Ramona
By JESSICA GILBERT
Ramona correspondent
(785) 965-2621
When news came that Fred Utech had died, we were startled and sad. As is the custom, I joined other women from the community who took food to the Utech home in the days before the funeral. When I arrived with my cinnamon rolls, Marguerite, and other family members were in the midst of dessert.
"Oh, I see you're enjoying Darlene's (Sondergard) coconut cream pie," I said.
"Oh, that was Dad's favorite," said Junior Hanschu.
"And we just finished eating Lisa Stroda's wonderful enchilada casserole," added Jeanetta, Fred's daughter.
In times of grieving, we all search for ways to comfort ourselves — whether that's a comforting meal, a soothing hug, the recitation of fond memories.
"I'm so grateful for the memories I have with Fred," I said, as I sat next to Marguerite. Like the year we did the Boot Hill float for the 4th of July, and I begged Fred to join his brother and son-in-law in this western enactment of an old-fashioned laundry.
I called Fred and he said he'd sit on the float (in long underwear) if his brother, Erich, would do it. So I called Erich, and he said he'd do it if Fred would. Then I called Junior and he said he'd do it if his father-in-law and uncle would!
What was I going to do to get somebody to break! After several phone calls and much cajoling, Junior said "yes" — he'd roll down Main Street in his long underwear!
Once I got Junior to do it, Fred was a piece of cake, and once Fred said "yes," then Erich joined the silliness, too. Marguerite, who agreed to be the laundry lady, soon joined the fun. And the final touch was little Jake (Junior's grandson, who isn't little anymore), who willingly jumped in a tin tub on a hot July day, as the littlest bathing cowboy.
And then there are the memories of July 4th last year when Fred called to say the entire Utech family would be doing a parade entry. The focal point would be the recently restored 1927 Model T Ford truck that had been purchased new so many years ago, by Fred's dad, William Utech.
The day of the parade, Fred and his brother, Junior, were driving the beautifully restored truck around town. They came up to our house and honked. "Isn't it a beauty!" enthused Fred as we walked around the truck appreciating the shining chrome and the sparkling new paint job.
Fred and Marguerite proudly drove the Model T that carried nieces, nephews, brothers, and sisters, in the truck bed. As they slowly rolled down Main Street Ramona during the parade, the family began singing "Grandpa Utech Had a Farm," led by Fred's brother, Junior.
The Utechs won first place in the parade. "Some said our big family entry just made the parade," said Fred's sister, Edna, the day of the funeral when we were reminiscing.
Fred died April 11. He was 85 years old. He spent his life as a farmer, and was known as a perfectionist, even in his fields. At the funeral the story was told that Fred would drive by his wheat fields and, seeing a weed, get out of his vehicle, and pull it.
Fred's funeral took place April 15, and the Carlson-Becker funeral home in Hope was filled to overflowing. More and more chairs were placed in aisles, and people pressed together in the pews to make room for more. Fred was beloved by so many.
On a happier note, the G.H. Brunner family held their reunion at the Lutheran parish hall April 20, and the high point of the event was the 106th birthday of Johanna Brunner Kaiser — the last living child of G. H. Brunner and his wife.
The hosts for this year were Joan (Brunner) Gillette and her children, Ryan and daughter Stacy. Co-hosting with Joan were her siblings, Neva Applegate, Karen Mowat, and Omar Brunner. These were the offspring of Solomon Brunner.
Joan Gillette and her family stayed at our guest house during the Brunner reunion, and over breakfast we talked about family and reunions.
"When I was a kid we used to look at the older generation and place bets as to who wouldn't be there next year," said Joan with an embarrassed look on her face. "Now, I'm that older generation, and hosting the reunion!"
Kaitlin Brunner, a fifth generation descendant of G.H. Brunner, was born in Ramona. She's a third grader, and lives here with her dad, Jayme Brunner (son of the late Jim Brunner), and her older brother Solomon, who's named after his great-grandfather.
Kaitlin happened to drop by our house to visit as we were about to go to the parish hall and take some pictures of the Brunner gathering. "Want to go along?" we asked. We were going to "horn in," taking journalistic license to capture the news in town.
When we walked into the hall, Kaitlin immediately saw friends from school — the Shields girls. "I didn't know I was related to you!" she exclaimed.
Family members had great pictures scattered around the parish hall tables, and I commissioned my sister to take photographs of them in the name of posterity.
"Look at this one," invited Lauren Brunner, also of Ramona, as he pointed to three little boys, bundled in coats and hats, perched on a porch ledge. "That's me, Robert Brunner, and Jack Applegate." Lauren's daughter, Ann, who also was at the reunion, along with her brother Kent's family, has been sorting and documenting pictures and she assembled a fine collection for everyone's enjoyment.
There were 68 guests at the reunion and they came from the following branches of the G.H. Brunner line: Henry (12), Alex (17), Solomon (22), Dan (3), Marie (4), and Johanna (who just turned 106, had 10 relatives there). Six of the siblings (Lydia, Eva, Sam, Dave, Joe, and Ben) had no kin there.
When I called Marissa Makovec Thursday she was making wedding cake for 400. "Do you have a minute?" I asked. "I'll talk while wedding cake is baking," she replied. I wanted to know the latest news from their family.
