Notice
This is the final Dirks
Newsletter----Do not send any more letters expecting them to be printed---I
will try and respond individually.
Bauer,
Larry & Elaine 25
Nov 12
410
Lawrence St
Marshall,
MN 56258
I’m spending the weekend on call for the
hospital. My lab, Molly, is keeping me company. Larry is taking a shipment to
Seattle this week. We usually get to spend the weekends together at home.
My kids are spending Thanksgiving in
Chicago with their dad. They all went downtown Chicago with the little ones and
explored the stores, took carriage rides. Andréa and Bryan posted some pictures
on FB. Looks like the kids had great fun.
We haven't been doing much other than work
our jobs and take care of the house these days. We spent Thanksgiving Day with
Jerry and Linda at the farm. Norine and Dave joined us later in the afternoon
and we had some great apple pie, pumpkin pie, and bars for afternoon treats.
Larry and I stopped at Wal-Mart on our way
home to get some items we needed and we then realized the Black Friday was
starting early. We got what we wanted and raced out of there before it started.
it was creepy watching all those people milling
around. I heard one lady got her hand smashed when someone ran into her cart
with another cart. That’s just ridiculous. We avoid those kinds of shopping
days like the plague. It’s not worth the stress and there is nothing i want that i can't get at any
other time. I like to keep my money in the bank. I am getting miserly in my old
age.
Take care....we love you...Elaine
Bockelmann,
Dave & Norine 25
Nov 12
2642 Maple Ave
Slayton,
MN 56172
Hi Uncle John and Aunt
Ruth, We had a busy Thanksgiving too. First we ate dinner with Jodi &
Tim and their kids minus Chelsey and Mike who were in
Omaha. Then after dinner we went over to Jerry & Linda's to spend the
afternoon with them and Elaine and Larry. Everyone was doing fine and
send their best to you; hoping that the antibiotics are clearing your colds.
We purchased a 2001 snowmobile from one of
Cole's (grandson) friends. Austen lamented that, since he's started
college--law enforcement--, he already had to sell his pickup and now his
snowmobile to keep up with expenses! We told him he's welcome to come out
any time and ride the snowmobile; hoping we get enough snow!
Dave is back driving truck full time until
Christmas; then back to part time again for the winter. Fortune has a
hard time hiring drivers whom they can rely upon to work well.
I am
subbing as a Para at the alternative school here in Windom and get called
almost every week it seems, but I love teaching and its fun for me.
Christmas is at our house; out on
"the farm" so we can raise all the ruckus we
want and not disturb the neighbors! We really love it out here; brings
back a lot of memories. With the four outside cats, a rabbit and two
black labs we get a little fresh air every day taking care of them. We
even got a farm pickup and Dave's got the snow-blower on the tractor ready for
the snow. Glad you're ready too!
Until next time, Lots of Love, Norine and Dave
Dirks, Duane & Inez 02
Dec 12
133
Archdale Drive
Kingsport
TN, 37663
John: Not pleased that
this is the last of the newsletters but do understand that it is a lot of work
and when you get few responses it is very discouraging. I have tried to
keep up with the letters and admit that sometimes I am a bit late or need some
“kindly words” to get my attention focused in the right direction do some
typing. Never been just sure of why the time seems to get away from me and the month’s
end and beginnings seem to be a lot closer than the
used to be or at least that is the way it seems.
Inez and I stay busy,
Inez is trying to finish her 60th baby quilt for donation to the local
Niswonger Children’s Hospital here in Johnson City
TN.
I am still working on
projects varying from fixing old German Blaupunkt
radios to my friend Charles’s DeWalt compound miter
saw along with some old clocks and of course still fixing, repairing and playing
my 8-Track tapes. Spend part of yesterday afternoon and evening repairing the
front spindle on my old Craftsman garden tractor, I had broken the spindle
clean off a few years back and since the parts I need are obsolete my only
choice was to weld/repair the one I have. Must not have done a very good job
since I had brought it to the garage to pump up the tires and as I was backing
it back out of the garage the front wheel fell off. I spent quite a bit
of time grinding and then welding and then putting it back together only to
have the darn wheel fall off again. The second time I did a lot more grinding
and put the amps way up on the welder and really burned it in so hopefully it
will hold this time. Guess time to get this sent,
Best Wishes for the
coming Christmas Holidays to all the Dirks Clan.
