Offenburger.com

Along Our Way

What a way to end a summer! We Offenburgers were the guests on a late-summer weekend at the lake house of our friends Joe and Cindy Connolly. The Connollys live in Council Bluffs and commute many weekends to their get-away place on a private lake just south of Columbus, Nebraska. It was a real “kick-back” weekend with lots of sunshine, fun boating, good food and plenty of time to read.
[TO SEE THESE PHOTOS & OTHERS IN LARGER FORMAT, AND TO READ A BRIEF STORY, CLICK HERE.]

A conversation

LIVING WITH CANCER

with the Offenburgers

Chuck Offenburger was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins follicular lymphoma cancer on July 10, 2009, had six months of chemotherapy & is now doing well in a “maintenance” program. Carla Offenburger underwent surgery on April 26, 2010, for removal of a jaw tumor which was found to contain adenoid cystic carcinoma cancer. She underwent six weeks of follow-up radiation in June and July, and continues under close medical observation. We post updates frequently here, including brief insights from Chuck, Carla and at least one of you readers.

“Carla, if you were standing here I’d hug you. This is such a ton of stress and scheduling for anyone but then add that you are recouping yourself and it is nearly overwhelming. Yet here you are forging ahead.”

FOR THE LATEST UPDATE, CLICK HERE.

What’s the deal with the
black & white saddle shoes?

Click here for the story of our farm in Greene County, Iowa.

Here's looking at life
at Simple Serenity Farm

Carla’s sister & brother-in-law Chris and Tony Woods, of Des Moines, were at the farm on Sunday, August 22, helping Carla do the lawn mowing and other yard work that we’ve struggled to keep up with lately, with all our medical appointments. The Woodses brought along their 18-month-old granddaughter Ari, who was a delight watching all the action from the porch with Chuck, catching up on her reading and then getting a moment on the lawn tractor seat!
Click here for larger format

Earlier photos in this series

Chuck Offenburger's
new book on sports
legend Gary Thompson
gets excellent reviews

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

''GARY THOMPSON: All-American'' is the new, 352-page biography of one of the state’s genuine sports icons. From 1950-’53 Gary Thompson led the Roland Rockets to high school sports glory in basketball and baseball, giant-killers from one of Iowa’s small schools. Then he led the Cyclones at Iowa State from 1953-’57, becoming the college’s first two-sport All-American. He’s had major success in broadcasting and business, from his home base in Ames. And he and his wife Janet have a family as solid as they come. “I’m the luckiest guy around,” Thompson says.

TO READ CHUCK OFFENBURGER'S COLUMN ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE ''BOOK LAUNCHING'' HELD EARLY IN DECEMBER, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DES MOINES REGISTER SPORTSWRITER RICK BROWN'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE SPORTS COLUMNIST JIM ECKER'S REVIEW OF THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ AMES DAILY TRIBUNE SPORTSWRITER DICK KELLY'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK, CLICK HERE.

TO READ DOUG BURNS' STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE CARROLL DAILY TIMES HERALD, CLICK HERE.

TO READ ANDY GOODELL'S STORY ABOUT THE BOOK IN THE OSKALOOSA HERALD, CLICK HERE.

WANT TO SEE AND HEAR THE OLD ROLAND HIGH SCHOOL FIGHT SONG PERFORMED? CLICK HERE!

FOR INFORMATION ON WHERE & HOW TO BUY THE BOOK, CLICK HERE!

FOR PHOTOS FROM OUR BOOK LAUNCHING EVENTS, CLICK HERE!

SEE BOB MODERSOHN'S PHOTOS OF OUR BOOK CHAT AND SIGNING AT BEAVERDALE BOOKS IN DES MOINES!

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Out in Greene County, Iowa

Talk about a dramatic ending! The Cooper Prom bows out in a way that no one here will ever forget!

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER
April 6, 2009
COOPER, IOWA

At first, some people thought we had scripted the way the fifth and final Cooper Prom finished on Saturday night in our west central Iowa town of 30 people.

We had had almost 300 with us throughout the evening for a big banquet, dancing to the fantastic “High Society Big Band,” and then outstanding desserts and coffees. There were people from 5 ½-months-old Carol Olson to 91-year-old Norman Gore, and they were dressed in all kinds of stylish and fun gowns, tuxedoes and eye-catching suits. It was probably as grand an evening as there’s ever been in Cooper.

You all know by now there was also a blizzard forecasted for nearly the whole state of Iowa for Saturday night and Sunday. It delayed enough that we saw no snow until Sunday. But Saturday night had a cold, stiff wind that whipped increasingly-heavy rain, although most of our prom guests had arrived before that started. So we went on to have a great time in the old Cooper Community Building, which the prom-sponsoring Committee for a Super Cooper had fully decorated around the theme of “Fly Me to the Moon.”

