Stories from Tuesday, December 18, 2001

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the new year, it is abundantly clear that the forces of change will continue at a brisk pace in the McCook area. Within a matter of a few days, we have discovered that a new style of supermarket -- called Buy n Save -- is coming to town. It will be located in the current SunMart East building. Originally built as a Safeway store, the building later became Hinky-Dinky before selling to Nash-Finch and converting to SunMart...

Did you ever look at a painting and wish you could walk into it? Was the scene so inviting that you lingered inside, mentally placing yourself at different locations within the picture? Maybe you sat on an empty park bench, placed by the artist beneath an ancient oak in a forgotten downtown park. You savored the afternoon sunlight while leaves in every shade of autumn drifted down to rest beside you...

Lenora Marie Johnson WESTCLIFFE, Colo. -- Lenora Marie Johnson, 95, died Sunday (Dec. 16, 2001) at Westcliffe. She was born Nov. 11, 1906, at McCook to Joseph Alfred and Lenora Mary (Smith) Schmidt. She was raised and attended school in McCook. In 1926 she married Arthur Johnson at McCook. They owned and operated a restaurant. In 1959 they moved to Denver, Colo. He preceded her in death that same year...

Anna Ellen Barnett GARDEN CITY, Kan. -- Anna Ellen Barnett, 89, died Monday (Dec. 17, 2001) at St. Catherine's Hospital in Garden City. She was born June 23, 1912, at Selden, Kan., to Allen and Rena (Jensen) Cheney. She was raised in the Hawkeye community in Decatur County, Kan. She attended Fairview Country School...

Gerald 'Jerry' M. Allen LINCOLN -- Gerald "Jerry" M. Allen, 60, died Friday (Dec. 14, 2001) at the Bryan LGH West hospital in Lincoln. He was born May 31, 1941, at Port Huron, Miss., to Harold and M. Beulah (Cunningham) Allen. He enlisted in the U.S. ...

Norman 'Joe' Joseph Spicka ATWOOD -- Norman "Joe" Joseph Spicka, 41, died Sunday (Dec. 16, 2001) at the Good Samaritan Center in Atwood. He was born Aug. 15, 1960, at Denver, Colo. When he was three years old he came to live on a farm in the St. ...