Hometown Tour

June 19 2016

We, all of us, live in a community. That community might be a large metropolitan area, a mid-sized city, a small town, a suburb, a rural community; but we all belong to the area in which we live.  Depending on how long we have made said community our home, we have a sense of "knowing" our town or city.  But do we really know our community?

As a history buff, my children and husband would say I am a "history addict", I find it fascinating to learn about the new places we visit.  I research and grasp onto the age of a town, who settled there first, what was the main economic foundation, is there any Civil War relevance,  what other note worthy events happened throughout its history, etc...

My immediate family settled in Fulton, Missouri 20 years ago.  I was, and still am, working at St. Peter Catholic School, and the house we purchased was two blocks from school.  I love Fulton, Missouri, and respect its rich history.  I am knowledgeable about the Iron Curtain Speech, Margaret Thatcher's visit, Gorbachev's visit, the movie King's Row, and the connection with the Gray Ghost Trail.

Fulton is home to fine academic institutions, including our home parish of St. Peter.  There is the Missouri School for the Deaf, established in the 1850s, two colleges, Westminster and William Woods, Kingdom Christian Academy, and a public school system that served our children well. The nuclear plant outside of town employs many residents, as does the Dollar Store Warehouse.  We have Ovid Bell Press, a hospital, two grocery stores, and amazing theater, several drug stores, a newspaper, five banking establishments, and an amazing downtown area known as The Brick District.  Fulton also serves as the county seat for Callaway County.

Because I was familiar with Fulton, I assumed my children were as well.  Because I am a history teacher, and because two of our children had me for a junior high teacher, the kids know the HISTORY of Fulton, but I don't believe they truly know the residential fibers that holds this small American city together.  Why do I believe this?

My daughter Coby, the police officer, has a friend at work that is very interested in historical homes throughout Missouri.  She and Coby visited recently about the abundance of history throughout our Show Me State, and Coby mentioned growing up in Fulton.  As the conversation continued, Coby said she would bring back pictures of the lovely homes in Fulton to share with her co-worker.  So, off we went yesterday to check out and photograph the beautiful homes throughout Fulton, Missouri.

Coby's dog Griffen was our companion for this short outing.  Coby asked me to take her down Court Street, "where all the pretty houses are."  Admittedly, there are beautiful houses along Court Street, and I always enjoy taking that route to the downtown area.  However, there are many amazing homes throughout the city!

We walked Court Street, stretching our legs and letting Griffen enjoy the warm afternoon.  Coby took several pictures, finding something unique and interesting with each subject.  Her friend at work is very interested in homes with the original windows or with stain glass.  Of course, Coby took several photos of her favorite house on Court Street.

After visiting Court Street, I began to drive to other areas of town, pointing out several houses I thought were photo-worthy. I was aware of homes designed by Morris Frederick Bell, who made Fulton his home in 1871. We also drove passed the Hockaday House, which I find fascinating for its historical value and endurance of nearly 200 years.

As we enjoyed our  hour and a half, 33 mile tour of winding through the tree shaded streets of our quiet town, Coby often remarked that she didn't know about "this home" or "that" historical point.  I was surprised that she was excited by the residential history of our historic town.

Do we really know where we live?  Do we take the interest, and then the time, to learn about our communities?  History is made each and every day.  At the time, many people do not realize how important that event, speech, or person may become in the annuls of American History.  And most events, speeches, and persons are forgotten after the moment.  However, each is important to our neighborhoods, towns, and possibly our states. We must take an interest in our local history.  It is the life of our communities.

As the summer days have arrived, and it may be too uncomfortable to be outside in the yard during the early evening, take a tour of you hometown.  With the internet, anyone can start researching the amazing buildings, parks, museums, and monuments each town has to offer.  Local libraries are still the best source of information, as is the local historical society.  With the amazing cameras in cell phones, a driving tour is easily photographed through the car window.

These short day tours can lead to exploration in history, architecture, culture, or at the very least, an interest in the "pretty houses".  We are part of the community, and we need to know our community; it is our home.


If you live in Fulton, Missouri, here are a few websites that will help you explore the local history of our fine city.
http://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/b/bell/

http://www.kchsoc.org/fulton.html

http://thebrickdistrict.tripod.com/

http://www.dbrl.org/callaway-county-public-library

Legacy of Fatherhood

June 17, 2016

Within the last week I made the time to clean, I mean really clean, my office.  No this post is not going to be about cleaning my office. However some items I found while purging through 20 years of accumulated stuff caused me to reflect on my father's sense of humor.

