Exeter Public Library New Titles

For Adults:
I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark
Miles to Go by Richard Paul Evans
The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly
Mystery by Jonathan Kellerman
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
Once Upon a Time There Was You by Elizabeth Berg
Sixth Man by David Baldacci
Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts
44 Charles Street by Danielle Steele
Save Me by Lisa Scottoline
Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo
Plains Bound:Fragile Cargo-The Reavealing Orphan Train Reality by Charlotte Endorf

For Teens:
Runaway Twin
The Red Umbrella

Village Spring Clean Up on Saturday

Don't forget that the Village will make a dumpster available on Saturday morning at the Village Shop starting at 8 a.m. until it is full.  Take this opportunity to get rid of junk and trash around your house to make the Village a better place to live!

Orphan Train Presentation at the Exeter Senior Center

Lela Newcombe, left, at 97 years old shares the story of her experiences on the Orphan Train at the Exeter Senior Center along with Charlotte Endorf, who has written multiple books on the Orphan Train riders.

Roma Rhodes, left, visits with Lela Newcombe who rode on the Orphan Train. Roma has preserved the Orphan Train story of her husband Robert's great, great aunt Henrietta Wiens.

It stopped at a town near you, it stopped in almost State.  Over 250,000 children rode on the “Orphan Trains” that traveled all across the United States for 75 years.

It stopped in Exeter, Neb. as well.  Records and family history list at least three members of the Exeter community who became residents after debarking a train from New York.

Charlotte Endorf, a Norfolk resident, has embraced a passion for the stories of the quickly disappearing riders of the Orphan Trains and shared that in Exeter.

She recently gave a presentation at the Exeter Senior Center sponsored in part by the Nebraska Humanities Council. Accompanying her to the event were one of the Orphan Train riders, Lela Newcombe, a 97 year-old who after three different stops ended up in Lincoln, Neb. at the age of 6.

Newcombe shared her experience, which was not a pleasant childhood after debarking the Orphan Train.  Children were often placed on the trains because there were so many homeless and orphans in larger cities, however, the majority of the time they were not adopted by the family because of the $75 cost to adopt. Newcombe was moved several different times because of abuse observed by the agent who monitored her situation.

Audience members at the presentation were able to share the stories of their family’s members who had been on the Orphan Train and were brought to Exeter.  Two came together, Thelma Bernhardt and Victoria Geyger, arrived in Exeter in September of 1901.  They were claimed through New York City Foundling Home’s program through the Catholic churches.

Bernhardt became a member of the Michaely family, became a teacher and married John Leif and eventually raised her six children near Exeter. Her family members still live in the Exeter area.

Geyger was taken in by the Barkmeier family, which included seven boys and one girl.  Despite health setbacks and struggles she eventually found her calling as a sister with the Dominican Sisters of St. Catharine of Siena in Kentucky. She taught school all over the States.  Geyger, later known as Sister Mary Raphael Geyger, also has a number of relatives still living in the Exeter area.

The third Orphan Train rider, Henrietta Maynard Weins, was adopted by the Maynard family.  They were an older couple and she was just five years old. They had no children of their own but had raised a niece and nephew.  Weins had a wonderful childhood with them and went on to graduate from college and teach for a time.  She eventually found her birth mother discovering that she herself had been born in Germany and come over on a ship with her young widowed mother. Eventually Weins’ mother lost her sister who had been caring for Henrietta and placed her in what she thought was a  “Children’s Nursery for Working Mothers.”  She never did see her little girl again despite an extensive search.

Weins and her husband took a trip to New York City and visited the orphanage and were shown the only records that existed for her stay.  She was able to find her mother’s name and no more.  However, she wrote down all of the names out of the New York City phonebook that matched her own.  When she arrived back in Nebraska she wrote to all of the names eventually finding and being reunited with her mother and stepbrothers in New York.

Newcombe has made it her life’s work to record the stories of the children on the Orphan Train’s in multiple books and media presentations.  She is constantly looking for more riders to interview and try to preserve their experiences on this historical journey. She enjoys sharing her program with school students as this part of the history of the United States is often overlooked.

For more information on Sister Geyger or Thelma Leif click here
you will be directed to the Creighton University website

Exeter-Milligan Fourth Graders help dress bunnies

So do the bunnies multiply on their own? Mary Ellen Blatchford crochets over 600 bunnies every year for her family to give away.

Everyone loves the bunnies that Mary Ellen Blatchford crochets every evening while watching Wheel of Fortune. Her granddaughters have enjoyed her bunnies for years.  Picture from the left are granddaughter, Rita Smith of Omaha, granddaughter Rhonda Veleva of Grand Island, Blatchford and daughter Beth Vavra of Milligan.

 

Mary Ellen Blatchford, an 89-year-old York resident keeps her hands busy every day reading, emailing on the computer, but most of all crocheting.

Every year for the last 30 years she has made over 300 crocheted bunnies for her daughter and grandchildren and now great-grandchildren. Her family figures she has made over 12,000 bunnies so far and continues to give them all away. This year and for the past 10 years Exeter-Milligan fourth graders have helped her accomplish this goal.

