Champion News

Champion’s birthday extravaganza celebrating Betty Henson, Dolly Parton and J.C. Owsley drew friends from far and wide.  Ethel Leach furnished the fabulous chocolate cake again.  She had just shared one on a recent Wednesday—yummy.  Kaitlyn McConnell brought her amazing Apple Crumble pie and her stalwart traveling companion Mike O’Brian.  Mike is in wonder that Kaitlyn seems to know every interesting spot in the country. The long table was full of pies and cookies and snacks adding to the sweetness of Saturday midday out on the Bright Side!  Good wishes and expressions of genuine appreciation for the good humor and hard work required to keep our precious community hub spinning arose from near fifty friends and neighbors gathering to sing that song.  Betty’s Skyline friends shared a “Go Tigers!” shirt with her in appreciation for all her support of our vital little rural school.  Carissa Rene sang “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem.”   She had planned to sing it for Betty at Christmas, but for various reasons had been delayed.  Her beautiful voice is a gift she shares happily.  As the crowd left the store keeper was seen going about her regular work.  Thank you.

More birthdays to celebrate are those of Skyline sixth grader Paxton Elgie and the amazing Brenda Massey on January 22nd.  Brenda seems to be in the middle of many good works in the area, generally adding an unexpected element of fun. Eighth grader Blake McIntosh has the 24th for his big day.  The 25th will be celebrated worldwide in honor of Robert Burns who tells us in verse, “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!”  That line comes in a 1786 poem, “To a Louse, On Seeing one on a Lady’s Bonnet at Church.”   He also gave us “Auld Lang Sine,” where we are encouraged not to forget our old acquaintances.  Joyce Coonts will party on the 26th.  Jackie will make it a good day for her.  Shannon Alexander will do that for Skyline alum Kay Alexander on the 27th.  Dax Loveless is a prekindergarten student at Skyline with a birthday on January 28th.  We remember Dwane Collins on the 29th.  The 30th is the big day for dairy farmer James Brixey who was reported to have been 40 in 2012.  The 30th is also party time for the lovely Loneda Bennett.  We wish you Champion-style birthday extravaganzas one and all.

Karen Ross joined the fun in Champion Saturday remembering the ten years she carried the mail to us here on her 122-mile route, always carrying dog treats for our friendly canines.  She retired at the end of the year with 26 years of service on her three different routes for the post office.  Kirt Dooms had been her postmaster in Norwood.  She enjoyed seeing him and Judy at her retirement party on January 3rd.  She said her first postmaster was also there to welcome her to retirement.   Hopes are that she will have time to meander back this way often, though retirement often marks the start of really getting busy.  Her friends here will just count ourselves lucky when we see her coming.

News has come that Eva Loyce Henson Phillips passed away on January 5th.  She attended all eight years of elementary school at Champion, graduating in 1949.  She had been living with her son in Nashville for a while.  They enjoyed coming to the Champion Reunion usually held on Saturday of the Labor Day weekend.  Her son said that she was very much looking forward to this year’s event.  Her brother down in Houston, Texas, Kenneth (Hovie) Henson, is now the last of the Ezra Henson children living.  He says he is the last of his clan now.  Hovie has had health problems of his own, but hopes are that he and Dawn will make it back home for the festivities this summer.

Football fans enjoying the weekend games get to hear the National Anthem performed by a variety of talented people.  In these tumultuous, troubling political times it is worth the effort to listen to the words of our song to reflect on whether we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave.  One Old Champion who has heard that song often in his eighty-plus years says that none of them lately have done nearly as good a job as David Richardson does.  David is a busy guy, a genuine local talent, flying around and still playing basketball in his 60s (early 60s) and making music all over the place–Mansfield, Norwood, Mountain Grove, Dora, Vanzant and sometimes on a Wednesday in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

Early January finds Old Champion purging last year’s no longer necessary financial records and addressing the decades of accumulated correspondence in filing cabinets, crates and shoe boxes full of memories and mysteries.  Can we save everything? Every memento of family and old friends?  Will we forget them if we pare down?  Will any of this be meaningful to our heirs?  It makes for a difficult sweet and sad activity on a cold sunny winter day.  The reminder that these items are tangible, unlike our memories, makes us more likely to save them.

