A year has passed since we first met a young man from the Cook area who needed a kidney transplant.
Dennis Armknecht, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Armknecht, will celebrate his 18th birthday Sunday and it will be one whale of a happy day.
Dennis has his mother's left kidney in his left side. Mother and son are getting along fine. "I'm just working my fool head off trying to get things done," Mrs. Armknecht said. "I don't feel like I ever had an operation and Dennis is getting along just fine."
It has also been almost a year since the fine people of Cook and surrounding areas chipped in with a special Dennis Armknecht Day to help finance the staggering hospital bills.
Dennis was on the blood transfer machine at St. Elizabeth's in Lincoln for months and had his transplant in Denver last winter.
There was a great deal of time involved in the recuperation of mother and son before they came home. And that wonderful time was late in May.
Since then, the family has driven to Denver twice for checkups. "Now the checkups are every three weeks," Mrs. Armknecht said. The trip is over 500 miles.
"I can't tell any difference in myself and neither can Dennis. He weighed 126 pounds a year ago and got down to 93 pounds. Now he's up to 110 pounds and still gaining." Dennis is six feet tall.
Meanwhile the high school student from Nemaha Valley is looking forward to fall — school. He will be a senior.
On Sunday, the family will go to Omaha to be with the Armknechts' married daughter for a family birthday party.
At the moment we talked with Mrs. Armknecht, Dennis was not at home. Get this — he was over at a neighbor's (Eldred Niemann's) helping round up some cattle!
Happy Birthday, young man. And "Mom," you're just great!
Jim Chaney, who formerly managed the Farm and Tractor Supply Store on South Eleventh Street, is content with his new job as fulltime firemen with the Nebraska City Volunteer Fire Department.
Chaney shares the "duty" with Firemen Ken Wiles and "Butch" Rains. Normally, firemen are on 24 hours and then off duty while the second and third men take their turns.
But vacations changed the work schedule. Chaney started with the fire department the last of May and has answered 11 of 13 calls. Fireman Wiles was on vacation and Rains and Chaney split the extra duty.
By chance and by golly, Chaney has been the man on duty when practically all of the alarms were sounded. "I still like it a lot better than the store."
Particularly disturbing not only to the paid firemen, but also to the volunteers have been the recent rash of false alarms. Firemen answered three of the false calls in a 24 hour period.
Mrs. Joe Bataillon, 613 First Avenue, is alone. Her husband died recently at the Veterans hospital in Omaha after being ill for some time.
However, she has a lot of pride in the "crew" which helps with the upkeep of her home and works in her store at 602 Central Avenue. Her grandchildren, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bataillon, are "just wonderful. They just do so much to help," she said.
Her children's clothing store keeps her busy. "I don't know what I'd do without the store," she says. The Bataillons operated Joe's Cafe at 618 Central Avenue for 20 years and opened the clothing store 19 years ago.
"I guess I haven't really gone any place except down the street a few doors."
It's not easy to be alone after so many years, but Mrs. Bataillon has a bright outlook. The visit made me feel good. She's a grand lady.
From Dr. Major Bertrand De Jarnette.
Why is it a man wakes up in the morning after sleeping under an advertised blanket on an advertised mattress, pulls off advertised pajamas, bathes with advertised soap, shaves with advertised cream and razor, eats a breakfast of advertised cereal and coffee, puts on an advertised suit and hat, rides to work in an advertised car and then refuses to advertise his business, saying advertising doesn't pay?
And then, if business is really bad, he advertises his place for sale!
The picture job is done.
Thanks to the coaches for helping us organize and photograph the 43 teams playing baseball and softball in the Jaycee and American Legion leagues in Nebraska City.
The pictures were taken June 6 through June 21. The last picture taken appeared in the Friday paper and that's a lot of faces and names.
Ten years ago, an Air Force captain from Tonganoxie, Kans., returned home to make his first public appearance after seven months imprisonment by the Russians.
Today, he is a lieutenant colonel, serving with the Air Force at San Antonio, Tex., and working with overseas operations. He doesn't fly as many hours as he did a decade ago, but he keeps up his flight time.
His name is Lt. Col. John McKone. He was a navigator-radar operator on a six-man RB47 airplane flying a milk run route along the Bering Sea. He and one other flier survived after their plane was shot down by a Russian MIG.
He is a brother of Bob McKone, new manager of the J. C. Penney Store in Nebraska City.
Colonel McKone's story is told in a book, "Little Toy Dog," written by William Allen White, son of the famous Kansas newspaperman (The title "The RB47 Incident" was a favored, but not used).
The book will be available soon at the Morton-James public library in Nebraska City.
Ten years ago, after his release, his hometown put out the red carpet. The officer, his wife and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jean A. McKone, were guests of honor at the Kiwanis sponsored event, according to the News-Press story on June 19, 1961.
He was presented the key to the city by Mayor Ed Camp of Topeka. Over 500 people attended the welcome home event.
Bob (also an Air Force veteran) and his wife, Sandi, tell some interesting stories about the incident. Sandi arrived this week to help her husband "house-hunt." She will move the family here the middle of next month.