Sports world updates, Halloween memories and alumni banquet thanks

By Darla Buckhannon

Happy birthday to Bill Pfefferkorn, Ron Eifert, Ashlee Bowman, Duncan McKinley, Laverne Bader, Katie Chasteen, James Odell, Francis Wagoner, Sarah Dooley, Craig Ressel, Garner Horman, Derek Gaines, Cindy Burnett, Jack Burnett, Wayne Chapman, John Chambers, Judy Pobst, Bud Diggs, Linda Kennedy, Mike Razer, Judy Marshall, Laura Estes, Mary Jo Pfefferkorn, Jennifer Teegarden, Charlotte Dirnberger, Shawn Powderly, Margaret Obermann, Jeff Daugherty, Robert Stokes, Gene Cummins, Mary Chambers, Fred Bollinger, Justin Anderson, Brandy Seabaugh, JoNell Schaefer, Kathy Bishop, Jessica Grojean, Georgia Cox, Rodger Seyer, Hank Golightly, Carol Munyon, Linda Yarbro, Lana Rister, Jim Miller, Sharon Crowden and Karin DuMond.

Happy anniversary to Gary and Brenda Hester and Bill and Micia Beard.

It is hard to believe we are into the month of November. This is Child Safety Protection Month, Native American Heritage Month, National Caregivers Appreciation Month and National Sleep Comfort Month.

Did you enjoy that extra hour of sleep this morning? Daylight Saving Time returns March 12, 2017.

Veterans Day this week

If you didn't vote early, cast your votes Tuesday on Election Day! Friday is Veterans Day, a day to honor those who have risked their lives to protect our freedom.

The senior center will hold a Veterans Day dinner at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

Sports updates

It was a busy week in the sports world. Dallas Cowboy fans are happy with the Cowboys' wins with rookies quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Zeke Elliott. The return of recovering veteran Tony Romo seems to get pushed back further and further. His back fracture has healed and now onto core work.

By the time you read this, we will have the World Series winner. Even those who are not big baseball fans couldn't help but take in a few innings of the series. Several celebrities were sighted at the games, and we Cardinal fans delighted in seeing native Missourian Jon Hamm wearing his Cardinals cap.

Manager habits

It is also interesting to watch the demeanor of the managers. The Cubs' manager, Joe Maddon, seemed calm, while the Indians' manager seemed to be chomping on anything and everything! It reminded me of former Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington, who stuffed his mouth with so many sunflower seeds, spitting out an equal amount of shells, that even his wife reportedly asked him to cut back. Then we have our handsome Cardinals manager Mike Matheny who doesn't need any of those "crutches"; he is cool, calm and all class.

Bygone Halloweens

We hope everyone had a fun, safe Halloween. Years ago, trick-or-treating wasn't confined to one night, so many youngsters filled their sacks over a couple of evenings. I'm not certain when that changed. Churches also had special functions. Remember collecting for UNICEF? And, of course, there was the much-anticipated Halloween carnival in the Chaffee High School gym. Everyone went all out with decorations, especially that of voting boxes for the king and queen candidates. For several years, art students painted downtown storefronts.

Halloween shenanigans

Another activity were Halloween pranks -- especially toward teachers. Usually it involved the soaping of car windows. Mark Hopkins said it was a given at their house, since his mother was the English teacher at Chaffee High. Sometimes it was squished pumpkins on the front step. Mark said one spring several of the missed seeds sprouted and they had pumpkin vines around the front stoop. They let them grow, which resulted in three pumpkins. That Halloween, his brother Jae made a jack-o'-lantern out of the biggest one. Now that is ingenuity at its best!

Alumni banquet accolades

Accolades continue to come in for this year's CHS Alumni Banquet. As president of the board, Jennifer (McFerron) Nolen deserves a tremendous amount of pats on the back for the structure of this year's event. Tom Davenport says her experience and professional approach, such as detailed organization, really kept things focused and moving forward in a positive manner. He adds that she directly had a hand in basically everything we saw. A big thank you to Jennifer, and again to Tom, Jim Bob Stephens, Two Chefs and everyone who extended a hand and those of you who attended, making the 2016 CHS Alumni Banquet such a grand success!

Final thoughts

Remember to tell those special people in your life that you love them -- those three words mean so very much and are so nice to hear.

Email your news to darbuck2@airmail.net or leave a message at (573) 887-6430 or (214) 207-7839.

And then ...

Then there was a Texas taco chain that does not permit Christmas decorations but goes all out for Halloween.