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Ramona

By JESSICA GILBERT

Ramona correspondent

(785) 965-2621

Terry McRae walked into the Dirt Gambler's Museum this past week and presented an antique plate for the museum collection. Inscribed on the delicate rose-patterned surface was the advertising slogan: "Compliments of the Strickler Mercantile Company, Ramona, KS."

As I found a place on the wall for the plate I asked Terry the history behind it. "It was something my mom had forever, and I'm sure she got it from my grandmother — the Ladners. They lived here in Ramona from around 1904 to the late '20s," said Terry.

Terry was born in Herington to Francis McRae and Orpha (Ladner) McRae. When he was about two years old the family migrated to Wisconsin. "A lot of my family moved from Kansas to Wisconsin and worked in the breweries after prohibition," said Terry.

Terry lived in Germantown, Wis., until last month. "I worked for Harley Davidson for 32 years and when I retired I decided to return to my roots and live in Ramona," said Terry, who lives just across the street from his cousin, Bobby Thornhill.

Terry has owned Ramona property for some time, in preparation for his retirement, but when he finally moved here in June, he decided to purchase another property just north of his first one, and that's where he lives — in Bertha Schneider's old home.

I happened to mention to Terry that I was late in writing my column this week. "I forgot to set my alarm clock this morning," I said.

"I SMASHED my alarm clock when I retired!" laughed Terry. "A retirement rite of passage!"

Bertha Schneider's family converged on Ramona last weekend for Bertha's funeral at Trinity Lutheran Church. Bertha died July 3. She was 94 years old. She was living in the Lutheran Care Home in Herington at the time of her death.

Her daughter-in-law, Mary Schneider of Olathe, commented about the coincidence that Bertha died on July 3 and her only son, Donald, died on July 4, 1999.

Mary Schneider was in Tennessee, visiting her son, Rick, when Bertha died. "Bertha was always such a kind and considerate person," said Mary. "If I had told her that I'd be at Rick's for a week, she would have waited to die — she was just that thoughtful."

When Mary and her children, Don, Rick, and Suzy, and their families arrived they stayed at our bed and breakfast, so we had several chances to chat and hear stories of Bertha and Ramona.

"We were often in Ramona, especially in the summertime," said Suzy (Schneider) Paalman from Maryland. "I'd play in the park with Lisa Stika, Jackie Ohm, and Kodi Sader, and we'd get ice cream sandwiches at Betty Ohm's café."

Lisa (Stika) Hanschu and her husband Ronnie were at the funeral last Saturday. "Our families were all just entwined," said Lisa. "When Suzy and the boys came to visit we always all got together."

Lisa pointed out where all the family members lived. "Grandma Annie Sader lived just across the street on the corner from Aunt Bert in Ramona, and in the afternoon around three o'clock, Bert would go over to Grandma Annie's for coffee and kuchen and they'd talk German."

Bert's grandsons, Don Schneider from Houston and Rick Schneider of Tennessee, relished telling stories of their grandmother. "She had this inflection to her voice and she often commented on the weather," said Don, and he demonstrated.

Bertha would say "The summer's are TERRIBLE in Kansas," and as she said the word "terrible" her voice would rise and fall in exaggeration.

"And when something was really good, Grandma would say it was 'terrible good'," said Rick.

Rick's wife told about the time they gave Bertha a bottle of wine for Christmas. "Medicine, eh?" replied Bertha.

Around the breakfast table Bertha's daughter-in-law, Mary, told the story of Bertha's marriage to Jacob Schneider.

"Bert's father wanted her to go to business school and when Bertha wanted to marry Jake she didn't want her dad to be upset, so she and Jake decided to get married in secret and somehow pretend they weren't married."

But Bert should have known that nothing stays a secret around here! Bert and Jake went to Hutchinson to get the marriage license and that information was published in the Hutchinson newspaper. "Someone who used to live around Ramona, saw the notice in the newspaper and then everyone knew!" said Mary.

Stories scampered around the table as family members shared their memories of Bertha. "Oh, remember Grandma and the red car," said one. "Don bought his mother a red car because it was a really great deal," explained Mary, "but Bert wasn't fond of red. She thought that driving around town in a red car was scandalous."

But nothing tops the story about the romantic suitor who approached Bertha some years after her husband had died and the suitor had recently lost his wife. He was eager to marry again and so he came to Bertha's house one day to approach the subject and Bert's grandsons were there.

A small skirmish between the kids arose and the suitor asked Bert, "Do your grandkids visit often?" And at this point Bert admitted she told a little lie. "All the time," she replied. And that was the end of romance.

And now a word about a different kind of romance — a rodeo romance. Paula Morgan, a country resident of Ramona has a love of rodeos and anything to do with horses. This past week she savored a triumph — seeing the first women's ranch rodeo take place at the Tri-County Fair in Herington, and she was the one who made it happen!

"I've been eating, sleeping, and drinking ranch rodeo for the last three months," said Paula with her characteristic smile. "I was thrilled with the turnout at the women's competition Thursday. We had nine teams, which was fantastic for an event in the middle of the week."

When I asked Paula how she first got involved in ranch rodeo she said it was watching her husband, Max, compete in such an event. And then Paula got involved with Callie Peterson who created the women's ranch rodeo competition in Hillsboro a couple of years ago.

"I thought it would be cool to have a women's event in this area, so I went to the group that planned the Hillsboro event and they gave me pointers," said Paula, who then enlisted three other people to get the stock, find scorekeepers, and an arena director. "Callie Peterson helped me get some teams and I bounced ideas off her," said Paula. "I took on the job of organizing the event, getting prize money, presenting the proposal to the fair board, and finding teams. We awarded $2,300, plus prizes, to the contestants."

I salute Paula and the dreamers among us — anyone who has a dream and brings it to life enriches the lives of everyone around them!

As I look back over this week's column and the news I've reported, I'd say there are three themes: 1. Get rid of your alarm clock as quickly as possible 2. Live a life that's interesting enough so there's a story worth telling and 3. Have dreams — that's what keeps you vital and alive and a blessing to everybody around you.

And that's the news from Ramona where a traffic jam is two parked cars and a dog in the road.

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