I Believe – My Values

story here

)We were the “next to the richest” people in Griswold, IA (a town of about 900 people). Just to clarify that, our next door neighbors, the Rudins, were the richest people in our town and we lived next door, they had a pool and they hired me to be the pool boy, and our family could swim there almost daily.
Mr Rudin was very active in the Republican party and I got involved in my first political race in 1964 when I was 15 working for Barry (In Your Heart You Know He’s Right) Goldwater. He didn’t win nationally but he did win in my town. I got hooked and have been involved ever since.
When we moved to Spencer I jumped right into county GOP politics and started learning the campaign ropes from the seasoned veterans in our area.
Because Iowa hosts the first in the nation caucus, all of the hopefuls travel the state. In December of 1979 The county chair called and asked if I could meet with one of the candidates for dinner to advise him on how we thought he could get supporters from our area. We said yes, and when we got there we met George H. W. Bush.  He was VERY impressive, and probably the smartest person I had ever met.  He really listened to the us and we instantly joined his team, unfortunately he didn’t win Iowa, but He did in 1988.  O how I wish we would have had cellphone back then so I could have had a picture of that meeting.

When he was Vice-president, we went to hear him speak at the Spencer YMCA and sat in the front row. Erin and Joel each got to ask him a question and their questions and his answers were replayed on radio and mentioned in the newspaper. Erin asked what his favorite part of his job was – answer: “All the people!” Joel asked how many Secret Service men he traveled with – answer: “I’ll ask,” and he turned around and asked a Secret Service, and then said, “about 10!”

George W. Bush – we met him at the airport when he was running for President the first time – such a man of humility. He patiently posed for pictures with us, which we still treasure today.  I remember wanting to post the picture explaining that knowing me was the reason that he won, however that year it took more than a month to certify the victory so I had to wait patiently.

Because Iowa has the first in the nation caucus we also had a chance to see Vice President Walter Mondale, President Ronald Reagan, and Senator Bob Dole.  When Bob Dole came he went to our church and Joel and his men’s quartet sang the national anthem for him.

Gambling   School Bond Issues  Iowa Secretary of Agriculture

It’s amazing how your life can change in a moment. You hear people say “things happen for a reason”. Then things happen that make you question everything.

Karson had headed into his first wrestling tournament November 18, 2018 and managed to finish in 2nd place. I watched him beaming, so happy his first season was successful. He came home and called me later that night, saying he had a headache and worried he may have a concussion. I told him I wanted to come to pick him up, but he didn’t want to leave. He said he was fine, it was probably just a headache. He continued to say he just had a headache, but didn’t show any signs of a concussion. The following week, he said he had a headache. We had him checked out by the school’s trainer. He said he didn’t think he had a concussion, but would get him in to see their sports medicine doctor.

The sports medicine doctor diagnosed him with a concussion. That diagnosis dragged out, it seemed to worsen with time. Eventually at school, he was hit in the head with a cabinet door. After that, things continued to get worse quickly. We tried physical therapy, vestibular therapy and additional doctor visits. Nothing was making him better. His left eye started to cross. I called the doctors office, concerned about his eye. The doctor was out of town, but his assistant assured me that this was normal, she wasn’t concerned. The following week, I called and insisted that he needed an appointment. They worked him in a few days later.

His doctor took one look at Karson and asked how long his eye had been turned in. He was very concerned. He told us he needed an MRI right away. He left the room to schedule an appointment that day. He got us in to KU Med West. We had to wait 2 hours. Two hours felt like 4 or 5 hours. We got Karson to his appointment, he wasn’t walking well because he wasn’t feeling well. By this time, I was a bull in a China shop. I wanted answers and I was so afraid, anticipating what our answers may be, knowing that the medical team was concerned.

I walked Karson outside to the MRI, it was a brisk day, but we couldn’t even feel the cold. Our focus was on Karson and anticipation of what we were about to learn. The staff was friendly, asking Karson about his injury. I watched them load him into the tunnel, then I was walked back to sit in the waiting room with my mom. I sat there for what seemed 5 minutes when the nurse came to the waiting room to ask me to come back into the MRI booth. The Radiologist was on the phone waiting to talk to me. I spoke with the Radiologist. He was speaking very quickly about foreign subjects that would all become very familiar, very quickly. He explained that Karson had an Arachnoid cyst rupture. He had fluid surrounding his brain, which was putting pressure and stress on his brain. He told me he was working to see which hospital they could take Karson to.

