Ramona
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
Last Week's News
Friday night was a rare moment: three of the six Centre homecoming candidates were from Ramona — Thieen Antoszyk, son of John Antoszyk and Kim Melstrom, Chelsey Tajchman, daughter of Clay and Candace Tajchman, and Seth Jirak, son of Steve and Vickie Jirak.
"Are you lost?" teased Paula Fike when I walked into the game and passed her and Warren. It was a reasonable "tease" since in the six years I've lived in Ramona, I've never taken in one of Centre's sporting events. I hesitate to admit this since sports seem to be such a big part of everybody's life out here in the country, but I went to a boarding school where competitive sports was nonexistent so I never got hooked.
Oh yes, there were Ramona folks all over the place. Sandra Svoboda was there because Cole was playing in the band. The same was true of the Brunner family because Tanner also is a band member, and Bryant Brunner is on the basketball team. Lisa and Ronnie Hanschu were there to watch James play for Centre, and John Antoszyk and his family were there because Thieen not only plays on the basketball team, but was a homecoming candidate. I ran into the Deineses out in the concession line — Jessica Deines plays for the Centre girls and sister Shelby also is on the team. When the girls' game ended, Jessica appeared in her cheerleading outfit to inspire the crowds during the boys' game.
The moment I walked into the gym to find a seat in the bleachers, Vickie Jirak caught my eye and motioned for me to sit with her.
"How long have you been here?" I inquired.
"Oh, since around three o'clock," replied Vickie. "I came for the pep rally and didn't leave!" Vickie's son was not only a homecoming candidate but played on the basketball team.
Vickie's been prodding me for a long time to come to the games — ever since I mentioned something about her and Steve coming over to dinner sometime and Vickie's reply was: "Just come to the games — it's where we all do our socializing." And I did see first-hand the art of "sports socializing." As folks walked by it was easy to call out and find out what you wanted to know. Or, get up and move about the stands as the game progresses and catch up on what folks have been doing since the last game.
The Tajchman family filled up one whole row and part of another. Clay's mom, Teresa was there right beside Candace's parents, Dave and& Alana Holt, and Candace's sister, Ashley Kanelakof and her two children from Arkansas City.
"When Chelsey was nominated for homecoming queen of course we had to go shopping for just the right outfit," said Candace. "Chelsey doesn't really like to go shopping, but I do, and I love to accessorize, too. I think we went through about 100 outfits trying to find the right one. I was finally kicked out of the dressing room," laughed Candace. "Even the store salesperson steered clear. And Clay — he stood in the mall and drank coffee!"
When the homecoming candidates were escorted to stand in front of the audience, a snippet of personal info was read about each of the candidates. I can't remember it all, but certain things stood out for me. They asked each candidate to name an influential person in their life and Thieen said it was Mr. Wiles, the sports and physical education teacher from Ramona, who is an institution at Centre and an asset to the town as well.
They asked the students what they'd do with a million dollars and Chelsey said she'd give it to her dad so her mom would quit complaining to her dad about finishing the house. That produced a hearty laugh in the crowd.
Seth said that in 10 years he would be married and probably have children and be working at a respectable job. I smiled at the word "respectable" because Seth also said the most influential person in his life was his dad — and Steve holds a most respectable job in the Ramona area as our postal delivery person.
I found myself holding my breath when they announced who was homecoming king and queen — Thieen was pronounced king, but my heart sank when Chelsey was not named queen. It would have been so fitting for Thieen and Chelsey, since they've been dating for about four months now.
"All three of the queen candidates have been friends all through school," said Candace Tajchman, who teaches at Centre. "So while Chelsey was disappointed, she was glad for her best friend, Alyssa Luna, who was pronounced queen."
Chelsey brought home loads of flowers from family and friends who wished her well in the competition, including a beautiful rose from Thieen.
"There's more?" questioned Candace when her daughter went for a second trip to the car to bring her flowers into the house.
"Yes, mom. I got more flowers than anybody else," announced Chelsey triumphantly. And then Chelsey went to Grandma Tajchman's to get a bottle of aspirin because she'd heard that aspirin keeps flowers looking good for as long as possible.
While Candace's family came primarily to celebrate with Chelsey, they did a two-for-one celebration, because Candace's birthday was Sunday.
