alongside the cellar.  The calf lit out, and so did Ma.

        This is just one of the numerous accounts of the ‘hant’.  The folk legend is quite alive even in these days when sensational entertainment is everywhere.  Folk tale collector, Mary Hill Arbuthnot, says that the magic of the folk tale casts it spell and spells and enchantments are accepted as casually by children as airplanes and television.

        Mr. Haden goes on to say that it is probable that children in the distant future may hear folk tales about lunar exploration and laser beams.  The vitality of the folk story points to the continuing cultural importance of our oral literature. 

The Headless Cobbler – Episode Three

        “In an interview at Ava, Missouri, December 22, 1960, Walter D. Haden, grandfather of the author recalled his experience hardly a half-mile from the cave:  Teen-age Walt Haden and his double-first cousin Porter Haden were riding their horses home up a bridle path northwest of Springcreek and the Smallett Cave.  The time was ‘late at night.’  Their path veered to the right at “a spring under a big white oak tree, a nice one—butt cut would’ve made eight to ten posts.  My horse stopped, pricked up his ears, and stood stock-still.  Something like a man was in front of us.  Porter’s horse didn’t move.  Then the thing began to float away like it didn’t have a foot on the ground.

        “’What the hell was it?’  Porter asked me.  I couldn’t tell him and can’t to this day.  But when it moved, I knew it wasn’t another horse or brute.  I popped the spurs to my horse, and we went up that hill.  We didn’t hitch any horses either when we got to the house.  Pa had to do it for us.

        Walt’s father, Rezin M. Haden, asked the boys what they were excited about, but neither could answer.  Porter had intend to ride on home alone, but he decided to spend the remainder of the night with his cousin.

        “Recalling in this interview a related incident involving his father, the Late Rezin M. Haden, the writer’s grandfather continued:  “Paw as coming down the creek road one night just before he got to the country road.  His stallion, ‘Popcorn,’ stood sixteen hands high.  That horse began to shay ant to wan to sidle the other way as Pa rode under a tree.  Something was flapping in the treetop above his head—an eagle maybe.  Whatever it was flapped out of the tree and on toward the cave.  Pa came back the next morning, but he couldn’t find any trace of what had scared his horse.

        On December 28, 1962, at his home in Ava, Missouri, WG. W. Owen Haden, brother of the writer’s grandfather, spoke of how “Uncle” Jimmy McHolland and a neighbor riding horseback from a revival meeting at Springcreek Church had heard the hoof beats of a horse approaching from the opposite direction.  Before the men could get their horses over to the side of the road, they were met by a strange horseman who cantered between the two riders, passing so close that his two witnesses could see that he lacked a head.  This appearance allegedly occurred along the old road which followed the course of Springcreek.

        “Another sighting of a Smallett Cave ‘hant’ is told of James Gray.  The man had been a way from his home near Smallett for several moths during the mid-1920’s.  Returning late one night to his home on the hill above the cave, he though he saw an apparition between him and his father’s home:  Jim was coming home late a-foot one night.  He got down there to the cave on his daddy’s place when he saw something white moving back and forth between him and the house.  He’d go one way, and this thing would too.  Jim kept monkeying around till he got scared.  So he finally gave up and spent the rest of the night on the back steps of Doc Osborne’s office at Smallett.  Next morning he found his dad’s old gray mare grazing where he had seen the ghost the night before.  ‘That’s Nell!’ he said…….’.She’s jumped in Dad’s oats!’” 

The Headless Cobbler – Episode Four

        Hunters have been among the most frequent reporters of strange sights and sounds about the cave.  One night early in this century (the 20^th), the Sellers brothers—John, Ernest, and Edgar (all now deceased)—went possum hunting back into Smallett Cave.  Soon their dogs came piling back toward the mouth of the cave, howling a retreat:  “The dogs were just raving.  The men saw something, too, back in the dark, but they couldn’t make out what it was.  Whatever it was keep its distance, and their rocks seemed to go right trough it.”

        Mrs. Byron (Anna Phipps) Cory of McClurg, Missouri, in an interview at her home December 26, 1962, said that her brother-in-law, Bert Hodges, and his son Bill were possum hunting near the entrance to Smallett Cave one winter night a year or more before the interview.  Mr. Hodges and his son reported hearing repeatedly in the distance the clopping of horses’ hooves in the gravel bar of Springcreek, but no horse or any further indication of a horse ever appeared.

        Because of its isolation and a good deal of lawlessness over the years, Douglas County sometimes has been called, unofficially, “Booger County.”

        Since Civil War times the Smallett Cave has been the focal point for many strange sights and sounds, generally reported through the years to have occurred either at dusk or shortly thereafter.  Although this research has brought to light oral accounts of one suicide and two murders within the radius of one-half mile of the cave, no reports of any violence within the cave itself have been found.  The writer has observed, though, that many of the community’s stories of violence and the supernatural tend to converge upon the Smallett Cave and give its locale an atmosphere of the dread and mysterious.

        Generally any story recalled concerning Smallett Cave is connected with the unknown or the unexplained.  As recently as June 10, 1965, Orloff P. Haden, son of the late Porter Haden, mentioned an interview at Ava, Missouri, that as a boy he had often heard that a headless man had been seen near the entrance of Smallett Cave.  He remembered, as well, a rumor of about a dead man’s (head) being found back in the cave at one time, although he had never heard the details.

