Local Scouts Attend District Camporee

 

Braden Capek, left, and Ben Bartu, right get instruction on some wrestling moves for their Bear achievement.

 

The Scouts at the Prairie Winds District Camporee hear from Seward Police Sargent Michael Hammond about how they can help the police department.

Willard Meyer Recreation Area near Tobias was crawling with Cub Scouts and their families as the Prairie Winds District of the Cornhusker Council held their first annual Cub Scout Camporee last weekend.

Over 150 Cub Scouts and their family members descended on Swan Lake for the overnight camping at the LBNRD area.  Almost all of the scouts from Pack 218 in Exeter attended. Friday evening the scouts and families gathered at a community campfire to sing songs, perform skits and have s’mores.

Scouts from Seward, York, Geneva, Utica, Friend, Exeter, Milligan, and Fairbury attended the event.

Saturday morning Pack 180 of Utica led the flag ceremony and the groups were divided by rank.  Scouts headed to four different stations to complete achievements toward their rank badges.  The Tiger cubs also earned their Bobcat rank, took a hike, made a picture frame and watched the weather.

Wolf scouts learned all about tools, made a bookshelf, worked on all different sorts of athletic events and learned about recycling.  Bear scouts had the opportunity to earn their whittling chip learning about pocketknife safety, heard from a police officer, learned wrestling moves and did all sorts of knot tying.

Webelos scouts were treated to a session with a tomahawk throw run by the Prairie Winds Order of the Arrow, earned their Outdoorsman Webelos Pin, their Naturalist Webelos Pin and worked on their craftsman pin. Boy Scouts from Troop 270 (Friend), Troop 256 (Seward) and Troop 173 (York) assisted with the event.

All of the scouts had the opportunity to shoot bb guns and shoot at an archery range.  The scouts and their families enjoyed a long lunch period so that they could fish or cookout.  Afternoon sessions concluded at 4:30 so that the scouts could take the opportunity to clean up the area and receive their patches before the closing flag ceremony was led by Pack 256 out of Seward.

Exeter Closer to Permanent Cell Tower

A permanent Verizon tower is still awaiting final approval next month but rezoning approval brought the tower project one step closer to reality.

According to a representative from Verizon who was present at the hearing, the temporary tower that is now in place at the Exeter football field will be moved to Milligan once the new tower is completed and working.  It was estimated the construction would be complete mid-July.

The board reviewed the recommendations made by the Fillmore County Zoning Commission and had the option to approve or deny the recommendations by the zoning commission.  The zoning change to a conditional use only was approved but no resolution was made.  The second part of the hearing was to approve the application for the conditional use permit to construct a 105’ cell tower.  The board will vote on the resolution next month.

Death Notice: Milo Springer

George Milo Springer was born on August 23, 1933, the 3rd of 4 children on a farm in Nebraska. He went to Heaven on June 2, 2012 in Peoria, AZ. He served in the Army from 1954 until honorably discharged in 1956. Milo married the love of his life Sylvia Johnson Weber on December 27, 1962. He was a loving husband and father; and raised 3 sons and 2 daughters.

Milo was a savvy businessman and owned several companies during his life including trucking businesses and a motel. Milo & Sylvia lived in Exeter, Grand Island, and McCook, Nebraska, Palm Desert and Niland, CA Tucson, Wickenburg, and Peoria, AZ.

Milo never let anyone remain a stranger for long. He made friends with everyone he met.

In addition to his many friends around the country, Milo is survived by wife Sylvia Springer of Peoria, AZ, 5 children, Connie (Springer) &  Lloyd Montgomery of Omaha, NE, Karen (Springer) & Joe Staley of Phoenix, AZ, Russell & Lori Weber of Wichita, KS, Steve & Anita Weber, of Tucson, AZ, and Darrell Weber of Loveland, CO. 10 grandchildren, Chris Weber, Scott & Shannon Weber, Angela Swartz, Joe Weber, Jonathon Weber, Ian & Andrea Schen, Jennifer (Weber) & Ricky Miller, Nicole, Brooke & Adam Weber. 6 great grandchildren, Makala Clark, Tresten, Ashten & Andrew Weber, Tyler Schen & Kylee Bain. Sisters Emma Jean (Springer) Dickey, Carol (Springer) & Gayle Goering. George was preceded in death by parents Hobart & Ruth (Craven) Springer, brother Hobie Springer, and brother-in-law Warren Dickey.

Services were held on Tuesday, June 5th at 1:30 pm at the Wickenburg Bible Fellowship Church 970 N. Tegner St. Wickenburg, with Pastor Rodney Hackett officiating. Memorials contributions can be made to Exeter-Milligan School Foundation or Make a Wish Foundation. Services in Exeter will be on Saturday, June 16th at 1:30 p.m. at the Exeter United Church of Christ.

Exeter G.F.W.C. Woman's Club Beautifies the Village

The Exeter G.F.W.C. Woman’s club members gathered to plant the flower boxes on main street in Exeter as they do each year.  The ladies, pictured from the left are Elaine Oldehoeft, Karen Chapman, Judy Dinneen and Agnes Loukota.  The club members will water the flowers and help keep Exeter beautiful all summer long.

