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BIRDING
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Archer Vol. #2 ISSUE 6
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Fun Facts About Green Spaces Parks are often scattered about cities, and many cities have too few parks. The National Parks and Recreation Association recommends that there be park space within 2 miles of every residence (with ¼- to ½-mile distances optimal for walkability). Built within park environments and green spaces are settings for cognitive respite, as they encourage social interaction and de-stressing through exercise or conversation, and provide calming settings. The simple act of being within green spaces helps to restore the mind’s ability to focus often improving job and school performance and alleviating mental stress and illness.
Did you know? • The experience of nature helps to restore the mind from the mental fatigue of work or studies, contributing to improved performance and satisfaction. • Urban nature, when provided as parks and walkways and incorporated into building design, provides calming and inspiring environments and encourages learning, inquisitiveness, and alertness. • Green spaces provide necessary places and opportunities for physical activity. Exercise improves cognitive function, learning, and memory. • Outdoor activities can help alleviate symptoms of Alzheimer’s, dementia, stress, and depression, and improve cognitive function in those recently diagnosed with breast cancer. • Contact with nature helps children to develop cognitive, emotional, and behavioral connections to their nearby social and biophysical environments. Nature experiences are important for encouraging imagination and creativity, cognitive and intellectual development, and social relationships. • Symptoms of ADD in children can be reduced through activity in green settings, thus “green time”can act as an effective supplement to traditional medicinal and behavioral treatments.
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On the Road to an
By Dawn Marsh
OLYMPIC DREAM
Sixteen-year-old Colt Schieffer had intended on spending the evening of Sept. 1 on a football field playing a game he loved with his team, the El Dorado Springs Bulldogs. Instead, he found himself being carried off the field on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance. Once at the hospital he learned the extent of his injuries. Instead of coming away with football glory on that fall night, Colt was on the giving and receiving end of several big hits, which resulted in torn muscles, a cracked bone, a fractured vertebra, and a severe concussion. The toughest blow, however, came when he learned these injuries would end his dream of playing high school sports. Colt remembers, “While I was laying in pain in the hospital all I could think was, ‘What am I going to do now?’” He did not have long to ponder. The very next day, Colt received an e-mail that would ignite a new passion in his life and set an exciting course before him. The e-mail was from Team USA Archery and asked if he would be interested in competing with their organization. “The day before it was like a door shut on my dream, but when I read that e-mail, it was like another exciting door was being opened for me,” Colt explained. For as long as Colt can remember, he has always enjoyed being outdoors and hunting with Dwain Marshall, his brothers, Cody, Kyle, and Jake, and most of all, his dad. “I remember when I was little and my older brother Kyle took me hunting for the first time. I loved being outside so early in the mornings, drinking the hot chocolate while we waited, and then the adrenaline rush that came with the hunt,” he said. By the time he was 8, Colt shot his first deer, an 8-point buck. But it would be eight more years before Colt had enough money saved to purchase his first bow. “The first week of May this year, I drove to Nevada, to an awesome bow shop called 54 Shooter Supply and bought my first bow — a 2014 Hoyt Charger with a hunting set up,” Colt recalled. Colt was already active in the Union Hall 4-H Club, and it was through that organization that he began to shoot competitively. “I had already done some trap shooting through 4-H when I decided to give archery a try,” he said. With the help of coaches Terry Costello, Darin Adams, and Craig Carpenter, Colt competed at the Marmaton Bottoms 3-D shoot, where he earned four second-place finishes and one fourth place. He then went on to compete at the local Land-O-Lakes Youth Fair, which qualified him to
compete at the regional and state level. His first big challenge came on Aug. 23 at the National Field Archery Association 300, where he placed 78th. “That was a tough day for me. I had played in our first football game of the season on Friday night in Stockton, and then after the game, I had to drive all the way to Columbia. I got there about 3 a.m., and only got about two hours of sleep. “I was extremely sore from the game, but overcame most of the soreness, but it was hard to overcome being so tired. I am glad I competed though because it was at this tournament where I realized I might have enough skill to complete on a national scale,” Colt explained. But only one week later, Colt was hospitalized for the severe injuries he suffered in the JV football game on that fateful Monday night, left questioning his future when he read the email from Team USA Archery. Colt immediately knew that archery would provide him the next challenge in his future. That week, while still in a neck-brace, Colt began shooting his compound bow. Two weeks later, he competed in a three-day event in Columbia, Mo., where he placed 16th at the State 3-D Outdoor Tournament, and the following day placed ninth at the American 600. Because of how well Colt did at that tournament, Team USA Archery referred him to work with Amy Francka, who is the Community Olympic Development Program head archery coach with the Springfield Greene County Park Board and the leader of the Junior Olympic Archery Program in Springfield, Mo. After meeting with Francka, Colt knew he wanted to get serious about archery. Francka said, “Colt recently joined our JOAD club in Springfield, and I am very impressed with his ability and drive to improve his archery skills.” “Before getting injured, I had only really practiced archery on Wednesday evenings during 4-H, and I hadn’t taken the practices that seriously. Once I met with Francka, I got intentional about my practicing. “Now I travel to her club every Tuesday night to practice and we treat it extremely seriously. I also practice at home for two hours every day and try to make every shot perfect. I shoot about 280-300 arrows a night,” Colt said. He also lifts weights to gain upper body strength. Colt’s hard work paid off. Francka entered Colt in the USA Archery Mail-In Tournament, which allowed him to compete against the best archers in the country. During the