        According to the late Rev. C.V. Turner—who was ninety-three at the time he was interviewed December 23, 1960, in his suburban Ava, Missouri home—one James Turner (no relation) was murdered some ninety years earlier in the vicinity of the Smallett Cave.  The murdered man had lived in a double-log house with an “entryway” between its parts, situated near the present site of the Smallett Store and former United States Post Office on a hill approximately a quarter mile west of the cave.  Bystanders heard the gunfire and guessed that someone had been shot.  “Someone must be drawing his rations early,” one remarked.  Rev. Turner recalled hearing that those who ran to investigate found brains blown against the wall and Turner lying dead on the floor.  The informant could not recall who had murdered the man or what the motive for the crime had been.

        The writer’s grandfather explained during the interview with Rev. Turner that the murdered man’s first wife was an Indian half-breed who had left, among other offspring, a blind daughter.  He remembered hearing as a boy that those who had seen this girl at her home near the cave allegedly had described her as “crazy.” 

The Headless Cobbler – Episode Five

         “After the evening service (the writer’s father ) and his girlfriend had accepted a car ride with another young couple to the home of his girlfriend.  After seeing the young woman home, it was then his not so pleasant task to walk a quarter mile back from the county road to the then-deserted church, retrieve his horse, and ride home.  Just as he started to untie the reins from the fence, his horse began to shy and snort.  His hat seemed to rise, the writer’s father recalls, as his hair stood on end.  Without seeing what had frightened his horse and himself—quite possibly an animal or the white glimmer of a gravestone—he mounted his horse and rode one of the fastest miles he had ever made horseback from Springcreek Church to his father’s barn.”

        Factual basis for the Headless Cobbler Legend came from “Aunt” Mary (Hunt) Pratt, in an interview at her home between Smallett and Rome in the mid1940’s.  “An ‘old man’ Evans sometime during the Civil War moved his shoe leather and cobbling gear back into the Smallett Cave at the foot of his property.  Cobbler Evans has his reasons for making shoes back in the cave:  he had a good-sized family to feed and keep shod, and neither he nor his leather and tools were safe from rebel soldiers and bush-wackers outside the cave.  So, safe from discovery, the shoemaker worked through the daylight hours back in the Smallet Cave, often returning to his home after dark.

        “Mrs. Pratt, who died in 1957, could not recall cobbler Evan’s given name, but later the writer’s mind the name of “Uncle” George Evans; whose eccentricities have colored stories told around Smallett until this day.  Alleged by some to have been a recluse, George Evans is said to have worn his shoes on the wrong feet on alternating days in order to prolong the life of the leather.

        A direct descendant of the cobbler Evans, Earnest Evans, corroborated the story given several years earlier by the late Mrs. Mary Pratt.  “He said that as a boy he had more than once heard his grandmother Margaret Barnes laugh and say that there was no truth in the old stores about a headless man’s being in Smallett Cave.  Margaret Evans before she was married to Earnest’s grandfather Barnes, she had said the cobbler was her own father.  During those troubled days in Douglas County, Wesley Evans had gone back into the cave to work until nightfall, because rebel guerrillas were taking pot shots at any man not for the Confederate cause.  Ernest Evans recalled hearing that his great-grandfather did not move around much outside except under cover of darkness.  The cobbler’s great-grandson supposed that there were not many rebels who would have wanted to go back into the Smallett Cave even had they known that a Union sympathizer was back there.

        “The writer finds it not difficult to understand how superstitious travelers, passing along the creek road near the Smallett Cave at twilight or during the early hours of evening, might have mistaken the shoe-burdened figure of Wesley Evans for that of a headless cobbler.  Loaded down under the weight of leather, tools, or perhaps the work of several days’ cobbling, his strange silhouette could understandably have appeared headless.  It was probably not difficult to associate such a sight, coming as it apparently did from Smallett Cave, with the dark, the dread, and unknown.  Thus, witnesses needed to believe in the existence of a headless shoemaker in order to explain such an irrational sight as that of the benighted shoemaker, but their belief depended upon an already existing tendency of the folk mind toward superstition.”

Exploring Mr. Haden’s book has been a pleasant undertaking from which readers of the Herald have benefited.  Look for a copy in the Douglas County Library:  THE HEADLESS COBBLER OF SMALLETT CAVE:  The Origin and Growth of a Douglas County, Missouri Legend, by Walter Darrell Haden.

CHAMPION – September 30, 2007

        By all accounts the Champions who attended Farmers Day in Norwood were much impressed and pleased by the whole thing.  In the hustle and bustle of the music and the horses, the mechanical mule, pets in costumes, old cars, cute Shriners in cute red cars, and the Clowns, a prominent Champion was separated from her family.  They didn’t meet up just precisely as planned.  Younguns who fancy themselves these days as being somehow the more reliable family members might have jumped to conclusions and put themselves to a lot more trouble than was necessary.  Worry warts can take the fun out of almost anything and even after they’ve got things figured out, sometimes they just can’t let go so they have to talk and talk about how worried they were, and where all they had to drive and to what lengths they had to go and so that’s what the memory winds up being: not that there was a Great Farmers Day, but a day that So and So got ‘lost.’  Why, she wasn’t lost at all!  Somebody just jumped to conclusions and didn’t look around.  She did have a very good time, however, and she also had her heart filled up that her children love her so and are concerned.  A Champion said that the things that make people so special is that they are so strong and so fragile.

