The very first time that I was privileged to have driven past...The Road Sign...RUSH 33....was right after a Driver's License Examiner at Simla Colorado had "handed" me, sans a test of any sort, my first Colorado Drivers License at the age of eighteen!!!
Now back in those "good old days" of this era it was customary for young folks, that could be spared from various duties, extra hands and others that were seeking part time employment, people from the farms on the plains of Eastern Colorado would journey over to the Western Slope to such places as Fruitvale, Orchard Mesa, and Palisade, small farming communities around Grand Junction Colorado, there to help harvest peaches and other fruits. As destiny would have it I was permitted to make this particular trek across the Rocky Mountains...ONLY one time!!! This trip was a very memorable...if not a downright unforgettable venture....and most especially the return trip home!!!
..........................MR. RONALD J. HOOVER of Rush "33"........................
Very much like the nickname Corky that was "tacked" onto me by my beloved brother Walter Marlin about five and one half months prior to the time my beloved sister Gladys had taken my baby picture....in a letter that I recieved dated May 25, 2004 from my friend...everyone in Eastern Colorado knew him as Ron...he wrote; "Hi Corky" "I'm starting this as Corky, because when someone says Lyle Schmeiser, I have to stop and think a while, as to who they are talking about. So you will always be Corky". And Ron was right...I have always been Corky!!! Ron had a car that was much more "road worthy" than the '39 Ford 2dr sedan that I had purchased from my brother Vern for the sum of $50.00 and although Ron lived with his parents, Mr. & Mrs. Harold Hoover on their farm a few miles north of...RUSH 33...Ron and I ran around together, mostly to dances around the country. (The Ginkgo Biloba is kicking in)...
One of those times of going to a dance didn't work out so well and was quite a disapointment to us. A "gulley washer" rain had washed out a bridge which resulted in us turning around and "high tailing" it for home!!!
On the trip over to Grand Junction I was PRIVILEGED, I had the distinct pleasure....
(I've learned the true meaning of what the word HONOR means since the time I was "eighteen going on thirty"!!!)(And it has been my HONOR to have been acquainted with a LOT of really great people all over the state of Colorado where I had the PRIVILEGE of living the majority of my life")!!!....The trip over to Grand Junction with Ron and his younger brother Tom was a breeze compared to the....sometimes a bit scary...hair raising...trip back across...some of the most AWESOMELY BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY in the entire United States of America!!!
The orchard that a whole bunch of us from...RUSH "33"...were "working" in belonged to Ron and Tom's uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs Verle Deniston and seemingly from the time of our arrival until the day I gave it up and left to go home...was one continual "wall to wall" party!!! There was a lot of "horse play"...a lot of nonsense and clowning around involved...along with a hot, sticky, dusty job of picking tons of fuzzy peaches!!! We would work all day and then "try" to sleep at night. We were "sleeping" in a vacant house owned by another neighbor located across the road and about 200 yards from Ron's Uncle and Aunt's home.
.......................................ROSIN......................................
At this "bunkhouse of sorts" where a bunch of us guys spent our evenings and long drawn out seemingly endless sleepless nights....(my dictionary describes it rather aptly)....BOISTEROUS...rough and noisy, noisily jolly or rowdy, clamorous, unrestrained...the sound of boisterous laughter....I dont know if any of us were doing much laughing....but there was plenty of "unrestrained" clamor going on!!!
Someone had attached a string to an outside wall, most likely right near an open window and then they would set up a din of "sawing" on this string with a piece of rosin which would create all kinds of weird, eerie, nerve racking sounds with this combination!!! Just about the time we would all get settled in for the night and perhaps doing a bit of "sawing" of our own, this tumultuous, noisy din would start up and it was usually kept going until the whole camp was awakened and wandering aimlessly about in the darkness seeking the cause of commotion...all the unrest!!!
Now add all of that to the aforementioned peach fuzz, the hot hard work, along with all kinds of flying insects...both day and night...and as can be imagined...it wasn't long before some of us were ready to go back to the quiet peaceful Eastern Plains!!!
.................................THE RETURN TRIP..................................
The Rapp family, Bob and Carol and their four children from northeast of...RUSH "33"
....had driven both their family automobile as well as their farm pickup over there on this "Historic Peach Picking Trip". The primary purpose for this was to haul a load of fruit back home with them on the return trip. I believe it was because of the youngest of their children becoming quite ill that they deemed it necessary to return home before the harvest was completed. They inquired of me if I would like to drive the pickup back to their farm in exchange for a ride home? They did not have to twist my arm NOR did thay have to ask twice....for a couple of reasons and one of those reasons is explained in the next segment, while the other is described in "ROSIN"!!!
..............................MISS CRYSTAL RAPP................................
.......RUSH "33"........
I had taken a "shine" to the daughter of my special friends Bob and Carol. However Crystal, who was perhaps a year or two younger than myself, much to my dismay, did not care very much to share in my enthusiasm in anything more than just a casual friendship. She did, however, along with one of the younger children start out by riding in the pickup with me. This arrangement didn't last very long though so the caravan stopped and allowed her to ride with her parents and one of the other younger ones then rode in the pickup with me. From that point on we were supposed to alternate the riders in the pickup but that plan did not work out at all due to the fact that Bob and Carol decided to stop somewhere en route while I kept on going....
much to the consternation of my two young riders!!!
The distance from Grand Junction Colorado to the Bob Rapp Ranch at...RUSH 33...is approximately three hundred and sixty miles. We were able to accomplish this all in one day, but not without considerable difficulty!!!
.....................................MONARCH PASS.................................
The Continental Divide of the Americas meanders from the Seward Peninsula in Alaska all the way down through Canada and the United States, through Old Mexico and extends to the tip of South America to eventually even be crossed by the Panama Canal
....and the only way to get from the eastern plains to the western slope of Colorado and visa versa....besides flying in a jet airplane...is to drive over the Continental Divide!!! MONARCH PASS, standing at eleven thousand three hundred and twelve feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Atlantic Ocean
to the east, over the breathtakingly beautiful Rocky Mountains is one of Colorado's higher passes.....About sixty miles to the south of Monarch Pass is a pass that a Mr. C. W. McCall, singing a country/western song....where either the singer was made famous by the Wolf Creek Pass or vice versa....anyway Earl and his buddy were hauling a load of chickens over this 10,857 feet pass...singing, "Wolf Creek Pass way up on the Great Divide, truckin on down the other side". They didn't fare so well on account of the fact that the brakes went out on their flatbed truck and they lost the top row of crated chickens when they shot through a tunnel and then slammed into the side of a feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs, Colorado!!!