tournament on Sept. 26, Colt shot 36 arrows and his goal was to get a perfect score of 360. (A perfect shot counts as 10 points.) He competed from 50 meters (65 yards) using his compound bow to shoot at an 80-centimeter target. “My first four arrows barely missed the mark and earned nine points each, so I was worried I wouldn’t do well, but then I got in the groove and begin hitting my shots,” he said. Colt scored a 355 for the tournament, and then he had to wait nearly a month for the results. “When the results were posted, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had hoped to find my name among the top 50 archers. There was my name, Colt L. Schieffer, listed in first place. “I had separated myself from the rest of the archers in the country by almost 20 points. That meant I was ranked the number one 16-year-old male compound archer in the United States,” he explained. “My coach was really impressed with how well I did, and now we need to get me to the next level of competition,” Colt said. He began that journey on Nov. 9 when he traveled to Colorado Springs to compete against the top recurve and compound archers in the country in the Colorado Springs JOAD (Junior Olympic Archery Development) Tournament. “I have only shot recurve for a short while, but I feel really good about it,” Colt said. He will then need to continue competing on the national level at more tournaments in Colorado, Texas, and California. Colt said he would like to earn his spot among the top five nationally ranked archers to get to compete on an international level in hopes of reaching his ultimate goal. “I really want to accomplish my Invictus (unconquerable) goal of winning a gold medal in the Olympics — possibly even in the 2016 Olympics,” he shared. Colt’s dream of being an elite international archer is one that needs funding. While he is very appreciative of his parents’ support, he also knows the cost of funding his dream is a heavy burden. He has to pay for membership fees to national archery organizations to be allowed to compete. He also has to pay tournament entry fees as well as spend money on purchasing equipment and supplies. His coach is encouraging him to attend archery camps that also cost money. Travel to many of the tournaments is costly and will just increase with his success. Colt is hoping to find sponsors or donors. “I would greatly appreciate any help someone can give me,” he said. “I would be glad to represent a company or business with a logo on my shooting shirt which I will proudly wear as I travel the world to compete. It would be an honor to represent my country, my state, and my home town of El Dorado Springs,” he said. Even though Colt’s goal is an Olympic medal, he has even larger dreams for his life. “Over all I want to dedicate myself to working hard and learning new skills to better myself not just in archery, but in life. The most important thing I want to learn is to never give up,” Colt said. With that positive attitude, Colt is well on his way to making his dreams a reality. One of Colt’s favorite quotes, “Hard work beats talent, when talent fails to work hard,” is by NBA basketball player Kevin Durant. “In August, I placed 78th in the tournament I entered, but after only a few short months of intense practice and work, I am ranked number one in the country. I will keep working hard because I want that quote to define me,” Colt said. Colt Schieffer is a 16-year-old junior at El Dorado Springs High School. He is the proud son of Shelly Robison and Tim Schieffer and the grandson of Carol Robison and the late Jim Robison of El Dorado Springs and the late Elnora Schieffer and Herman Schieffer of Troy, Mo. He is an active member of the El Dorado Springs FFA chapter, where he serves as chapter sentinel. He is the secretary for Union Hall 4-H, where he has been a member for 10 years. He is also in his third year in the Crowder College Upward Bound Program. NEVADA the MAGAZINE
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FEATURES OLYMPIC DREAM Teen archer Colt Schieffer................................ 3
JOSIE FOLEY Overcoming Challenges................................... 6
THROUGH THE KITCHEN DOOR with Traci Cliffman............................................ 8
AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Nicky Pryor............................................... 10
NEVADA SCENE Facetime in Nevada ....................................... 11
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FARM BOY GOES TO SEA Eldon Steward................................................... 12
BIRDING IN GREENLAND Maddie Hardin................................................. 14
THE COVER
NEVADA T H E
M A G A Z I N E
Featuring Vernon County’s People and Towns
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BIRDING
in Greenland THROUGH the
Kitchen Door
Teen
Archer Vol. #2 ISSUE 6
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Santa made an appearance at last year’s NRMC Holiday Festival and visited with Denise Bernard. Photo by Floyd Jernigan
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I want to spread awareness and I want to offer support and a positive outlook for those lost in hopelessness and frustration like I have been so many times. I want to be a beacon of hope for many T1D’s.
