Residents share unusual stories

This is the time of year we often think of past memories. Some as good and some not so good.

Avis Shaw recalls her brother-in-law, Cecil, and his wife, June, came to visit the farm quite often. They stopped by one summer day; it must have been a weekday because her late husband, Butch, wasn’t home. “We were sitting around the dining room table and a bee flew through. Pretty soon there went another one and another.

“I opened the stair door and there were more. I decided I’d better look outside. The bees were swarming on the north side of the house where there was a hole in the old siding.

“I grabbed the wasp and hornet spray and started spraying. Cecil was behind me saying, ‘If they’ve decided to swarm there. you won’t get rid of them,’ I said, ‘Well I’m sure going to try! It’s either them or me!’ I kept spraying and they left!” 

Avis shared another memory when she went on a mystery tour with a touring company. A tour driver, a retired gentleman, enjoyed driving these tours. The passengers never knew where they were going until they reached their destination. These tours were off the beaten path and were in out of the way places. They were interesting. These trips were also economically attractive.

Avis liked to map the travel to see if she could guess where they were going. She was given a small atlas that fit in her backpack for easy access. She marked every trip she had taken with this tour company. On this trip she ended up in Minnesota and got to visit the Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota.

Later they pulled up in front of a woman’s house. The house was like a ranch house initially but had many additions to it, including a grain bin addition. The hostess of this house was a 90-year-old woman. Her children were getting concerned that she was getting elderly and still hosting the tours. She enjoyed doing the tours and she was fairly spry.

The visitors had free reign of the house and got to wander anywhere they wished to go. Most people respected her privacy with her private living quarters. But sometimes while wondering through the house, visitors might get lost.

The rooms were decorated with varying themes. Avis recalls four breakfast nooks, all different. When she climbed into a tower, she found herself in a reading room. The basement had a a room of model cars, another room had trains, another room had motorcycles. There was a room with airplanes. The walls were decorated with clouds and sky features. There was even a room with the Minnesota state fair theme. Visitors could flip on a switch and the fairs rides and mechanical parts would move. Every room had a different theme. 

Avis recalls going to the lavender fields of Iowa where soaps and creams were made. In Templeton, Iowa, there is history of Rye Whiskey bottling. She was able to watch the bottling. Al Capone was respected in those parts because he was a huge customer. Everyone paid attention to the sheriff to see if he was wearing his hat or not. If he was wearing his hat, it meant the authority would be in town. If he wasn’t wearing his hat, it meant life as usual because he usually did not wear his hat. The sign “Welcome to Templeton” was moved to a different spot when the authorities would be coming to town. 

Pat McCord has memories of her trip to Ireland many years ago. She and Larry made one trip to learn about family history. They were excited to tour the country and meet local people. As they were driving from one town to another, they came upon a hitchhiker and offered him a ride. Pat didn’t usually pick up hitchhikers, but they thought that meeting someone from the area would be a good way to find out the local history. The stranger graciously accepted the ride from these two foreigners. Everyone was cordial. After the introductions were exchanged, the car got really quiet. The stranger was from Omaha, Nebraska. So much for learning the local viewpoints of Ireland.