Ramona correspondent
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Jacob Jirak, 16-year-old son of Steve and Vickie Jirak, won the personal finance category of the National Competition for Future Business Leaders of America this past week in Anaheim, Calif.
He returns home with a $1,000 prize.
Future Business Leaders is like FFA, except its focus is on business instead of agriculture.
Competitors are tested on their knowledge of personal finance in 10 categories. Jacob entered the competition locally and won a state competition
Around 800 young people took the state exam, Steve said, and two were sent to the nationals.
“We were watching the competition on the Internet last night,” he said, his voice hoarse from screaming.
Vickie said Jacob had been studying for three weeks.
“Three days before he left for California,” she said, “he had a schedule showing how much studying he’d still need to do in order to leave prepared.
Jacob’s parents long have known he had a gift.
“He was 2 years old, and one day he picked up the newspaper and started reading,” Vickie said. “We were floored. We didn’t know how he did it.”
The Jiraks were planning to meet him at the Wichita airport when he returns from California.
“He doesn’t know we’re coming,” Vickie said. “We’ve got signs and everything.”
Getting back to roots
Utech is one of the “old names” — folks who’ve been here for generations.
An “old name” is a family name that I’ve heard my parents and grandparents talk about. That phenomenon is one of the quaint comforts of living in the country.
When families return to their roots, it’s a comforting sight even if you’re not part of the family.
I loved seeing the Utech siblings and their offspring, wandering in and out of Cousins’ Corner the weekend of June 13.
Seeing their familiar faces, even if I was just driving by, made my heart smile.
Of the original 11 Utech children, six are living, and all attended the reunion.
Grace (Utech) and Bill Raven from Marietta, Ga., came the farthest for the family gathering.
They arrived June 12 along with siblings Junior and wife Liz of Topeka and Dolores (Utech) Siggs of Goddard.
Bill and Carol Utech came down the day of the reunion, from Topeka.
After eating at Al’s Café in Lost Springs, the family gathered on the front porch of Cousins’ Corner, singing along with Junior as he played his guitar.
When it got dark, they went indoors and took up another favorite pastime — playing 10- point pitch — until near midnight, when Terry and Jane Carstens (Judy’s son) arrived from Illinois.
“We apologized that all of your chocolate chip cookies had been eaten by this time in the night,” Dolores said, “so there were none for Terry and Jane.”
Dolores was referring to my custom of leaving cookies for all our guests. It’s what our grandmother always had waiting for us when we’d come visit, except Grandma kept her cookies in a lard bucket, and the ones we give our guests are stacked under a glass-domed plate.
After breakfast the next morning the group headed for the farm of another Utech sibling, Edna Mueller, north of Tampa. That’s where the family reunion actually took place.
Edna’s sister, Erna Peterson of Osage City, was staying with Edna, along with Edna’s grandson, Greg Mueller, and his family from Corpus Christie, Texas. Bill Utech’s daughter, Janet Smith, and her family were at Edna’s, too, camping out. Edna’s place was overflowing.
“By the time noon rolled around there were 40 family members,” Dolores said, “and our cousins, George and Mary Ann Schlesener from Herington, came for the reunion, too.”
Fred and Margaret Utech were lifelong Ramona residents. They died a couple years ago, but their lives were celebrated at the family reunion in the presence of their daughter, Jeanetta Hanschu, and her husband Junior, who are also lifelong Ramona residents.
They came with three of their grandchildren, whose parents, Jolene and Neal Albrecht, were on a cruise for their 15th wedding anniversary.
As well-planned as a family reunion can be, there’s always something that somebody forgets. This year it was Dolores’ daughter, Cindi Ferguson, who forgot to bring Cool Whip for her frog-eyed salad.
“What the heck is a frog-eyed salad,” I asked.
She proceeded to explain about small pasta that resembles tapioca (and frog’s eyes), mixed with pineapple, mandarin oranges, marshmallows, and Cool Whip.
Aunt Erna came to the rescue; she graciously offered her Cool Whip, which meant that her “dump” cake had to go “unadorned.”
The Utechs began having their reunion at Edna’s last year.
“After we sold the home place we held our reunion at the prish hall,” Dolores said, “but the kids just needed more space and something to do.”
The Utech kids loved Edna’s farm. There are lots of gates and feed racks to climb over and plenty of room to play ball. Best of all, they get to go out in the pasture visit the pond and Great- Aunt Edna’s cows.
“You’d think at almost 92, Edna would give up raising cattle,” her sister, Dolores, said, “but you just can’t keep that young lady in any rocking chair.”
Dolores is right about that. Her sister is one of the youngest people I know. She’s my inspiration for living a long and fabulously fit life.
Another reunion
This weekend another family will be returning for a reunion in Ramona.
The Shields family is staying in all our guest houses and will be celebrating their family history on Friday when the Lost Springs monument is moved nearer the actual site of the springs.
The Shields name is particularly respected in Ramona.
J.B. Shields was the first teacher in Ramona and so beloved that when the town incorporated they wanted to name it Shields.
The only thing that stopped that from happening was that there already was a town on the railroad line with that name. Ramona was a second choice.
The Shields family has agreed to enter a float in the 4th of July parade this Saturday evening in Ramona.
When family is around, it’s especially easy putting together a float. Just get a wagon and pile the family on.
Redneck in Ramona
While we won’t have a great gathering, we are anticipating cousins from California to arrive for the Redneck in Ramona celebration. If you’ve been on our Web site, http://www.redneckinramona.com/ — you’ve seen a very amusing woman’s face.
The woman is our cousin, Rhonda Plank Richard, from Woodland Hills, Calif.
Last year Rhonda and her family came for the 4th of July. We asked her to drive the truck for our float. The rest of us were on the float and in outrageous “redneck” costumes.
I guess Rhonda didn’t want to be left out, so she disappeared for a bit and said she was “getting ready.” When she walked out of the bathroom with my curlers in her hair, holding my plastic baby doll and dangling a cigarette she had bummed from our neighbor, we cracked up.
It was Rhonda who inspired our Miss Redneck contest, happening for the first time this year.
Hearing some of the antics other competitors are cooking up, we promise you’ll be entertained.
You can tell something is about to happen in Ramona if you drive down our main street.
There’s this odd black car with green and yellow dots and words on the hood saying, “Welcome to Redneck in Ramona.”
This is the car everybody is going to be smashing with a bat on the 4th.
Not far from the strange looking car you’ll see a toilet perched in the air. It almost looks as if it is floating, but it’s very securely attached to a steel structure that is becoming The Royal Flush, Ramona’s version of a dunk tank.
My sister went out to check out this invention of Art Stroda and his nephew, Brian Haden. They have been working on it for a couple of months.
Jayme Brunner and Billy Alcorn were helping ensure that the water from the toilet dumps on the person sitting below.
They coaxed Pat to try it out. Judging from the drenched person I saw walking by my office window, it works.
By the time you read this, it will be just 2 or 3 days until Redneck in Ramona.
There’s always time to join the fun. (See story in this week’s Summer Fun section.) It’ll be a Rockwell moment with a splash of Redneck thrown in.