BATTLING DIABETES, JOSIE FOLEY HOPES TO ACQUIRE A SPECIAL CANINE ‘DETECTIVE’. By Dawn Jones
Dogs have been touted as “man’s best friend” since the first prehistoric Fido was given the afterdinner dino-bones by our cavemen ancestors. From that time forward, we humans have enjoyed a long-standing history in this affectionate relationship with our canine companions. As the joke goes, if you put your wife and your dog in the back of the family car’s trunk for an hour, which one would be the most happy to see you when you opened it up again? Exactly. But in more recent years, dogs have gone up a few notches on the “best friend” index. Recent research suggests that Fido might actually be more intelligent than we thought, not merely in his learning ability, but in his learning capacity as well. Enter what we generally refer to as service dogs. We all know of the dogs that help the visually impaired, or can “hear” for the deaf. But how many of us have ever known of a dog specially trained to perceive an on-coming diabetic emergency? Incredible? Not anymore! Meet Miss Josie Foley. Josie is a 23-year-old Nevada High School alumna, Class of 2010. She is also a graduate of Cottey College, and is soon to graduate from Truman State University (this December) with a bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Science and a minor in Equestrian Studies. Put the words “with honors” behind each of those educational diplomas — she currently has a 3.78 GPA — and you can see that she is one pretty smart girl. In case we’re tempted to think she does nothing but study, her personal C.V. reads like something out of a “Who’s Who of Vernon County,” including activities such as target shooting (remnants of her 4-H history), reading, singing, training animals, and spending time with her own horse, Gunner. She has already completed two research projects, presented at numerous conferences (one of which was international), and has a manuscript up for publication. And now let’s add to those activities her memberships with various academic organizations, and, oh yes, she is gainfully employed at two different farming businesses. 6
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Josie Foley – NHS, Cottey graduate, Truman State student Her passion is animals, specifically chickens, more specifically laying hens. This is significant since she hopes her future research will increase the laying hens’ level of protein per egg, which will provide greater nutrition, which essentially means that her true passion is for helping people live better lives. Typical Josie. Her main challenge? Josie has Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, more commonly referred to as Juvenile Diabetes, also known as “insulin dependent diabetes.” This is a condition of questionable origin in which the pancreas, the body’s insulin producing factory that keeps the blood sugar stable, is no longer functioning. When the pancreas can’t do its job, the blood sugar rises until the person goes into a diabetic coma and would eventually die, were it not for the regulatory insulin given via external injection. The subsequent danger is that sometimes the same body does not react consistently to the same amount of injected insulin. Josie has had this type of diabetes since she was around 10 years old. Very few families can actually foot the bill for diabetes on their own, and her family was no exception, especially since her younger brother also has T1D (Type 1 Diabetes). Medicaid helped to keep the family solvent by providing the needed medicine and supplies, but once she turned 19, Josie was automatically dropped from federal assistance. Since that time, she has been using her ingenuity to manage her diabetes, often stretching supplies further than they are safely made to go. She has also been aided in part by different privately funded corporations, by sharing some supplies with her brother, or in receiving extra unused supplies from a friend who also has the condition. For now, however, she is praying to “just make it through” to graduate school this January where she hopes to obtain medical insurance through the university as part of her master’s degree academic package. Josie’s T1D was fairly stable while a secondary student in the Nevada R-5 District, as well as early on in college despite the financial hardship and scraping together supplies any way she could.
More recently her body chemistry has changed and she is now what is termed as a “brittle diabetic” with blood sugars that fluctuate rapidly and without warning. She has also become “hypoglycemic unaware,” which means that her blood sugar, which should normally stay between 80 and 110, can drop perilously low due to too much insulin circulating in the bloodstream, falling even into the 40’s, many times without manifesting any symptoms to warn Josie of the danger. Only at this point do the symptoms hit, and with a vengeance — blurring of vision, dizziness, extreme weakness and loss of coordination, profuse sweating — and can rapidly progress to convulsions and coma, and worse, if immediate intervention is not taken. To help combat this more recent development, she is seeing a family physician and a nutritionist in her area, but an endocrinologist (a specialist who is an expert in conditions like T1D) is out of the question, mainly due to her financial situation. In her humble words, she is a first generation college student putting herself through school “so I’m totally broke.” Although Josie wears a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) and a separate insulin pump, she must still cope with multiple finger sticks to check her blood sugar, and managing that blood sugar is becoming more and more difficult. In her own words, “I honestly never even think ‘what if I was normal’ anymore because T1D is a part of me. It’s a normal part of my life and it is routine. It’s just do what I do. Many days my routine really sucks, but it’s probably similar to a bad day at work that is uncontrollable. My body is waging war upon itself, and I’m just trying to keep things under control to the best of my ability.” Like a bad day a work?? What an understatement! Recently, Josie has been introduced to a new kind of service dog, known as a Diabetic Alert Dog, or D.A.D. for short. Her own