So, when the band played “Moonlight Serenade” as the final song of its regular set, the crowd on the dance floor cheered and gave an extended ovation. “Do you want us to play one more for you?” asked Michael Feekes, one of the band’s trombone players and emcees. After another big cheer, the band launched into the rousing “New York! New York!” that Frank Sinatra made famous.

They were building to a big finish, and about six measures from the song’s end, the power in the Cooper Building flickered. All of us on the Super Cooper Committee frantically looked around to see if someone had thrown a switch. But almost immediately – only two measures remained in the song – all the power went out and the lights went off. You could hear the band’s electric keyboard swooping down to silence, while the horn players gamely finished the song in the dark!

“I knew the third note from the end, and the last note,” said trumpet player Perry Beeman, “but I wasn’t sure what the second note from the end was. I sure couldn’t see the music anymore, so I just blew something, and no one seemed to notice if I was wrong. Everybody in the band did some interesting improvisation and just-plain goofy licks, and our drummer Dallas Thies gave it a huge drum finish.”

There were probably still about 200 people in the building – in the dark – but commendably no one panicked. The Super Cooper committee members sure hadn’t practiced for such a situation, but nevertheless, they started re-lighting candles on the dining tables, and carrying them to the walkways and exits of the building. Someone opened a front door to the gym, and outside, someone else drove up in a car and shined its headlights into the building.

Sara Saboe (left) and Kathy Cline, two of the instrumentalists in the “High Society Big Band” that starred at the Cooper Prom, are shown here packing up their musical equipment by candlelight after an electrical outage darkened the whole area around little Cooper at 11 p.m. Saturday night, just as the band played the final notes of its encore song.

Thankfully, no one reported any injuries or overly-scrambled nerves. The power outage across the area lasted about an hour. There was another one late Sunday morning about an hour long, too.

The rest of the story is told in the captions for the colorful photos we have posted below here.

But, rest assured, we on the Super Cooper committee did not fake the way our five-year tradition of Cooper Proms came to a close. You couldn’t have made-up what happened here Saturday night.

You can write the columnist at chuck@Offenburger.com.

Cars surrounded the Cooper Community Building during the fifth Cooper Prom, which had its largest crowd ever. The sponsoring Committee for a Super Cooper had announced ahead of time it would be the last prom, as the group has wearied of trying to keep up with the maintenance, improvements and marketing of the 54-year-old former school gym. The Franklin Township Board of Trustees, owners of the building, will decide its fate in times to come.

Allen Hall, of Malvern in southwest Iowa, was very snappily-dressed in a seersucker suit, black & white saddle shoes, some amazing checkered socks and then topped off his get-up with a straw skimmer hat that was imported from Italy.

Here are Joyce & Allen Hall, of Malvern, who made a very colorful couple at the Cooper Prom.

Karine & John McLaughlin, of Glidden, are two of the best dancers in west central Iowa, and they always have a lot of fun when they go out, too. John, a pilot in the past, decided since the theme of this year’s Cooper Prom was “Fly Me to the Moon,” he’d wear a pilot’s flight suit. “Authentic, too,” he said. “I wore it flying.”

One of the fun groups in the prom crowd was this bunch of young friends who are Des Moines Register news staffers and significant others. In front are Adrienne Greenwald and Cynthia Reynaud; in the middle are Jesse Strong and Liz Owens, and left to right across the back are Reid Forgrave, Lars Hulsebus, Jared Strong and Matt “Chip” Reiter. Jared Strong once served as an intern with this Internet site, Offenburger.com, before joining the Register staff. “Thanks again for having us,” Strong wrote after the prom. “It was a wonderful time. I think we were all relieved to escape the nightlife in Des Moines for a weekend.”

Gary & Cathy Hackett, of Des Moines, first attended the Cooper Prom in 2006, and this year they came back with a whole group from their extended families. Left to right are the Hacketts, Christy & Brad Rodgers, Marie & Pat Knuth, and Sheri & Greg Knuth.

The Cooper Prom MVP is probably Mary Budrevich, a former Jefferson resident who now lives in Ankeny. She and her husband Steve Budrevich, shown here, are very active dancers and each year Mary has sold dozens of Cooper Prom tickets to their friends. This year she sold more than 50 tickets, and their group filled several tables at the prom.

Here’s the trumpet section of the 15-piece “High Society Big Band,” which is based in Huxley in central Iowa, and has highlighted all five Cooper Proms. Left to right are Steve Russell, Dave Stephenson, Perry Beeman and Carrie Rhoades-Behlke.

Among those who were very active dancers Saturday night were Joan St. Clair & Larry Dowd, of Scranton.