My trip over Monarch Pass in Bob Rapp's 1950 1/2 ton Chevrolet pickup, as exhilarating as it was, was not nearly so eventful as Earl and his buddy and all them chickens flyin down off'n Wolf Creek Pass!!! (Google C.W. McCall and read all about it)!!!
Things went along relatively well until we began the ascent of this pass and on to the summit, at which point would have been about half way "to the house". Two or three times upon our approach of the summit of this majestically beautiful landscaped work of art by the Creator of the Universe, God Almighty Himself, the pickup overheated making it necessary for me to pull off to the side of the road to allow the motor to cool down and to add coolant to the radiator. Two of the younger children were riding with me at this time and coupled with the fact that the pickup was causing a bit of concern along with the fact that the parents were "lagging"...
far behind...plus the excitement of the height of the mountain we were attempting to climb...and the children were beginning to act up as well...I do not mind relating the fact that I was beginning to get a bit uneasy myself!!!
...............The Road Sign
Saturday, March 26, 2011
IN REMEMBRANCE
It is indeed regretful that I waited until my PIONEER Parents had passed off the stage of action before the "seed" was planted and the thought process began to "germinate" in my otherwise intelligent mind....the thought of writing a book similar to the ones mentioned in "COMMEMORATION"....However, I did "come to my senses" before my brother ESTEL FRANK SCHMEISER (3/6/1912-7/8/2004) passed away....
July 8, 2004....a day that is stamped indelibly in my memory....because that evening I was installed for the first time as the Disabled American Veterans Central Florida Chapter 16 Chaplain. Not only was Estel the oldest of my siblings....he was also a GOLD MINE of information....a LOT of information that I waited almost too long to realize that I needed to know in order to even begin to write my life story and get it right!!!
And then there was my sister GLADYS EILEEN (SCHMEISER) HOOPES (8/19/1919-2/6/2010) who was instrumental in filling in a LOT of blanks after the demise of our brother Estel. Upon attempting to "dig out" some information from my brother Vern who was the sibling that purchased the OLD HOMESTEAD when my parents decided to retire from farming....I'd ask him questions like...."Hey, Vern can you tell me some of the names of the horses our Dad used for farming"? "Well, what do you need to know all of that for"?
That certainly was no where near the response that I got...or would have gotten... from THREE of the other NINE of our siblings!!! Gladys remembered AND related to me the names of EVERY one of Dad's horses from the time she had gotten old enough to realize what was taking place on the old HOMESTEAD and perhaps years before that!!!
My PIONEER father farmed with horses from the time he was big enough to harness a team on his mother's homestead/farm in Indiana until he retired from farming in 1954....a span of almost a HALF CENTURY...!!!
Another GOLD MINE of INFORMATION that I still have around is my little sister GLIDA ISABEL (SCHMEISER) HUGHEY who presently lives in the state of Oregon and was widowed 2/15/2002 when her lifemate Gene passed away. We've spent at least the last eight years on nearly a monthly basis of filling each other in on details of our lives!!!
July 8, 2004....a day that is stamped indelibly in my memory....because that evening I was installed for the first time as the Disabled American Veterans Central Florida Chapter 16 Chaplain. Not only was Estel the oldest of my siblings....he was also a GOLD MINE of information....a LOT of information that I waited almost too long to realize that I needed to know in order to even begin to write my life story and get it right!!!
And then there was my sister GLADYS EILEEN (SCHMEISER) HOOPES (8/19/1919-2/6/2010) who was instrumental in filling in a LOT of blanks after the demise of our brother Estel. Upon attempting to "dig out" some information from my brother Vern who was the sibling that purchased the OLD HOMESTEAD when my parents decided to retire from farming....I'd ask him questions like...."Hey, Vern can you tell me some of the names of the horses our Dad used for farming"? "Well, what do you need to know all of that for"?
That certainly was no where near the response that I got...or would have gotten... from THREE of the other NINE of our siblings!!! Gladys remembered AND related to me the names of EVERY one of Dad's horses from the time she had gotten old enough to realize what was taking place on the old HOMESTEAD and perhaps years before that!!!
My PIONEER father farmed with horses from the time he was big enough to harness a team on his mother's homestead/farm in Indiana until he retired from farming in 1954....a span of almost a HALF CENTURY...!!!
Another GOLD MINE of INFORMATION that I still have around is my little sister GLIDA ISABEL (SCHMEISER) HUGHEY who presently lives in the state of Oregon and was widowed 2/15/2002 when her lifemate Gene passed away. We've spent at least the last eight years on nearly a monthly basis of filling each other in on details of our lives!!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
...................COMMEMORATION.......................
I have this philosophy....I am persuaded....I have determined in my mind....that it is so much better to "give credit where credit is due".....that its better not to wait until someone passes off the stage of action but rather to, while they are still around to enjoy it....spread a few roses in their path on their walk down through life!!! Such is the case with a few of my writer friends such as; Although I've never met Mr. Monty Gaddy, owner of the Gaddy Printing Company at Calhan Colorado personally I did, however, attend high school with his mother and over the years have known of and or met many of the characters who make up the book that he published back in 1987
The HISTORY of CALHAN and Vicinity 1888-1988 written by Larry L. King
****** ******* ********* ******** *******
Then there is the COLORADO STORY...a Passion for the Prairies...a vivid memoir of life on a homestead by the (late) Esther Clibon, A Native Coloradan who was born and raised about twenty five miles northeast of my Pioneer Parent's Homestead where I was born and raised. I worked nine years for her (late) brother-in-law Mr. Lennie F. Ehnes, co-owner of Ehnes-Rink Auto Supply in Colorado Springs Colorado.