It all started when “a neighbor gave me one. I made a few and gave them to Beth (her daughter). Beth asked for a few more to take somewhere and I decided I better make 100. Thirty years ago when my granddaughter was born when people came to visit her we gave them a bunny,” explained Blatchford.
Blatchford loves to crochet and every evening during Wheel of Fortune she crotchets five bunnies; “I do quite a few more when I watch Lawrence Welk on Saturday evenings.”

During the winter months Blatchford likes to crochet blankets and her specialty, prayer shawls. These are prayed over and then donated to those in need of extra prayer, usually those suffering with an illness.
Blatchford sends about 35 bunnies to each of her five granddaughters. Her granddaughter Rita Smith, of Omaha, was visiting and asked for “just a few more.” Of course, Blatchford encouraged her to take what she needed. Granddaughter Rhonda Veleva of Grand Island asked Blatchford to send her "naked" bunnies this year.  She and a young lady she mentors got to "dress" the bunnies together.

The decorations on the bunnies have morphed a bit over the years. Originally she tried cotton balls for their tails and felt eyes. It was the bunny ears that troubled her the most, “I ironed them, starched them and just couldn’t get them to stand up. We finally started to put a small magnet on them to keep them from flopping over.”

These days Blatchford gets a little assistance putting on the pom pom tails and squiggly eyes. For the last ten years, her daughter, Beth Vavra, has brought a few of the Exeter-Milligan fourth graders to York to help with the embellishments.

Vavra, works as an aide at the Milligan campus and enjoys bringing the girls to meet and help her mother, “We come after school and glue the magnets on the back and then go eat supper while they dry. When we come back we turn them over and glue on the eyes and the pom poms. They get to pick out two to take home and they usually fight about which color pom pom should go on which color bunny. The fourth grade girls look forward to the outing every year.”

So far the bunnies have ended up all over the world. Through foreign exchange students and those donated to servicemen, the bunnies are world travelers. When her granddaughters were in school they took bunnies for each of their classmates and Sunday school classmates every year. Smith recalled that some of her classmates still have all of the bunnies they received throughout the years.

Blatchford’s favorite color is a light pastel bunny, “I don’t like the camouflage but the boys sure do.”

Although Blatchford makes them for Easter decorations, “People leave them up all year,” said Vavra. Blatchford has crocheted other holiday decorations including ghosts, spiders, pumpkins, and hot dogs as refrigerator magnets but only produces the bunnies in mass quantities. Lately she has been working on Oreos and butterflies for granddaughter Roxanne’s upcoming wedding.

Fortunately Blatchford had this year’s batch of bunnies complete before she fell and broke her arm although Vavra claims, “People have joked that she just makes two bunnies, puts them in a box and they multiply.”

Exeter-Milligan Elementary Students Enjoy Presentation from York College Traveling Children's Theatre

Asistant Director A.J. Wharton asks the first and second graders if he can sit with them.

 The White Rabbit (John Baker) reads the charges against the Knave of Hearts during Alice in Wonderland.

 

 The cast of the York College Traveling Children's Theatre at the end of the play helping Alice return to her world.

The York College Traveling Children’s Theatre made one of its 20 stops at schools and libraries in Exeter on Tuesday morning.

The group of 13 students who have volunteer for the activity performed “Alice In Wonderland” adapted from the Lewis Carroll novel by William Glennon with a prologue written by YC drama professor John I. Baker III.

One of the unique features of the production is the interaction with the audience. The Exeter-Milligan kindergarten through sixth graders laughed, helped point out the hidden items and asked questions at the end of the play.

This is the fourteenth year for the Traveling Children’s Theatre under Baker’s direction.  Alice did all of the typical Alice type things including following the rabbit down the rabbit hole, visiting the Mad Hatter’s tea party and playing croquet with the Queen.

The Queen of Hearts made her tarts and frequently spouted “Off with their ’eads,” to the students amusement.  Things kept turning up missing which involved many of the players chasing each other around the gym to the delight of the audience. 

It isn’t clear whether the players or the audience enjoyed themselves more.  After introducing themselves with a brief bio, the YC students opened up the floor for questions from the Exeter-Milligan audience.  The students wanted to know about the sound effects production, how the players change clothes so quickly and why they wore masks (it was explained that in the commedia dell’arte style of theatre masks are worn instead of make up).

 

Exeter-Milligan Update: Spanish I

MAKING BRACELETS IN EXETER-MILLIGAN
By: Taylor Erdkamp & Megan Zwickl

     The Spanish I Class of 2010-11 has learned mucho (lots)
of things this year. We have had fun while learning it too.
In the first semester we learned about articles of clothing
in a fun way by having a fashion show where we described
each other's clothes in Spanish. We've learned colors,
numbers, common greetings and how to tell the location of a
place. Most recently we've learned how to make traditional
Pamiente bracelets (name of the bracelets in Guatemala) by
tying a series of knots with yarn of multiple colors to
create a one of a kind bracelet. They are called Pamiente
bracelets because two are seldom alike, if you see someone
wearing one just like yours you are destined to be best
friends. We've learned so much and yet there's still
more to come this year.