But we’re ahead of ourselves with the photos above. Preparations for the prom continued right up to minutes before the guests began arriving late Saturday afternoon. Another prom MVP has been Dan Hardaway, who is our lighting wizard. Hardaway, who lives just outside Cooper, does lighting professionally for Echo Electric Supply in Des Moines, and he’s added several exotic lighting touches to our prom decorations. Here he was battling the cold and wind Saturday afternoon while wiring up a new spotlight for the back of the old Cooper Community Building.

The cold and hot drinks were ready to go. The Cooper Prom has always been an alcohol-free event, since it is held in a public building. The lack of alcohol, we’ve always noticed, doesn’t seem to slow down this party a bit, and in fact makes it possible for all ages to enjoy the prom together.

Mike & Barb Henning, of Waterloo, jumped in to help the Super Cooper committee in final arrangements for the prom in Mike’s hometown. Here they’re filling water glasses on the dining tables, just before the banquet and prom began.

We had a portable toilet brought in from KD Portables in Coon Rapids, to diminish the lines at the restrooms inside the Cooper Community Building. And since the prom theme was “Fly Me to the Moon,” we thought a little decoration on the portapot door was appropriate.

The monument outside the Cooper Community Building which recognizes entertainment legend Johnny Carson as the honorary 51st citizen of the town, received some special decorating touches for prom night. Carson entertained a widely-publicized contest the town had back in its Centennial summer of 1981 to pick a famous, honorary 51st citizen, since the local folks didn’t feel the community had ever produced anybody famous. Carson put three Cooper residents on his “Tonight Show” for a 17-minute segment that summer, and that stirred so much excitement that on Centennial Day, there were 12,500 people who came to Cooper!

Here Lance Lawton, son of Super Cooper committee members Doug & Karen Lawton, delivers pizzas to server to the high school students who served the banquet meal at the prom.

Members of the East Greene High School Jazz Band, from neighboring Grand Junction and Rippey, were hired to serve the banquet meal. Here are some of them, eating pizza just before their work began. Left to right are Gabe Bardole, Wes Onken, Aaron Lyons, Malarie Gilley, Cassie Bardole, Schyler Bardole and Nate Beyerink.

Karen Lawton of the Super Cooper committee gives instructions to the East Greene High School musicians who were the prom’s servers. To the left of the group are East Greene band director Bob Palmer and his wife Jennifer, and to the right is Lisa Beyerink of the Band Parents group. The three adults also got involved in the serving.

Here Lisa Beyerink of the East Greene Band Parents and Dory Wilsey, a Jefferson-Scranton student who was on the Ram Restaurant Crew, are shown making the dinner salads. The Ram Restaurant at the school in Jefferson is operated and staffed by culinary arts teacher Donna Carhill and her students.

Andy Sayre, of Jefferson-Scranton High, here is ready to handoff salads to East Greene students who were carrying them on out to prom diners in the gym.

Chris Henning, chairperson of the Franklin Township Trustees and the trustees’ liaison to the Super Cooper committee, here jumps in and helps on the serving line. To Henning’s left is Josh Neese, of the East Greene servers, and left to right on the other side of the table are Jefferson-Scranton students Andy Sayre, Zack McEntire and Ryan Lester.

Here Andy Sayre and Josh Neese work together at getting the stuffed pork loins on to the dinner plates, to pass on down the serving line.

Jefferson-Scranton teacher Donna Carhill and her students have prepared and served the banquet meal at all five Cooper Proms.

Dylan Hagen, of Jefferson-Scranton High, was serving up the green beans.

Schyler Bardole, of East Greene High, hustles two completed dinner plates out to the prom diners.

Once the prom crowd was fed, then Lisa Beyerink of the East Greene Band Parents and former East Greene director Matt Schutt, who came back from his new school at South Hamilton to help with another Cooper Prom, gobbled a quick banquet meal. East Greene student Gabe Bardole, who was watching them, was probably thinking about the couple of pieces of pizza he got an hour earlier!

In the last two years, three of the Cooper Proms’ biggest advocates and supporters – Gerald Lawton, Darrell Scheuermann and George Henning – have passed away. So for our final Cooper Prom, the Super Cooper committee decided to do something special for the refreshments offered during the dancing in the adjacent “Music Room.” Jody Lang and a group of young people from the Abundant Life Ministries Church in Jefferson prepared and served a delicious array of pastries and munchies. In addition, throughout the banquet and prom, we served the coffees now being roasted in Jefferson by the Greene Bean Coffee Company, which is owned and operated by Super Cooper committee members Reagan & Rich Osborne.

The wall in the refreshments area featured several photos of Lawton, Scheuermann and Henning at past Cooper Proms.

Jody Lang, one of Jefferson''s best dessert makers, and her husband Terry Lang are shown here getting a plate of ''cherry fluffs on brownies'' ready for the refreshments line. Jody had several other bakers and servers from the Abundant Life Ministries Church in Jefferson involved, too.

