An ending and a start

On September 11th this year I, along with my best friend/cousin and his wife, were privileged to journey through Nebraska’s magnificent Sandhills to attend a funeral in Martin, South Dakota. Sharon was another first cousin and we grew up together as close neighbors. She and her three sisters learned to drive tractors and operate machinery at a young age. Then as things happen with some rural kids living far from a town she attended college in Curtis. There she fell in love with a young man from South Dakota who married and took her back home with him. Sharon Hoyt Dennison was her name and you can find her obituary in last Friday’s edition of the Gazette.

It was a large funeral, for a person of 80 years, testimony of the lady’s large involvement in her community. She served as county commissioner, on a conservation board and on their ambulance crew for many years. After the inurnment, a large crowd gathered for lunch at the Suthill Fire Barn served of course by the local church ladies—obviously good cooks one and all.

Her background led to a good comment by the minister conducting the funeral service. It seems that Sharon’s dad had raced stock cars when she was growing up. Underage and no driver’s license Sharon would race those cars up and down their rural Hitchcock County roads. Later little did the county folk in South Dakota know that her past experience would enable her to navigate the ambulance over their rural roads at high speeds to safely deliver patients to the hospital in record time.

Yes a life well lived in service to her family and her adopted community. Mother’s pride too that three of her four children served in the military. Burial on the anniversary of 9/11 was especially recognized and appropriate. “Enter though into the kingdom of the Lord.”

I have grown to love the spirit of independence of the “Sandhillers” those who have chosen to live in the sparsely inhabited miles and miles of grassland we refer to Nebraska’s treasure that we know as the Sandhills. For the residents' long distances to drive just to buy groceries or shop for essentials but as a modern development both UPS and Fed EX deliver groceries and other needed items. They fix their own cars, pickups and machinery rather than take the time to deliver them to a dealer for maintenance. How about putting your kids on a bus to ride twenty or thirty miles to school each way? Many own aircraft that are convenient to quickly check on their livestock and necessary waterworks and that is where this old flight instructor is privileged to help them to learn to fly. Still, all those inconveniences are met with a stoic attitude and when it is time to play oh the rough and tumble sport of rodeo is a favorite.

The drive back home on Highway 83 again cuts through the green grass of the Sandhills but this time on a straighter course south. We chose the route outbound through Tryon and Arthur which weaves through the hilly terrain the route I prefer to enjoy. We did spot a small band of mule deer bucks all with nice racks of antlers. The antelope and grouse remained out of sight that day but are sought by those who like to hunt. The little lakes and large swatches of native grass made into baled hay speaks of cattle country and many herds of the sleek animals were seen both going and coming. An occasional center pivot planted to corn or soybeans testifies of the honorable profession of feeding America. Good marbled beef to be enjoyed by all.

Back home again I was privileged to join Grannie Annie, in crowd-filled Community Building at our Fairgrounds. The occasion was to celebrate the marriage of a pretty young lady with a loving heart for older people to her husband from a prominent local farm family. Actually, they had been quietly married during the height of the recent pandemic so this was a chance to celebrate with friends the large formal wedding and happy reception of which most young brides can only dream. Good food, danceable music, toasts, introductions and the promise of a bright future for their lives. A great beginning. Again we paid homage to the lives lost twenty years ago on that more sad date of remembrance.

What a wonderful asset our Red Willow County Fairgrounds is to this community. It seems that there is always a large gathering of horse trailers, some of which also provide human living quarters, conveniently parked around the edges with water and electricity provided. This weekend it was barrel racing but seemingly always something going on. College and high school rodeo. Go-art racing and more. All in addition to the carnival and big displays of the annual county fair or a large ag expo. The Community and 4-H building host wedding receptions, auction sales and you name it. We are blessed by the foresight of those who made it possible for our friendly community.

There are a host of good people in our community. A little bird tells me that a local retired nurse, Linda, is in New Jersey at this moment helping the Red Cross provide relief to those many residents there who suffered devastating floods from the ravages of Hurricane Ida. She was able to make a side trip to New York and the Memorial for the victims killed when the Twin Towers were destroyed by the jihadist’s attack of twenty years ago. She said it was in a word “Sobering”.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail