Obituary - Robert E. Disselhoff

Robert E. Disselhoff, 82, Butler, MO, passed away Monday, April 26, 2021 at Bates County Memorial Hospital in Butler. 

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. Friday, April 30, 2021 at the Calvary Baptist Church in Adrian, MO with visitation from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Burial will be in Crescent Hill Cemetery.

A complete obituary will be posted when it is available.

Obituary - Patricia Browning Moore

Patricia Browning Moore, 79 of Independence, Missouri passed away Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at her home in Independence. 

Funeral services will be held 11:00 am Friday, April 30, 2021 at Mullinax Funeral Home, Drexel Chapel (660-679-0009). A visitation will be held from 10:00 am to 11:00 am prior to the funeral Friday, also at the chapel. 

Burial will follow in Sharon Cemetery Drexel, Missouri. Memorial contributions may be made to the Drexel Fire Department. Messages of condolence may be left for the family at www.mullinaxfuneralhome.com.

Patricia was born May 17, 1941 in Hawthorn, CA. to Earl and Velma Houx Browning. She grew up in the Drexel area and graduated from Drexel High School in 1959. For much of Patricia’s life she worked for Plaza Weavers sewing, weaving, and repairing damaged or torn clothing and even artifacts for the Nelson Art Gallery. Patricia loved to travel and camp with the grandchildren. She enjoyed fishing, sewing, and a good cup of coffee.

Patricia was preceded in death by her parents, sister Dixie Bauer, and brother Chuck Browning. She is survived by her son Randy Nelson, daughter Cheri Truelove, son Roger Nelson, and son Rodney Nelson. She also leaves behind her grandchildren, Tracey Wilson, Lacrisha Nelson, Elizabeth Nelson, Emily Nelson, Ethan Nelson, Elsie Kate Nelson, four great-grandchildren, a sister Earlene Gardner, along with her cousin and caregiver Eric Hood, and nieces, nephews, and extended family members.

Stolen Vehicle in Henry County

Stolen vehicle around 1:45am this morning in Henry County from Coal Tire located at Missouri Highway 7 near U Highway.

The vehicle is a 2006 White BMW x5 SUV with a MO LIC GF37Y.

If you see this vehicle please contact the Henry County Sheriffs Office.

FLASHBACK: Mount Vernon School gets new lease on life

The Mount Vernon School

By Don Arndt

   In 1983, the ambitious young group bit off a very big project that would turn out to be the real catalyst for what would become “Frontier Village”. At this particular time, the area or park did not have a name, it was just known as the future show grounds. Remember, there were no plans at all even discussed. I was president the first seven years of the association, but when Perry Rexroad became our new President in 1982, he immediately went after the grounds with tremendous fervor. The School and its reclamation would come very shortly after that. 

  I’m always reluctant to name names for fear of omitting someone, but I must say at this point had it not been for a select few, absolutely none of what took place, even the show, the new grounds or the Village would have ever happened. With that said, Perry Rexroad was president from 1982 through 1987 with Calvin Field serving as his Sec/treasurer. I will interject this piece of trivia here. Calvin worked at those two jobs for my first seven years as president, for Perry’s five years then my next four years from 1987 through 1990, then Al Tenholder’s seven years as president 1991 through 1997, then Calvin was also both positions for Bill Thurman’s first two years as president 1998 and 99. For the 2000 year we changed our by-laws adding 2 more board members making seven instead of only five and we split the Secretary and treasurer jobs . So, Calvin was Sec/trea for an amazing 25 years straight! Considering the number of records, meeting notes and budget we were dealing with, it was a tremendous accomplishment. The board was always a working board, loving to work together and striving to make our shows a wonderful experience for everyone. The board members I remember well during the first 25 years are, Perry Rexroad, Al Tenholder, Kenneth Englehart, Floyd Fritts, Bob Highley, Tim Hummel, Don Hill, Ed Arndt, Delbert Watts, George Reed, Ronnie Essenpries, Jim Bellis, Paul Jadlot, Jim Tenholder, Wilfred Helt, Chuck and Charley Haverfield, Steve Hanson, and the unforgettable Buzz Hellwig.  Of course, all the presidents were on the board off and on during the times they were not president.  There were several men like Bob Zimmerman and Jim Ketron that worked tirelessly for the club, but never wanted to be in leadership. 

  Back to the school story. Floyd Fritts came to a meeting early in 1983 with a proposal. He wanted to bring in the Mount Vernon School that was located five miles west of Passaic, Mo. He had gotten permission from the owners of the school and John Etzen, who’s land it was on, to give it to us. It was voted unanimous to take on the project.  Everyone loved Floyd so no one could vote against it. Joe Phifer of Urich was contracted to move it and in August of ‘83 we did just that. Don Hill decided the small side foyer and the bell tower had to be cut off, then reattached after the move. Done! After the carpenters in the club put it back together, restoration was completed in 1983. Everyone, women, men, kids and all worked on it, Mostly the women. We even got the original heating stove and Calvin Field laid up the bricks for the flue. We fired and used it to heat the school during our first “Hot Chocolate Night”. 

 Bringing the school over for the near 10-mile journey was quite a show! Calvin Field rode on top of the school with a 4-foot 1x4 board with a notch cut in it. When they came to an Electric high line or phone wire, he held it up high and walked back to the back of the school.  There were also several bridges that had rails that wouldn’t let our school pass. Al Tenholder and I took sledgehammers ahead of the moving crew and knocked the side rails off so the truck could get through. We had numerous farmers stop us on the trip and offered to help us and thank us for doing that, saying they wanted that done for years and it was going to save them many miles! 