T1D, combined with her inveterate love for animals, drew her into a short obsession in finding out more about these specially trained furry friends. After much personal research, she landed on the site entitled Heads Up Hounds (www.headsuphounds.com) as her choice, and enthusiastically began the process of being paired up with one of their dogs. Here’s how it works — when a person with T1D begins to have a shift in blood sugar, the body produces a chemical change that gives off an odor some 30 to 45 minutes before the blood sugar problem is detectable, even to the Continuous Glucose Monitor. This odor is hidden from humans, but not to the trained dog, whose olfactory nerve is much more highly developed than ours. Immediately, the D.A.D. alerts the person, who can then take appropriate corrective action, thus preventing a diabetic crisis. This is particularly helpful when a patient can no longer tell by symptoms that these changes are happening, as in Josie’s case. The really scary part is that these blood sugar changes can happen during sleep at night. That’s when the dog really gets his or her hero stripes! Normally, these animals cost approximately 15-30K, the price of a small house or a luxury automobile! Heads Up Hounds is different in that, rather than raising the service dogs from puppies, these animals are exclusively chosen from among
shelter dogs, dogs who themselves have been rescued, and are then trained to return the favor by rescuing their owners. And lest we consider these a scaled down model, Josie’s research has assured her that the rescued animals at Heads Up Hounds are not only as good, but perhaps even better at warning their owners about their diabetic fluctuations. They can also be assigned quicker to the person due to their training schedule. Nevertheless, the cost is still pretty intimidating at around $7,000. Ouch. Josie is not one to be easily gain said, however, and is working on raising money for her own D.A.D, whom she hopes to meet in person (pardon the pun) sometime in March of 2015, and then be a one-on-one team together by the following July. Currently, she has raised $2,000 of the needed total, and has a couple different on-going campaigns for the remainder. As Josie and I texted back and forth in preparation for her phone interview, she was just finishing up an egg delivery and was running a bit behind schedule due to a research meeting going late with faculty, and she was in the middle of a blood sugar of 55. In her typical buoyant manner she adds, “You know, just daily life…ha, ha!” And I also find out that the day of our interview, Oct. 21, was Josie’s birthday. Next birthdays are something she cannot take for granted. But with the help of a very astute, soon to be Diabetic Alert Dog, she will continue to have “many more.” You can help. Check out Josie’s website on You Caring— Log onto www.youcaring.com Type in “one act” Click on the title “one act of kindness-two lives saved,” which is Josie’s story (currently she is the third one listed)
Click on “Give Now” and donations can be made via credit card choices Also, feel free to contact Josie on the site by clicking “Contact Organizer” as this email will then go directly to Josie. Wrist bands are being sold at Nevada’s own 54 Feed and Seed located at 2202 W. Austin. You can also follow Josie on Facebook by googling “diabetic alert dog for Josie.” Josie Foley has another goal, and again, it has to do with helping people. “I want to spread awareness and I want to offer support and a positive outlook for those lost in hopelessness and frustration like I have been so many times. I want to be a beacon of hope for many T1D’s.” You are, girl. You already are.
Nevada Medical Clinic Where you are a neighbor, not a number The Nevada Medical Clinic has been serving the health care needs of area residents since 1969. We have seven full-time physicians and three nurse practitioners. Whether you are in need of a physical checkup, prescription filled, x-rays, or diagnosis testing, Nevada Medical Clinic is here to serve you.
Sean Gravely, D.O. Rick Kellenberger, D.O. Jennifer Conley, M.D. Heather Russell, M.D. Cameron Crymes, M.D. Kristi Crymes, D.O. Jill Spangler, D.O.
Sherri Eador F.N.P Family Practice
Chastity McCullick F.N.P Family Practice
Kelly McLemore F.N.P Family Practice
Monday-Friday 7 a.m. - 5 p.m.
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Through the
KITCHEN DOOR . . .
...and into the kitchen of
Traci Cliffman Juggling Cooking, Teaching & Business!
A
by Martha Meinsen Scott
A love of cooking led Traci Cliffman on a new path in life. She is the owner of Kitchen Essentials, a store of kitchen accessories. She enjoys cooking and the kitchen and those loves led her on this entrepreneurial journey. “The building came up for sale,” Traci said. “And I adore going to kitchen shops when I travel. My husband was in agreement and said, ‘If you don’t try, you’ll never know.” The shop has been open since Aug. 1, and this store is a dream come true for Traci. “I’ve always wanted to open a kitchen shop,” she said. Traci was born and raised in Nevada. Her husband Greg is a farmer. Daughter Kelci works at the store and son Kyler goes to college. In her “spare” time, Traci teaches technology at the Nevada Middle School to sixth, seventh and eighth graders and she’s done that for the last 19 years.
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She’s always liked to cook and her mom always cooked and loves to bake and still does. Traci, however, likes to tinker with recipes. Very rarely will she follow a recipe completely as it is written; even the first time she tries it. In her house, garlic is a staple, so much of a staple in fact that she even grows her own. Traci said she feels that the older she’s become, the more risks she takes in her cooking. “I will add things now, “ she said, “that I would never think about adding when I was in my 20s. “I’m a bit more confident in my cooking.” Family recipes are precious to Traci and she fondly remembers her grandmother’s custard and her great grandmother’s chocolate pudding. In her “old” life (before owning a store), she would watch Rachael Ray, Paula Deen or Ree Drummond on television. Now, however, between teaching and the store, she has little time for the Food Network.