****** ******** ******* ****** ******
Next we have a relatively new writer/author who presently resides in the Denver Colorado metro area who wrote a very interesting, informative book titled Working the Land: Building a Life....written by Fran Cirbo. Her PIONEER parents Homesteaded between Matheson and Limon, in Elbert County Colorado, around the "turn" of the twentieth century.
******** ******** ****** ******* *******
A long ago friend of mine presented me with a Pioneer History book back there about 1995 titled One Horse and a Load of Oats written by Ivan A Swanson.It is 5-1/2 X 8-1/2 and consists of only 82 pages. It is just a book of short stories but quite interesting to read...This past week I picked it up and thumbed through it. One or two of the stories in it are directly related to my life as a youngster growing up out there on the prairies of Eastern Colorado. One of the stories was titled "Runaway" which involved a two hitch team of horses and a hay rake, with the rake getting badly damaged and some fence torn down. I do not remember all the details of an exact similar runaway that happened to me....however I do remember that what had once been a wooden tongue in my father's hay rake was, for years after the runaway, one made out of well pipe. Then Mr. Swanson devoted almost two pages telling about husking corn. Well, thats where we differ because...if and when I EVER get around to writing about my corn picking experience it'll involve a whole bunch more than just two short pages!!!
The HISTORY of CALHAN and Vicinity 1888-1988 written by Larry L. King
****** ******* ********* ******** *******
Then there is the COLORADO STORY...a Passion for the Prairies...a vivid memoir of life on a homestead by the (late) Esther Clibon, A Native Coloradan who was born and raised about twenty five miles northeast of my Pioneer Parent's Homestead where I was born and raised. I worked nine years for her (late) brother-in-law Mr. Lennie F. Ehnes, co-owner of Ehnes-Rink Auto Supply in Colorado Springs Colorado.
****** ******** ******* ****** ******
Next we have a relatively new writer/author who presently resides in the Denver Colorado metro area who wrote a very interesting, informative book titled Working the Land: Building a Life....written by Fran Cirbo. Her PIONEER parents Homesteaded between Matheson and Limon, in Elbert County Colorado, around the "turn" of the twentieth century.
******** ******** ****** ******* *******
A long ago friend of mine presented me with a Pioneer History book back there about 1995 titled One Horse and a Load of Oats written by Ivan A Swanson.It is 5-1/2 X 8-1/2 and consists of only 82 pages. It is just a book of short stories but quite interesting to read...This past week I picked it up and thumbed through it. One or two of the stories in it are directly related to my life as a youngster growing up out there on the prairies of Eastern Colorado. One of the stories was titled "Runaway" which involved a two hitch team of horses and a hay rake, with the rake getting badly damaged and some fence torn down. I do not remember all the details of an exact similar runaway that happened to me....however I do remember that what had once been a wooden tongue in my father's hay rake was, for years after the runaway, one made out of well pipe. Then Mr. Swanson devoted almost two pages telling about husking corn. Well, thats where we differ because...if and when I EVER get around to writing about my corn picking experience it'll involve a whole bunch more than just two short pages!!!
HONORABLE MENTION
.......................VIRGINIA WAWRO (1/31/1919-10/22/2005).......................
Holiday Florida....My (late) cousin Virginia expressed the wish to meet that guy over there in Orlando Florida who was....writing all those great stories. She read all....with great enthusiasm!!! Virginia, a great Lady, is so sadly missed!!!
..............................HERBERT & JANE MOOR..............................
My cousin Herbert and his wife Jane in West Unity Ohio....Jane was extremely helpful at a time when I was learning how to operate a computer....starting at an "early age".......of past seventy years young!!!
................................ANN WELLS.........................................
A distant....in more ways than one....cousin...WAY out there on the other end of the United States....whom I had the distinct pleasure....was extended the privilege...
the HONOR of meeting...via the internet when I logged onto the....Steuben County Indiana Home Page.....May 2004....!!!
...............................DARLA MORSE.....................................
My daughter who over the years has kept me supplied with writimg materials and for Father's Day a few years ago presented me with an excellant three inch thick... Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary....to aid me with the correct spelling, the nomenclature...usage of certain words....A "refresher course" of the stuff that those "One Room Country School Teachers"....from grade one through the eighth grade helped to instill in my infinite mind.....!!!
...............................MR. RONALD J. HOOVER...............................
A Rush "33" Colorado neighbor whom I grew up with....Ron and his cohorts are featured in a story about a peach picking trip to the Western Slope of Colorado!!!
...............................MR. DAVID J. "DJ" MCCALL.........................
Orlando Florida....My Computer Engineer friend to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, the worth of which I will NEVER EVER be able to repay.....................!!!
................................A SPECIAL THANKS...............................
To my wife Evelyn for her support....patience?.....sometimes understanding my need to follow through with the thoughts....which are continually running through my mind.... keeping me awake at night....thoughts expressed with the words...."Taking up a pen to write"!!!
Holiday Florida....My (late) cousin Virginia expressed the wish to meet that guy over there in Orlando Florida who was....writing all those great stories. She read all....with great enthusiasm!!! Virginia, a great Lady, is so sadly missed!!!
..............................HERBERT & JANE MOOR..............................
My cousin Herbert and his wife Jane in West Unity Ohio....Jane was extremely helpful at a time when I was learning how to operate a computer....starting at an "early age".......of past seventy years young!!!
................................ANN WELLS.........................................
A distant....in more ways than one....cousin...WAY out there on the other end of the United States....whom I had the distinct pleasure....was extended the privilege...
the HONOR of meeting...via the internet when I logged onto the....Steuben County Indiana Home Page.....May 2004....!!!
...............................DARLA MORSE.....................................
My daughter who over the years has kept me supplied with writimg materials and for Father's Day a few years ago presented me with an excellant three inch thick... Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary....to aid me with the correct spelling, the nomenclature...usage of certain words....A "refresher course" of the stuff that those "One Room Country School Teachers"....from grade one through the eighth grade helped to instill in my infinite mind.....!!!
...............................MR. RONALD J. HOOVER...............................
