Bob Piper's Corner - April 20, 1986

April 20, 1986 

Mrs. Kendall, a dear friend of Hortense’s, walked to town to thank me for a newsletter we sent to her about Hortense’s service. She is 96 years old and it was a real effort for her.

It seems some churches have a special way with children. The other Sunday a church bus pulled up in front of a house to pick up the children for Sunday School. The children were not out in front waiting as usual so the bus driver went to the door and just as he was getting there, a little boy came running from the house toward the bus. The only problem was that the child (two or three years old) forgot to put on ANY clothes! That sounds like real Sunday School devotion to me.

Report on the Robin/Wren war. As you know the robin built a nest on the top of the wren house. The wren has arrived and is taking the nest apart stick by stick. Robin has now left and the wren is in control.

More of George Dunshee and Bob Piper’s Sunday p.m. rides. We took Charles Prior along. We went to check out many things, but rain seemed to dampen that effort. Redbud trees are not quite out in Red Haw. The sun must shine to bring out the color to its peak. Went to Colyn. Wildlife must have been where it was dry, as we saw very few. Came back to Chariton to view the many beds of tulips. Went north to the little White Breast sand flats. A mile west and a mile north of White Breast Church. Found the roads not too great and actually saw a big flock of chickens, all breeds and colors. Too wet to pick flowers, but we saw plenty. George did pick an adder’s tongue or dogtooth violet. Next week will be the peak for early flowers. We saw a little hail. P.S. Frost got to redbuds, they lost their brilliance.

Some memories of Don Fuller in his early life. His family lived across the alley from us. We faced Ashland and they faced Park Avenue. Our bakery was near our house and was a great attraction. Don’s sister Ruth helped my mother in the house and some in the bakery. Don naturally came along. He was young enough to be a nuisance to us boys, but my mother liked him. We all liked him but didn’t want him in our gang because of his age. We had twelve to fourteen at the table all the time and one more didn’t bother my mother or father. Fuller’s had a big family and most were grown and gone. He had no one to play with. At our place someone was there most of the time. His mother knew where he was all the time. She and my mother were great friends. My father liked Don a lot, and put only one restriction on him and that was he was attending the University of Iowa and then he went into the service. When he came back he entered railroading, my favorite hobby. From then on we were close friends. I spent a lot of time in the ticket office as I was fascinated by all that went on. He kept me in railroading magazines, which I loved. We visited at least once a week and I’ll miss those visits.

A little interesting history about the Old United Presbyterian Church that joined this church in 1926. It was where the Assembly of God is now. It was an annual affair to have a picnic in the country. Mr. Seaholmes from southwest of town came with two big horse-drawn hay racks. We left here shortly after church. In mid afternoon we had church service again. It was then necessary to get back to town for the evening service. Church service was three times each Sunday. We always had ice cream where someone sat on the freezer to hold it down. That was the best ice cream.

One Sunday it rained all day. They decided to have the picnic in the Sunday school room, just off the sanctuary, just as church is now. To that time no food had been brought into the church, but the elements caused a bold venture. Just as the picnic started, a group of four people marched in with an axe and broke the 20 gallon jar of lemonade and departed. They were members of the church who did not agree with having the picnic in the church.

In a way this started a new trend in the church for becoming more modern, as only the Psalms were used and never any musical accompaniment, not even a tuning fork for the choir. Three months later, during church, a vote was called on talk of buying an organ. This was a legal vote, and they voted to buy one. Half the congregation went home. Most everyone came back in the evening, but a few never did. My folks went home in the a.m., but came back in the p.m. More next week on old times.