By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON & DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 29, 2026 — Hmmm, so, how was it the last football season came to a close for me? The Iowa Hawkeyes, the football team of my wife Mary Riche’s alma mater, the University of Iowa, beat the Vanderbilt Commodores, the football team from my alma mater,…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER OELWEIN, Iowa, August 22, 2026 — Oh, how I love class reunions! Saturday night, August 15, when the Oelwein Community High School Class of 1966 gathered for their 60-year reunion in this northeast Iowa town, emcee Richard Roepke, now of Ames, asked each of the class members in the crowd to stand…
(The following column was written under the influence of a fine cinnamon roll from The Bake Shoppe in Windsor Heights, Iowa.) By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 14, 2026 — Dee Dee Kennedy, Anita Van Gundy and Amy Fuson have been in my dreams the last couple weeks. Oh, not the three women, actually,…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, Aug. 2 — The very popular Iowa Public Radio and Iowa PBS-TV show host Charity Nebbe will bring the nearly-forgotten story of our “Schoolboy Soldiers of Rippey” to listeners on her “Talk of Iowa” radio show this Monday, Aug. 3, at 10 a.m. CDT. My readers now know much of…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, July 26, 2026 — Oh, how I’ve loved RAGBRAI, the 53rd edition of which ended Saturday, July 25, in Dubuque. I’ve ridden 30-plus of them, starting in 1983, but in more recent years, just a day or two. I will be forever grateful for all that the great bicycle…