A Rush "33" Colorado neighbor whom I grew up with....Ron and his cohorts are featured in a story about a peach picking trip to the Western Slope of Colorado!!!
...............................MR. DAVID J. "DJ" MCCALL.........................
Orlando Florida....My Computer Engineer friend to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, the worth of which I will NEVER EVER be able to repay.....................!!!
................................A SPECIAL THANKS...............................
To my wife Evelyn for her support....patience?.....sometimes understanding my need to follow through with the thoughts....which are continually running through my mind.... keeping me awake at night....thoughts expressed with the words...."Taking up a pen to write"!!!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
.................SPECIAL RECOGNITION...................
..............................FOOTPRINTS ON THE HEART..............................
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our hearts to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom.
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for a while, leave footprints on our hearts AND we are never, ever the same...!!!
(From a poster by Flavia)
There are five SPECIAL LADIES out there on the Plains of Eastern Colorado who richly deserve all the credit and recognition they can possibly recieve for their contribution of correspondence to a weekly newspaper that has been covering the Pikes Peak Region for over a hundred years...!!! They are namely: BETTY RAGAINS and CHRISTINE NEKL who keep this 'ol Colorado Native farm boy informed of what's happening with all my friends and neighbors by writing the....RUSH "33".....NEWS items!!! Quoting from the July 16, 2009 issue of this weekly rural newspaper where she and two other correspondents acknowledged and replied (in their respective news columns) to a letter I had written four of them and sent (via "Pony Express")in which I had mentioned a fifth writer....from Brush Colorado....I quote; "Thanks to Lyle Schmeiser for the great letter! Reserve Champion, huh? I guess I can live with that considering your family homesteaded in the Rush community. However, my maternal grandmother was one of the homesteaders in that community whose roots were planted in Miami Oklahoma, thus the name of the school. Does that score me any points"?!...
Unquote...What an HONOR, what a PREROGATIVE that would be, having the MIAMI-YODER SCHOOL ....named for your family and you!!!....AWESOME....and that was none other than...JEAN MEINZER....who writes the Edison News column!!! Then we have NETA DAY who keeps us apprised and sometimes surprised with a very entertaining column of what is happening with the Hanover News items. And last but not least is the lady who keeps us posted with the Ellicott News, LINDA THOMPSON..................!!!
SPECIAL FRIENDS..................CLARK AND LAURIE WHITCOMB.....................
Way up there in Calgary Alberta Canada....whom I had the HONOR....the distinct privilege....the pleasure of meeting and getting acquainted with during the short period of time I was PRIVILEGED to live in THE BIG SKY COUNTRY of MONTANA...!!!
..................................EDWARD AND MARY GANSTER........................
Winter Garden Florida USA...Co-Founders of Operation Safety 91...whom I was extended the HONOR...the PRIVILEGE....of meeting and ultimately joining several other 1st RESPONDERS Chaplains in partnering with this vitally important worthwhile organization....!!!
................................FRANKIE AND CINDY GALLO............................
Ocoee Florida...BELOVED Friends whom God placed in my pathway upon my arrival in Orlando Florida in or about the year 2002. In addition to Frankie being the founder of THE GATHERING LAKESIDE Frankie is credited with helping me set up this blog and quite often using gentle words of persuasion/encouragement has managed to keep me writing... writing the stories that he delighted in reading....reading stories of "The Good Old Days"!!!
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people move our hearts to dance. They awaken us to new understanding with the passing whisper of their wisdom.
Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon. They stay in our lives for a while, leave footprints on our hearts AND we are never, ever the same...!!!
(From a poster by Flavia)
There are five SPECIAL LADIES out there on the Plains of Eastern Colorado who richly deserve all the credit and recognition they can possibly recieve for their contribution of correspondence to a weekly newspaper that has been covering the Pikes Peak Region for over a hundred years...!!! They are namely: BETTY RAGAINS and CHRISTINE NEKL who keep this 'ol Colorado Native farm boy informed of what's happening with all my friends and neighbors by writing the....RUSH "33".....NEWS items!!! Quoting from the July 16, 2009 issue of this weekly rural newspaper where she and two other correspondents acknowledged and replied (in their respective news columns) to a letter I had written four of them and sent (via "Pony Express")in which I had mentioned a fifth writer....from Brush Colorado....I quote; "Thanks to Lyle Schmeiser for the great letter! Reserve Champion, huh? I guess I can live with that considering your family homesteaded in the Rush community. However, my maternal grandmother was one of the homesteaders in that community whose roots were planted in Miami Oklahoma, thus the name of the school. Does that score me any points"?!...
Unquote...What an HONOR, what a PREROGATIVE that would be, having the MIAMI-YODER SCHOOL ....named for your family and you!!!....AWESOME....and that was none other than...JEAN MEINZER....who writes the Edison News column!!! Then we have NETA DAY who keeps us apprised and sometimes surprised with a very entertaining column of what is happening with the Hanover News items. And last but not least is the lady who keeps us posted with the Ellicott News, LINDA THOMPSON..................!!!
SPECIAL FRIENDS..................CLARK AND LAURIE WHITCOMB.....................
Way up there in Calgary Alberta Canada....whom I had the HONOR....the distinct privilege....the pleasure of meeting and getting acquainted with during the short period of time I was PRIVILEGED to live in THE BIG SKY COUNTRY of MONTANA...!!!
..................................EDWARD AND MARY GANSTER........................
Winter Garden Florida USA...Co-Founders of Operation Safety 91...whom I was extended the HONOR...the PRIVILEGE....of meeting and ultimately joining several other 1st RESPONDERS Chaplains in partnering with this vitally important worthwhile organization....!!!
................................FRANKIE AND CINDY GALLO............................
Ocoee Florida...BELOVED Friends whom God placed in my pathway upon my arrival in Orlando Florida in or about the year 2002. In addition to Frankie being the founder of THE GATHERING LAKESIDE Frankie is credited with helping me set up this blog and quite often using gentle words of persuasion/encouragement has managed to keep me writing... writing the stories that he delighted in reading....reading stories of "The Good Old Days"!!!
