Stories from Friday, March 1, 2002

Beautiful Nebraska, peaceful prairie land ... Well, most of the time. March 1, Nebraska's 135th birthday, came in like a lion across most of the state, with roaring winds and smothering drifts of snow. Schools closed and sports fans at the girls state basketball tournament would do well to stay warm and comfortable in the state capital at Lincoln...

I wish to compliment Linda Hein on her splendid articles she writes for the Gazette. It takes a lot of research to write of so much history of McCook and of people and events. I was very pleased to see Dr. Earl Leininger being remembered. I had the not-to-be-forgotten privilege of specializing many medical surgical cases for Dr. Leininger. He was truly a professional and ethical doctor in every respect...

Peace and quiet supporters, check out mccookspeedway.com. Our local race promoter is being assured by our nine member Red Willow County Fairboard that "racing will continue on our county owned land for the biggest season ever in 2002." The battle lines are being drawn with no regard to McCook tax paying renters, owners and ball park users...

LINCOLN -- Which is the worst to a parent's ear: "Are we there yet?" or "How much longer?" While similar, the second question easily wins because of its complexity, its open-endedness. The first can be answered with a simple "no," likely repeated 64 times if the trip is longer than 12 miles. On the other hand, the second question, while simple on the surface, is along the line of, "Where do babies come from?" "Why is grass green?" or "How do you make plastic?"...

Donna G. Calkins, 101, died Wednesday (Feb. 27, 2002) at Sunset Haven Nursing Home in Curtis. She was born on April 12, 1900, to Perry and Harriet "Hattie"(Carothers) Coykendall at Maywood. She grew up in Maywood and graduated from Maywood High School...

Otto Potthoff, 88, died Wednesday (Feb. 27, 2002) at Community Hospital in McCook. He was born June 28, 1913, to Herman Fredrick and Anna (Gorath) Potthoff in Geisselhorst, Oldenburg, Germany. The family moved to Red Willow County in 1918. He graduated from Red Willow High School in 1932...

HOLBROOK -- Vera I. Stevens, 72, died Sunday (Feb. 24, 2002) at Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. She was born Jan. 2, 1930, to Elmer and Nellie (Kidney) Hermle in Armour. On Sept. 18, 1948, she married Robert E. Stevens at Beatrice. The couple traveled throughout Kansas and Nebraska working in the construction field and eventually made their home in Silver Creek. She was employed for several years as a welder by G & M Manufacturing. The couple moved to Holbrook in 1986...

OBERLIN -- Queenie V. Critchfield, 89, died Tuesday (Feb. 26, 2002) at Decatur County Hospital. She was born on Aug. 16, 1912, to Elmer "Jack" and Rosa Bell (Barnes) Smith in rural Decatur County. She grew up on a Decatur County Farm northeast of Oberlin. She attended country school south of McCook...