The doctor asked to talk to the nurse. They wanted to know if I was stable to drive, they were recommending that they wanted to take Karson to the hospital in an ambulance. After phone calls with 2 hospitals, it was determined we would do a direct admittance into Children’s Mercy.

On our way to Children’s Mercy, Dr. Garcia (Karson’s Neuro Surgeon) called me to make sure we were on our way, and to give me directions to get into the hospital to have Karson admitted.

When we made it to Karson’s hospital room, we met Dr. Garcia and he reviewed Karson’s brain scans. Dr. Garcia explained the more about the ruptured Arachnoid Cyst. He showed us the fluid surrounding his brain. He said he was recommending surgery. I asked when he would need to have surgery. Dr. Garcia explained that he had booked the OR for the following morning as soon as he had seen his MRI results.

Karson had a Crainiotomy the next morning, Saturday, December 16th. They wheeled him off with a baseball in his hands. He went through surgery with flying colors. The staff at the hospital couldn’t have been any better to Karson. He even managed to meet Tyreek Hill, get a signed ball from him AND get introduced on the news, showing his photo with Tyreek.

We went back home and everything was getting better. Out of nowhere, Karson’s head began to swell. We brought him to the ER, but they let us go. Karson kept getting worse and seemed disoriented. I called Dr. Garcia’s office. They asked to have him come in immediately. Karson and I went to Children’s Mercy. We had a direct admittance into the hospital, had a CAT scan and found that he had a brain bleed. Karson needed to directly into surgery again, to have a Temporary Subdural Drain installed. He needed to lie flat on his back for the next 5 days to let the blood drain out of his head.

He missed 80 days of school in his 7th grade year.

Karson is doing great. We have been told that it is a miracle he is alive. Some things really do happen for a reason, we are lucky he is here.

All State
2 or 3
Belmont
Dell job
Leah

Flute
Illinois State
Cornell
KU
College Dinner Time Phone Calls
Al

Mia TaDa
Joel & Erin Thunder Storms
Erin Marshmallow Cream Soap

From December 1997 to July 2000 I was the police and court reporter for The Manhattan Mercury — the daily newspaper in Manhattan, Kansas (aka the Little Apple). Besides covering crime, I also had to submit a column for the paper’s “Off the Beat” section on a regular basis.

I captured some great memories about my grandmother Loy Cornelison (my dad’s mom) in one column. Grandma passed away on July 7, 2007 — I always say my Grandpa who passed away years earlier and was a big gambler won with lucky 7s when he was reunited with his sweetheart on 7-7-07. As my aunts, uncles, cousins and parents were going through Grandma’s belongings after her death we came across this column as well as several other articles I wrote over the years. Talk about a trip down memory lane. Below is the column as published in The Manhattan Mercury in December 1999:

Lately, I’ve been spending more time with my grandmother.

She lives about an hour north of Manhattan in a little country town in Marshall County called Vermillion. She lives in the same white two-story home that I used to go to when I visited her and my Grandpa as a child during the summer.

Growing up in the Kansas City area, I was always mesmerized with the small town atmosphere. While the town doesn’t have much in the way of business – mostly a cafe – I always thought, and still do, that it has much more to offer than big cities.

There’s the local cafe where Timmy Lee always had a cold soda waiting, and on up the street banker Harold McClary would give out gum shaped like a treasure coin.

There’s the old rusted-out wagon in which my cousins and I used to take turns pushing each other along the cracked sidewalks out in front Grandma and Grandpa’s home. Of course, no grandchild could forget the junk drawer in Grandma’s kitchen filled with everything imaginable – from Yo-Yo’s and coloring books to play soldiers and bouncy balls.

I still periodically look through the junk drawer when visiting Grandma just to see if anything has changed. It’s funny to look through old coloring books and find pages that I scribbled on as a child.

There were evenings Grandpa, Grandma and I would load up into the car to play bingo in a nearby town, or Grandma would teach me how to crochet or sew.

Sometimes we’d watch a parade stroll down Main Street. And other times Grandma would dig out a play tea set and dolls, and my cousin and I would have a tea party.

When there wasn’t anything else to do, I’d pull out Grandma’s stuffed monkey George. The stuffed monkey was a favorite among the grandchildren.