Kirk Hartnett had a wicked, dry sense of humor.  Our family has always been big on story-telling, especially telling stories about each other.  We have some fabulous stories about Dad and the stunts he would pull.  While cleaning through my office this week, I found a life-sized poster of Dad in his deputy's uniform that he gave my husband.  In the back of a desk drawer, I found a tiny "review mirror" to be clipped onto one's eye glasses.  He loaned that mirror to me so I could convince my students I had eyes in the back of my head.  Two years ago, with dad's plan and advice, I hid a cordless speaker in a colleague's classroom and then played Christmas music at random times throughout the day, interrupting her class. He would torture my brother Jake with the TV's volume via the remote. He loved pulling one over on a friend, a son, or a son-in-law.

Growing up, as most daughters do, I saw my dad as a bigger-than-life hero!  As the teen years and college day rolled around, I saw him as blending of John Wayne and George Patton. He was not a saint. in fact he could be very hard headed and encouraged and expected the best from all of us. His temper could be quick, sharp, direct, then short lived when dealing with us kids. He was not terribly social, and he and I clashed often these last ten years as we each called the other out on what we perceived as rude behavior.  Kirk was certainly the patriarch of our family.  Mom, Jake, and I have referred to him as "Mr. Good News" and "Himself" throughout the years, as he could be very definite in his opinions and views on how things should be done.  He had a "it's my way of the highway" motto; one my brother swears I have inherited.

Kirk had a softer side that many didn't always see, and that he didn't share easily.  He loved the beauty of nature; the old time flowers, dew first thing in the morning, a whippoorwill's or quail's call, a new born calf standing for the first time, a storm rolling in from the southwest, seeing eagles on the drive to church. He truly enjoyed his grandchildren and was a good listener and sounding board for each one as they grew to adulthood. His softest, most gentle side was saved for Mom.  Our "golden rule": never make mom cry.

With Father's Day coming up on Sunday, I have been mentally working on a post for the occasion, but have been struggling with how to approach it.  Regardless of our relationships with our fathers, each father is a very important corner stone of our own foundation as a person. Very few of us had a Mike Brady or a Ward Cleaver for a dad.  We had, as fathers, human beings, men who were doing the absolute best they could to fill a demanding role, that of someone's father.

Fatherhood looks very different today than it did 100 years ago, fifty years or even 20 years ago.  Families look different, but that does not demean the role a father has in the life of his children.  Father's Day is a day to honor and appreciate our fathers.  This is usually done with gifts, bar-b-cues, family time, and hopefully love and appreciation.

A father's influence does not include one generation, but filters down through generations, leaving a family legacy.  My dad was a third generation member of the Kansas City Board of Trade, following the example of his grandfather John Hartnett and father Dris Hartnett.  Dad worked in the grain business most of his adult life, started out at ground level and working his way up to be general manager of the Fredonia ADM plant.

Dad was a hunter and a fisherman, as was his father. Dad's passion for archery and deer hunting was stronger than Dris's, and that passion has been passed onto my generation and my children's generation.  My memories of Grandpa John are of a quiet, stern man, and both Dris and my dad, Kirk, could be the same.  As my children can attest to, I can be rather stern. Kirk had a very strong moral compass and expected everyone he dealt with to have the same.  A high school friend of mine referred to dad as "the last honest American".  My brother Jake, my three children, and I have that same corner stone in our foundation.

Kirk was fair.  Whether it was a business deal, a child raising issue, or welcoming a child's new spouse to the family, dad was fair.  My husband, Keith, was not a rancher, hunter, small town, country boy when we married.  In fact he was very different than the rest of us, and that was his charm.  My dad worked very hard to get to know Keith, even though "he dressed funny".  These two men forged a very close and solid friendship, a unique relationship of jokes, sharing dreams, outdoor channel marathons, hunting, advice, and companionship. Dad set another stone in the family foundation, and I see that stone in Keith when we are loudly discussing politics or starting a big household project.

The 11:00 a.m. Mass this Sunday at our parish is being said for Kirk, and I will be thinking of him as we pray, sing the hymns, and honor all fathers.  I am sure that there will be a glass or two raised in his name that afternoon, and there will be stories shared and laughed over.  This is the first Father's Day that I won't be calling Daddy, or sending a card, but I have many reasons to celebrate the day. My husband is an amazing father to our three children! My dad left a wonderful legacy of true fatherhood to his children and grandchildren. Future generations will exhibit the traits and values Kirk held dear, and they will know and share the stories.