The prom crowd, which was a dancing bunch if you’ve ever seen one, flocked to the special refreshments and kept the serving line busy all three hours the dance was underway.

Here’s a view of the “High Society Big Band” during one song. Clearly visible in front are sax players Dick Fawcett and Larry Pedigo. Behind them on trombone is Jon Jero, who also serves as the band’s manager.

The saxophone players, from the left here, are Larry Pedigo, Kathy Cline and Sara Saboe.

Denice & Michael Feekes often do vocal duets during the “High Society Big Band” performances, and Michael is also a trombone player and frequent emcee.

Molly & Doug Bates, from Centerville, Tennessee, “came the farthest” for this year’s Cooper Prom. Doug Bates, who has been Chuck Offenburger’s best friend since the two met as students at Vanderbilt University 40-plus years ago, had been in Dubuque earlier in the week for a program at Loras College. That allowed the Bateses to get to a Cooper Prom, something they’d vowed to do three or four years ago.

The Bateses also got to meet Des Moines Register reporter Jared Strong. The Tennessee couple had known Jared’s late father Steve Strong on RAGBRAI rides across Iowa 15 to 20 years ago.

Doug Bates insisted on meeting the oldest dancer at the Cooper Prom, 91-year-old Norman Gore, of Jefferson. Gore and his date Evelyn Shafer, of Grimes, seldom missed a dance during the evening. “It gets a little harder for me every year to do all this dancing, because I get such soreness in my back now,” said Gore. “But on the other hand, I’m not sure I’d still be alive without all the dancing I’ve done through recent years, either. It has been good exercise and so much fun.”

The youngest person at the Cooper Prom was 5 ½-month-old Carol Olson, shown here wearing her prom dress, with her mother and father – Jessie Voschell and the “High Society Big Band” bass player Jean Olson. The Voschell-Olsons live in Cambridge in central Iowa.

Melanie Davis (left) and her mother Jenny Davis, both of Ames, had a “Daughter & Mom” date to the Cooper Prom. Melanie is an Iowa State University junior majoring in community & public health. Jenny, who works now at the Dialysis Center in Ames, was the last postmaster at the Cooper Post Office before it was closed two years ago.

Jefferson-Scranton High School students Krista Henning and Michael Hoskins got a jump on the high school prom scene by having a date to the Cooper Prom.

One of the fun groups that became regulars at recent Cooper Proms were the friends and dance students of Julie & Rick Muselman, of Waukee. Here they are, gathered for a photo at this year’s prom. In front is Curt Pocius. In the second row, left to right, are Mary Pocius, Evelyn Shafer, Julie Muselman and Rick Muselman. In the third row are Jeff Kloffenstein, Nancy Cullen, Lois Brownell, Norman Gore, Tammy Smith (barely visible), Matt Smith, Denise Hostetler and Tom Hostetler. At the upper left are Sandy Sanderson and Pat & Glenna Day. Most of them live in the Des Moines area.

Danelle & Todd Mason, of Jefferson, were at their first Cooper Prom and seemed to have a grand time on the dance floor.

Jeff & Lori Wells, of Winterset, used the second Cooper Prom in 2006, as a get-away to celebrate their first wedding anniversary. On Saturday night, they were back again, this time celebrating their fourth anniversary. They are very smooth dancers.

Another couple who are great dancers are shown here, Craig & Susanne MacDonald, of Scranton.

Watching some of the dancers were Melba Wilcox, Judy Larson and Melba’s daughter Karen Lawton. All live in the Cooper-Jefferson area.

Cindy & Joe Connolly, of Council Bluffs, were an attractive couple in sleek black outfits, accented by Joe’s black & white saddle shoes.

There may have been some kind of fashion record set at the Cooper Prom this year when five people turned out in black & white saddle shoes. Left to right are Allen Hall of Malvern, Chuck & Carla Offenburger of Cooper, Marty Scheuermann of Cooper, and Joe Connolly of Council Bluffs.

Among those who spent a lot of time on the dance floor were Martin & Carla Wood, of Panora.

Dee & Jean Naylor, of Scranton, step out smartly during a lively song at the Cooper Prom.

Chris & Roger Nielsen, of Jefferson, were back for another Cooper Prom, and Chris wore her beautiful long hair at full-length for the event.

Curt & Mary Pocius, of Des Moines, on the dance floor.

People did a variety of dance steps and styles during the evening, like this couple jitterbugging here. There were also two-steps, waltzes, polkas and the various bumps, grinds, shuffles and hops of the modern era.

Richard Van Gundy, of Des Moines, was very active on the dance floor, sometimes singing aloud to the bound’s melody while he was dancing. He is shown here with Nancy Birkhofer, of Pleasant Hill.

Donna & Jose Medina, of West Des Moines, were back for a second Cooper Prom. The Medinas met on RAGBRAI in Clear Lake years ago, dated and danced for several years and eventually married.