MOUSQUETAIRES
Amongst all of my many memoirs I have this 2003 calendar that I recieved from the Ronald Reagan Ranch...a Project of Young America's Foundation at Santa Barbara California....a calendar that holds a tremendous unforgetable memory for me because it was on Thursday August 13, 1981 that President Ronald Reagan signed into law the largest tax cut in the History of the United States of America. This momentous act on President Ronald Reagan's watch...this great and far reaching, devastating(to countless thousands of workers across America) act of signing into law....a law that was dubbed.....THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT.....on May 23, 1983 cost me my JOURNEYMAN MACHINIST job that I had held...had enjoyed the prestige....and had reaped the benefits of since July 7, 1975.....the loss of which cost me my home, my wife left me, my siblings refused to have anything to do with me, I was left with two old worn out trucks and a wheelbarrow full of hand tools...and no place to live....until...!!!
.................................MOUSQUETAIRES.................................
There were these three fellows whom, each in their own unique way, helped to sustain me....to encourage me...helped me to endure...to survive....some of the most..... OVERWHEMINGLY difficult...trying times of my...ENTIRE WALK DOWN THROUGH LIFE....!!!
..........................MR. RICHARD SCOTT PASCHALL...........................
Construction Superintendent for Solar Craft Construction Company and for the Heyden-Adams Construction Company in both El Paso and Teller Counties of Colorado.
..........................MR.ROGER JOHN JOHNSON..................................
Journeyman Metal Fabricator at the Denver Equipment Division of Joy Manufacturing Company...as well as owner of Johnson Home Repair Service.
..........................MR. MILTON L. MATHIS,..................................
President of the Farmers State Bank of Calhan Colorado
(Somewhere about chapter seven or a bit further you can read the accounts of the contributions these three fellows made to my life.............................!!!
.................................MOUSQUETAIRES.................................
There were these three fellows whom, each in their own unique way, helped to sustain me....to encourage me...helped me to endure...to survive....some of the most..... OVERWHEMINGLY difficult...trying times of my...ENTIRE WALK DOWN THROUGH LIFE....!!!
..........................MR. RICHARD SCOTT PASCHALL...........................
Construction Superintendent for Solar Craft Construction Company and for the Heyden-Adams Construction Company in both El Paso and Teller Counties of Colorado.
..........................MR.ROGER JOHN JOHNSON..................................
Journeyman Metal Fabricator at the Denver Equipment Division of Joy Manufacturing Company...as well as owner of Johnson Home Repair Service.
..........................MR. MILTON L. MATHIS,..................................
President of the Farmers State Bank of Calhan Colorado
(Somewhere about chapter seven or a bit further you can read the accounts of the contributions these three fellows made to my life.............................!!!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Down through the years there have been a number of people who have suggested that I might possess the potential of becoming a writer...of sorts. So I began to think of myself as a self-proclaimed...."Aspiring Writer"...The word...aspiring...suggests a striving to reach some lofty end regarded as somewhat beyond one's normal expectations. And so here I sit...in my "Golden Years"...striving...to write...my autobiography.
The person that is credited with having been the first to impress upon my mind and having the greatest influence upon the concept of me becoming a writer was the (late) MARY HELEN KING HOBSON. Mary was born March 13, 1920 in Electra Texas and passed from this life in a Colorado Springs Colorado hospital, December 18, 2004
As a young girl Mary began to pursue the ambition and ultimately her lifelong career as an educator. She taught for a time in the town of Sherman Texas where she had grown to adulthood. Then she taught in the town that is famous for the manufacturing of fine western saddles...Hereford Texas. After Mary was married she followed her husband to the coal mines in West Virginia. Here she taught in the coal mining camps until her husband was accepted into a college in Denver Colorado.
Following her husband recieving his College Professor Degree they then moved to Pueblo Colorado. It was here that Mary taught music and the elementary fourth grade from 1948 until 1951. Mary and her husband adopted two sons and Mary took a sabbatical leave to get these two little boys started in life. Meanwhile this young couple had a son of their own come along. This made it necessary for Mary to stop teaching entirely until the year 1970, at which time she taught kindergarten half days for a period of six years until her youngest son started to school. Upon Mary's return to teaching she began teaching special reading programs until her retirement in 1983.
Mary held a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education and a Master of Arts Degree in Elementary Education. She was an avid Champion Bridge Player and in her younger years was an accomplished ballroom dancer as well as a Main Stream Square Dancer.
Mary modestly revealed the fact that she was a distant relative of the prominently influential Tutt families. A family that was instrumental in helping shape the structure and destiny of the....CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS COLORADO USA.........!!!
The person that is credited with having been the first to impress upon my mind and having the greatest influence upon the concept of me becoming a writer was the (late) MARY HELEN KING HOBSON. Mary was born March 13, 1920 in Electra Texas and passed from this life in a Colorado Springs Colorado hospital, December 18, 2004
As a young girl Mary began to pursue the ambition and ultimately her lifelong career as an educator. She taught for a time in the town of Sherman Texas where she had grown to adulthood. Then she taught in the town that is famous for the manufacturing of fine western saddles...Hereford Texas. After Mary was married she followed her husband to the coal mines in West Virginia. Here she taught in the coal mining camps until her husband was accepted into a college in Denver Colorado.
Following her husband recieving his College Professor Degree they then moved to Pueblo Colorado. It was here that Mary taught music and the elementary fourth grade from 1948 until 1951. Mary and her husband adopted two sons and Mary took a sabbatical leave to get these two little boys started in life. Meanwhile this young couple had a son of their own come along. This made it necessary for Mary to stop teaching entirely until the year 1970, at which time she taught kindergarten half days for a period of six years until her youngest son started to school. Upon Mary's return to teaching she began teaching special reading programs until her retirement in 1983.
Mary held a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education and a Master of Arts Degree in Elementary Education. She was an avid Champion Bridge Player and in her younger years was an accomplished ballroom dancer as well as a Main Stream Square Dancer.
Mary modestly revealed the fact that she was a distant relative of the prominently influential Tutt families. A family that was instrumental in helping shape the structure and destiny of the....CITY OF COLORADO SPRINGS COLORADO USA.........!!!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
PROLOGUE
..............THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LYLE BERNARD (CORKY) SCHMEISER............
