For May 8, 2008
Pastor Keith Tomlinson, Chaplain

“A belated thank you to Verona, Karlene, Hilda, and Staci”

            “Oops!!”
            They say that that’s a word you never want to hear from your dentist while you’re sitting in the chair in his office with your mouth wide open and his fingers and the business end of his drill inside.
            But that’s what I said softly to myself as I sat in the Good Shepherd Chapel on a Saturday morning in April enjoying our annual Volunteer Recognition Brunch. With a very tasty mid-morning meal served at nicely decorated tables, we thanked the folks from this community who so faithfully put in so many hours helping us in such a variety of ways at Bartels.
            Dr. Fred Waldstein talked to the group about the emphasis at the Wartburg campus on service and volunteerism. Words of thanks to our volunteers were shared by Jeanne Peloquin, our Communications and Volunteer Coordinator; by Barb Bridges, our Vice President of Development; by Jen Happel, our Leisure Services Team Leader.
            We gave away several nice door prizes, and we recognized four outstanding volunteers who have given significant numbers of hours to Bartels, presenting each with a certificate of appreciation. Lois Blasberg was recognized and thanked 100 hours; Leola Hartman for 200 hours; Helen Imbrock for 400 hours; and Norma Heiser was honored for her 800 hours at Bartels, an on-going volunteer commitment that goes back over 20 years.
            And it was then and there, as those dedicated women were receiving their certificates and well deserved rounds of applause, that I said, “Oops!!”
            Other names and faces suddenly came to my mind – people who should have also been recognized, IF I had been on the ball and IF I had been more diligent in turning in the hours of volunteer work contributed by several people that we’ve relied upon to play the piano or organ for our Sunday worship services.
            “Oops!” I said to myself. “I dropped the ball!” Those volunteers know how often they’ve been at Bartels on Sunday mornings. The appreciative residents know how often they see these musicians. I know how often and how willingly they come and how much they add to our worship experience.
            But, oops, I forget to total up and pass along their hours so they could be publically recognized. A couple of them were there at the volunteer brunch that morning. They had been on the invitation list, but because of my oversight they were not on the “to-be-honored” list.
            We’ve already taken one step in correcting that. Four of the Sunday worship volunteers have received in the mail a certificate from Bartels thanking them for what they do for us and recognizing a specific number of hours that they’ve contributed.
            But what they do is too important to just give them that private thank you. My “oops” needs to be balanced by a public announcement of our appreciation for them.
All of them, I know, would say, “but we don’t do it for the recognition. We’re just glad to be able to help.” But we still need to say a loud and lively “thank you!”
            On behalf of the residents, whose worship experience is enriched by the music that’s part of our Sunday morning services, I say THANK YOU to Verona Zelle for 100 hours (she’s well on her way to 200); to Karlene Neal for 100 hours; to Hilda Fedeler for 200 hours; and to Staci Pierce for 300 hours.
            There would be a story worth telling about each one of these volunteers and their involvement at Bartels. Let me add a P.S. for just one of them. Staci Pierce has been playing here once a month for many years. She started when she was Staci Schneider, a high school girl whose grandmother was a resident at Bartels.
            Over these years, Staci graduated from high school, became a busy college student, graduated from Wartburg College, began teaching, got married, moved a couple of times, etc. And through all that, she has regularly, faithfully, and so willingly continued to come to be at the piano for two services on the first Sunday of every month.
            The “oops” on my lips has changed to “wow,” and to “thank you” for these four ladies and for all of the volunteers who add so much to our life at Bartels!
            If you were driving on 20th Street Northwest a couple of weeks ago on a Monday afternoon, along the west edge of the Bartels property, and you happened to glance over toward the Good Shepherd Chapel and the Evergreen Arbor canopied entrance, you might have caught sight of a flurry of red and thought that you were seeing a flock of brightly feathered Northern Cardinals on our lawn.
            But no, with a closer look you’d have discovered that it was a gathering of Red Hat Society ladies (and one hatless husband) spread out along the sidewalk near the chapel. They were enjoying the sunshine on a beautiful spring afternoon after they’d spent some time inside around the tables in the chapel for their regular “Red Hat Tea.”
            An astute observer would have realized, of course, that it wasn’t a bunch of birds at all since we’ve never seen cardinals with a few purple feathers among the red, and at least two of the red hats worn by our ladies were adorned with big purple feathers. (Red hats, we’ve discovered, are like people; no two are alike!)
            That afternoon, April 21, was perhaps the first time all spring that we’ve had two really nice days in a row. Several of our residents had been outside that weekend on Sunday afternoon. Monday’s weather too was so very enticing that almost all of the folks who came to the Red Hat Society Tea also took advantage of the offer to go outside.