Grain Elevator News

Did you see the large crane in town this week and wonder what it was?  A call to the Exeter branch of the Farmer's Cooperative revealed that the crane removed the 35 year old dryer from the elevator and replaced it with a new one at a cost of $800,000.  In the last year the Farmer's Cooperative has invested over $3 million in facilities at the Exeter Branch including the new storage tube.  Along with revenue generated from the investments the community will benefit as Exeter sales tax was collected on the items.

Exeter-Milligan School Update: Reading Mastery Group

Mrs. Audry Betka-Mager's Reading Mastery group enjoys
learning to read! After learning the new words and reviewing
some previously learned words, the children read their story
for the day. It usually begins with an information passage
which shares some important facts that relate to the story.
Then the students read the story, do some reading with a
partner, and answer some comprehension questions in their
textbook and workbook. Every five lessons, the students do a
checkout to check their reading speed and accuracy. After
completing 10 lessons, they do a mastery test. The children
are excited about the progress they are making! Pictured in
the photo: Front Row L. to R.--Cameran Jansky, Braden Capek;
Back Row L. to R.--Briana Capek, Alivia Hartman. Absent:
Emma Olsen.

Exeter sees improvements at the Smith Index Tag Factory

From the left Robin and Seth Jones, owners of the tag factory, and Kathy and Howard Jones.

This is the air compressor down in the bowels of the basement that served the tag factory. Barely visible behind the compressor is an old tunnel that led to the power plant for the building.

The Jones' spent the better part of a week fixing the damage from part of the ceiling that caved in. This photo shows much of the new construction to repair the structure.


The historic tag factory in downtown Exeter has recently received some maintenance attention.

Owners, Seth and Robin Jones, of San Diego, spent a week in Exeter recently making major repairs to the roof and structure of the building and giving the visible front a mini facelift. They purchased the building about three years ago, sight unseen.

This winter the building had a roof cave in that damaged all four floors of the building.  The Jones’, along with Seth parents, Howard and Kathy Jones of Oregon, spent a week hauling trash out of the building starting in the basement.

After the broken plaster, old beams and metal were pulled from the building they started in the basement rebuilding the ceiling structure, working their way back up to replacing the roof trusses and supports.

After the majority of those repairs were made the group brightened up the front of the building repainting the windows and covering some broken windows with steel sheeting to protect the interior of the building and prevent more glass breakage.

The Jones’ have an online business selling old car parts and have some of the parts housed in the building but hope to use the central location for more storage.

“We would love ideas from the locals on what kind of facilities are needed in the area,” said Seth Jones.  “We would like to close off the front of the building to use for some sort of retail space.  We would build to suit if the interest was there.”

In addition to more cleaning in the building the Jones’ hope to remove the front brick corner that was added on to the building bringing it back to it’s original charm.

They plan on reserving a section of the building for a small museum about the tag factory that was housed in the building from 1884 to 1962.  Many historical items were removed from the building and given to the Fillmore County Historical Society with the condition that if the building were ever restored the relevant items would be returned upon request.

Still evident in the building were many production items from the tag factory, old records and files, as well as the two walk in safes, located on different floors.  In the unlit basement the old air compressor with very large pulleys still sits in its location just in front of an old tunnel that hasn’t been explored in years.

Local historian and member of the Fillmore County Historical Society Shirley Trauger visited with the Jones’ during their stay in Exeter and was thrilled with their ownership, “I hope to see the building restored as much as possible and open to the public.  It was the world’s first index tag factory - we should be proud of that and show it off,” said Trauger.

The younger Jones’ travel all over the country with their parts business but spend the majority of their time in San Diego where they own and operate an environmental consulting business.

Currently the tag factory is not on the Historical Registry and the Jones’ have contemplated that option, but are concerned about restrictions that would be placed on any changes they might want to make to the building along with the costs of restoration.

Exeter-Milligan Update: Physical Education

From the PE Department by Darcy White

Students in Grades K-2 have been participating in the
President's Challenge Physical Fitness Testing Program.
The Fitness Program includes five events that measure
muscular strength/endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance,
speed, agility, and flexibility.  They have also been
practicing hitting a ball off of a tee and playing "tee"
ball.  They will wrap up the school year with soccer,
softball (tee ball), and other "outdoor" activities that
will get them prepared for Elementary Field Day, which is
scheduled for May 13.

Sophomores are involved in a badminton unit. They chose
partners and have been involved in quite a competitive
"round robin" tournament.  Megan Zwickl and Robbie
Androyna are the current leaders of the competition.  They
will wrap up the school year with softball, pickle ball, and
the President's Challenge Fitness Tests.

Pictured are Jackson Beethe and Brock Steuben working to
improve their cardiorespiratory endurance.