“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12: 21

It was heartwarming to see that so many people left their homes earlier than usual to be at the three crosses near the First Christian Church in Eads Wednesday morning, January 6, to pray for our nation. Many people stood outside while others stayed in their vehicles. I could see that Pastors Lane and Deborah Gooden and Pastor Mark Imel were facilitators of the event, but a number of men and some women led prayers, songs and scripture reading. It was a lovely sight to watch the United States flag that was posted in the back of Mr. Gooden’s pick-up as it waved in the cold breeze against the background of the green pine trees. Although I didn’t recognize some people there, I just couldn’t resist asking Mr. Gooden, “Who was the attractive lady in the matching red wool hat and coat?” He replied, “She is Brenda Fickenscher.” Then I remembered how my mother, Ida, used to admire her sewing and modeling abilities in 4-H.

Barbara Diel wrote from Denver to say, “greetings” to her friends in Eads, whom she misses. Last fall she was growing uneasy in her assisted living apartment (in lockdown) so she was blessed to get to move to her daughter, Ginger’s home. I told her that Nick and Braylynn Eder, who bought her home, are keeping the lawn green and looking nice, with some twinkling lights at Christmas time.

A number of people have told me such complimentary statements about Dr. Charlie Philpy in the Lamar Vision Center by the Lutheran Church. When Dr. Sean Oquist suggested that I go to Charlie’s clinic after I ran over my eyeglasses, I did just that. The optician, Josh Cummins, was so helpful and informative that I decided that I would order new glasses from this establishment. It is always such a joy to observe former student friends when they achieve their career goals

I had been thinking that Charlie Philpy was a classmate of Ryan Trosper, but when I looked in the Eads High School alumni book, it turns out that Miles Philpy and Ryan were classmates. Charlie is the younger of the trio of baseball team friends. Ryan is in lockdown in New Mexico, so he and his family haven’t been able to come to Colorado to visit his parents, Bill and Linda Trosper. As the President of Eastern New Mexico University of Ruidoso, he needs to be near the college.

Madonna Pollreis and Gail Voss told me that the maintenance crew from the courthouse are doing most of the moving of furnishings from the old senior center to the new center across the street in the Murdock Building complex. To former residents, this will be in the former Wissel’s Dry Goods and the Scoggins Grocery stores. We hope to have our noon lunch there January 20. We will have additional seating room, and we do welcome more and new people to come to our “basket meals.” Meanwhile, the Haswell Westender senior citizens continue to have meals and get togethers in their meeting place in the former Haswell School.

People may not be aware that the Demitasse gym is open to those who have a membership there. An Eads man had a serious heart condition last fall. Now he is fortunate to do his cardio therapy right here in Eads! People of all ages can go there to stay or get in condition. If you, reader, are one of those people who need to take care of your health more seriously, you may call Chelsea (Kevin) Davis or Cathy (Tom) Davis for a code.

Jackie Rittgers emailed the Eads sports schedules last week. Ms. Jackie urges people to watch for announcements on who and how many can attend the games. The first high school basketball game will be January 28 at 5:30 p.m. The middle school game will be January 22 at 3:00 p.m., while the first wrestling event will be January 30 at 9:00 a.m. Many fans are so eager to see some Eads Eagle sports played but, most of all, we just want the children and youth to have the chance to play ball, to wrestle, to cheer, and to have fun!

Congratulations to Brady Buck on receiving a prestigious award for authoring a book on two Colorado outstanding wrestlers from 2001. Now that is one book I am going to buy, partly because I am a fan of wrestling, but mostly because his mother, Jody Johnson Buck, and his grandmother, Polly Collins Johnson, and his wife, Jordan Barnett, are friends of mine.

At the Chamber of Commerce meeting, I learned that the beautiful Eads Christmas tree was not decorated with a net of little lights, but hundreds of vertical strings of lights suspended by Jacob Barnes and Jose Ramos from the Southeast Colorado Power Association bucket truck to helpers below.

Kathleen “Kas” Fischer sent an addendum to my quote last week: “There is always hope. Kindness lasts.” And isn’t that true? Thank you, dear Kas, down in Oklahoma.