Yes, in Him, in Whom we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, Who is working out all things according to the counsel of His own will; That we might be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. Ephesians 1:11&12(NET)
I am EXTREMELY PROUD of my heritage!!! I am proud of the fact that I was born AT and ultimately raised ON my PIONEER Parent's HOMESTEAD, which...if you were to draw an imaginary line from the summit of that famous majestically beautiful Rocky Mountain called Pikes Peak (14,110 feet) straight east to that Beloved old HOMESTEAD...the distance would be approximately seventy five miles...Eight miles east and one mile north of the Rush "33" Colorado store and United States Post Office, in what is commonly known as the "L" of Lincoln County Colorado.
The photo of that cute little boy...in a dress....was taken of me when I was six months old (About the time that, according to what my Mother told my wife Evelyn, I had outgrown the dresser drawer they placed me in after I'd gotten too big for the shoe box they had placed me in when I was born)....read the rest of the story..... This photo has been retouched by Jane Moor the wife of my cousin Herbert Lee Moor of West Unity Ohio. The original has gotten pretty well beat up over the many years since my (late) sister Gladys Eileen Hoopes (8/21/1919-2/6/2010) had taken it. While the original photo is a treasure in itself, the words that my beloved sister wrote on the back are indeed a priceless treasure. She wrote...Corky Schmeiser 6 mo old. Sent by Gladys Schmeiser, 1500 E. Boulder St. Colorado Springs Colo. Gladys was in training at the Bethel School of Nursing when the original photo was taken.
The conception and subsequently my birth occurred in the same year one of my...... many.....HEROES....took the oath of office of the 32nd President of the United States of America...FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (1882-1945)...President Roosevelt was born January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park New York and passed away April 12 1945 in Warm Springs Georgia.
Assuming the presidency at the depth of the GREAT DEPRESSION, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt helped the people to regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he had promised prompt, vigorous action and asserted in his inaugural address "THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF"!!!
At the age of thirty nine President Roosevelt was stricken with poliomyelitis and....
like another one of my HEROES, Comrade James Edward "Jim" Sursely, Past National Commander, Past Florida State Commander as well as Past Commander of the Central Florida Chapter 16 DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS, overcame all odds by demonstrating indomitable courage!!! I was twelve years old the year President Roosevelt died in office!!! My beloved Comrade, friend Jim Sursely is a 100% Combat Wounded Vietnam War HERO who stepped on a landmine and lost both legs and his left arm and although he has been confined to a wheelchair for the past forty years NOTHING deters him, nothing stops him from doing anything and everything he wishes to do...especially wild game hunting!!!
Another Historic event that I wish to mention in this prologue is a sort of quiz question that I delight in presenting to people whenever they inquire about my age.
I can vividly remember that fateful Sunday December 7, 1941, the day that President Roosevelt declared would live in infamy...the day the Japanese destroyed the better part of the United States Naval Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor Hawaii. The primary reason I remember that date so well is because my Mother had prepared one of her usual OUTSTANDINGLY DELICIOUS **dinners, in honor of my eighth (8th) Birthday that day!!! The older generation no doubt would be, along with me, appalled at the numbers of people who cannot give me the correct answer to that quiz!!!
**Dinner....Back in the "GOOD OLD DAYS" on the old HOMESTEAD, out there in...... the "sticks"...the "boondocks" as some folks would say...dinner was the noon meal and supper was the evening meal. Then we all got "citified" and changed all of that so that now the evening meal is dinner and....for me...the only thing that remains about "supper" is ALLLL the GOOOD memories of ALL the GOOD suppers my beloved PIONEER Mother prepared for me!!!
Yes, in Him, in Whom we also have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, Who is working out all things according to the counsel of His own will; That we might be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. Ephesians 1:11&12(NET)
I am EXTREMELY PROUD of my heritage!!! I am proud of the fact that I was born AT and ultimately raised ON my PIONEER Parent's HOMESTEAD, which...if you were to draw an imaginary line from the summit of that famous majestically beautiful Rocky Mountain called Pikes Peak (14,110 feet) straight east to that Beloved old HOMESTEAD...the distance would be approximately seventy five miles...Eight miles east and one mile north of the Rush "33" Colorado store and United States Post Office, in what is commonly known as the "L" of Lincoln County Colorado.
The photo of that cute little boy...in a dress....was taken of me when I was six months old (About the time that, according to what my Mother told my wife Evelyn, I had outgrown the dresser drawer they placed me in after I'd gotten too big for the shoe box they had placed me in when I was born)....read the rest of the story..... This photo has been retouched by Jane Moor the wife of my cousin Herbert Lee Moor of West Unity Ohio. The original has gotten pretty well beat up over the many years since my (late) sister Gladys Eileen Hoopes (8/21/1919-2/6/2010) had taken it. While the original photo is a treasure in itself, the words that my beloved sister wrote on the back are indeed a priceless treasure. She wrote...Corky Schmeiser 6 mo old. Sent by Gladys Schmeiser, 1500 E. Boulder St. Colorado Springs Colo. Gladys was in training at the Bethel School of Nursing when the original photo was taken.
The conception and subsequently my birth occurred in the same year one of my...... many.....HEROES....took the oath of office of the 32nd President of the United States of America...FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (1882-1945)...President Roosevelt was born January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park New York and passed away April 12 1945 in Warm Springs Georgia.
Assuming the presidency at the depth of the GREAT DEPRESSION, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt helped the people to regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he had promised prompt, vigorous action and asserted in his inaugural address "THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF"!!!
At the age of thirty nine President Roosevelt was stricken with poliomyelitis and....
like another one of my HEROES, Comrade James Edward "Jim" Sursely, Past National Commander, Past Florida State Commander as well as Past Commander of the Central Florida Chapter 16 DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS, overcame all odds by demonstrating indomitable courage!!! I was twelve years old the year President Roosevelt died in office!!! My beloved Comrade, friend Jim Sursely is a 100% Combat Wounded Vietnam War HERO who stepped on a landmine and lost both legs and his left arm and although he has been confined to a wheelchair for the past forty years NOTHING deters him, nothing stops him from doing anything and everything he wishes to do...especially wild game hunting!!!
