ROLL CALL TO ALL MEMBERS !!!!

[genealogynut]

Oh, yeah. Narvous?   Like, just where do you hang your hat?  Where did you grow up?  There may be a few of the female species that may be wondering if you're married ? What do you enjoy doing as a past time, etc. Do ya' participate in any rodeos?  I think ya' get the picture.

[Teresa]

Narvous has LOTS to tell. What a life that ole' cowboy has had.
So Narvous.. You want to start telling them about your life?

( It's really good everyone.. but he is kinda shy.. so I'll have to put on my
"begging pretty please " look.


And yes he is married to a wonderful lady.

[CrumCowgirlMama]

My name is Devyn-Leann Weakley. I have lived in Elk County my whole life, and don't plan on ever leaving. My parents are Kelly Weakley of Elk Falls, and Amy (Wilnerd) Kitchens of Howard. My grandparents are Carol & Vernon Weakley and Carolyn & Everett Wilnerd. My "other half" is Billy Crum, the son of Chip & Nancy Crum. His grandparents are Dan & Joetta Miller and Sylvia & the late Bill Crum. We have a son, two year old Lane.

We have 2 dogs, cats, horses and cattle. I love animals. I enjoy riding horses and being around cattle. I like gardening, reading, sewing, scrapbooking, and decorating. I also enjoy cooking...and oddly, cleaning. My main hobby, though, is riding horses. Whether working cattle or just going for a ride through the pasture, I am completely at ease. I'm pretty much a "cowgirl".

I sell Tupperware, which keeps me very busy. I love it! I am also working on a degree in AgBusiness, as well as a degree in Livestock Management & Merchandising. Someday I hope to open my own western wear & tack shop in the Elk County area. So between school, work, animals, and the little one, I manage to stay pretty busy.

[CrumCowgirlMama]

Ohhh...I forgot to add that we live northwest of Howard about 6 miles. Where is my mind today???

[Narvous]

 You can tell them Teresa you know more about me then me Shy what me

[LShortt]

Okay, I'll take a stab at this.  My name is Linda Shortt and I live in Milton, Ontario, Canada.  I was born and raised in Wichita and lived the vast majority of my adult life in Howard.   Howard and Elk County will always be home to me.  Most of you will identify me as Linda Zimmerman.

My son, Charlie, has provided me with two absolutely delightful grandkids...Hannah & Ethan.    I also have a 19 yr. old stepson, Christopher.  Approximately nine years ago I met and fell head-over-heels mindlessly in love with an incredible Canadian man, Jon Shortt.  With the love and support of all of my family I moved north and remarried.  What an adventure!  It's been a good adventure.

Jon works for the Canadian National Railroad and for the past 6 years I have been a civilian employee of the Halton Regional Police, working within Court Services.   Although we live in the greater Toronto area, Milton is approx. 45 min. outside of Toronto and is a town about the size of Emporia.  Yes, we live IN Canada but we don't live in igloo country.  Actually the climate of this area is very mild, and this past winter I think Kansas received more measurable snow than we did. The snow we get just hangs around longer.   Our temps usually run about 10 degrees cooler than there and our seasons are about a month behind Kansas.  Our tulips are just now in full bloom, the trees are "almost" leafed out, and the flowering trees are just now in bloom.  It's absolutely beautiful here now.  This area is also a "gardening" mecca, more flower gardening versus veggie gardening.  All the years I went without flowers to tend....my yard is now FULL of flowers from spring to fall. 

I still sew and quilt, mostly during the winter months.  During the warmer months we spend our time outside gardening, we like to daytrip and explore for antiques.  And slowly but surely I am getting into the "swing" of golf.   To round out the family we have a happy-go-lucky 100lb. chocolate Lab, Jake (the pic) and a small petite cat, Harley, which rules the roost.

OH...and a note to Crumcowgirl - Your mother used to babysit for me when Charlie was 5'ish.  In fact, your Aunt Laurie babysat Charlie before that.  I used to say I didn't know what I'd do without those Wilnerd girls!! 