        Phoebe Ward was host to family and friends in a celebration of Madelyn Jean Ward’s first birthday on Friday, Sept .28^th.  Madelyn’s birthday is actually October 10^th. and others celebrating on that occasion were those girls Linda Kaye and Karen Fae, whose birthdays are the 4^th of October.  Attending the soirée were Russell and Sue and Dean Upshaw, Robert and Sharon Upshaw, Michael Upshaw and Elva Upshaw.  Debora (Upshaw) Barker and Kyle Barker were also in attendance.  Linda Krider Watts and her sons Dillon and Dakota were there from Tennessee, together with Richard and Kaye (birthday girl) Johnston, as well as Josh Ward’s Grandparents and his brother Charlie.  Kenneth and Juanita Anderson also attended as did Staci Krider and Dustin Cline, Tanna Jo, Foster and Kalyssa Wiseman, and Fae and Lonnie Krider also enjoyed the fun. Family!  It’s a Champion Thing!

        It was a good thing Phoebe had the get-together for the families, because Kaye and Richard are off on their way to the Brixie Reunion this year being held in Lumberton, N.C.  They will have a wonderful time with folks who have frequently come to this part of the world for the Reunion.  While they are there, Richard and Kaye will wander over toward the Atlantic Ocean just to give it a gander.  It’s a beautiful sight, if kind of unsettling.

        The 26^th of September was the Harvest Moon.  “The night was mighty dark, you could hardly see, because the Moon refused to shine.  There’s a couple sittin neath the willow tree for Love they pine.  The little gal’s kind of scared of the dark, so she says, ‘I think I’ll go.’  The boy began to sigh, he looked up in the sky, and told the Moon his little tale of woe.  Oh!  Shine on!  Shine on Harvest Moon up in the sky!  I ain’t had no Lovin’ since January, February, June or July.  Snow Time ain’t no time to stay outdoors and spoon, so Shine On, shine on Harvest Moon, for me and my gal!”

        Linda’s Almanac from over at the Plant Place in Norwood says that the 3^rd through the 10^th will be excellent days for harvesting.  So any of those Sweet Potatoes, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, squashes, and other things Clever Champions may have growing could be brought in with the expectation that they will store well.  Some are just getting some greens planted and hoping for some mild weather so they will ‘make.’  Some have seen solid black woolly worms and think that’s a bad omen for a hard winter.

        Some think a hard winter would be a good idea.  Champions are resigned to getting what they get.  They do not subscribe to the notion that the possibility of a bad outcome should necessarily stem the tide of Optimism.  Anything could happen!

        A note has come to the Champion News mailbox from Chimaria Escondida of Piedras Negras, MX.  She says, among other things, “It’s good that you people in Champion write to that boy soldier SSGT. Raul Moreno.  How is he?  I hope he is ok.  It is my understanding that you people in the US spend about a Billion Dollars a week on the war in Iraq.  Where do you people get that much money?  How many of your soldiers have died over there now?”  Ms. Escondida goes on with more and more questions.  The Champion response has been:  “Dear Ms. Escondida,  Thanks for your letter.  Perhaps you would like to drop a line to Champion’s soldier at raul.morenojr(at)us.army.mil.  He will appreciate it.  We will too.  We haven’t heard from him in a while.  The other part of your question was put to a knowledgeable Champion who says that the United States government is borrowing those billions of dollars a week from the governments of China, Japan and South Korea.  It will be repaid with interest on the installment plan by US taxpayers over the next one hundred years.  That is to say, Ms. Escondida, if your grandchildren are US Taxpayers, their grandchildren will be the parents of the people who are getting close to paying off the debt.  (Meanwhile it is hoped that they do not need health care, education or infrastructure).”  It is to be noted that this Informed Champion is sort of a cynical grouch.  Champion has All Kinds!  The answer to another of her questions:  As of September 29^th, three thousand eight hundred and three US service personnel have died in the conflict in Iraq.  Ms. Escondida seems sort of fractious, but she has indicated that she joins Champions in sending Love and Gratitude to those serving everywhere.

        “The Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave” is turning out to be an entertaining read!  This part of the world is rich in history and lore.  It doesn’t have to happen in some exotic far away place to be interesting.  Actually, a Champion reported that whole area over there around Springcreek is kind of ‘spooky!’  It has also been learned that L.L. Broadfoot’s book, “Ozark Pioneer” is about to be republished!  The J.P. Harlan Memorial Museum in West Plains has an extensive collection of the works of this artist/historian, whose goal was to illuminate and emphasize the contributions of the Pioneers of the Ozarks to the overall success of the Nation.  The Pioneer Descendents Gathering down at Yates this week end promises to be an illuminating affair.  Few citizens, even Champions!, could ‘hack it’ if put to the tasks of surviving and thriving in the relative hardship of conditions prevalent in this area just a hundred years ago.  History is thought to be the Key to the Future.  It is a gift to have a chance to look into the past.

        Someone asked about the Tea Party at the Little Green Bean House.  It was reported to have been just delightful.  The sandwiches were very fancy, there were many flowers and green beans growing on the Little Green Bean House and there were many Frogs in attendance.  It turns out that Frogs Eat Flies and that is just the best possible thing for an out-door Tea Party!

