Stories from Monday, April 10, 2006

MAYWOOD -- Michelle Anne McGeorge of Craig and Robin Matthew Burton of Maywood were married July 29, 2005 at the Cornerstone Berean Church in Kearney with the Rev. Scott Ross and Rev. Doug Shada officiating. Parents of the couple are Mike and Deann McGeorge of Craig and Robert and Janice Burton of Maywood...

The Families of David & Margaret Ruf are hosting a dinner and dance celebration for their 35th Wedding Anniversary at the Republican River Events Center in McCook, 6:30 p.m., April 15th.. Cards will reach the couple at PO Box 76, Wilsonville, NE 69046...

Jennifer Ann Esch and Joshua Jacob Brown, both of Kearney, announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are Mike and Barb Esch of rural McCook and Bob and Deanna Brown of Indianola. Grandparents of the couple are Harold and Melva Esch of rural McCook, Audrey Bryant of Indianola, Wayne and Diane Bryant of McCook, Jack and EVerlyn Hoook and Ardis Brown, all of Indianola and the late Robert Brown Sr. ...

Britni McConville of Indianola and Aaron Broz of Hayes Center announce their engagement and upcoming wedding.Parents of the couple are Tom and Denise McConville of Indianola and Steve and Cherri Broz of Hayes Center. The couple is planning a May 20 wedding at St. Catherine's Church in Indianola...

JoAnn Huffman, formerly of McCook, now of Brookings, S.D., and Eric Heien of Onida, S.D., announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are Jim and Ann Huffman of McCook and Wayne and Barbara Heien of Onida, S.D. The bride-to-be was a graduate of McCook High School, class of 2002. ...

Mitch and Nicole Hardwick of Stanton announce the birth of their son, Thane Mitchell Hardwick, on April 3, 2006. He was born at Faith Regional Health Center in Norfolk and weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. His grandparents are Dallas and Kelley Watkins of Benkelman and Jim and Janet Hardwick of Parks. ...

Sept. 16, 1921 - April 7, 2006 KEARNEY --Lyle Otis Roepke, 84, of Kearney died Friday (April 7, 2006) at the Mount Carmel Home in Kearney. He was born Sept. 16, 1921 in Oxford to Louis H. and Josephine P. (Dawson) Roepke. He was raised on the family farm east of Arapahoe and attended Arapahoe High School. After school, he moved to Detroit, Mich., and worked as a salesman for a book publishing company...

The family of Marie Cochran is hosting an open house in celebration of her 80th birthday. The open house will be 2-4 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at the Bartley Community Building.

Southwest Nebraska students learned that, in space, Alka-Seltzer's "plop-plop/fizz-fizz" stays trapped and bubbly inside a globe of water and that astronauts are tethered to the space station so they don't go floating away to become their own little satellites...

Once upon a time, before the days of TV, when professional ball players' salaries had not yet reached the stratospheric levels of today, players used to spend the off-season playing pickup games -- "Barnstorming," going from town to town, receiving as salary whatever the local teams could pay...

Start a conversation. It might surprise you what you will find out. To show you what I mean, let me tell you about a couple of encounters I had last week during visits to downtown McCook. The first came when I spotted Tom Conroy of McCook wearing a cap with an intriguing message on the front. It said, "I started the Holdrege shootout."...

While the issue of migrant workers is in the spotlight, another immigration issue has come up again. This one, however, involves those who were already here when members of the European majority now in charge of the country were unwanted immigrants themselves...

HAYES CENTER -- An incorrect date for the Hayes Center school board meeting was given in a story in Monday's Gazette. The regular April meeting has been changed to 8 p.m. Wednesday, in the senior high conference room.

GOODWELL, Okla., -- Kari Jo Couch of Goodwell, Okla. and Chance Michael Blickenstaff of Wilsonville were married Saturday, Nov. 26, 2005 at the Baptist Church in Goodwell, with Gordon More officiating. Parents of the couple are Neoma Weatherford of Stinnet, Texas and Loretta Couch of Longview, Texas, Barbara Blickenstaff of Arapahoe and the late Duane Blickenstaff , and Jim and Carolyn Park of Wilsonville...