CHRONICLE
e
October 27, 2011 [The Lovell Chronicle I 13
Byron news
Frankenstein style
bicycle assembly
E. DENNEY NEVILLE
548- 7829
nevilleart@tctwest.net
We built our bikes from
parts, some from here and
some from there. Clamped,
wrenched and wired. More
tape on the tires. Pump 'em
up. A chain connecting this
part to that part. Looks
good. It works. Awesome.
More oil. It needs to move
smoothly, not to lurch and
jerk like an ungainly thing.
Then was complete a true
Frankensteinian assem-
blage, a bicycle made up
of multiple, brand name
parts--J. C. Higgins, Sch-
winn, Western Flyer, Haw-
thorn, just to name a few.
Sixty years ago, our
best bikes were those we
made from an assortment
of salvaged, inherited and
swapped parts; an unorth-
odox looking fleet of cast-
off clunkers, and we who
dared pilot them did so at
great peril without helmet
or crash protection of any
kind, which explains vol-
umes about the experience
with which we undertook
adulthood.
Now, not to sound in-
sensitive with the language,
but some events in history
are encumbered by names
of places that challenge pro-
priety, and such is the case
with our bicycle race down
the notorious, Owl Crap
Canyon. There is still de-
bate over the actual facts
and spelling of the canyon's
name. Some say it is Owl,
others say Al. Research is
under way to verify the cor-
rect name of the canyon.
Four of us lined up,
side by side, at the top of
the canyon road, The Four
Horseman of the Apoca-
lypse, each on his mount-
-a mongrel J. C. Higgins,
a mutant Western Flyer,
a pure Schwinn Red Phan-
tom and The Frankenstein.
"Get ready.., set. Hey,
wait, gotta roll up my pant
leg... Go!"
The race was under
way in daring earnest.
Had there really been owls
in the canyon they would
have rose in flight like pi-
geons at the Olympics.
The race comprised a
lot of defensive and offen-
sive maneuvering while
at the same time negoti-
ating the ruts in the road,
loose gravel and generous-
ly sized rock combined with
additional greater and less-
er nuggets of assorted bulk
and density, bedded in a
mix of demonic boulders
and lurking sand traps.
Thus descending the
incline of said canyon, all
contestants maintained
somewhat to the earth-
en blemish referred to as
a road, achieving rapid
transport toward a gradu-
al curve known as Devil's
Bend, at which point the
curve tightened consider-
ably and relentlessly, then
opened up into the grand
daddy of all sand traps
where the skill level of the
contestants proved naively
deficient, lending to a to-
tal loss of command that
subsequently concluded in
a massive pileup of Bibli-
cal proportions. Dust, grit,
gravel, blood, hide, Levi,
rubber tire, tape and wire;
all combined in a colossal
blending of multiple bi-
cycle units, producing one
of the more memorable bi-
cycle collisions we ever en-
terprised. We celebrated
our survival with laughter
and verbal, instant replays
of the race, and exhilarat-
ing collision with which it
concluded, followed by see-
ing who could spit sand-
grit mud balls the furthest,
and a bragging narrative
of road rash and puncture
wounds. So it was, the race
down, Owl or A1 Crap Can-
yon.
If you have information
that will help to set the his-
torical account correct as
to the accurate and accept-
able name of the small can-
yon north of Byron, please
submit your information to
the Byron Hysterical Com-
mittee. Please submit only
verifiable facts or evidence
that support your selection.
Understandably, great care
and accuracy is required
when we seek to amend
history.
The Ed and Jeri NeV-
ille family gathered at the
New Horizons Care Center
in Lovell on Saturday, Oct.
22, to celebrate the 96th
birthday of Ed. Son Wally
NeVille of San Francisco
and daughter Cody Mazur-
an of Holladay, Utah, visited
by phone with beth Ed and
Jeri. All available grand-
children and great-grand-
children were present. In
November, Ed and Jeri will
have been married 78 years.
They have 18 grandchildren
and 41 great-grandchildren.
On Saturday, Oct. 15,
members of the Byron com-
munity gathered at the
Byron school facility for a
vigorous cleanup. The build-
ing looks much better and
thanks are given to all who
came and helped. There
are several individuals and
groups looking at and in-
quiring about the facility.