I still have strong Elk County ties and don't know what I'd do without friends like Shae, Paula and Renae.  I've always said that the best friends to have are the ones you consider to be family and the best family to have are the ones you consider to be friends.  Like I said, Howard will always be home to me.

[indygal]

OK....I'm cheating (please, no booing and hissing!) I'm doing a copy/paste job here, but only because I've done vast quantities of writing during the past few weeks for school and my brains are the consistency of tapioca pudding right now. However, I did add a few more bits of info (since this was first written in January, a few things have happened). So here goes:

I'm Lynne Thompson, and while I'm not an Elk County resident (yet!), that's the grand plan. I grew up in Illinois, married my high school sweetheart, moved to Indiana and raised a terrific son and daughter (who since have given me three gorgeous grandchildren). I worked in the newsroom of a small daily paper for 14 years, so I've got equal parts of ink and blood in my veins. The marriage ended in 1999, and in 2000, I moved to Chanute, where I was managing editor of the Tribune for a year.

Like MarineMom, I met the love of my life, Terrell, on the Internet. He was living in Washington at the time, and here's a testimony to true love: this man whose passion is boats ends up moving to land-locked Kansas just to be with me! Is that sweet, or what?? We've been together six years now and every day has been an adventure for us.

Anyway, the two of us were spending lots of weekends in Wichita, so we decided to move here. I worked three years for an insurance agency, and started my full-time college career in 2005. I'm majoring in anthropology, with a minor in religion studies. I also do freelance editing for a monthly entertainment newspaper, a quarterly magazine (Southeast Kansas Living...shameless plug!) and a monthly inspirational newsletter. On top of all that, I do shard-art mosaic (I break things and stick them to other things...LOL) and plan to have a nice large studio in Howard someday.

So how did we end up as future Howardites? While surfing on eBay, Terrell happened upon the former Church of Christ building for sale. We both are pretty wacky, and thought it would be cool to convert this dear old church into our home. We've named the building Harmony, and we spend as many weekends there as the weather allows. We hope to have it habitable with 2-3 years and at that time we will become permanent residents. The really strange and very cool thing is, it already feels like home.

Update: we're now planning a Harmony-warming party and wedding for June 23, and y'all are welcome to stop by and say howdy! We'll try to keep the celebratory racket down to a dull roar.....Hee hee!

AND.....the more time we spend in Howard, the more we love it. Love how everyone waves whether they know you or not (we've already adopted the habit). Love how folks have treated us so warmly and have been so helpful and welcoming. Love how we can listen to horses, cows and chickens in the morning...and not have to feed them or clean up after them. Love the sounding of the courthouse clock on the hour and the aroma of delicious foods being prepared at Poplar's. Love the children riding bicycles and catching critters in the storm ditches after a rain. Love staring at the mind-numbing beauty of a star-filled sky.

I guess you could say we're pretty tickled.

[genealogynut]

Hello ya'll  


Well......guess it's time I quit procrastinating, and step up to the plate.  

Montgomery was my maiden name,
and genealogy is the name of my game.  (Never was any good at poetry)

I grew up in Howard, married at an early age, and Don's been telling me what to do ever since!  (Not that I always listen, tho. ) We've been married for 40 years!  We lived in Winfield for many years. For a few years, many, many moons ago, I was employed by Binney & Smith Crayola,(in production) and the Cowley County Mental Health Center, as secretary, while hubby, Don, was employed in the aircraft industries.

We moved away after Don became retired, to a smaller "laid-back" area, that is abt. 40 miles southeast of Howard.

I really enjoy watching Native American dancing, particularly the fancy dances, reading historical/western novels, western movies, sewing, and GENEALOGY

A few of my favorite actors are John Wayne, Sam Elliott, and Robert Duvall.

Don comes from an early pioneer family that located in Elk County in 1880.  He has a number of relatives that are still living there.  My great-grandparents, James and Anna Hutton, came to Elk County in the early 1900s.  A few of you may remember Jim Hutton by his croquet ground.