"Originally we were all going to meet somewhere for the weekend to celebrate my birthday," said Candace, "but when Chelsey was nominated, they came here and we celebrated everything."
When I asked how they celebrated Candace laughed and said, "We do what all old people do at my age — played cards, watched TV, and went to bed early."
Candace turned 40, and her jokes about "old people" don't really fit, if you know Candace. But her friends at school teased her about being "over the hill" Friday, and threw her an "all chocolate party" in the school library.
Pat and I teach art at Centre on Fridays so we walked into the library and saw (and even tasted) some of the chocolate delicacies. There was everything from chocolate covered strawberries to chocolate pretzels and oodles of chocolate gooey cookies and brownies.
"My job," said teacher, Jean Brunner, "is to keep the kids out of this until we have the party!"
Jean made heart-shaped chocolate cupcakes and her grandson Tucker was eyeing the display Friday morning. "Are you taking all those cupcakes to school, Garma?" queried Tucker, who's in kindergarten, and can't say "grandma," so he calls Jean, Garma.
"No, just the heart-shaped ones," replied Jean. "That's good," said Tucker in relief, "because I tried some of the frosting on those over there, and I can't remember which one I put my finger in!"
"I tried to admonish Tucker on the etiquette of putting your finger in things, " said Jean, "but during my little lecture I happened to look over at Kent, who was hidden behind the morning newspaper, and he was laughing so hard the paper was shaking."
The Hanschu-Utech families will be celebrating many of their family birthdays from January through March. In January it was Junior, Jan, and Jolene. The family got together for a pancake feed in Salina on the last weekend of January.
"I was in charge of the card for the January party," said Jeanetta, "Somebody else made the cake, but I had the candles and I had 84 of them in my hand, because I thought we were celebrating Dad's birthday — but then I realized that the candles didn't match the gift I'd gotten. That's when I knew I was confused!"
The large bundle of candles are for Fred Utech's birthday, who turns 84 Feb. 24. Also celebrating with him will be grandchildren, Jennifer and Jayson.
"We have 11 birthdays between Jan. 20 and March 14," said Jeanetta. "It seems our birthdays come in threes." The upcoming birthday bash for February will be held at Junior and Jeanetta's house in Ramona.
This week is Valentine's Day — my favorite holiday. I ships cards, gifts, and flowers to my friends. I plan special meals. I have special dishes — they'll be holding cheese blintzes covered with fresh blackberries and raspberries for a valentine breakfast with my sister. And we always have See's chocolates from California — now that we live in Kansas, Pat's daughter, Jana, ships us our favorites each year.
I was delighted when Molly Mercer, sixth grader from Ramona, came and asked if she and Bryanna Svoboda could come over to my house to do some valentine baking. "We want to make cookies for everybody in town," announced Molly. So, Pat and I invited the girls, which included Molly's cousin, Kristy Laing, to come over to Mom's big kitchen and do some baking Sunday afternoon.
What a delight to watch the girls mixing shortening and sugar, adding flour, learning to use a rolling pin. Molly and Bryanna worked with Pat on the sugar cookie dough while I assisted Kristy in making brownie hearts. This age is terrific, because they can read the recipes and use measuring cups and spoons, so Pat and I were around for "technical assistance" only — like instructions on making sure the beaters stay in the batter until you turn off the mixer!
When the baking and decorating were done, the girls created hand-made valentines and the sweet delectables were wrapped in pretty bags or cellophane and ribbon and before it got dark, I drove them around town to make deliveries.
I got such delight watching these young ladies nurture the community. They hugged Norma Bird, who's known them since infancy. They welcomed Carl and Theresa Gehrke to Ramona; the Gehrkes recently moved from Herington into Theresa's family home. (Theresa's parents Duke and Trevia Schneider were Ramona residents until they died. Duke was once mayor of Ramona and Trevia ran the grocery store for several years.)
Betty Ohm gave the girls candy when they delivered the valentine cookies to her and Harold, and Bryanna got a special hug from her Grandma Buxman. They were learning all the name of new folks — folks they haven't grown up with. They were brave, they were confident, and I smiled to think that maybe one day, they'll be caretaking Ramona when they grow up — they've already gotten a great start.
So here's to love in all its many forms. We've all just gotten a little love here in Ramona from three little girls who had a vision of how they'd enliven their hometown — a town so quiet that a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
