The Blust Bros. were our sainted local undertakers when I was growing up in Southwestern Iowa. The two brothers had operated the funeral home since their father, who had started in funeral home in 1871 had died in 1916. In the 1960s the Blust Bros. were still doing...
I was a terrible student in school, well anyway in elementary, junior high and high school. Terms like middle school, pre-school had not yet been invented when I was attempting to get out, and I mean precisely that, “get out” of the school system in Iowa.; I was a...
I knew it would start happening and last week the reality of my prediction about life started to take shape. I knew that in time, if I lived long enough, that my friends, my contemporaries would start to die away, and last week this started in my life in a glaring...
The Van Becks have lived in Iowa since arriving from the Netherlands in 1870. I knew even as a small child that our family had been original pioneers in Southwestern Iowa, and it made me feel good to know that our roots were so deeply planted in the rich soil of the...
Ten days ago or so, my cousin died. The story, which is somewhat fuzzy, went like this. He was driving on I-10 in Palm Springs, in the fast lane, and was evidently talking on his cell phone to my Aunt about pains in his chest the intensity of which he had never...