“I do collect cookbooks, those spiral-bound church, hospital and community cookbooks. Those are real recipes made by real people.” At Kitchen Essentials she has her own label of jams and pickles — jars of candied jalapeños, pickles, sweet potato and apple butter and salsa. “And if you come in, there are always samples available, if you wonder what something tastes like. Just ask.” In her own cooking, she prefers dinner foods. Her favorite time of the day is when the family sits at the table at the same time. Traci refers to her style as American food, comfort food. Meatloaf is a favorite of her family and most of the time she makes it the same way, a true tried and true recipe. She’d rather eat at home than eat out because family around her dining table is really important to her, she said. Traci said she feels that sitting down to a meal together pulls the family together. And if you know Traci, you know she’s all about family. A Christmas Eve tradition of the Cliffman family is when her parents join her husband and children for church service and then go back to Traci’s house for lasagna, salad and dessert. Instead of making a lot of different sweets for Christmas, she prefers to make caramels and dipped pretzel with sprinkles. “Those are tradition at the Cliffman house,” Traci said. December is a great time for soup, she added. Her family’s favorite is her vegetable soup. It should be called vegetable beef soup for she starts with a roast. But a hearty pot of vegetable soup is a warming meal on a cold winter day. “It’s a pot of comfort,” Traci said. Although Traci uses a variety of kitchen “gadgets” and “tools,” her personal favorite is her chef’s knife. “It’s my all time favorite kitchen tool,” she said. “I don’t know what I would do without my knife!” But her biggest passion, she admits, is her Fiesta ware. She loves searching for old pieces at flea markets. She’s not a color purist for she loves all the colors and she finds that she can set a table seasonally by selecting just the right color of Fiesta ware. Her December table often features red or green or both. The beef tips with mushrooms and rice is a favorite of her husband Greg, and children Kelci and Kyler. She said she always serves it with a salad. Traci said it’s an easy recipe and that’s good for a woman who’s busy both as a teacher and a storeowner. A table set with fiesta ware, with her husband and children at the table, and a favorite dish waiting to be served is the way Traci likes mealtime at her home.
BEEF TIPS WITH M
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of stew meat 2 T. olive oil 2 to 3 cloves garlic, ch opped 2 cups water 1 can cream of mushr oom soup 1 package brown grav y mix 1 package dry onion soup mix 1 small can mushroo ms drained
USHROOMS AND R
ICE
Drizzle olive oil into pan. Sauté garlic until tender. Add stew me all sides. Add water at and cook until brow and bring to a boil. Tu n on rn down heat and sim meat is tender. Add mu mer for 30 minutes or shroom soup, brown un til gravy mix, dry onion Simmer for 10 to 15 soup mix and mushro minutes. Sauce may om s. ne ed to be thickened wi Serve over cooked ric th flour and water mi e. xture.
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Writing a Natural for Nevada High Graduate PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: I currently work in human resources for a financial institution in Kansas City, Mo. WHERE HAVE YOU LIVED, HOW LONG? I was born in El Dorado Springs, Mo. My family moved to Nevada when I was in the sixth grade. I have resided here ever since, except for the one year I lived in Springfield, Mo. EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: I have my master’s degree in industrial/organizational psychology from Capella University. I graduated December 2010. My bachelor’s degree is in psychology from Pittsburg State University. I graduated from there in May of 2003. I graduated from Nevada High School in 1998. ANY FAMILY MEMBERS IN VERNON COUNTY AND/OR NEVADA? My younger sister Emily lives here and so does my dad, Brent Livengood, and my stepmother, Charlene Winfiel. My husband’s family is all located here in Nevada. My Aunt Tracy, who truly has become my rock, lives in El Dorado Springs. My older sister Amy lives in Topeka, and my older brother Matt is in Branson, Mo. My other family members are spread out in surrounding areas. ANYONE ELSE IN THE CREATIVE FIELD? My mother, Vicky D. White, used to write poetry. She passed away in September of 2003. HOW DID YOU GET INTO WRITING? I have always loved to write. I have dabbled in poetry for many years. Poetry is a way I express myself. HOW DID YOU GET YOUR FIRST BOOK/ STORY PUBLISHED? WHAT WAS IT? My first book is called “Raven’s Innocence.” I started writing it Sept. 28, 2013. I finished the book March 26, 2014. I started working with an editor, who happened to be another author’s editor, and I also used his graphic designer. That process took about three months. “Raven’s Innocence” was published and launched June 23, 2014. I decided to self-publish. I did have two publishing companies reach out to me and ask if I was interested in possibly letting them pick me, but to be honest, I wanted to maintain full control over my work, so I politely declined. I have the rights to my own ISBNs and everything about my book, I own. Being an Indie author comes with a price though, and that is lots of time. I had a graphic designer, an editor, a couple of proofers, and so on. Literally you have to have a team. I am always working on marketing and promoting, not just myself but other authors as well, (we all help and promote each other) and of course trying to find the time to write the second novel. I am very busy, all the time, and not only with that, but also with a full-time job and a family as well. 10 | NEVADA the MAGAZINE
Author Nicky Pryor
OTHER BOOKS PUBLISHED, IF ANY, NAMES, GENRES? “Raven’s Innocence” is the first book I have written. It is considered contemporary romance/ suspense. I am working on the second book in the series, “Raven’s Undoing.” I hope to have it published this coming spring, 2015. I plan to continue writing novels and publishing them. For now, my novels will fall under “A Snowhaven Novel” because they will all be intertwined in some way. WHY WRITE THIS BOOK? I have always wanted to write a novel, just never took the time to do it. Honestly, I found most of my encouragement to write the novel from another author, A.J. Linn who wrote “The Gentleman’s Series.” I was following authors and bloggers on Twitter and was interacting with them. A.J. and I became good friends and he asked me one day, “What is stopping you from writing a novel?” And I responded by saying, “I just don’t know where to start.” A.J. told me to sit down, start from the beginning, and just write. I had an idea and I went with it. Why not? I had nothing to lose. A.J. also did some ghost writing for me on “Raven’s Innocence.” I have had a wonderful support group of other authors. I have connected with so many people and made so many wonderful friends. And one thing I have learned is that the authors I have connected with, all of us support each other. Any one of them is always willing to lend a hand and help when another author needs it. I published under the name N.D. White, mostly in honor of my mother Vicky D. White, and White is my maiden name. You’d be surprised how many authors publish under a pen name.