Kaitlyn McConnell and Mike O’Brian popped into Champion Wednesday (with a cranberry pie) and sat around the old wood stove a spell before carrying on with one of their forays into our beautiful Ozarks.   Tim and Sara Tamborino were welcome visitors at the Vanzant Jam Thursday.  Tim has a site on the internet called “The Midwest Bluegrass Directory.”   Therein is a nine-minute-long video of the jam on July 26, 2013.  It was precious to see Norris Woods again and Jerry Wagner in the circle, and Sally Jo Prock dancing and Dwight Collins’ smile and others we miss.  Yet many of the musicians on that video are still playing regularly in jams all around the area.  Thank you, Tim, for some lovely nostalgia including Sherrie’s five pounds of possum on her big bass fiddle.  Tim and Sara are planning a move out west in a couple of years.  They want to be at a higher altitude which will make Tim’s arthritis less unpleasant. He has had three hip replacements, a knee replaced and sundry other titanium instillations.  We are all grateful for modern medicine and grateful for all the work Tim does to preserve the music we love.

Champion Miley Schober and her cousin Reese Kutz celebrate birthdays on January 16th and 17th.  Their grandmother, or maybe great grandmother, is also one of Blaine Denlow’s great grandmothers.  Lucky them!  The 17th is the birthday of Skyline prekindergarten student Natalie Lynch.  Skyline seventh grader Railynn Dixon celebrates on the 18th along with state qualifying archer Jacob Kyle Brixey & Mary Beth Shannon.  For some reason Mary Beth’s sweetheart is called Sparky. He will be sure she has a good time on her big day.  Skyline bus driver Robert Hall shares his day with Champion’s own Betty Henson and with J.c. Owsley of Cross Timbers. Your Champion friends and neighbors expect you all to have wonderful parties full of laughter, goodies, gifts and fond reminiscences.

Among items in the ‘purge’ was a scrap of newspaper with an item from Clever Creek dated March 2, 1898.  It said, “Archie Hancock accidentally shot himself through the hand while monkeying with a pistol in the post office one day last week.”  We only have a vague notion of where the Clever Creek Post Office was, but The General can probably clear that up for us.  Recent events remind us of George Orwell’s “Newspeak.”  It was a clever use of words to encourage conformity and control reality, as in “a war of peace.”  Instead of the word ‘bad,’ they would say ‘ungood.’  ‘Doubleplussungood’ would mean ‘terrible.’   While we consider history and pay attention to what is going on in the world, perhaps we can say, “Doubleplussgood is what it is these days in Champion”—Looking on the Bright Side!

Champions ushered out the old year with a rather ragged rendition of the Happy Birthday song to The General.  Chuck and Karen Peterson from over by Mountain View made their first trip to the Bright Side and neglected to tell us that Karen’s birthday was to be on January 3rd, otherwise the song may have had more gusto. There was gusto aplenty though with Skyline neighbors joining in on banjo and violin.  Mena is getting good encouragement in her aim to transition from violin to fiddle.  Dairy farmers from up on the High Road and ranch hands from the Fox Creek Beef operation joined the usual bunch of Wednesday loiters enjoying the music and the chatter.   Champion Elizabeth Johnston Lawrence has a birthday on January 9th.   Bob Liebert down on Teeter Creek celebrates on the 11th.  That day we also remember Champion Wilburn Hutchison.  The 12th is for charming Jamie over in Ava doing good work at Jean’s Healthway and for master gardener and herbalist Edie Richardson out Norwood way at L and E Organic Farm. Diane Wilbanks down on Bryant Creek will party on the 13th.  That is the day we remember Norris Woods who played banjo and sang “Hot corn, cold corn bring along a demijohn.”    Skyline School’s PE teacher Shane Gray and school secretary Jamie Woods also celebrate on the 13th.   Happy Birthday to all of you.  Your Champion friends wish you and the rest of us the best for the new year.  The big Wolf Supermoon peaked Saturday—a beautiful way to start.