Hopes are high that some fu-
ture use of the building will
benefit the town.
I have been doing some
internet research for histori-
cal photographs of our area,
and at the suggestion of Tom
Bassett, I looked on the Uni-
versity of Wyoming website
(digitalcollections.uwyo.ed).
Very interesting. If you have
a computer, you might want
to check it out.
Each time history re-
peats itself the price goes up.
Author unknown
People are trapped
in history and history is
trapped in them. James
Baldwin
PATTI CARPENTER
The Red Hats
celebrated "high
tea" in their
usual flamboyant
fashion wearing
their trademark
red hats and
purple outfits at
a meeting held at
the Senior Center
in Lovell on
Tuesday. Around
30 members
attended.
Senior Chatter
Come in costume to the Halloween Party
BY PHYLLIS
BRONKEMA
News this week cen-
ters around the Senior Cen-
ter's upcoming Halloween
Party on Monday, Oct. 31.
Remember to come in cos-
tume. Prizes will be given
for the best costume. Those
planning to play Halloween
Bingo are encouraged to
bring a non-perishable food
item. The party will begin
right after the noon meal.
Come prepared to have fun!
Secondly, the Center
wishes to say a huge thank
you to Patti Carpenter and
the Lovell Chronicle for the
lovely article on the Cen-
ter's quilting program last
week. It appreciated the
fact that it helped recog-
nize the importance of the
program to all the commu-
nities the Senior Center
serves.
Ultimately, there are
many more volunteers in
the program than could be
listed. Every volunteer is
important, but when writ-
ing about the program, it is
easy to miss somebody. Two
such people who are promi-
nent contributors of their
time and effort are Eva
Wagner and Arlene Collins.
Your contributions are tre-
mendously appreciated.
Guess what? The New-
comers' club met again
last Thursday, Oct. 20, for
cards. Both bridge and
pinochle players boast-
ed three tables of players.
Dorothy McNeill of Powell
took high score in bridge,
and none other than Phyl-
lis Bronkema modestly re-
ceived the honor of being
high scorer in pinochle.
Cowley news
Johnson moves to Cowley to live with daughter
DRUE TEBBS-MEEK
548-6901
Edith Amanda Fames
Johnson moved to Cow-
ley early this month and
is living with her daugh-
ter, Linda, and son-in-law
Jon Marchant. Mrs. John-
son was born in Lovell to
John Albert and Sara Ellen
Lemon Fames, the ninth
child of 10 children born to
her folks.
Her parents came to
the Big Horn Basin in 1902
and settled in Lovell. Mrs.
Johnson worked at the
George and Edith were
married in the Jordan Riv-
er Temple in 1983 and lived
in Cody for 28 wonderful
years.
Mr. Johnson died Oct.
6, 2011, and was interred in
the Cowley Cemetery Oct.
8. He is buried by his first
wife, Helen Lowe Johnson,
who died when their six
children were quite young.
While living in Cody,
Mr. Johnson worked for
Glenn Nielsen as caretak-
er of his estate. The couple
served on three missions
for the LDS Church dur-
Cowley
for a year when she was a
teenager and made 35 cents
an hour. She also served a
mission for the LDS Church
in South Carolina.
She worked at the
Lovell Telephone Compa-
ny and later moved to Salt
Lake City and worked for
ITEL McCulough Co.; the
factory made light tubes for
airplanes during the Sec-
ond World War. There, she
met her first husband and
they had two children, Den-
nis Fames Larson and Lin-
da Larson Marchant.
Edith returned to
Lovell with her two chil-
dren and lived with her
father and her sister for
a time and worked for the
Lovell police and fire de-
partments as a dispatcher
for 20 years. Two of her co-
workers were Vivian Tebbs-
Nicholls and Ina Welling of
Cowley and they became
good friends during the
years. She was reintro-
duced to Wasden George
Johnson, who was a neigh-
bor when she was young; in
fact, she remembers baby-
sitting his brother when
they were growing up. She
lost contact with the John-
son family as they moved to
Cowley, to the Pryors and
into Montana for years.
Canning Factory ing their'ifigrried life. They
were in New Guinea, then
in Salt Lake twice and
worked in the family histo-
ry department. When they
served their missions, they
knew Bob and Marge Ste-
vens and Keith and Karma
Allred, who were also serv-
ing in the history depart-
ment.