PLEASE PROVIDE A ONE-PARAGRAPH SYNOPSIS OF YOUR LATEST BOOK. Raven Pierce vowed to escape the hot and humid climate of Missouri and never look back. After completing her graduate program, she drags her sun-loving, winter-hating best friend to start a new life in Minnesota with its cold crisp air and blankets of snow. Raven’s main focus is her new career and truly establishing her own identity. The last thing she intends to do as she is building a new life is to fall in love. As her luck would have it, one evening a minor accident sends Mr. Tall-Darkand-Handsome to her rescue. What starts out as the perfect relationship begins to turn challenging when tragedy strikes and pulls her grief-stricken boyfriend into a dark and unpredictable frame of mind. Raven starts feeling confused and frustrated, and she is totally unable to figure out this complicated, enigmatic, gorgeous man. She finds herself fighting for love in an unfamiliar, confusing, and sometimes dark terrain. This is a deliciously wild ride of emotion, culminating in an ending that will make you gasp. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT YOU? I’ve always had a passion for reading and writing, and I wanted to become part of the world in which I love so much. So I did. Juggling between family, work, and writing, I stay very busy; never a dull moment. I’m a small town girl with a big imagination, and I’m letting it run wild on paper. ANYTHING ELSE YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD? I have an Author Twitter Account and also an Author Facebook Page, Author Amazon Profile, Goodreads Author Page, and my own website where I write poetry, post other blogs, and give updates and teasers to what I am working on. My website is http://nickydwhite.com My author Facebook page is: https://www.facebook. com/ndwhiteauthor Currently my book is available in Paperback and on Kindle through Amazon. You can also order a paperback version through Barnes and Noble. In the next few months, my book will also be formatted and sent through other publishing channels that will make it available on other e-readers. There is also a copy of it here at Nevada Public Library to check out. Your family, husband, children, background: I’m married to Justin Pryor, who is also a Nevada graduate. We have two daughters, Hannah, who is 10, and Addyson, who is 6. Hobbies, interests: My hobby and interest is reading and writing. Civic, community organizations: I truly have no time for anything else outside of my family. Any downtime I have is spent writing. Church involvement: My family and I are members of the All Saints Episcopal Church here in Nevada.
THE
Nevada SCENE
LIONS PANCAKE BREAKFAST Greeting the public, cooking the breakfast or cleaning up, members of the Nevada Lions had their annual pancake breakfast fundraiser at St. Mary’s. Pictured are, Rudy Spann, Bill Platt, Dr. Ron Schowengerdt, Leonard Ernsbarger, Leva Richmond, Wayne Reinert, Jessica Bland, Janet Ray, Doug Harper, Barbara York and Jane Sanderson.
AND HAPPY 2015 NEW YEAR!
Community members, law enforcement, and family members of victims of domestic violence gathered on the courthouse lawn to raise awareness and remember loved ones. The local ceremony is part of the national Day of Unity, held the first Monday in October. This is also part of the larger campaign in October for Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Executive Director Martha Sander of the Council on Families in Crisis and Moss House (a shelter for victims) (at right) offers the microphone to each person who was honoring a Vernon County victim of domestic violence. Each victim’s name was read and a balloon launched.
Warren and Thelma Serenbetz; Dr. Judy Rogers, president of Cottey College; Maria Baseggio, president of the International Chapter of the PEO Sisterhood; Carla Farmer, Cottey Defining Moments campaign manager and senior major gifts officer; and Janet Brown, chair of the Cottey College Board of Trustees, unveil the new sign designating the home of the Serenbetz Institute for Women’s Leadership, Social Responsibility, and Global Awareness, housed in the Helen and George Washburn Center. Dr. Helen Washburn was the prior Cottey president before Dr. Rogers.