We work part-time in the distribution department for the Good News Community Newspaper, as truckers.  The rest of the time, we're enjoying the retired life!!

[emptynest]

I feel guilty not having posted anything on the roll call from the first go-round, so here goes:

My name is Susan (Wilnerd) Galvan.  I reside in Howard after having grown up here from the 3rd grade on.  My parents, Carolyn and Everett Wilnerd, moved me and my 6 brothers and sisters here from western Kansas when my dad was transferred in 1965 to be the game warden for this area.

I graduated from West Elk in 1975, attended Coffeyville JuCo and graduated the first time from Emporia State in 1979.  I returned to ESU and fulfilled another degree in 1981 and began my teaching career in the small town of Almena, Kansas (Northern Valley School District). Before leaving for my first teaching job, I had already met and fallen in love with my husband, Joseph Galvan, whom I returned to marry the following spring of 1982.  We had dated for 4 years despite all the talk and rumors and whispering about our "differences."

Anyway, Joe gave me 3 beautiful children....Corey age 25, Courtney age 22 and Cameron, who is almost 20.  When I returned to Elk County, we lived in Moline for a number of years and then moved to Howard.  I have been a teacher in the West Elk School system for almost 25 years.  I currently teach 1st grade in Severy and have taught Kindergarten, pre-school and directed the Play Productions for West Elk High School. 

Joe and I had a beautiful life and had only the youngest left in his senior year when Joe passed away suddenly.  It broke my heart and there are some days I am not sure if this is really the life that I have been meant to live, but God has had a plan for our lives all along.  Otherwise, we wouldn't have met and married. 

I manage the Howard City Pool in the summers and have done that for a number of years--the first being in the summer of 1978---the summer I met Joe. I love teaching kids how to swim and just love water. I also really enjoy the ladies who come each summer for swimmercise. We have built up such a fun time while excercizing in the water..... I love gardening, studying the word of God, interior deisgn and decorating and just life in general.  I try to make the most of each and every day that God gives me---even the rough parts.   I currently am serving the Elk Falls and Longton Methodist Churches as part time pastor, and I still am listening to God's calling of me in that area and that of teaching children.

I have at home with me a big black lab (100 lbs. plus) and a one-eyed cat who is in love with the lab.  My oldest son, Corey, is engaged, but I have no grandchildren---thus, the name Emptynest. Corey lives in Lawrence, Courtney in Wichita, and Cameron is preparing to move to Manhattan. I enjoy this forum very much---I have learned quite a bit from some of the informative pieces and love getting to know the different personalities that come through the voice of each person's writing. 

I have a small onery streak that flares up every once in awhile, so some of my comments may reflect that. I love to laugh and hear funny stories, but also enjoy a tear jerker every once in awhile.   I pray that each of us can accept and keep an open mind about the things said here.  And that's my story........

[MarineMom]

I'm gonna do like Indygal and cut and paste

my name is Beth I have raised 3 children my eldest is in NC for the time being, although he is 34 and should have provided me with some lovely grandchildren by now, he says the military is no place for a family and refuses to think about it until after he retires. My 33 year old son lives and works in AZ and he has not found "the one" yet. My "baby" is 27 and lives in Western Kansas. she graciously gave me a wonderful intelligent handsome (I'm not bragging it's all true  ) grandson who is now 9. I was a single parent for 15 years and ran daycare in my home for 25 so I helped raise over 100 kids. It was lots of fun.  I am originally from England came to the US as a military bride back in the 70's the marriage did not work.  I have lived all over the US thanks to the USAF. Came to Kansas in 1991 Went back to college in my 40's and got a job outside my home in 95 when my daughter started high school. Met my new hubby online and after long instant message conversations lots of telephone calls and many weekends driving 400 miles each way I came to Howard in aug 05 and married him. (price of gas was going to high for a long distance relationship  ) Now I am a stay home stepmom to an 11 year old boy who keeps me alert and on my toes and is teaching me some things about children that I did not learn from my own three or from all my daycare kids