 We were asked many times if we had permits for the move. Sherriff Buck Hough had told us we “didn’t need no stinking permit, we had the Buck Hough permit”! So, our answer was always, “We got the Buck Hough permit”. 

 The men had already poured the foundation, so when we got there with the school, Mr Phifer sat the structure down and let us have it. We had the bell tower and the foyer both on separate trailers, so it was quite the convoy with no less than 6 or 8 pickups full of workers plus the prizes.  The pictures I am including were taken after it was sat down at the Village and we were putting the building back together. Donation started coming in shortly after, like Jennie Upstaddt’s piano and the Coleville schoolteacher’s desk the Stark family gave us from my old one room school I went to. Very soon it was outfitted exactly like schools were in those long-ago days. 

 Pictured left to right in the first photo, Jim Ketron, Don Arndt, Paul Jadlot and Don Hill

Editor’s note: This schoolhouse was located just a mile from my childhood home. My mother attended there as a child and we like many others, were overjoyed when it was moved and is now being permanently preserved.

Increased traffic despite iffy weather

What’s Up

By LeRoy Cook

 It was a mixed bag of flying conditions over the past week, sometimes favorable, sometimes windy and overcast. The Fliars Club had to stand down with 500-foot ceilings prevailing on Saturday morning, so hangar flying had to substitute for the real thing.

 A bunch of transient airplanes stopped in, such as a Piper Arrow from ATP flight academy in Kansas City, a Cessna Skylane, a Piper Cherokee or two, a Beech Bonanza A36 and a Cessna 172. Scott Phillips and Tim Hill came over from Drexel in Tim’s Cessna Skylane. Hereabouts, Bob Thompson and Cheto Sheets both obtained fresh Flight Reviews in the Cessna Skyhawk, Roy Conley flew his Grumman Tr2 and the Beech Bonanza N35, and new pilot Dayne Kedigh stopped in from Fort Worth to visit his old Cessna 150 friend. The SkyDive KC Beech King Air was only able to haul eight loads of jumpers on Sunday before the winds got too high for safety.

 New Kansas City sectional charts came out on April 22, only valid for 56 days so they’ll need replenishing by June 17, at nearly $10. No big changes that I can see. Long way from the six-months for a quarter my chart cost when I started flying. But, we had to buy two maps, because the Kansas City chart only extended down to Rich Hill, where the Tulsa coverage took over.

 Last month, the FAA issued new private pilot knowledge test questions, which is done twice a year in order to mix up the answers and questions so as to make it more difficult for “crib sheets” to be developed. The material on which the tests are based doesn’t change, but they have to rewrite the quiz anyway. The average score will probably drop for a while until on-line study programs catch up.

 Bye Aerospace, developers of electric powered airplanes in Denver, has announced yet another project, while still trying to get certification for its eFlyer II trainer. They plan to build an eFlyer 800 eight-seat twin-prop 300-mph pressurized business plane, in partnership with Seimens, who make the motors and controllers. Just how the pressurization is supposed to work, without turbochargers, I don’t know. Bye doesn’t even have its four-place eFlyer 4 going yet. Ain’t venture capital wonderful?

 The week’s question asked “what was the biggest gun ever installed in an airplane?” Reader Tim Cox informed me that it was the 105mm howitzer installed in the AC-130H Spectre attack aircraft, developed for the Vietnam war. Must have shoved the old Herk sideways when it went off. I would have said it was a 75mm field piece in the nose of a B-25 bomber in WW-II. Next week’s question is, “Who was the first Administrator of the FAA?” It was in 1958, and his first name was Elwood. You can send your answer to kochhaus1@gmail.com.

Community Calendar

Bookmark this page!

April 30 - Cruise Night at Butler Sonic
May 1 - Adrian Spring Fling on Main Street
May 8 - Butler Spring city wide garage sales
May 8 - Poplar Heights Living History Farm presents Issac Kenneth
May 9 - Mother’s Day
May 10 - Adrian Optimist Bingo 7 pm
May 10-14 Butler citywide cleanup north of Ft. Scott
May 17 - Adrian Optimist Bingo 7 pm
May 17-21 Butler citywide cleanup south of Ft. Scott
May 24 - Adrian Optimist Bingo 7 pm
May 15 - Car show at Bates county fairgrounds
May 31 - Memorial Day
June 18 - Cruise Night at Butler Sonic
June 18,19 Butler Saddle Club Rodeo
June 20 - Father’s Day
June 25-27 WMATAMA Show at Frontier Village in Adrian

June 26 - Brick Street Bash on the Butler square
June 26 - Food, fun and Fowling at Recycled Homestead in Adrian
June 30-July 4th - Rich Hill 4th of July celebration
July 5-11 Bates County Fair
July 17 - Car Show on the Butler square
Aug 3 through 7 - Hume Fair and Rodeo Sept 11th - Butler Fall city wide garage sales; Adrian Fire 9/11 ceremony
Oct 16 - Huckster’s Day on the Butler square

Courtesy Josh Nieder, agent American National Insurance “You know your business, we know how to help you insure it” 46 E. Main St, Adrian Mo 816-297-0042

Bates County Cattlemen serving lunch in Adrian this weekend

The Bates County Cattlemen will be serving up a delicious lunch this Saturday, May 1st at the Spring Fling on Main street in Adrian. On the menu:

Ribeye sandwich $7

Smoked beef sandwich $6

Hamburger $5

Also included is chips and water. Come enjoy a fresh, delicious lunch with us!

Missouri's Bicentennial Quilt has arrived at the Bates County Museum

Missouri's Bicentennial Quilt has arrived at the Bates County Museum. We are also displaying the 4-H Bicentennial Quilt along with several of the Museum's Friendship Quilts and more.

This special exhibit ends Thursday afternoon. Come view these beautiful works of quilt art!