Staff writer
Local groups hosting events during Memorial Day weekend attracted capacity crowds in Peabody.
A steady stream of visitors attended the Second Annual Dale Hague Memorial Dinner at the HUB on Friday evening. They enjoyed a sloppy joe dinner and toured the youth center, which Hague and his wife established to give Peabody children a safe place to hang out.
On Saturday, the Peabody Historical Society offered tours of the Print Museum, a fried chicken picnic lunch in the Peabody State Bank park area, and narratives at the Eyestone building about the years when it housed German prisoners of war. In addition, the Peabody museum and Morgan House were open to visitors at no charge.
Wesley Bentz gave three tours of the Print Museum, where he talked about the equipment and showed how printing was done in the early days of community newspapers, including the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin.
The Historical Society served fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, pasta salad, and homemade ice cream for lunch and sold out of food halfway through the meal.
“We were glad not to have to divvy up the leftovers as we sometimes do at events like this,” said chairman Carmen South. “But we hated to be in a position of turning people away.”
Narratives about memories of German prisoners and some of the guards who came to Peabody to serve from 1943 to 1945 at the POW camp were given by Betty Sebree (who traveled from Illinois to participate), Mary Olson, Mel Epp, Ray Pearce, Don Stutzman, Neysa Eberhard, and Herschel Stroud. Handmade items such as a desk set, toy German tank and two airplanes, and sketches and paintings were on display from several families in the area who received the items from the POWs when the men returned to Germany. Photographs of prisoners and guards also were on display. About 75 people heard the presentations and viewed the memorabilia.
On Sunday, the Peabody American Legion hosted 13 teams in a “Sand Green Masters” golf tournament. Team Watts, made up of Larry Watts, Richard Holm, Donnie Lehr, and Dale Winter, won the 2013 title and some spiffy sport coats to go with it. No one made a hole-in-one, but Dale Winter won the competition and will enjoy an overnight stay at Prairie Band Casino, meals, and two rounds of golf at Prairie Fire Golf Course. Capturing the titles for ‘Closest to the Pin’ and ‘Closest to the Line’ in men’s competition were Jim Hamman, Darren Pickens, and Nolan Hurts and in women’s competition were Keneil Gomez, Darcie Gomez, and Allie Morris.
A steady stream of traffic toured Prairie Lawn Cemetery each evening to view the Avenue of Flags flying over the spotlights. A large group of people attended the Memorial Day service at the cemetery. Local scout troops, the high school band, local veterans, and the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Infantry Civil War re-enactors participated in the service.
Several hundred people attended the annual Memorial Day dinner at the Brown Gymnasium and about 50 joined the Historical Society for one last weekend tour of the route of Old Highway 50 when it used to bisect the Peabody community from north to south.
In addition, class reunions were held at Prescott House Bed and Breakfast, the Coneburg Inn, Peabody Senior Center, and the Morgan House.