While some things have changed over the years in Vermillion, it’s pretty much the same town I visited as a child – although Grandpa is no longer there. He passed away several years ago.

Nowadays on my visit to Grandma’s house, Grandma tells me stories about when she was growing up, or about the early years of her and Grandpa’s marriage. We sometimes go to lunch together at a little country diner not too far away, or stay at home and nibble on homemade goodies.

We’ve searched through the family Bible where she keeps her important records, such as birth dates, marriages and deaths.

She’s dug through the filing cabinet sharing with me copies of letters my father and uncle sent while they served in Vietnam. Also in the files are poems that she wrote that depict her feelings about the war.

Grandma recently helped me sew a couple of baby blankets that I plan on giving a friend of ours who is expecting next month. She sure has a way with a needle and thread.

And she’s always eager to show me her new craft projects. Grandma has made everything from blankets, quilts and pillows to dolls, doll clothes and pot holders. The sky is the limit on crafting.

I’m especially proud of Grandma for starting a new hobby of painting. She began taking an art class this summer as a way to pass time. While Grandma has always been artistically inclines, she’s never really received any formal training.

But the art classes gave her the tools to learn the fundamentals of painting. And she has truly uncovered a special talent with her new hobby.

Grandma mostly paints wildlife scenes – they clearly show her appreciation for life and nature. Among my favorite of her works are that of a winding country stream, an old red barn, an elk and a depiction of a Native American camp.

Needless to say, I think my Grandma is pretty special and I cherish the moments we get to spend together.

While most of us will scurry off to the mall and area stores in upcoming days in search of the best gift this holiday season for friends and family members, we should stop and remember the greatest gift this holiday season isn’t sold at a store. The gift is family.

John has asked me to write this story.  I am not really sure as to how to start it so I will start from the beginning.  When I began junior high school my mom befriended a women at work named Gail Pankratz.  Gail was a very social lady who love to camp and go to church.  She invited our family to go to the Potwin Bible Church, which was an off shoot of the Waterwater Swiss Mennonite church.  The pastor at the Swiss church was Pastor Ensz who was the most caring, calm and kind man.  Attending the Potwin Bible Church we would see Pastor Ensz from time to time.  As I grew older I would see him at various weddings of friends in the Whitewater/Potwin area.  After John and I were married a few years we purchased a home in Whitewater just a block away from the Swiss church.  At this time Pastor Ensz had retired and a new leader was in his place.

John and I were great friends with Craig and Tammy Woghelmuth.  On Fridays the four of us would get together and play cards.  Sometimes we would eat dinner together, we traveled to Las Vegas and just had the best time with one another.  This all came to a stop when Craig took his own life.  I am not going into the details but it was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to process.  The pain that I felt for losing a friend but also the pain that I felt watching my dear friend Tammy who was 5 months pregnant with their first child go through this horror.  I would like to say here and now, if you are ever thinking of taking your own life don’t.  It is the most selfish act a human can do.  The pain that you will leave with your loved ones will last their lifetime.  Keep in mind that things may seem so out of control or horrific at the time but if you talk to others, get a good counselor you will see that this storm that you are going through will pass and things can get better.  Craig and Tammy belonged to the Swiss church and they had a new leader that was counseling Craig.  I believe with all my heart and soul that this leader did not help Craig, he actually made things so bad for Craig.  There was a friend of Tammy’s that called me after Craig’s death.  She was telling me things that scared the pooh out of me and I was thinking, if this leader was telling Craig these things no wonder, no wonder….  Things were so bad for me that I went three days with no sleep.  In order to get any rest I had John read the book that he was reading out loud, side note: John was reading a book about the Russian Revolution, It didn’t matter to me what he was reading but it was the sound of his voice that gave me great comfort.  After the third day of not much sleep I finally turned to God.  I prayed “God, I am hearing things that do not seem right, that can’t be believed from these church members with Craig.  I need you to send me someone that can clarify and bring comfort to me.”  I was so desperate, tired and saddened.  That next day after saying that prayer I was in the living room and I hear a knock on the door, I open it to see Pastor Ensz’s loving face.  He said, “I just thought that you might need someone to talk to.”  I nearly broke down in tears right at that moment as I knew that God had answered my prayer by sending him to me.  The three of us, Pastor Ensz, John and I, sat down in the living room and I began to tell him of my conversations that had so upset me.  In just one simple statement by Pastor Ensz I was calmed, he said, ” Jayme, Craig made a bad decision.  A decision that unfortunately he can never take back.”  That night I slept through the night, no nightmares, no waking up but a restful sleep.  Now, I do want to say that it took time for me to get over this and that not every night was the best sleep.  Gradually, each week was better.  When I had a bad night, all I had to do was focus on Pastor Ensz’s words.  The words that God himself sent him to deliver.