"Shaina will be heading to New York when she's out of school (at K-state)," began Marissa. "She'll be gone for about a month. The trip is organized by some of Shaina's college professors. There'll be about 15 students going." The group will be touring the high fashion district.
Simon Makovec and Dana Beltz will marry in August; in the meantime Dana is continuing school and Simon is working in Wyoming for Halliburton, an oil drilling company. He works for two or three weeks and then is home for a week or so. "It all depends on how long it takes to drill the oil well he's assigned to," said Marissa. "He flew to Houston in March," she continued, "to learn about a new drilling head they want him to learn to use." Simon was hired as an engineer for Halliburton, and he's rapidly advanced to positions of increasing responsibility.
When KU played Carolina for the championship recently, the Steve Jiraks all were gathered in front of the television engrossed in every spellbinding moment — all except little Elias, who was already in bed.
"We watched the game rather quietly," said Steve. But when KU won in overtime, Jacob just couldn't be silent.
"I just have to scream," said Jacob, but he didn't want to wake his little brother, so he went outside and made several victory laps around the house in full voice. "Then he came inside and made victory brownies," said Steve with a smile. All the activity — running, screaming, and baking — were done in full KU colors!
Ramona vice mayor, Art Stroda, is going to be a grandpa in early May. His daughter, Sara Smith, and her husband, Scott, are preparing for the arrival of their first child, a little boy. The baby shower was held in Ramona at the parish hall April 5.
A week before the baby shower, Art's sister, Elaine, came by the house and dropped off her gift — a two-layer "cake" make of diapers.
It looked so much like a cake, that when Art's mom, Marge, walked into the room and saw it, she said: "How am I supposed to keep that for a week — I don't have room in my refrigerator!"
"It did look real," said Art, who brought me a picture so I could get the full effect. "Sara got a lot of cute stuff at her shower, but that gift really took the cake!"
This new baby boy will be the seventh great-grandchild for Marge and Maurice Stroda, who are longtime Ramona residents, and first grandbaby for their son, Art.
Pat Wick was in California in early April celebrating her grandson's first birthday. Since the baby is a mix of Korean/Caucasian, the first birthday party was full of rituals. In the Korean tradition, the baby is dressed in a special costume and the family comes and bows before him and presents gifts.
Then Dagfinnr was presented with several objects — a pen, a bowl of rice, a book — and the family waits to see which items he will pick up and play with. Dagfinnr's Korean relatives were elated when he picked up the pen (meaning he'll be a scholar), and then took to the bowl of rice and played with that most of the time (rice signifies wealth). Dagfinnr is the fourth general of first-born sons and this is a mighty big deal in the Korean culture.
The party had a cowboy and Indian theme, which is something that Jana adored as a child — she loved the American Indian culture and Pat had made her authentic clothes, moccasins, and even a tipi. So Jana pulled out her tipi, which had been packed away for 25 years or more.
"The quality of the paintings on the tipi were amazing," said Pat of her daughter's artistic work at age 10. "We pitched Jana's childhood tipi in the yard, and put another just beside it — the one I made for Dagfinnr's birthday,"
Jana and Pat painted on Dagfinnr's tipi. On one side of the tipi door Pat painted a Kansas scene, showing Tooltime Tim, Jess, the John Deere tractor, and Pat — her stick figure was holding a box, signifying this tipi she had made for her grandson. On the other side of the tipi door was the birthday scene, showing lots of little stick "Indians" who came to the party, and Dagfinnr's parents and relatives all portrayed there. Jana painted two tipis in her scene, depicting her own childhood tipi and Dagfinnr's new one from his grandma Pat.
I was here in Kansas and periodically heard news of the wonderful birthday celebration. I remembered the birthdays of my childhood — they were much less elaborate. Usually the high point was an angel food cake, slathered with seven-minute frosting — especially fun for the fingers of the birthday kid — and one candle!
The Mercer twins — Annie and Abbey — had their third birthday party April 17. The kids from town gathered at the Mercer home for a surprise party. Older sister, Molly, distracted her sisters, while all the friends blew up balloons which would be set loose at the start of the party.
"Mom gave us all Silly String," said Molly, "and we had a lot of fun squirting that everywhere. Some even got into my brother, Josh's, mouth!" The twins got tricycles for their birthday.
Cole Svoboda celebrated a life ritual April 20 — he was confirmed in the Catholic church. He was one of 43 young people who were confirmed that day. Following the service all the families gathered in the church basement for lunch and celebration, held in Pilsen.
I went to my fist prom in my life this past Sunday night. My dance partner, Darrell, called and said there was a Sunday night dance in Salina, sponsored by the senior class of Sacred Heart school. The decorations remained for our enjoyment, and they put out a full-scale meal for everyone's delight. There were so many seniors there that it was a challenge to find room to dance.
At one point one of the students started putting up a table so folks would have more places to sit. The dancers at my table protested that our dancing space was being jeopardized. So I walked over to the young lady and asked if they could put the table somewhere else. "Don't let our age fool you," I said with a smile. "We cover a lot of territory when we do the swing!"
It was fun observing the young seniors watching us older seniors dance. "We've got to learn that step," I heard one young lady say in admiration to her boyfriend.
And that's the news from Ramona, where I hope you always choose to dance, and a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.