        Excellent tea party, birthday party, or other kind of party news is welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Rhetorical or any kinds of answerable questions (consider the source) are welcome at Champion News.  Henson’s Store in downtown Champion is a good place to spill beans about anything.  Nothing gets reported from the Store without Authorization!  Rest easy in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION –September 23, 2007

        It is suddenly Autumn and the good news in Champion in recent days has to do with sister city Skyline and the Celebration of Grandparent’s Day on Friday, September 21^st.  What a lovely day!  The school was crowded with visiting Grandparents and there were games outside and a great number of good things going on inside.  Some local Grandmothers with Grandchildren much too far away will go to this celebration in the future to stand in for some Grandparent who can’t make it because they live too far away or for some other reason cannot attend.  Young Olivia from Virginia is visiting with her Grandma Charlene Dupre, a great Champion Friend.  Olivia will be four in October.  This week they plan to visit in Champion at a certain Little Green Bean House.  They will be having a tea party with fancy sandwiches.  They will write a story and take pictures and it promises to be a delightful day!  Some Krider Grandmothers just can’t turn a corner without a grandchild underfoot!  Happy Feet!  Dillon and Dakota will be in from Tennessee for a couple of days and Foster and Eli and Kalyssa will surely be nearby.  Good for all of them!

        Friday, September 21^st, was POW/MIA Awareness Day.  An Awareness Day Color Ceremony was presented by VFW Post 3770 at the Skyline School.  Post 3770 Quartermaster, Joe Kelly, of Norwood,  presented the school principal, Ms. Jeannie Curtis, with a US Flag and a POW/MIA Flag to fly on the appropriate days.  Post 3770’s website, www.vfwwebcom.org/mo/post3770 has some excellent photographs taken then at Skyline and at a similar ceremony held later that day in Norwood. The Missing Man Table Speech given at Skyline is also detailed there.  Notes on the website say, “It was Grandparents Day at Skyline School so the ceremony was well attended by all students, staff, and visitors.”  Good for all of them!

        Champion’s own soldier, SST Raul Moreno is serving in Afghanistan.  His address is SSG Moreno, Raul/ 4-310^th, TF SABER/ FOB NARAY/ APO AE 09354/ email:  raul.morenojr(at)us.army.mil  Just any kind of correspondence is welcome there.

        Serving soldiers and Veterans appreciate having their efforts acknowledged.  The survivors of those who don’t return also appreciate the recognition.  To all of them Champions extend their Love and their genuine Gratitude.

        The Pioneer Descendents Gathering is drawing nigh.  It will be an education to anyone who will venture down, down to the ‘edge of the world’ at Yates.  It’s not so far, but such a lovely trip!  There will be blacksmithing, music, good food, and an opportunity to meet good neighbors and learn about what it took to make a go of it in these parts years ago.  It is still not an easy place to get by but it has its good points.  Molasses making will be going on and Betty Thomas reported the molasses making on Saturday the 22^nd at Tony and Linda Stilling’s place was an excellent experience though it took some time.  There will be soap making, rail splitting, demonstrations of all sorts including Native Americans, Mountain Men and Civil War re-enactors.  Very exciting!

        More interesting mail to Champion:  “You may already know that Tom and I ( Arlene) had friends from Georgia visit with us.  They were curious to know why we had left Georgia, skeptical that we had made a good choice?  Georgian’s are that way you know……..We gave them the choice of destinations on Friday between Branson and Champion.  Being interested in historical sights they chose Champion.  We went by the Henry and Minnie Cooley homeplace ( Rd 234?) and then on to Henson’s store.  It was the highlight of their vacation so far.  They enjoyed Rockbridge but were thrilled to have stepped into history, even for a brief visit.  Bob Chadwell stopped by Henson’s and we all had a nice chat, like old friends sitting on the porch on a warm day ……Marsha and Larry approve of our move!  Blessings, Arlene (Cooley).” 

        On Sunday afternoon the Ozark Video Magazine on Channel 21, had an excellent program on the reunion held twice a year by the old pros of the ‘Golden Age of Radio.’  Among others, Dr. Jim Baker interviewed Dock Martin and Carl Haden.  They talked about their live music radio shows during the 30s, 40s, and 50s.  The Haden Family was composed of the six kids and Mom and Dad, and adopted steel guitar player Doc Martin.  It was a very informative program that reinforced the notion that the Ozarks is a hot-bed of musical creativity.  Darrell Haden from over in Tennessee, also quite a music aficionado, has sent a copy of his book “The Headless Cobbler of Smallett Cave,”  published by The Kinfolk Press in 1967.  It’s an exciting read!  “The writer knows personally that the Smallett Cave Legend was often used as a bugaboo by parents to frighten children into better behavior and to keep them away from the cave itself.”

        Where is a good ‘bugaboo’ when one is needed?  Children may not be easily frightened these days, but this is a compelling story and it is just the right time of the year for such a tale.