Moral of this story: God shows up when you ask him and are truly in need of him. You need to be ready for his help, you have to accept it so make sure that you are ready for him to help you.  He does this through others.  So, when you hear Gods voice telling you to reach out to someone, or to stop and say kind words to others do it.  You may not know why he needs you to do this, that is between the person you reached out to and God.  So listen, God never tells us to do anything wrong or harmful to ourselves or others.  All he wants is for us to listen to him and love and help others.   God loves you and so do I.  🙂

Lackland Air Force Base, Texas

The first of March, 1955 I boarded the “Doodle Bug” which was a railroad engine and one passenger car that traveled from El Dorado, Kansas to Kansas City. There were five of us traveling to KC to join the Air Force, we were all from Butler County. Jerry Hayes of El Dorado, Gene Mauck from Douglass who I new from high school days, Wesley I can’t remember his last name from Augusta and a guy whose last name was George also from Augusta. My girlfriend Pat was there to send me off to Uncle Sam, I think she was the only one there as I did not see the other recruits have anyone there.

We arrived in KC and was taken to where we would be getting our medical exams and chow hall. They had two big rooms with cots for us.  There were about two hundred plus recruits, and I was assigned to one room and the rest of my group was in the other room. After the exams, they were making three groups of 75 to 80 in each group and my Butler County group came and got me and the officer allowed me to be in their group, I sure was glad. We were then loaded in sleeper rail cars and shipped to San Antonio, Texas. That was the best sleep I have had, it was a steady rocking and rolling.

The next morning, we unloaded into Air Force buses and were driven to Lackland Air Force base, and unloaded at our home for the next eleven weeks. We were greeted by our Technical Instructor (TI), lined up into four lines, then marched (what a mess) to our barracks. The barracks were two stories tall.  The bottom story had the showers/sinks and stools for the whole building, also the TI had his private room there. Then one big room with army steel cots stacked two high for about forty airmen. The top floor had a day room with tables for writing and studying.  The top floor had a big room for forty cots like the bottom floor. We were assigned cots I was lucky to get a top bunk and we were each given a foot locker to keep our personal stuff and our socks and underwear. We had shaving and shower stuff as well as writing material and shoe polish. I was on the bottom floor and the other four Butler County guys were on the second floor but I didn’t mind as I made friends fairly easily. All seventy six of us were now called a flight.

Over the next few weeks, we learned how to march together, but there were a few guys that had to carry a rock in their left hand to remember left from right, thankfully not me. We marched to everything, pictures, barbershop for a buzz cut, clothes, classes and the firing range. The TI wanted to know if anyone could drive a truck while we were at the range and several hands went up and they left and I thought, SUCKERS. They came back in fifteen minutes pushing three wheel barrows full of ammo, never volunteer in basic training.

After a few weeks, the weather started getting hot and not much shade was available. At times while we were standing at ease on the street waiting for an empty classroom, someone would pass out and they would carry them to the shade and put some water on their head, they would come to and be okay.

There were three movie theaters on base and we could go on the last four weekends of basic. We also could get passes on these weekends to leave the base. I never had the desire to leave the base and a few of the others also stayed on base. Since I stayed on base, I didn’t spend much money and there were a few that spent their money and would come to me to borrow five bucks telling me they would pay me back double on pay day. Everyone I loaned money to always paid me back. I would not loan over five dollars and would not loan to everyone.

We sure looked forward to mail call. The first ten days, the TI would have everyone stand around him and he would yell the name on the letter then pass it back to you.  There was no mail for me for several days, what a downer — I thought Pat had moved on. Then, the next mail call, the TI called out “Woodall, Woodall, Woodall, Woodall, damn Woodall you made out today!” (love you Pat).
We completed basic training — two of us from the 76 people of our flight are being sent to Kessler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi for radar training but first we can go home for a week.