Out with the old and in with the new!  “Lang may yer lum reek!” Is a traditional Scottish Hogmanay greeting. “May you never be without fuel for your fire.” It translates “Long may your chimney smoke!”  Black eyed peas on the New Year’s table says you will eat at least that well all year.  They go well with ham hocks and collard greens or make a nice Texas caviar.  The New Year’s Possum Drop was erroneously attributed to half a dozen Denlow guys about a hundred years ago by one of their descendants given to hyperbole.  Extensive research reveals the practice to have started in 1990 with the drop of a ceramic possum from the roof of the Clay’s Corner convenience store somewhere in rural North Carolina.  Little country stores seem to be where good and interesting things happen.  Look at McClurg.  While no longer a mercantile, the old store is still in the business of Monday Music, thanks to Tom Peters.  He shares Saturday’s Oldfield Opera online as well as Monday’s magic. This week it was “The Prisoner’s Lament,” “The Last Train Home” and “Goldrush” as well as others.  Hopes are that Mena Dutton can connect with some of those fine young fiddlers over there and with David Scrivner, the fiddle teacher who learned from Bob Holt.  Roy’s Store in Dora is another excellent example of music and goodness.  Enjoy Bertie’s pies which are legendary and enjoy her great songs like “Lady Muleskinner” and “Arkansas.”  We thank Gina Hollingshad for her music with the Whetstone Band and for the effort it takes to organize the Tuesday Jam there in Dora.  Then there is Wednesday in Champion, Thursday in Vanzant under the leadership of The General himself, and Friday at Red’s Slice and Scoop in Norwood where Herbie Johnston might show up to illustrate extraordinary fiddling for Mena.  Music is good for community.  Community is where we feel connected, protected, and respected the way it is in Champion —Looking on the Bright Side!

A bright, sunny Christmas Eve had the wide veranda full of Tennessee Champions, descendants of the late Lonnie and Fae Krider, and their friends and neighbors and one of Fae’s brothers.  JoAnn Lawrence brought her guitar to share some tunes.  She has good memories of Lonnie as does David Richardson who came down to the Bright Side on his motorcycle. He borrowed The General’s guitar to sing “Mary Did you Know” and “Where’s the Line to See Jesus.”  He knows many, many songs and shares them freely. Inside the store, Ethel Leach had brought a glorious German chocolate cake for Christmas treat.  The General furnished the ice cream, appropriating the treat as an early celebration of his own birthday on the 31st.  Bob Leach still likes Gene Autry songs and still will not sell the mandolin/banjo he does not play, nor will he give it away or loan it.  Happy New Year anyway, Bob.

A mountain of mail addressed to Santa from children claiming to have been good or saying they had tried to be good make for a sweet read.  They offer to help him with his deliveries and promise cookies and treats under the tree.  Among those letters are some precious requests and observations: “I don’t need much, but my Dad could use a new guitar.”  “I just want to have good family time and for no one to be sick.”  And “Thank you, Santa, for reminding us to be good and for making so many people happy.”

We end the year singing the birthday song to The General and start the new year singing to Arne Coon and Jan Liebert who reminds us “YOLO!” That is to say you only live once.  Champion granddaughter Kabella Clark shares her birthday with a gifted guitar master Leland Isley down in Austin, Texas and with Skyline’s prekindergarten teacher Jess Hartley on January 2nd.   Champion Jacob A. Coon over in North Carolina has a birthday on January 3rd.  That is also the big day for Rachel Barry at Jean’s Healthway in Ava where lunch is always a gourmet delight.  Swedish activist Greta Thunberg also celebrates on January 3rd.  The 4th is for sweet Sami McCleary and for Lee Ray over in Almartha.  An invitation went out to Lee Ray for the Champion Friendsgiving event on December 6th, but he did not make it.  Alas!  Maybe he will come over to the Historic Emporium for a cupcake on New Year’s Day.   Skyline’s second grader Amelia Johnson celebrates on January the 5th, and the 6th is for Skyline fourth grader Lane Alfaro and for Skyline’s much appreciated maintenance engineer Bud Watkins.  Felix the Farmer way out west of Ava will probably have a big celebration.  A few years ago, he said that he planned to be an everything-ologist when he grew up.   Skyline third grader Wylee Wangsgard will party on the 7th.   Happy birthday from your friends in Champion who hope you prosper in good health and that sometimes you have the opportunity to experience the joy of helping someone else along the way.

 Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet (1750-1774).  Despite a short life, his career was highly influential, especially through its impact on Robert Burns who gave us “Auld Lang Sign.”  A hope for the new year is to remember those old acquaintances and renew the ones we can.  Fergusson delighted in those days between Christmas Day and the first Monday in January–the “Daft Days.”  Those days are all about merrymaking, feasting, music and dancing.  The year ahead may be full of things we cannot fathom now.  Not all of them will be great, but a lot will be wonderful. We have enjoyed some spectacular sunsets during these Daft Days.  We endeavor to persevere and to savor joy and beauty in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

“We wish you a merry Christmas!” sang the students of Skyline Bus #5 to Mrs. Betty at the Champion Store.   They posed on the steps for their photo while enjoying their ice cream, compliments of their favorite bus driver.  ‘Twas a perfect way to start Winter Break.  Later that day    Patricia Harrison shared some lovely videos of the festive Vanzant Jam that had Ruby and Betty dancing along with David to some lively tunes.  The crowd joined in on a rendition of “Jingle Bells.” Sources report that Mary Goolsby may have been overwhelmed by the rousing ‘happy birthday’ song directed toward her.  Surely The General added “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!”

Serious severe winds seemed to be directed toward the Bright Side that night.  People out on long county roads hesitated to try to make it to the pavement as roadside trees swayed wildly in the wind, letting go of big branches in the process.  Electricity blinked off and on during the evening.  Porch furniture, piles of aluminum cans and plastic destined for recycling, and broken limbs were strewn wildly across yards.  Friday found Champions enjoying a lovely calm day for the cleanup.

Jacob Brixey cleaned up at his first Archery tournament in Hollister on Saturday.  He placed 3rd overall high school boys.  He scored 282 out of 300.  Hit 50 twice.  It was at the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) and their “Santa Shoot-Out” with archers from all over the state.  Skyline’s archery program gives students the opportunity to learn safe, international-style archery, focusing on focus, physical fitness, and self-improvement.  Archery, like music, is an activity that proves that practice pays off in proficiency.

Page 22 of Kaitlyn McConnell’s “The Ozarks Pie Project Diary” features the Olde-Tyme Apple ‘n’ Cheese pie.  The recipe was shared by Louis L. Johnson on behalf of Betty Jefferson.  It was published in the 1980s by the Ava United Methodist Church in Missouri.  An Old Champion served it to guests Saturday evening. Reviews were good.  The baker is a novice, who plans to make a pie a month in the New Year.  Kaitlyn’s book will be her guide.  It is available at Jean’s Healthway in Ava and at The Champion Store.

Sunday morning found thousands of people cheering and dancing around Stonehenge as the sun rose over the prehistoric stone circle.  Of the Winter Solstice J.C. Owsley said, “The days will gradually get longer, and my spirits will be lifted.”  A Champion friend’s mother used to say, “We need each other’s light, so the dark won’t gobble us up.”

Sunday evening had Champions and folks all around the Ozarks in awe of an incredible sunset. “Red sky at night—sailor’s delight,” they say.  Gurdeep Pandher says, “May your holidays sparkle with wonder you didn’t see coming, and may the season’s warmth seep into your bones and stay there long after the last ornament returns to its box.”  We second that sentiment in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

We have too much stuff, but it is hard to let go of it.  Stacks of the White River Valley Electric Cooperative magazine “Rural Missouri” and the wonderful “Missouri Conservation” magazines are too precious to discard with all their wonderful photographs and pertinent information.  The  December 2023, edition of “Rural Missouri” has a wonderful article that says, “Vanzant farm brings magic of the North Pole to southern Missouri.”  The article was about the Prescot Family Reindeer Farm over on W Highway east of Vanzant.  Christmas is all around us.  Enjoy the season and the reasons for it.  Save the decluttering for next year.

When were you last on a horse?  An old Champion asked The Prominent one.  It turns out he claimed to have been riding with Jesse James.  Well, not really, but his great, great grandmother who was born in 1797 and is buried in the Denlow Cemetery had the maiden name of James.  The information was corroborated by his own second cousin, twice removed, who indicated he was on the other side of the family and so not related to the infamous outlaw. Stories circulated about the James gang swinging through this part of the country securing fresh mounts on the fly, some with permission and some not.  We are full of history.  Previously Champion was known as Pleasant Ridge.  It may have had other names as well and perhaps someone knows why it is called Champion now.