Another Historic event that I wish to mention in this prologue is a sort of quiz question that I delight in presenting to people whenever they inquire about my age.
I can vividly remember that fateful Sunday December 7, 1941, the day that President Roosevelt declared would live in infamy...the day the Japanese destroyed the better part of the United States Naval Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor Hawaii. The primary reason I remember that date so well is because my Mother had prepared one of her usual OUTSTANDINGLY DELICIOUS **dinners, in honor of my eighth (8th) Birthday that day!!! The older generation no doubt would be, along with me, appalled at the numbers of people who cannot give me the correct answer to that quiz!!!
**Dinner....Back in the "GOOD OLD DAYS" on the old HOMESTEAD, out there in...... the "sticks"...the "boondocks" as some folks would say...dinner was the noon meal and supper was the evening meal. Then we all got "citified" and changed all of that so that now the evening meal is dinner and....for me...the only thing that remains about "supper" is ALLLL the GOOOD memories of ALL the GOOD suppers my beloved PIONEER Mother prepared for me!!!
DEDICATION
There are a THOUSAND THOUGHTS lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to WRITE.....William Makepeace Thackeray....
Someone once told me that I shouldn't use the word...MEMORABILIA...in the same paragraph with the word...COMMEMORATE...The Webster's New World Dictionary that this same fellow sold me for the sum of $2.00...indicates that the words..memorabilia and memorable...are in direct correlation with each other and are derived from the Latin word memorabilis, memorable...all of which means things worth remembering or recording, such as a collection of anecdotes, accounts and etc.,or of mementos, especially about one subject,event and so on, anything worth remembering, notable, remarkable.
The two extraordinary people that I am about to dedicate this noteworthy story to are most certainly worth remembering and nearly every event they created together or even seperate was outstandingly notable and because of their dedication...their determination...because they dared dream the American Dream for their own lives as well as the lives of all their children...because they were capable of perseverance, were persistent in their cause...their lives were certainly worthy of notice...and their accomplishments...all were positively...nothing short of...REMARKABLE...!!!
Therefore...this memorabilia is commemorated to the..EVERLASTING MEMORY...of my beloved PIONEER PARENTS, Frank Raymond (1889-1983) and Lena Belle (Moor) Schmeiser (1890-1964) who, along with the three oldest of their eleven children, emigrated from Metz Indiana to settle on a half section (320) acres of virgin prairie land that prior to their arrival had only been occupied by coyotes, jackrabbits, rattlesnakes...and...perhaps an occasional badger!!!
AS THE CROW FLIES (Requires using a bit of imagination)...Drawing a straight line on a US Atlas map from Metz Indiana to a point thirty five miles northeast of Colorado Springs Colorado on U.S. Highway 24 to the town of Calhan the train my parents traveled on to reach their destination would have crossed six and one third states.
They were met at the Calhan Colorado railroad station by their neighbor Mr. Ralph Broadhurst who then transported them across the prairie approximately thirty five miles southeast via his CONESTOGA (A broadwheeled covered wagon used by the early Pioneer Settlers for crossing the plains to their prospective homesteads) Upon their arrival at Mr Ralph Broadhurst's homestead, which was located one mile west and a quarter of a mile north of their own homestead, Mr Broadhurst graciously put them up in a dugout...root cellar...there on his place until their house was built.
This particular..HISTORIC VENTURE...took place at the time the youngest of their three oldest children...Walter Marlin Schmeiser (11/1/1914-2/13/1957) was just six weeks old!!!
My Pioneer Parents...HOMESTEADED...made their home...for forty years..in the "L" of Lincoln County Colorado from December 15, 1914 until the Spring/Summer of 1954..at which time they moved into their retirement home at Simla Colorado, the house that Mother, my little sister Glida and I stayed in...week days...while attending the Simla Union High School...graduating together...Class of 1952.......!!!
Someone once told me that I shouldn't use the word...MEMORABILIA...in the same paragraph with the word...COMMEMORATE...The Webster's New World Dictionary that this same fellow sold me for the sum of $2.00...indicates that the words..memorabilia and memorable...are in direct correlation with each other and are derived from the Latin word memorabilis, memorable...all of which means things worth remembering or recording, such as a collection of anecdotes, accounts and etc.,or of mementos, especially about one subject,event and so on, anything worth remembering, notable, remarkable.
The two extraordinary people that I am about to dedicate this noteworthy story to are most certainly worth remembering and nearly every event they created together or even seperate was outstandingly notable and because of their dedication...their determination...because they dared dream the American Dream for their own lives as well as the lives of all their children...because they were capable of perseverance, were persistent in their cause...their lives were certainly worthy of notice...and their accomplishments...all were positively...nothing short of...REMARKABLE...!!!
Therefore...this memorabilia is commemorated to the..EVERLASTING MEMORY...of my beloved PIONEER PARENTS, Frank Raymond (1889-1983) and Lena Belle (Moor) Schmeiser (1890-1964) who, along with the three oldest of their eleven children, emigrated from Metz Indiana to settle on a half section (320) acres of virgin prairie land that prior to their arrival had only been occupied by coyotes, jackrabbits, rattlesnakes...and...perhaps an occasional badger!!!
AS THE CROW FLIES (Requires using a bit of imagination)...Drawing a straight line on a US Atlas map from Metz Indiana to a point thirty five miles northeast of Colorado Springs Colorado on U.S. Highway 24 to the town of Calhan the train my parents traveled on to reach their destination would have crossed six and one third states.
They were met at the Calhan Colorado railroad station by their neighbor Mr. Ralph Broadhurst who then transported them across the prairie approximately thirty five miles southeast via his CONESTOGA (A broadwheeled covered wagon used by the early Pioneer Settlers for crossing the plains to their prospective homesteads) Upon their arrival at Mr Ralph Broadhurst's homestead, which was located one mile west and a quarter of a mile north of their own homestead, Mr Broadhurst graciously put them up in a dugout...root cellar...there on his place until their house was built.