Our interview was in
Linda and Jon's beautiful
home and was going to take
about 15 minutes, but her
life story was so interesting
that I was there for an hour
and a half. She has lived a
long and vital life and there
is much more to her sto-
ry. What a good time learn-
ing of another person's in-
teresting life. Welcome to
Cowley.
Scott Crosby, young-
est son of Rodney and Jose-
phine Crosby, and Valerie
Eskelson, daughter of the
late Mark and Jill Eskel-
son of Salt Lake City, Utah,
were married Sept. 16 at
the Salt Lake LDS Temple.
On Oct. 8, a reception was
held in Cowley at the LDS
Church to honor the cou-
ple and their new family,
which consists of Scott, Val-
erie and her two children,
Layla and Gary.
The recreation room
was decorated beautiful-
ly in colors of white, black
and deep red, almost bur-
gandy. The tables were
decorated with white table-
cloths with a black cloth
and a shimmering black
gauze fabric on top of the
tablecloth. Each table had
framed pictures of the cou-
ple, red rose petals scat-
tered and a fresh bouquet
of deep red roses. Each ta-
ble also had a final touch,
with a red and black Inter-
national tractor polishing
the atmosphere. The serv-
ing table was decorated the
same d the coiiple Sh
before a backdrop of white
with bows of red and white
and vases of red roses.
It was gorgeous and el-
egant with the final topping
on each table, a clever trac-
tor. There were three hand-
made huge quilts displayed
that were intricate and
lovely, gifts from Beth Sib-
bett, Valerie's mother Jill
and a gift from the recep-
tion held in Utah. The hall
was splendid and the bride
was dressed in beauty with
her ivory fabric dress of sat-
in, laced in the back and the
long shining skirt was gath-
ered with jewels twinkling
and cascading the length of
her skirt.
Annette Moss made the
four-tiered wedding cake,
which also had a tractor on
the highest tier. Mrs. Moss
also made chocolate and
caramel cakes, chocolate
mousse cakes and vanilla
and banana cakes frost-
ed with wonderful icings.
There were nuts, mints,
chocolate drops and wa-
ter to drink, and wonderful
moments were experienced
by relatives, friends and all
who attended.
Saturday, Oct. 22 at
11 a.m. in the Cowley LDS
Chapel, funeral services
were held for Dexter Mil-
ton Woodis, Sr. Dexter
died Oct. 15 after a lengthy
battle with cancer. The
service was officiated by
Bishop Willie Bridges and
Haskell Funeral Home
was in charge of arrange-
ments. Dexter worked hard
all his life and was a remod-
eling contractor and build-
ing inspector in Byron and
Cowley.
His son, Dexter Jr.,
and good friend Roy Harp-
er gave eye-opening com-
ments about this quiet,
unassuming man. Young
Dexter talked about his fa-
ther's early yearsin-Massa :'
chusetts on a chicken farm
and the audience learned
that Mr. Woodis had polio
as a young child and spent
manyyears suffering from
his condition. He had a
muscle transplant when he
was eight and his parents
could only visit him once a
week for a few hours. Just
the picture of that little
boy, weeping, hurting and
having to gain control of
himself at such a young age
was poignant. He was left
with a limp, but worked
and worked.
Dexter's grandson Jory
Woodis played an Aria on
his tenor saxaphone that
brought tears to eyes as
his tender notes sounded
through the chapel with
tenderness, love and beau-
ty. Hilary Woodis, grand-
daughter, sang a beau-
tiful number with Jory
accompanying her on
the piano. Dexter leaves
his two children, Dexter
and Lisa Woodis of Cow-
ley and Jill and John Scan-
lan of Pendleton, Ore. and
his seven grandchildren to
mourn his loss.
Our sympathies to the
family. His ashes were in-
terred at the Cowley Cem-
etery.
The Town of Lovell is providing an
alternative to Open Burning
at a
Drop Site
Open daily, 8arn - 8pro
To drop your vegetative waste off
drive north on Shoshone Ave., cross the
railroad tracks and follow the signs or
call Town Hall, 548-6551, for directions.
DO NOT leave waste at CONSTITUTION PARK
VEGETATIVE WASTE ONLY!
No metal or rubber material.
, !