Duane and Inez
BYE BYE
410 S. Westview
Derby,
KS 67037
I am quitting the Dirks Newsletter—as of
this printing. The Dirks Webpage (jrdirks.com) will also be phased out. I will
try and keep the genealogy going if I can get inputs and updates; otherwise I
will let it die a peaceful death. These
are available to anyone who wants to take them over—as far as I am concerned—I
have quit. I will do email (jrdirks55@att.net) but
quit Facebook.
Kansas is dry----Ruth and I are fighting a
deep cough that won’t let go. She will also have her pacemaker replaced the 4th.
I have the leaves mulched, garden tilled,
snow blowers ready. Every year I get
them ready we have no snow and as dry as the mid-west is I doubt if we get too
much.
To LaVonne---Ruth and I plan to attend the
reunion at Pocahontas. Maybe we can get enough of the family together to
determine the future of the family history. I really don’t think anybody cares
but a very few of us. I keep hoping I am wrong.
John and Ruth
Dirks,
Marvin & LaVonne
17326
590th St.
Fonda, IA 50574
We had a very nice and also very dry month
in November. All gravel roads are dusty and so are our vehicles. You can easily
pick out the people who live in the country.
We celebrated Son # 2 - Happy 50th
Birthday! That was our second son this year that turned 50 years old. Roger’s daughter
Miranda enjoyed her 18th birthday the day before her Dad's.
The first two weekends Marv played horseshoe
at Eldora again. They will vacation now until the first two weekends in
January. We attended a wake at Storm Lake for a former horseshoe player who
passed away at 85 years of age. She won the women's division first place
Champion in 1979 at the State Fair. Her husband is also a horseshoe player and
he was Marv's double partner at many tournaments a few years ago and they all
played on the Newell league in the summer games.
Marv and Ron are busy building a 30x40
shed in Pocahontas for Lois & Oscar Nelson. The carpenters are very busy
building around here with our favorable weather conditions. The farmers have
nearly completed their anhydrous fieldwork here. The dredges and many rivers
are completely dry. We all wonder what the winter and then the spring months
ahead will be like come planting time.
Thanksgiving Day was windy and 59° day and
the evening turned very cold. We enjoyed the turkey noon dinner with 26 of my
family here. Katie and Tim even drove up for the weekend from Kansas City.
We are so sorry to hear that John may have
to discontinue the monthly family newsletter. We know it takes a lot of time
and patience to write up each letter every single month and put it together in
a book format. It is a huge undertaking! He has done the job so faithfully for
many years. I know everyone of us will truly be lost, especially with all the
company it brings into our homes each month. We all should say - Thank You!
Thank You! a hundred times over and for all the
memories it has brought to us too!
I also changed the Reunion in June to the
second Saturday Saturday, June 8th) 2013. We always had
it on the Father's Day weekend. I see we have 5 Saturdays in June this year.
Hope it won’t change too many plans for you in your schedules. We will hope for
a good turnout or it may also be discontinued. I have planned it again at the
Pocahontas Pizza Ranch which is on the Main Street.
Our prayers will continue for you all. I
will need some form of correspondence from each one of you if you plan to
attend the reunion.
We want to extend a very Merry Christmas
holiday season to all of your families once again. We pray many Happy New Year
Blessings to you in the years ahead.
Marv and LaVonne
McGinley,
Mary 10
Nov 12
5060
370th St. Box 27
Darlington,
MO 64438
Hello from Missouri, It has been a while
since I have written so I thought I had better get a letter out to you all. I
found some old news letters that you had sent Johnny several years ago and
enjoyed reading them again to see what had happened back then. Doing this
reminded me how important it is to keep in touch and write down what is or what
was going on at that time.