This particular..HISTORIC VENTURE...took place at the time the youngest of their three oldest children...Walter Marlin Schmeiser (11/1/1914-2/13/1957) was just six weeks old!!!
My Pioneer Parents...HOMESTEADED...made their home...for forty years..in the "L" of Lincoln County Colorado from December 15, 1914 until the Spring/Summer of 1954..at which time they moved into their retirement home at Simla Colorado, the house that Mother, my little sister Glida and I stayed in...week days...while attending the Simla Union High School...graduating together...Class of 1952.......!!!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
INTRODUCTION
THE ROAD SIGN....Is a very appropriate appellation to this narrative...a vivid memoir of several coincidences that actually occured in the personal life of Lyle B.
(Corky) Schmeiser. Quite often I can be observed wearing a shirt that properly fits so as to allow me to fasten the collar button without the possibility of cutting off the oxygen supply to my brain. Thus I am enabled to wear one of my favorite bolo ties. This particular bolo is oval shaped and measures 1-3/16 inch across at the center and is 2-7/16 inches long. This intricately handcrafted eye catching oval is constructed with a base/backing of stainless steel. On the front it has an embossed/scrolled border and bears the number "33" in the center both of which are beautifully hand-tooled and constructed of yellow brass. This is no ordinary general run of the mill type bolo, but rather is quite unique, closely resembling the character of it's owner!!! Unlike most bolo ties, of which the string can be removed and possibily placed on another bolo, this one is made so that the black braided leather string cannot be removed. The metal ends are securely fastened onto the string and the string passes through a stainless steel channel which is welded to the back side of the bolo about 7/8 inch from the top. It is designed so that when the wearer puts it on, slips the bolo into it's proper place on the collar of the shirt and the pulls down on the little lever the string is locked securely in place, thus preventing sliding up and down much like ordinary bolos tend to do.
The number "33" equates to several coincidences that just happened to have occured in my personal life and what started all the...fracas...about the number "33" has eventually led to the possibility of writing a book...an autobiography of sorts along with a mixture of drama, Colorado history, stories that I have written....The original inspiration for the writing of all these stories....true to life happenings down through my lifetime...is a rectangular sign that I had driven or ridden past for over a half century before it began to dawn on me what the inscription on that sign signified in my life. This sign is...or at least was...located a couple of football fields and perhaps a basketball court or two past where the junction of the beginning or the west end of Colorado Highway 94 used to intersect with U. S. Highway 24 at what formerly was popularly known as "Highway Junction at Pete Field" This junction is all past tense now...that...in order to accomodate all the traffic on Colorado 94 the intersection was moved several years ago to a point about a half mile northeast on U. S. Highway 24.
This road sign depicts that the Rush Colorado United States Post Office/store is located "33" miles east of that point. The zip code for Rush Colorado is..80833.. I was born AT and raised On my PIONEER PARENT'S HOMESTEAD...a Homestead that was established December 15, 1914 and when my Parent's sold out and retired, was turned over to one of my siblngs during the year 1954. This HOMESTEAD is located in the "L" of Lincoln County and it just happens that Lincoln County ranks number "33" in the state. Of the eleven children born to my PIONEER PARENTS, I was number 7 to be born in the "Little House On The Prairie" on the HOMESTEAD....and my birth occured on December 7, 1933...!!! In order to find all the other "33"s that make up this life story...you'll have to read the rest of....THE ROAD SIGN....!!!
(Corky) Schmeiser. Quite often I can be observed wearing a shirt that properly fits so as to allow me to fasten the collar button without the possibility of cutting off the oxygen supply to my brain. Thus I am enabled to wear one of my favorite bolo ties. This particular bolo is oval shaped and measures 1-3/16 inch across at the center and is 2-7/16 inches long. This intricately handcrafted eye catching oval is constructed with a base/backing of stainless steel. On the front it has an embossed/scrolled border and bears the number "33" in the center both of which are beautifully hand-tooled and constructed of yellow brass. This is no ordinary general run of the mill type bolo, but rather is quite unique, closely resembling the character of it's owner!!! Unlike most bolo ties, of which the string can be removed and possibily placed on another bolo, this one is made so that the black braided leather string cannot be removed. The metal ends are securely fastened onto the string and the string passes through a stainless steel channel which is welded to the back side of the bolo about 7/8 inch from the top. It is designed so that when the wearer puts it on, slips the bolo into it's proper place on the collar of the shirt and the pulls down on the little lever the string is locked securely in place, thus preventing sliding up and down much like ordinary bolos tend to do.
The number "33" equates to several coincidences that just happened to have occured in my personal life and what started all the...fracas...about the number "33" has eventually led to the possibility of writing a book...an autobiography of sorts along with a mixture of drama, Colorado history, stories that I have written....The original inspiration for the writing of all these stories....true to life happenings down through my lifetime...is a rectangular sign that I had driven or ridden past for over a half century before it began to dawn on me what the inscription on that sign signified in my life. This sign is...or at least was...located a couple of football fields and perhaps a basketball court or two past where the junction of the beginning or the west end of Colorado Highway 94 used to intersect with U. S. Highway 24 at what formerly was popularly known as "Highway Junction at Pete Field" This junction is all past tense now...that...in order to accomodate all the traffic on Colorado 94 the intersection was moved several years ago to a point about a half mile northeast on U. S. Highway 24.
This road sign depicts that the Rush Colorado United States Post Office/store is located "33" miles east of that point. The zip code for Rush Colorado is..80833.. I was born AT and raised On my PIONEER PARENT'S HOMESTEAD...a Homestead that was established December 15, 1914 and when my Parent's sold out and retired, was turned over to one of my siblngs during the year 1954. This HOMESTEAD is located in the "L" of Lincoln County and it just happens that Lincoln County ranks number "33" in the state. Of the eleven children born to my PIONEER PARENTS, I was number 7 to be born in the "Little House On The Prairie" on the HOMESTEAD....and my birth occured on December 7, 1933...!!! In order to find all the other "33"s that make up this life story...you'll have to read the rest of....THE ROAD SIGN....!!!
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