NEVADA the MAGAZINE
| 11
A Farm Boy Goes to Sea
By Will Tollerton, Bushwhacker Museum Coordinator
Born just over the line in Cedar County in 1932, Eldon Steward has had a foot in both Vernon and Cedar counties most of his life. He received his education at Green Ridge School in Cedar County, but has always identified himself with the town of Montevallo in southeast Vernon County — still a thriving community in his youth. “It was always a rural farm community, only the two stores. When I was a young man, you could buy overalls, a cap, and a pair of Peter’s shoes, Rockford socks, and a chambray shirt, that’s all a farmer needed. So we really didn’t need to go anywhere in that day,” said the now 82-year-old retired farmer and Korean War veteran. “We made our own entertainment,” said Steward. “We got to come to Nevada one Saturday out of the month.” He recalls that most Saturday nights in his youth were spent around the old school in Montevallo playing horseshoes, basketball, and baseball. Steward received a draft notice in the fall of 1951 and took the Army physical. Deciding that he would prefer the Navy to the Army, the 19-year-old farm boy went with two buddies (one his future brother-in-law) to the Navy recruiting office in the courthouse at Nevada. “I thought there were more opportunities to go to school in the Navy,” he reminisces. However, the Navy recruiter said to the three would-be sailors, “We are only going to take one, so you decide which one.” After a discussion between the friends, it was decided that Eldon would be the one to go. In March 1952, Steward boarded a train from Kansas City to the naval training station at San Diego, Calif., where he spent four months in basic training and another four months learning how to work on diesel engines. Allowed to pick which ship to be assigned to, Steward chose the U.S.S. Kermit Roosevelt, ARG-16, a repair ship for LST’s (amphibious
Eldon Steward’s 1950s U.S. Navy uniform on display at the Bushwhacker Museum.
Photo by Al Fenske
12 | NEVADA the MAGAZINE
Korean War Veteran Remembers Service, Works to Honor Those Who Came Before….
Y Z Eldon Steward and wife, Carolyn.
Photo by Al Fenske
landing vessels), mine sweepers, and destroyers. He spent the next three years and four months aboard the ship, rising to the rank of Petty Officer First Class. He was deployed to the Korean War Zone in 1953. One of Steward’s most distinct memories is of salvaging a ship that had grounded on a rock in the harbor of Pusan, South Korea. The merchant marine vessel — while on its maiden voyage no less — had been grounded in a recent storm when its crew failed to put out to sea in time. “We worked seven months around the clock and cut that thing in two,” he remembers. The ship was carrying military supplies; everything from trucks, to tires, to blankets. “That cost the government a lot of money,” Steward said with a chuckle and a grin. Another memorable experience occurred while on shore leave in Tokyo. Walking around the city, Steward remembers seeing a large crowd outside the emperor’s palace. “What is going on,” the young Missourian asked a bystander, and the man said, “The emperor is coming home in 30 minutes.” His interest stirred, Steward waited until a black car bearing the emperor came up the street and he watched as Hirohito himself was driven through the palace gate. This was less than a decade after the end of World War II. After returning home from the Navy in 1956, Steward bought a farm in Cedar County that had once been owned by a Union Civil War ancestor. Here he raised cattle, feeder pigs, and chickens, as well as growing corn and soybeans. The farm lay right on the Cedar/ Vernon County line, literally bisected by it. He married his wife Carolyn on June 8, 1957. “Honor the Brave” Steward’s knowledge of agriculture is second only to his knowledge of local history, and particularly the Civil War. He has passionately pursued the goal of remembering the veterans of the Civil War, some of whom lie forgotten under the soil of Vernon County. “What really got me into the Civil War was my own family,” Steward said. He developed an
intense interest in his family genealogy in 1980 after his uncle died in South Dakota and the family decided to have a Steward family reunion. He later became interested in his Civil War ancestors. So far, Steward has found a total of 12 ancestors who fought in the Civil War — six for the Confederacy and six for the Union. He remembers hearing stories in his early years about the burning of Old Montevallo by the Union Army. As a young boy, Steward was fortunate enough to still have his great-grandparents living, who had personally witnessed the Civil War years. “My great-grandmother told a story after my greatgrandfather died, when I was 11 years old, about the burning of her house during the war and how her stepmother drove a wagon to Arkansas while she and her sister walked behind the wagon.” They took a cow along for milk because her stepmother was pregnant (with twins). “Little did I know when she was telling me that story,” said Steward, “that her half-brother who was living with her was one of the twins born in Arkansas.” The family returned to Cedar County and rebuilt their log cabin after the war. On a farm once owned by Steward’s grandfather, just a little over two miles southeast from Montevallo, lies an above-ground burial vault, reminiscent of the graves of old New Orleans, which marks the final resting place of five local Confederates killed by Union forces in 1862. Steward related the story of the battle the soldiers died in to students from the Nevada High School Advanced American History Class back in 2000. “Those were recruits coming down from Balltown. They were intercepted by Major Bacon Montgomery of the militia from Cedar County. They had a little battle there and they [the Union troops] shot five of those 17. It wasn’t much of a battle. They were recruits and probably not armed. They buried them all in a common grave.” This skirmish was called the Battle of Horse Creek. Finding the monument to be in a state of complete dilapidation and overgrown, Steward personally rebuilt it, doing justice to the exhortation inscribed on the stone to “Honor the Brave.” The tomb was later rededicated in a ceremony attended by the local Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Steward has continued to work hard to ensure that the graves of other Vernon and Cedar County veterans are not forgotten. His efforts so far have included restoring the Oldham Cemetery in Cedar County where many of his ancestors are buried, including a great-great uncle killed during the Civil War; placing a new marker at the grave of Capt. James Gatewood, the man who raised the first company of Confederate soldiers at the town of Old Montevallo in 1861; cleaning up the BallRobinson Cemetery south of Dederick, the burial place of Lt. Wesley Ball, another victim of the Civil War; and the Musgrave Cemetery east of Jerico Springs, resting place of Col. James Musgrave, a Confederate officer. Now retired from farming, the long-time board member of the Vernon County Historical Society
still drives from his home in El Dorado Springs to volunteer at the Bushwhacker Museum every week during the summer months. “I will keep coming as long as I can” the old historian said — the staff and volunteers at the museum heartily concur.
