All about German Days, Labor Day plans and Hobbs on Gray

While strolling, I wondered whatever happened to Barbara Hobbs.

Happy birthday to Mark Starnes, Aaron Fuller, Brent Parker, John Schott, Mike Swain, Steve Montgomery, Kim Owens, Steve Duniphan, Robin McKinley, Stacey Starnes, Eva Golightly, Jesse Nordin, Shirley Bullinger, Alvie Surface, Paul Friga, Amy Goetz, Annette Bridwell, Jennifer Cook, Dale Williams, Carla Eichhorn, Gary Crowden, Scott Horman, Joshua Schilling, Mitchell Dirnberger, Ron Moyers, Todd Wessel, David Herbst, Warren Masterson, Ashley Kitchen, Raymond Spies, Daryl Ross, Jimmy Hargrove, Blake Dannenmueller and Charlotte Foulk.

Happy anniversary to George and Jamie Holland, Loren and Catherine Elfrink, Kevin and Brenda Miller, Bud and Laura Schilling, Richard and Carolyn Walther, Elvis and Judy Abernathy, Ernie and Mary Duncan, Tim and Megan Steimle and Bobby and Nelda Eichhorn.

Many moons

We are enjoying the full moon of August, which is known as Dog Day's Moon, Women's Moon, Fruit Moon and Moon When All Things Ripen.

What happened to August? It seems like we just got into summer, and now we are already making plans for Labor Day weekend, the last holiday of summer!

City Hall reminds residents and businesses to replace tattered or faded American flags.

Cash and kettle corn

HB Rice has this to add to our German Days report, so you might want to make a point of attending next year. Hourly attendance prizes were awarded with $150 cash given away at 10 p.m. Friday and $200 cash at 10 p.m. Saturday. In addition to the catfish dinner at the Senior Center, there were seven food vendors including, new this year, kettle korn. Activities included various tournaments, the popular greased pole, dunking stand, bingo and car bashing. There was a talent show, Little Miss and Mister Pageant and softball. On Saturday morning, the girls' softball team hosted their four-team jamboree. Music was provided by Dale and Debbie Patterson of Excalibur Sound System Friday and Randy Elfrink of Renegade Sound System Saturday. Midway rides were provided by H&H Amusements. HB commends the Elks for putting on a fine picnic, enjoyed by all.

Lemon Shake-Ups, AWOL

A lot of people attending German Days were asking what happened to The Historical Society's popular Lemon Shake-ups this year. This is an important fundraiser for the society, but they were short of volunteers to man the stand. We missed the refreshing shake-ups, and we missed Linda Dowd. We want to keep our historical museum up and running. You can help out by joining the society for only $10 per year or making a donation.

The deadline for the Chaffee High School Alumni Banquet is Sept. 26. It is always a fun time seeing old friends and former classmates. Although many of the buildings remain in Chaffee, stores and establishments we remember from our school days are gone. We have our memories, though, and I'll bet many of you can close your eyes and take a mental stroll through the halls of the old two-story grade school and high school buildings.

A new nurse

Our congratulations to Mallory Reddick of Scott City, who graduated from Southeast Hospital College of Nursing in May and recently passed her state boards! She has accepted a job at Southeast Hospital, and I am especially proud of her because she was our fifth recipient of the Ruth A. Buckhannon Memorial RN Scholarship that my three sisters and I set up in memory of our mother. Although our mother was not a nurse, she took care of our dad in our home for 10 years after he suffered a debilitating stroke.

We chose the nursing field because we quickly realized in caring for our loved ones, the importance of being in the care of competent, compassionate nurses. Mallory is the daughter of Robert and Debra Reddick, and we wish her all the best!

These past two weeks we have wondered about the Hobbs sisters. They were one year apart and many of you may remember the Hobbs Grocery store, on the 4th block of Gray, that their parents had in the 1950s. Kids often bought candy there to and from school, providing much business for local dentists.

Special words

Remember to tell those special people in your life that your love them -- those three words mean so very much.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are missing loved ones, our homebound, those in hospitals and nursing homes and those undergoing cancer treatments. Email your news and comments to darbuck2@airmail.net or leave a message at (573) 887-6430 or (214) 207-7839.

And then ...

Then there was Warner Communications, which paid $28 million for the copyright to "Happy Birthday."