The weather has been very nice the last
couple of days and according to the weather men, we had better enjoy it while
we can. The east coast is sure having a difficult time of it right now. I sure
do feel sorry for them and hope things get better soon.
I have been trying to stay busy as I get
so depressed when I don't. I went and stayed a week with my sister and her
husband a few weeks ago and we had a good time. She would have liked for me to
stay longer, but I only had a limited supply of medicine with me. I was ready
to come home anyway. I have also been going to the music shows around here. The
one in Darlington had their last show a couple weeks ago and the one I Gentry
has only three shows left before they close for the winter. I really hate that
because I really enjoy going to hear them. I usually get up and sing a couple
songs also. I am once again going to the rest home in Stanberry every other
week to. We have a nice time and the residents really enjoy the music as well.
I still miss Gene so very much. Sometimes it is almost unbearable. I hope in
time it gets better because I feel so alone.
I need to get over to see Jerry and Nelly
again. I haven't been over there for a few days. Jerry is doing as best as can
be expected. He tries real hard to keep his spirits up. There was some
volunteers came and helped him get his crops out as he was not able to do it
himself.
Don is still having trouble with his legs.
I don't think he is ever going to keep them healed up. And Roy Lee is having a
lot of trouble due to the diabetes. He has not feeling in his feet that makes
things even worse. Please keep them all in your prayers.
JR had a real bad cold a few days ago. I
guess he couldn't hardly talk. I haven't talked to him
so I hope it is better now.
I had better get this letter done and get
it ready to send.
God Bless, Mary
Nelson,
Marj 30
Nov 12
Aloha from Hawaii, I am
still here at Linda's, counting down I only have 5 more days. Linda left
for New York last night. She and her friends are celebrating her big 50th birthday.
Roger is flying in tonight and we are house setting and taking care of the
pets.
I am still enjoying the
beautiful weather with the temperature in the eighties during the day. I
walk to the beach which is 5 blocks from her house. I just sit and people
watch and listen to the waves.
Hope everyone had a
nice Thanksgiving and was able to see family and friends. Linda and I
just took it easy and went to Waikiki Beach and walked around and then had a
light lunch of Chinese food. Came home and watched a movie.
I have been feeling
good, but I broke a tooth and had to have a
crown put on. I sure I help the economy here as it left a hole in my
checkbook. Now it is time to thinking about Christmas and getting a few
cards sent. I won't be doing much shopping; I'll leave that for the
younger ones.
Bye
for now and take care of yourselves. Marjorie
Nomann,
Darv 24
Nov 12
345
Stacey Lane
Tempe,
AZ 85284
Dirks Family, It has been sometime
since I have written anything so I thought that I should set down and let
everyone know what is happening in Arizona. Hope everyone had a nice
Thanksgiving.
We are all doing fine as the holiday
season approaches. We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house with 32
guests. What a feast. The weather was 80+ degrees so we were able to sit
on the patio for dinner. It sure makes it a lot easier when we can get
everyone outside. The kids also enjoy it because they can run all they want in
the yard. After dinner the kids and some of the adults go and play their annual
football game. They all came back sweaty and hungry, but there was lots of food
left for them to eat. Fortunately we did not have a lot of leftovers, but
what turkey and ham was left will make good sandwiches.
Barry continues to fly out of Minneapolis and
enjoys this much better than Houston. Tiff is teaching kindergarten in one of
the Kyrene School District schools which is not far
from our house. Hayden goes to babysitter/school and loves it. We are thankful
that they are all close and we can spoil him rotten. He will turn 2 on December
2nd.
Got
our Christmas decorations up yesterday with the help of Barry getting them down
from our attic. Once again Kath does a great job on
inside. Once I get the outside decorations up my job is finished.
We have finished another big remodeling
job. We re-did our kitchen. It really looks nice but I am glad the
mess if over. Hopefully we are done for awhile before the next project. Kath
continues to work for Hospice of Arizona. She is Director of Nurses there. I
still teach Radiology at Pima Medical Institute so nothing has changed for us.