Rededication ceremony in 2003 of burial vault for five Confederate recruits killed in Vernon County in 1862.
U.S.S. Kermit Roosevelt
Eldon Steward, as a Petty Officer 1st Class, 1955.
Old Confederate grave on the Steward farm near Montevallo, Mo.
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Nevada High Graduate Goes Birding in Greenland.
Hardin overlooking Greenland’s beautiful landscape INSET: Exploring the Greenland ice sheet. This body of ice covers roughly 80% of the island’s surface.
Photos by Robert N. Rosenfield
My name is Maddie Hardin I am a Nevada, Mo., native and proud of it. I currently live in Wisconsin however, as I just finished getting my bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. How did you come to live in Wisconsin? Growing up, I always knew I wanted to do something involving animals. I started searching for a college that could offer me the schooling and experience that would make my dreams a reality. My search resulted in me choosing the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point. Moving 600 plus miles north of Nevada was tough at first. But after getting involved in school projects with The Wildlife Society and making friends, the town of Stevens Point soon became my home away from home. How were you able to go Greenland, why, when, how long, what did you do there? I was fortunate enough to be asked by University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point’s professor of biology, Dr. Robert N. Rosenfield, to accompany him to Greenland as his field assistant to study the Arctic Peregrine Falcon. Funding for the trip came from the University as well as from the William A. Burnham’s Memorial Fund. Our two-man team was in Greenland for a total of 14 days (July 13 - July 27 2014). During this time, we hiked 100 plus miles, visited 16 nest sites (cliff sides called eyeries), and counted 26 young falcons. The goal of our trip was to gather data and look at the possibility of climate change affecting the breeding phenology of this falcon and to see if warmer temps could be causing the peregrine to switch its breeding strategy to breed earlier each summer. At each cliff side deemed successful, (having young), our job was to document numbers of young, the gender of nestlings, and their age. Age is estimated by looking at feather development. The sex is determined by looking at the diameter of the leg. Birds of prey display something known as reversed size dimorphism; meaning females are the larger gender. So even only weeks old, you are able to tell the difference between the gals and guys.
What moment(s) was/were most memorable from your Greenland trip? The entire trip from start to finish was absolutely amazing. I think everyone deserves to travel somewhere to see beauty like Greenland has to offer. One of my top memories from Greenland was the first successful cliff site, called Twin Lakes, where I waited on top of the cliff while Bob descended on rope down to fetch the young. Up he came with two males and one female approximately 15 days of age. The whole while both the mom and dad falcon were soaring up above, making their alarm call, “Kak-Kak-Kak-Kak-Kak.” These birds are fast on the wing and make for quite a show due to their aerial skills. I was continually stopping to stare in awe of how amazing and beautiful these Arctic birds are. From the trip, I will also always remember fondly the feeling of accomplishment after walking with a heavy pack across the tundra all day and the excitement each morning wondering how many sites we would visit and what we would find. Then there were the meaningful conversations between Bob and I as we hiked or as we shared a meal after a hard day’s work collecting data. Anything else you’d like to share about your experience? People have asked if I would go back - yes. My experience was truly one in a million and I will be reliving parts of the trip over and over in my mind forever. I’d like to thank Dr. Rosenfield for keeping me safe and giving me the opportunity to travel to such a beautiful place and learn from one of the best raptor biologists around.
Three female nestlings at an eyrie called Satellite. Rosenfield and Hardin determined these young to be about 23 days of age.
Photo by Maddie G. Hardin
14 | NEVADA the MAGAZINE
Banding her first peregrine nestling while sitting in the eyrie at Hundeso’s Cliffside.
Photo by Robert N. Rosenfield
Have you done anything like this before, if so, where and when? I have been involved in research efforts involving different species of birds of prey, but traveling to Greenland was the first time I was asked to travel to a different county to collect data. My former work with birds has been songbird banding and handling different hawks and owls. These opportunities have been through my involvement with the UWSP Chapter of The Wildlife Society and assisting different Pointer professors with their research. If I could band birds every day and share with the public the fascinating life histories of the avian world, I would do just that. Education, high school, college, degree Nevada High School class of 2007 University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Class of 2014 Bachelor’s of Science MAJOR: Wildlife Ecology Research and Management MINOR: Biology HOMETOWN: Nevada, Mo. FAMILY: • Bill Hardin (father)
Employed at 3M in Nevada.
• Marci Hardin (mother) Employed at Nevada Regional Medical Center. • Rachel Fast (sister) Teacher at Nevada R5 School District.
• Joe Hardin (brother)
Owner of a lawn care business.
• Sam Hardin (brother)
Employed at 3M in Nevada.
• Alex Hardin (brother) Attending The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio.
• Roberta Wagner (grandmother) • Max Croxdale (grandfather) INTEREST/HOBBIES: Photography • Birding • Being active Reading • Spending time with loved ones
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