            So, after enjoying a lunch of fresh, warm monkey bread, coffee and juice, almost all of the group went out to sit in lawn chairs or in their wheelchairs along the sidewalk west of the chapel. Those with the widest brims on their hats appreciated having their eyes shaded from the bright sunshine.
Others stayed under the canopy in front of the Evergreen Arbor entrance. But some said, “I don’t mind squinting into the light; I’ve waited all winter for a day like this, I want to soak up all the sunshine I can get!”
Those Woodland Terrace (both first and second floor) residents who were at the Red Hat Tea were Margaret Skundrich, Mildred Rundle, Anna Corwin, Paula Wehling, Yvonne Gambaiani, Bert Reinhardt, Dorothy Card, Violet Koepsell.
Also Marge Mander, Nancy Jensen, Alice Arns, Dorothy Chapin, Ada Boyce, Darlyne Walbaum, Ruth Schwerin, Mary Bergmann, Marie Zwanziger, Alberta Rowray, and Grace Foelske and her husband Wilbert who was visiting that afternoon.
New resident: Shall we tell you about Larry the gun toting Nebraskan, Larry the Standard Oil man, Larry the school teacher, Larry the wrestling coach, Larry the Truman table companion, or Larry the story teller?
Larry Brownson has stories about all those aspects of his life and many more! He’s added a new chapter now to his life’s story by coming to Bartels. Larry moved into Linden Place apartment 311 on April 24 after two weeks in a Bartels Skilled Care room in Woodland Terrace, coming to us in mid-April from a Waterloo hospital.
  The oldest of three children, Larry was born in central Nebraska near Lexington, the son of Laurence and Grace (Ferguson) Brownson. Larry says that his Welsh last name is very uncommon in this country. A recent check showed that there are only “one thousand, three hundred and forty-something” people in the United States named Brownson.
Larry remembers that as a first and second grader he rode a pony to school carrying a .22 rifle, shooting prairie dogs, coyotes, and rattle snakes along the way. In hot weather he slept on the porch of their home and woke up one morning with a rattler on the floor beside the bed. Dad came to the rescue with a hoe.
Larry’s father was a chemist with the Great Western Sugar Company. They moved, when Larry was about six, to Winnipeg, Canada, for a year. The reason for the short stay up north is explained by another of Larry’s stories.
Larry’s father went into a Winnipeg store one morning and, in making conversation, noted that the temperature sign outside said that it was minus 52 degrees. One of the Canadians responded. “Yes, and haven’t we had a mild winter!”
From Canada the Brownell family moved to Waverly where Larry’s father was the assistant superintendent at the sugar beet factory. Larry finished grade school and started high school here, moved to Marshfield, Wisconsin, and then, when his family came back to Waverly, he graduated from Waverly High School in 1951.
During his school years Larry was a catcher on the high school baseball team, delivered the Des Moines Register for many years, and was in scouting. (One of his Boy Scout leaders was Paul Scherb who now lives next door in the Linden Place.) And, yes, Larry has interesting stories about all of that.
After graduating from Wartburg College in 1955, Larry was married in August, ’55 to Sharon Meiners, a young lady from Charles City that he met at Wartburg. With a General Science major, Larry was qualified to teach chemistry, physics, botany, zoology, math and general science.
For a year he taught all the science classes for all the high school grades at Gruver (east of Estherville) and then taught for a term at West Union, before coming back to Waverly where he went into business with his dad, operating “Larrys’ Standard Station” on West Bremer. They then moved to a Shell station, later converting it to Texaco.
During those six years, Larry did a lot of substitute teaching in Waverly, teaching even agriculture and home economics. In 1964 he began a 30 year career at the Janesville Schools, teaching math and being the assistant wrestling coach. He also started the computer program there.
In 1979 Larry was honored by the Iowa Wrestling Coaches Association as the “Assistant Coach of the Year.” A stamp collector for many years, Larry is a past president of the Waterloo Stamp Club. He was a charter member and later president of the Janesville Lions Club, and was active in the Junior Chamber of Commerce.
In 1962 Larry was named the Outstanding State Chairman of the Jaycees. At the national gathering for the recognition ceremony he was seated at the head table with President Harry Truman. (And, of course, he has some choice Truman stories in his collection of interesting tales.)
Larry retired in 1993 and his wife died in 2001. Larry continued to live in Janesville until coming now to Waverly. His family includes three children – Ann Brownson in Illinois, Pastor Beth Straw, Cedar Rapids, and Kirk Brownson, Jesup. He has five grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.
Larry is a Methodist and has continued his ties to the Mt. Hope United Methodist Church of rural Dunkerton where Beth was the pastor before moving to Cedar Rapids.
Welcome, Larry! We’re glad to have you at Bartels in our Linden Place community.

 

            (Previous weekly columns can be read here. Pastor Keith can be reached at ktomlinson@bartelscommunity.org.)