I have realized this has not been a real blog. More of a one-way lecture without much of a personal story to it. Rather bare. Not that I think sharing thoughts about God to be "bare" or not of note - far from it. But I also know human nature. Some people live to read about God, they love God to that deep to an extent. Most people like to read someone's thoughts on God but they get bored. So, to keep people's interest - I'm just gonna change how I share things. Oh, I'll still talk about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, only in the sense of how they (He) have fit in my life and the lives of those around me.
I should start at the beginning of who I am, where I came from - but can't tell you much about where I'm going because the future has always been a mystery to me, especially about my OWN future. Heck, the present is a mystery to me most of the time.
I was born in Meade, Ks in 1957. The Year of Sputnik - the year the Space Race began. Huge changes on the horizon. Meade is a small farming community between Dodge City to the northeast and Liberal to the southwest. I don't remember much of Meade because we moved from there when I was 3 yrs old. The town's "claim to fame" is like many small communities - it has a singular event or singular person of note that they try to use to draw the out-of-towners that pass through on vacation.
Now, Meade had not a singular person to claim so much as persons - the famous Dalton gang had a hideout in the town. It is a nice, white wooden farm house with an escape tunnel whose entrance is in the pantry, You go down the tunnel to the barn, which the Dalton boys would have their horses all saddled and ready to run from the law.
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| Dalton Gang Hideout |
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| Escape Tunnel |
The tunnel (which tourists go down) leads to the barn, which the town folk have turned into a rather nice museum. Ironically, the Dalton gang started out as lawmen in Coffeyville, Ks and "went bad". And also, ironically, they met their demise in Coffeyviile trying to rob two banks at once. Not exactly the brightest move to make but greed does have a tendency to negate common sense.
But I digress. I said earlier, "We" moved out of Meade. We being, of course, my family. My Dad, Wesley, was a county engineer. He had his Master's degree in Civil Engineering from Kansas State University. My Mom, Dolly, was an RN having her nursing degree from St. Francis College in Wichita, KS. Dee Ann was the oldest sibling, then Jana, me, and finally, Weldon. Yep, you probably have noticed the "W" tendency of how my brother and I were named. I never asked why. Should have. It has been a bit of a bugger in my life. One of those nagging things that never quite goes away. Our middle names (the males of our family) also began with a "W". In another post I'll expand on that.
But we moved from Meade (Meade County) to the other side of Dodge City to the county of Edwards, the county seat being Kinsley. Most of my childhood was in Kinsley. I loved that town. A nice community that was fairly prosperous, having two major Kansas highways coming from the east and northeast, intersecting and merging to head west towards Dodge City.
Kinsley's claim to fame as a small town? Midway USA -- halfway between New York City and San Francisco, California. They have a big sign just where the two highways meet, as well as a sod museum. There was also a train there - well, the locomotive and coal car behind it - sitting on a short set of rails. When I was growing up in the 1960s we kids could climb on it and play.
The museum is pretty nice, actually. Lots of historical artifacts from the pioneer days and the growth of Kinsley, Edwards County and the surrounding area.
But kids being kids we only really cared about the building to the east of the museum spot - the skating rink. A very important place for kids to get together and roll around and just go. You would think that would be boring but it wasn't. We had other things to do in that small town and I'll share what some of those things are later.
My next post will be a continuation of my life in Kinsley with stories of my friends, school, church, my brother and sisters - and how our lives were forever altered when our mother passed away in the mid-1960s. Another story, another time.
"May your days be many and your troubles be few. May all God's blessings descend upon you. May peace be within you may your heart be strong. May you find what you're seeking wherever you roam." ~ Old Irish blessing