        Jury Duty is a privilege, they say.  Some think that if they were to get railroaded or have a shenanigan pulled on them and wound up in court, they would like to have someone like themselves on the jury—a ‘Jury of Your Peers.’  One guy asked another guy in the presence of others, “So, are you still beating your wife?”  If the man were to answer, “No,” the implication is that he used to beat his wife but is no longer doing so.  If he were annoyed and said, “No!  I have never beat my wife!”  some might think that his flustered response indicated that he had something to hide.  ‘He protests too much.’  It’s a ‘loaded’ question.  The question comes to mind in a conversation concerning Champion’s Long Time Friend, Roger Wall, a Dedicated Friend to Douglas County and a Decorated Veteran.  Repeating something doesn’t make it so.  Rushing to judgment without all the facts is a receipt for injustice.  Innocent until proven guilty….is the rule.

        The 29^th Brixey Reunion will be held in North Carolina this year!  Someone said that if all the family trees from this part of the country were all drawn out they would tangle up together like Briar Rabbit’s briar patch!  A conversation was overheard referring to the wife of the son of the sister of the girl that married the person in question’s brother.  There is an old song “I’m My Own Grandpa.”  It’s very complicated.

        Complicated things, good bugaboos, rules, things as slow as molasses are all welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717.  Any kind of report about how Louise Hutchison or Zoey Louise spent their birthday can be e-mailed to Champion News.  For good feelings as of old friendships (“Fine as frog-hair split three ways!”) the key is a few minutes spent sitting in the sun on the porch at Henson’s Store in historic Champion–Looking on the Bright Side.

CHAMPION – September 17, 2007

        Kalyssa Wiseman has made her first trip to Champion to visit with her Grandparents and Aunt Staci.  She came with Foster and her folks.  Her great aunt Vivian Floyd was there as well as great aunt Barbara Krider and great uncle Harley.  Faye said Kalyssa has long pretty fingers that come from the Upshaw side of the family.  On Sunday everybody had a good visit with Esther and Raymond Howard down again from Marshfield.  There were some stories overheard about Raymond’s bee keeping days and bees flying out of his shirt when a hive went wild on him over at Richard Johnson’s house.  More will have to be learned about that.  Esther’s red hat and sweet smile had everyone in a cheery mood.

        The squeak of saddle leather and rattling of wagon harness broke Champion’s stillness on Thursday last.  When the wagon train rolled into the square it was greeted by a number of people curious about the wagons and the stories of the trail.  A couple of Champions exchanged glances and made a tacit agreement to politeness when Wagon Master Clifton Luna asked one if “the West Plains Wagon Club train isn’ about the biggest thing that happens in Champion?”  Being from over in Dora, he is not acquainted with the furious hubbub of activities around Champion.  The person he addressed told him, “Yes,” that the wagon train following right on top of the Champion School Reunion did represent some of the busiest times of the year.  That person didn’t mention the regular parades, ceremonies and celebrations that hardly let the dust get settled from one to the next.  One of the wagons had a sign that said, “This wagon runs on oats, don’t step in the exhaust.”

        A conversation with Esther Wrinkles revealed the passing of her friend, Charmain Young from Mountain Grove.  Ms. Young had been ill the last few months.  For many years she had cared for her mother and for her invalid husband.  Her mother passed away about a year ago and then her husband about six months ago.  Esther used to make pies for her and they had been friends for many years.  They had met back in the 40’s.  The young people used to go to all the pie suppers and picnics around.  At one of those pie suppers at Champion, Blaine Dobbs got drunk and kicked the back door in at the school.  This was the old school building before it burned.  They had him arrested and it was a good thing for people to know that they didn’t put up with too much foolishness in Champion.  Still there was mischief anywhere there was a bunch of young people.  Esther said that around Halloween there were some that would always tip Ed’s (Henson) toilet over.  One time he waited in there with a shotgun.  She didn’t say how that turned out.  She did say that some of them put Clifford’s plow up in a big tree. At a picnic in the area now where V highway meets the county dirt road, Blaine Dobbs hit Fait Upshaw in the head with a rock about as big as a fist.  Esther said a lot of the old picnics that used to be held at Brown’s Cave and other places had to be stopped because of the drinking.  She had been visiting with some friends who told her a story about some old time backwoods people who didn’t get to town too often.  One of these fellows took a notion to go to town and while he was walking down the sidewalk he saw a mirror in a store window.  He looked at it and thought, “Why, that’s a picture of my old Dad!” so he bought it.  On his way home he got to thinking that his wife didn’t ever care for his old Dad that much so he decided to hang the picture in the barn.  Every day he would go down there and look at the picture.  His wife got suspicious and when he was off in the field one day, she went down to the barn.  “Huh,” she said, looking at the mirror, “so that’s the old critter he’s been hanging around with!”