The holidays are fast upon us with all the many reasons to be glad.  Champion by marriage and talented photographer Shannon Alexander celebrated his birthday on December 14th.  That is also the day we remember Judy Gale Ing, who loved Champion and was as good a friend as anyone could ever hope to have.  She shared the day with Spike Jones who embodied musical fun.  Google him if you are unacquainted. Jesse Ing, Judy’s handsome son out in Hollywood, spent time in Champion as a lad. His birthday is on the16th as is that of Amanda Mastin who lives up in Springfield.  Skyline first grader, Dusty Simon, has the 18th for his day.  Mary Goolsby and Herby Johnston will both be partying on the 20th.  They will surely be enjoying music as part of their celebrations and will be remembering fiddler Jerry Wagner whose birthday was on the 21st.  That is the day Skyline eighth grader Paige Jonas celebrates.  Braxton Loveless is a kindergarten student with December 22nd as his birthday.  The 23rd is a big day for a bunch of people:  Butch Stone, six grader Chase Cauthron, cow farmer David Cauthron, and Sharon Sikes, great grandmother of Blaine Denlow as well as others—Champions all.   Joann Anderson, aka Grannie Grunt, was born on Christmas Day.   Carrington Kate Fogle is a seventh grader who has a birthday on the 26th, the same day as Skyline 5th grade teacher Heather Decker.  Champion grandson Eli Oglesby was born on the 30th.   Robert Upshaw shares his big day with young Arvin Schroder on the 31st.  The General may be about recovered from celebrating his daughter Loretta’s big milestone birthday.  Her sisters know how to party.

Joy to the world!  We have cold days, warm days, sad days, beautiful days, joyful days, dreary days, days full of memories and days full of expectations.  If we have a choice of days, joyful ones are the winner.  A brilliant red cardinal sitting in a gray brush-pile sparks a visual moment of joy, just a flash.  The more we can pay attention to those minuscule unexpected flashes of beauty the better we will be able to let go of some of the dreary, sad and scary.  So, grab some joy any time you find it wherever you are.  We find lots of it in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!

In Champion on Wednesday Cheryl and Carissa of Hero’s Rest joined the jam with fiddle, mandolin and sweet harmonies.  “Er long, in came Kaitlyn McConnell with a walnut raisin pie and her “Ozarks Pie Project Diary.”  She brought several books to fill orders and left a few at the store for shoppers to make someone happy on Christmas morning. Then Skyline superintendent Donnie Luna arrived on his lunch break.  What a treat to introduce Kaitlyn and Mr. Luna.  Something good is liable to come from it.   Good music and pleasant visiting with Linda, Cactus Mike, and Fox Creek Farmers made a good day.  The Prominent Champion was unusually quiet, having overworked in the cold lost his voice.  Consequently, there was no clever repartee between him and The General on this occasion, which is always an entertaining feature of the Wednesday gathering.

Thursday marked another good day when the Vanzant jam bunch sang that Birthday Song to David Richardson–just a kid.  Hired to do the announcing/commentating on the Winterfest festivities in Mt. Grove, he talked for six hours.  While we did not get to hear him out in Champion, we heard that all the festivities were delightful, gala, rememberable.  Ava’s Christmas Parade is scheduled for Saturday, December 13th, starting at 2:00 pm.  The theme this year is “Candy Canes and Christmas Trees.”  Christmas on the Ava Square will go on all day with music, vendors and Santa photos.

Around forty people enjoyed the “Friendsgiving” potluck Saturday in Champion.  The tables were full to overflowing with every savory holiday dish imaginable.  Old friends and new ones had the chance to connect, reconnect and catch up, defining the best part of community.  A family that moved to the area around Labor Day met more of their neighbors and were made most welcome.  There is a chance there may be another fiddler in that bunch who will join the jam.

We remembered Pearl Harbor Sunday.  Twelve US Military survivors of that attack are with us still.  They are all over 100 years old.  There are still many people around who were alive at that time.  Most of us were not, but it is an important part of our history not to be forgotten.   A guy named S. Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”  Looking forward to some good things:  Happy birthday on the 8th to John W. who sings that song about “Free Bubble-Up and Rainbow Stew.” Elizabeth Raelyn Johnson, a kindergarten student at Skyline, and Skyline Nurse/Aid Karen Tamblyn have December 9th for their birthdays.  That is also the day to celebrate Champion Richard Johnston, our esteemed retired blacksmith. On the 10th of the month two fifth grade students, Levi Hall and Westin Nava, share their birthday with third grader Annabelle Thompson.  We remember Paul Uhlmann on the 11th.  He rode thousands of miles on horseback and ate many meals out of a saddlebag. The 12this for Loretta Upshaw, lovely daughter of The General himself, and Ilene Woods, marathon racer and great grandmother of Champion barrel racer, Blaine Denlow among others.  Eighth grader Kennedy Hinote will have a birthday party on the 13th.  That will be a Saturday, always a good party day in Champion—Looking on the Bright Side!