By CHUCK OFFENBURGER SHENANDOAH, Iowa, Dec. 1, 2020 – Back in the 1960s here in my ol’ hometown, there surely must have been some wondering, “Whatever is going to become of the youngest Welty girl!” You want it short and sweet? In the late ’60s, Harriet Welty meandered half the world by herself, twice jumping…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Nov. 3, 2020 – I slid into bed the other night next to my wife Carla Offenburger, kissed her goodnight and, like I always do, told her I love her. She grabbed my hand, like she always does, then said something real different: “I’m afraid I’m slipping away from you.”…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, Sept. 1, 2020 —We won’t forget the date. August 20, 2020. We won’t forget the message. On Thursday, August 20, I was to have a routine visit with my oncologist Dr. Matthew Hill, of John Stoddard Cancer Center at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. Plus another regularly-scheduled infusion…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER SHENANDOAH, Iowa, Aug. 2, 2020 – Well, I’ll be damned. You’re telling me a business operates for 132 years in a solid, people-serving, community-building way in my hometown – including making the best malts on Earth at its classic soda fountain – and it’s now going belly-up? Not on my watch, brothers…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, July 12, 2020 — Three things happened this past week that put me in a reflective mood: 1) Lindsay Offenburger, oldest granddaughter, turned 13 and I was telling her what I was doing at that age; 2) after too many years of forgetting to re-subscribe, my new subscription started up for…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, July 30, 2020 — Throughout my adult life, gardening has been a real joy for me. Ever since I’ve had my own yard, I’ve been digging in the dirt, planting seeds and watching things grow. And I’ve been fairly successful at perennials, annuals and vegetables. I’m just getting started with…
By JIM ROSS LIGHTFOOT WHITE OAK, Texas, June 15, 2020 — My voice has been silent for quite some time. However, I am moved to comment on our current situation in this country we all love. Quite frankly, I am irritated, a bit confused, very tired of corona virus lockdown, appalled and, quite honestly, a…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, July 4, 2020 — As we were taking our traditional measure of the corn crop and the general health of agriculture on the eve of this Independence Day, our friend and neighbor Karen Lawton hit upon what may be the happiest thing you can say about it right now: “The farm…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, April 30, 2020 — When the advance agenda for this week’s Jefferson City Council meeting reported that one of Iowa’s greatest wrestlers, T.J. Sebolt, would present an economic development proposal, I immediately reserved a chair at the media table — although that really turned out to be a spot on…
By CARLA OFFENBURGER COOPER, Iowa, May 2, 2020 — This is way overdue and I apologize to all of you who follow my health updates. It was in January when I gave you my last update – four months ago. What have I been doing? I told you in January that I got a feeding…