        Alexander the Great Bull has arrived on Barbara and Harley’s farm.  ( A Prominent Champion says, “Things happen when Harley’s home!”)  The bull is an 18 month old black angus bull raised by Jack Williams from over at Mountain Grove.  He wasted no time in exiting the trailer and making himself at home in the pasture.  It is yet to be seen if he is indeed a Great bull.  That is an auspicious name.  Barbara said that there had been a lot of shooting of the bull prior to the purchasing of the bull.  Meanwhile down at Henson’s store, Elmer Banks was talking about an old neighbor of his who had published in the paper a notice that a certain cow was molesting his homestead.  He didn’t like the cow, nor did his wife, nor his dog.  He said it was a pretty heifer with a tag in her ear and he gave the tag number.  He said that within a certain time the cow needed to be claimed or it would be enjoyed by the entire community in a barbeque.  Well, he knew the whole time whose cow it was and as a matter of fact it belonged to Elmer Banks and Elmer had been running cattle on the man’s place.  All he had to do was call Elmer on the phone!  Instead he published the thing in the paper for people all around the county to read.  Elmer put up with no small amount of hoorawing about it.  There was another Champion in the store who had a sad bull tale.  A neighbor of his had a no-account bull and when his bull crossed the fence to help the no account bull tend to his business the good bull took a bullet.  It was a sorry affair all around, a sad one too.  Someone remarked to Foster’s old Dad when he came into the store dressed in his camouflage, that they had seen turkey gobblers big as emus over yonder.  It is to be hoped that that very someone hadn’t spooked his chances of shooting one of them!  Maybe of an evening he’ll get another chance if folks will just stay home.

        Faye and Kaye, raised as good girls to respect their elders, are being respectful of their sister-in-law who had her birthday on August 25^th.  Tanna’s birthday got overshadowed by the birth of her daughter Kalyssa, but she isn’t complaining.  September 21^st   Louise Hutchison will have a big celebration of some sort to celebrate her seventy second birthday (Who would believe it?) and she shares her birthday with Little Zoey Louise down in Austin who will be four years old.  That’s the wedding anniversary of Tanna and Roger.  Sharon and Farel will be celebrating one of those soon.  Everybody’s getting excited about the Pioneer Descendents Day down at Yates in a couple of weeks.  So as far as the eye can see Celebration is the Watch Word in Champion.

        On the 21^st, the VFW Post 3770 out of Mountain Grove will have a flag presentation including a POW-MIA flag at the Skyline School.  Pete Proctor will officiate and the ceremony will be at 11 o’clock.  Champions will be thinking about their soldier, Raul, and the families of the now three thousand, seven hundred eighty two of his fallen comrades.  Love and Gratitude are the other Champion Watch Words.

        Watch words, gobbler and bull stories, examples of friendly hoorawing are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Squeaks, rattles and stories of the trail are welcome at Champion News.  To observe the frenetic festive activities at Champion, just take a seat on the porch at Henson’s Store in beautiful downtown Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

CHAMPION – September 10, 2007

        The good news in Champion this week is that things are finally settling down over the hubbub the reunion.  Stragglers are showing up a week late to hear tales of all the good times they missed.  While they were missing the Champion’s Reunion Good Times they were busy living their own good times, however, and they look no worse for the wear.  Even Champions can’t be everywhere at once!  Many are planning for next year already.  Mrs. Ruby Proctor remarked that she had very much enjoyed the whole affair and that she was pleased to see Barbara Pippin (…..) there for the first time and enjoying herself so much.  Ms. Proctor said that she had planned to bring her Bible with her to the reunion.  It is one that she bought out in Oregon (probably in the 1940’s) that survived the tornado that about blew her away on Christmas Eve 1982.  She said that the back was torn off of the Bible but not a page was missing or torn, that it was found laying open and not one of the clippings that she had kept in it was missing.  It was one of the very few things that survived that awful storm.  Of course, Ruby and her son Gary survived and that was just a an extraordinary piece of luck!  Anyway, she forgot to bring the Bible with her this time, but there will be a number interested in seeing it Next Year.

        Champion’s friend Ethel McCallie stopped in to Champion on Labor Day.  She was in the neighborhood, having attended the Haden-Kay-Sellers reunion in Ava.  She said that the music at their reunion was just wonderful.  (It should be with all those Hadens!)  She was touring around the country side with her young cousin and his wife who live just over between Seymour and Ava.  They had recently returned from a trip to Guatemala to visit their daughter.  It was a very enlightening trip and they had good pictures to share.  Ms. McCallie lives fifty miles north of Tulsa and says that while they have had some nice rain up there they have not experienced the flooding that some parts of Oklahoma have seen.  She says her house is on a hill.  She had her 90^th birthday on August 11^th and had hoped to run into Mrs. Esther Wrinkles while she was in the neighborhood, since she had read about her celebration back in June. Darrell Haden sent a note saying how much he had enjoyed his sojourn to Champion.  He also said how happy he was to have received the news of Woody Van Eaton.  He said, “I hope Mrs. Stoner in Springfield knows I appreciate my friend’s address.  I haven’t seen him since 1953.  We served in the U.S. Army at Ft. Leonard Wood.  He used to give me a ride to the Mansfield-Ava exit on some week ends.”  Old Friendships…friendships from long ago and lasting friendships forged long ago are some of the very best part of life.  Some Champions are getting older and they seem to be keenly aware of the importance of the special people in their circles.

        New Friendships are being forged all the time.  Granddaughter day brought young people together from far flung places.  Little Kalyssa and Jenna will know each other as they grow up and may become friends.  Ruby Proctor and Esther Wrinkles have been friends for more than sixty years!  Raul Moreno, Jr., Champion’s young US Soldier Friend in Afghanistan, is forging new friendships as he is in that hard and dangerous place.  It is hoped that he and his Brother and Sister Soldiers will spend long hours off in the future reminiscing about their time there and finding the good in the circumstances that brought them together.  It is to be hoped that the Love and Gratitude expressed to them by the Whole Nation will have played a part in helping them move on to happy, safe, productive lives.  Wounded over there so far in Afghanistan and Iraq are well over twenty seven THOUSAND U.S. Soldiers.  “Isn’t that 2,700?”  No.  The number has three zeros making it twenty seven thousand.  That is just a current ‘reported’ figure.  Sad lessons from wars past are reminders that each of those numbers represents someone’s precious person and there are many more precious persons wounded than are ever acknowledge.  Champions are full of Love and Gratitude.

        Good Champion news is that Kalyssa Wiseman is home from the hospital with her family.  She is almost two weeks old now and big brother Foster really likes her.  There are already some very sweet photos circulating of the two of them and of them with Mom and Dad, Tanna and Roger.  Jenna Kaitland Brixey is home too!  She came home to the farm on Sunday and seems to have things under control there.  Janna and James have already found that a trip to town is a new experience with a baby.  They say that Grandpa Dean is taking to his new role pretty well.

        The Pioneer Descendents Gathering is just around the corner!  It will be held on the 6^th and 7^th of October and if it is anything like last year’s event it will be fantastic!  The gathering is promoted by many of the descendents of Tom Brown and John Burden.  There will be a host of exhibits and demonstrations of old time crafts and skills and admittance is free.  There will be some advertising in the next few weeks that will describe the expected fun of this much anticipated shindig.  The sesquicentennial is also just around the corner!  (Champion is reported to have four corners since the ‘square’ is so frequently mentioned, although their precise location is a matter of conjecture.)  It has been a treat to see the Herald’s photos of the Centennial Fashions.  Imagination and Modesty played a fine part in the design and execution of those lovely clothes.  Someone remarked that with the ease of doing laundry these days it would seem that people would be interested in wearing ‘more clothes.’  This week’s Music Appreciation:  “A-round the corner.  Be-neat the berry tree / A-long the foot path Be-hind the bush / Looking for Emily!/ I told my Emily to go away / But now I’m sad she didn’t stay. / And tomorrow night if she / Comes a-looking round for me / I’ll be sittin’ ‘neat the bitter berry tree!  A-round the corner.  Be-neat the berry tree / A-long the foot path Be-hind the bush / Looking for Emily.”   The First Champion who sings that song down at the Pioneer Descendents Gathering will get a free souvenir photograph to commemorate the occasion!

        Charlene is home from Virginia for a while!  She’s got Olivia with her and there is all manner of Grandmother and  Granddaughter fun going on.  Linda’s Almanac from over at The Plant Place says that the 13^th to the 17^th of the month will be excellent for planting any crops that yield above ground.

        “Just think of the ink!” someone remarked about the length of two weeks worth of Champion items stacked up on one page in the September 6^th issue of the Herald.  This particular batch of Champion Items saw its first ink back on August 31^st, 2006.  The column had been dormant for a while and previously had been written by Esther Wrinkles.  After she had moved over to Vanzant she kept it going as Vanzant/Champion for a while, but Champions were just laying low news wise and it’s hard to get the straight skinny on things from a distance, so Champion went unsung for a little while.  With the exception of about two years Esther has written about Champion and Vanzant for the Herald since she was twenty years old.  That’s close to seventy years!  It has been suggested that the current columnist might try to be more sparing with the ink.  Perhaps it will last longer.  One year down and sixty seven to go!  Things are getting pretty exciting around the Herald anyway with Ms. Fish’es impending nuptials!  Look for things to be wonderful and out of the ordinary.

        Wonderful, extraordinary things, lovely songs, the straight skinny of any hubbubs, shindigs, gatherings, reunions, sojourns and nuptials are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367 Norwood, MO 65717.  Examples of Champion Friendships are eagerly requested e-mailed to Champion News.  Editorial comments concerning length or content can be directed to someone who cares at the Herald.  Fashion Commentary or charming old Champion stories may be shared in person at Henson’s Store on the north side of the Square where Stragglers are Always Welcome Home.  Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Champion – September 2, 2007

        This week in Champion the Very Best and Most Lovely News is the birth of two new little Champion lasses!  They are not twins but quite distant cousins born within a few hours of each other on Friday, August 31^st, 2007!  Their Mothers are fine and so are they!  Jenna Kaitland Brixey was born about one in the afternoon and is the daughter of Janna and James Brixey of Champion.  She is the first grandchild of Dean Brixey and will just have to get used to it.  Kalyssa Ariel Wiseman was born a little after six in the evening and is the daughter of Tanna and Roger Wiseman.  Kalyssa has a big brother named Foster Emit and Champion grandparents, Faye and Lonnie Krider.  She is the first granddaughter in the family.  The four grandsons were all around to welcome their new cousin including, Dakota and Dillon from Tennessee and Eli who may have the sweetest smile and the deepest dimples that ever come to Champion.  Dakota, who is now taller than his Mother, had great adventures to relate concerning his summer trip to Alaska.  He did a lot of fishing and learned a lot about bears and gold mining.  He’s a good storyteller and a nice brother and cousin to the younger fellows and now Kalyssa!