Exeter Alumni Banquet

The class of 1957 posed in front of Larry and Bonnie Cudaback’s 1957 Buick.  They are pictured from the left, Judy (McCabe) Dinneen, Suzanne (Barkmeier) Johnson, Jane (Erdkamp) Petersen, Vernon Thomsen, John Miller, Janice (Engle) Miller, Agnes (Becker) Loukota, Leonard Chlup, Larry Cudaback, Melvin Motis andDonna (Engle) Repenn.

The Exeter Class of 1977 are pictured front row from the left are Betty (Pracheil) Buerer, Denice (Moor) Kovanda, and Julie (Luzum) Erdkamp.  Back row from the left are Alan Michl, Shari (Nicholas) Michl, Mark Leif, Charles Trauger, Dale Erdkamp and Sarah (Marek) Burnette.

The Exeter-Milligan class of 2007 are from the left, Keegan Johnson, Lindsay Filipi, Logan Harre, Lindsey (Moore) DeBoer, Jenna Rhodes, Sage Jensen, Allee Kuska, Rachel Manning, Matthew Rocole, Dani Erdkamp, Austin Waldron, and Tony Yound.

The Exeter Class of 1952 is pictured from the left Cene (Becker) Sackschewsky, LaVonne (Ruhl) Guthrie, Bob Rasmussen, and Don Crowder.

The Exeter Class of 1947 from the left are Lea Ann (Morgan) Votipka, Tom Manning, Marilyn (Murphy) Manning, Virgil Condon and Eyvonne (Plettner) Clayton.

The Exeter Class of 1962 front row from the left are Norm Bristol, Anita (Anton) Jensen, Judy (Briggs) Pherson, Jean (Ethington) Stock, Bill  Murphy, Jim Taylor, Dean Beecher and Wayne Barkmeier.  Second row from the left Lonnie Dinneen, Jim Rouch, Linda (Farstrup) McKay, Pat Burns, Paul Hansen, Pat Hassler and Ron Perkins.

The Exeter Class of 2002 invited the Exeter-Milligan class of 2012 to the Alumni banquet.  Members from the class of 2012 who were present were from the left Jalen Maxson, Brady Bristol and Nate Bigelow.

The Exeter Class of 1982 are from the left Stanley Krause, Rhonda (Ruhl) Maxson, Sandra (Evans) Gergen and Dacel (Vlcek) Thomsen.

The Exeter Class of 1987 was represented by Ranell (Ruhl) Odvody (left) and the Exeter class of 1967 was represented by Jerry Volkmer.

The Exeter Class of 1942 are pictured seated at left Darleene (Taylor) Becker, Betty (Plettner) Jurgensen and standing is Pat (Erdkamp) Biegert.

 

The Exeter Class of 1972 are pictured from the left Wayne Hall, Mark Becker, Krista (Erdkamp) Egging, Cheryl (Becker) Beavers, Pat (Leif) Rocole and Cliff Jensen.

The Exeter Class of 2002 was the honor class, planned the banquet, dance and other activities throughout the week and also did the setup and cleanup.  They are pictured from the left Lindsey Waldron, Morgan Brandt, Kendall Gloystein, Dana (Miller) Myers, Mike Mika, Willie Dumpert and Ryan Betka.

Family Donates New Ballfield Scoreboard

The Exeter Ball Association recently received a very generous donation. In honor of Lori Ruhl Walford and Gary Ruhl, their families have donated a beautiful new scoreboard which was recently mounted at the ballfield.

Speaking for the family, Jerry Walford, Lori’s widower explained that, “We wanted to honor the memory of Lori and her dad, Gary.”

“A couple of years ago Lori and I were watching Cayden (grandson) play ball and I remembered her making the comment that you could barely see the sign out there and she was the one running the scoreboard.”

The community rallied around Lori during her illness, holding a benefit in her honor when she was in the late stages of cancer, “When she was sick and the community held the benefit we decided we could use some of that money for a scoreboard along with the memorial money.  We wanted to give back to the community. Lori thought that was a good gesture in her and her dad’s name and to the whole Ruhl family.”

“The whole Ruhl family has played ball up there, Lori’s brother Bob has coached, it’s a dedication to their family,” said Walford.

The new scoreboard is much larger than the old one – from a 3 x 9 to a 5 x 10.  Instead of regular light bulbs the new sign has LED lights in it which should, Walford hopes, make it easier to see and maintain.  The new scoreboard is also wireless.

The beautiful new sign features the maroon and white colors that are familiar to Exeter Eagles along with a very prominent eagle in the middle of the lighted score area.

“It took quite a while to figure out how to get the scoreboard ordered but a company in Lincoln helped us order one out of Minnesota. Lori’s Mom Deloris and sisters helped pick out the eagle for the middle of the sign,” explained Jerry.

Lori’s sister, Kay (Ruhl) Due repainted the backstop at the ball diamond after it was repaired to freshen the field for the year.  The Ruhl and Walford families have also established a  yearly scholarship fund in Lori’s name that will go to an Exeter-Milligan graduate who has been in nursing school for a year.

 Exeter Mayor Alan Michl, and Village Maintenance Supervisor John Mueller hang the new scoreboard at the Exeter ballfield.  The posts were also freshly painted.

Cub Scouts Bingo at Exeter Care Center

Pack 218 Cub Scouts spent Thursday afternoon with the residents at Exeter Care Center playing Bingo.  The scouts brought the snacks, including homemade cookies, called Bingo and assisted any residents with watching their cards.