Kath and I would like to wish everyone and
Happy and Healthy Christmas Season and a Happy New Year!!
Darv
Nomann,
Larene 14
Nov 12
906 4th
Ave NW
Pocahontas,
IA 50574
Hi Dirks family. It’s a real cool morning
but we can expect it by the middle of November. We have had very little rain so
consequently it’s very dry. My son, Arnie, who lives in Wisconsin, said they
have had a couple of good rains and some snow which melted. Last Friday I had
the windows open and fans going the next day it was in the 30’s.
Our soup, pie and quilt sale went quite
well, now the last few days I have been doing relief World Relief quilts, which
we will be doing every month until April when they will be distributed to needy
families.
My neighbor Darwin Eaton took the mower
off his little tractor the week and put the snow blower on. His Harley and my
Moped are arranged so he can back is tractor in front of them and just drive it
out and clean the drives. My pickup is on the left side.
Arnie is flying to Pocahontas on Tuesday
or Wednesday to get me to spend Thanksgiving there. On Friday Coralie, my
granddaughters and I shop at Lacrosse. What a fun day.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Love, Larene
Piercy,
Marcella 27
Nov 12
PO Box
6
Newell,
IA
Hello everyone, I can’t believe that it is
time for the Christmas Holidays. Since I don’t have to mow or scoop snow I did get another
quilt done and now I am doing some crocheting.
Mary broke a bone in her ankle, November
7, and has a cast on. She will have it checked Wednesday. She is still working
at the Pantry. She has lots of pain and I just hope it will heal okay.
Some of the family was here for
Thanksgiving. We had a good time as usual. Now I will start planning for
Christmas. Grandson Jace get married the 21st so we will be busy.
Mary and I went to church today and then
did some shopping at Storm Lake.
Here’s hoping everyone a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year.
Take care, Marcella
Sanders,
Dale & Cathy 27
Nov 12
201 NE
6th St
Ankeny,
IA 50021-1840
Hi Family, Well, the holiday season is
here. The weather has been really nice, so it is hard to get into the
Christmas season.
Work has been keeping the both of us very
busy! Ben and family are heading to Florida the week of Dec 8th.
Kayla (granddaughter) is a Junior at Iowa State
University, majoring in meteorology. Peyton (granddaughter) is attending
middle school in Johnston and loves to read and do girl things. Carter
(grandson) is busy with school, also. He is in Cub Scouts and this year,
he was top salesman in the popcorn sales. He sold $5700.00 worth of
popcorn!! He has also joined Chow’s Gymnastics (where gold medalist,
Shawn Johnson attended) and is doing quite well.
Gary and Laura celebrated their 1st
wedding anniversary this month and all is well! J Since they are both
Firefighters they keep extremely busy, but their schedules balance out so they
do have time together.
Wishing our family well wishes!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Cathy and Dale Sanders
1705
Deringer Dr.
Chillicothe,
MO 64601
We went to JR and Jennifer's for
Thanksgiving on Friday. We had a very nice time with the family. Jerry was
doing fairly well so we were glad of that, he had his second chemo treatment on
Tuesday so was kind of tired and run down.
Matthew and Erin's two little ones are a
lot of entertainment. We enjoy them so much!! Otherwise it was cold and windy
yesterday, they got Eugene's head stone set last week so JR and I went over to
look at it (very nice) we didn't spend much time at the cemetery as the wind
was really blowing and made the chill go right through to the bones.
Hope you both get to feeling better soon.
Love, Lela & Joe
Widlund,
Kathryn 11
Nov 12
456 Richart Box 31
Palmer,
IA 50571
Hello to everyone. We had a big change of
weather, today Sunday it is 25°, damp, cold and windy. We are not used to such
changes. We still need rain.
Veterans Day, hoped everyone paused for a
moment and remembered our loved ones who fought and died for us.
We went to church; soon our new pastor
will be here. Pastor Mark is a new place, not to far from us, we miss him very
much.
We wish everyone a very thankful
Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for, say a prayer of thanks.
Kathryn