        The Champion School Reunion was a lovely gathering.  There were some notable absences for one reason or another and some unveiled remarks about ‘silver threads among the gold.’  The food was plentiful and tasty.  The music lifted spirits and the visiting and catching up was what the whole thing is about.  Those attending were: Mary Graham and Robert Graham and Elva Ragland of Drury; Elsie Curtis, Debbie Massey, Barbara Cooper, Linda and Daniel Kingston, Lonnie Krider, Betty Henson, Wilda Moses, Darrell Cooley and C.D. Upshaw of Norwood.  From Mountain Grove came Tom and Arlene Cooley, Ruby Proctor and Pete Proctor, Bertha Wood, Rita Coble, Frances and Wayne Sutherland (and daughters Greta of Hartville and Shirley of Nashville, TN), Sue and Russell Upshaw, Dean Upshaw and Juanita and Kenneth Anderson.  From Ava came Karen and Leavon Lambert, Irene Dooms, and Billy J. Lambert.  Rogersville sent Vivian Floyd and from Seymour came Jerry E. and Shawna Smith.  Tommy and Barbara Southerland came from Branson.  Esther Wrinkles came from Vanzant.  Peggy Hancock Carrera came from Twin Falls, Idaho.  Glenna and Wm. Robert Henson came from Springfield.  Gainesville was represented by Barbara Boam.  There were others in attendance as well and everyone had a good time.  The new signs had gone up just in time for everyone to find the way Home.  They will stay up for those who were not able to make it to the reunion this time but still want to come Home ….sometime….anytime.

        Friday was a big day for Champion marked by a visit from Betty and Darrell Haden.  They were on their way to the Haden-Kay-Sellers Reunion in Ava and stopped in Champion for some ice-cream and conversation.  They were expecting their reunion to be a good sized affair with Carl Haden Junior making an appearance from Springfield.  He was part of the Happy Haden Family that did a lot of entertaining around the country ‘back in the day.’  It is a matter of great delight that Mr. Haden left a copy of “Beyond the Missouri Sky” for Champion enjoyment.  It is an instrumental music compact disk with Charlie Haden on bass and Pat Metheny on acoustic guitars and other instruments.  Both the artists grew up in small towns in Missouri and Metheny said in his album notes “Missouri.  For me, as a kid growing up there, it was a place to dream.  A place to sit out in the backyard and consider the possibilities of life and music….”  He sounds like he was born and raised in Champion!  He also said, “But as much as I loved it there, I was also filled with a restlessness and curiosity about the whole world that I knew existed beyond that Missouri sky.”  Champions are an adventurous lot!  Among the tunes on the album is Roy Acuff’s “The Precious Jewel.”  It is a tragic, sweet love story that many may recall.  They chose the songs with beautiful melodies and chords that inspired them for this album.  They range from traditional old pieces to film themes and original compositions.  It is a most pleasant listen and Champions are welcome to enjoy it.  It will be good to hear about the music at the Haden-Kay-Sellers Reunion.

        The news from Last Week was that a couple of weeks earlier Linda and Glenn Cooley’s wedding anniversary was reported here.  Their accomplishment was underreported by a decade!  They’ve had their knot tied since August of 1962!  That’s forty-five years—not the reported thirty five.  Congratulations to a fine pair of Champions!  This error is regrettable, but somehow it represents a balance of sorts since there have been random and unfounded accusations of ‘embellishment’ to the news in these columns.  Someone suggested that might be why they don’t always appear!

        Notes go out from Champion to it’s soldier SSG Moreno, Raul / 4-319^th  /TRSABER / FOB NARAY / APO 09354.  No news has come from him for a while, but he stays in Champion thoughts and best wishes as do all those serving abroad in dangerous situations.  Love and Gratitude is due them from their whole Nation and it is due to the survivors of the Three thousand seven hundred and thirty nine American Service People who have given their all in Iraq.  It’s good news to hear that Pete Proctor and the fellows from VFW Post 3770 of Mountain Grove will be presenting a Patriotic program for the students at Skyline School sometime in September.

        It was reported last week that once again Louise Hutchison and Sharon Sikes are doing all the work!  When the Skyline VFD Firefighters hosted a class at the Fire House on Mobile Water Supply on Friday and Saturday(the 24^th and 25^th of August), they and a few others of the Ladies’ Auxiliary were busy preparing food for the students which included a big lunch on Saturday.  Betty Dye, Ruth Hamilton, Karen Griswold and others contributed food and assistance in getting the men fed.  The Firefighters always appreciate the contributions of the Auxiliary and it is generally acknowledged that the Skyline Fire Department enjoys solid community support.  Assistant Fire Chief Mark Arnold of the Thayer Fire Department instructed the Skyline Firefighters and members of other local fire departments in the most efficient use of the tanker and pumper trucks in order to maintain a continuous water supply for use in extinguishing fires where no local water is available.  The Skyline Fire Department covers an are of 125 square miles of its own territory and offers Mutual Aid to all surrounding fire departments.  Attendees remarked that having the opportunity to learn and practice the correct procedures in a non emergency situation greatly improves the efficiency and effectiveness of such tactics in the field.

        Exciting things, musical things, reports of hardworking people, and Brand New People are welcome at Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717. Underreported things (accusations of embellishment notwithstanding) and requests to borrow the CD ‘Beyond the Missouri Sky’ can be e-mailed to Champion News.  As always, Henson’s Store is a good place to spin a yarn about the old days and the old ways to keep nostalgia humming along. As Champions have come home to roost they are…. LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE!