Thirty-five years ago today, sitting in what is now the break room at the Barton County Courthouse in Lamar, I yelled at Grandpa Jones.
I was not being rude, at least I don't think I was. It was the only way I could conduct an interview with him. By this time in his life, and he was 70 at the time, he was extremely hard of hearing.
He politely answered a series of questions that I am sure he had heard hundreds of times before.
He was the first celebrity I ever interviewed.
It's not that I was starstruck.I would have much preferred interviewing Ann-Margret, but you take what you can get and Grandpa Jones was in the Barton County Courthouse and I was the managing editor (and almost the entire staff) at the Lamar Democrat.
The interview was one of many I did that day, Saturday, May 5, 1984, a workday that began at about 7 a.m. and did not end until past 11 p.m.
President Truman's actual 100th birthday was May 8, 1984, but that fell on a Tuesday, so the celebration was Saturday.
The organizers of the event set their goals high as they sought a keynote speaker. They were confident they could get President Ronald Reagan, but he was unavailable (and he was a Republican, which would not have set well with Truman).
An invitation was issued to Reagan's predecessor, Jimmy Carter, but he, too, was unavailable.
Other dignitaries were also asked and finally, Lamar ended up with Missouri's lieutenant governor, Ken Rothman, who, at least, was a Democrat.
Rothman was about the only person I did not inrerview that day, though not for lack of effort.
I covered his speech as well as all of the activities that day.
The final event that night, the one I was most excited about, was the performance of the Truman Pageant, the story of Lamar on May 8, 1884, culminating in the birth of the future president.
The Lamar Art League built a realistic looking set depicting a 19th Century Lamar and Lamar residents played their counterparts from 1884, including Mayor Gerald Gilkey as the mayor, Lamar Democrat Publisher Doug Davis as the Democrat editor of 100 years earlier, Lamar R-1 Superintendent Glenn Williams and Board President Ronnie Means as school officials, and John Adams, the son of the Lamar mule farmer whose team participated in President Truman's inaugural parade in Washington in 1949, as Truman's father, John Truman.
Dozens of Lamar residents participated and I was one of them.
The pageant took place on the Lamar High School football field, now Thomas O'Sullivan Stadium, and I was in the press box, narrating the pageant, which I had written based on material from the 1884 issues of the Democrat and from Marvin VanGilder's book The Story of Barton County.
The music director, Marilyn McCarter, was also in the press box playing appropriate tunes to go with each vignette that was performed on the football field.
More than 1,500 packed the bleachers and were standing around the field to see the pageant.
It went off without a hitch, except for one thing- the pageant was performed during an almost constant steady rain that eventually destroyed the carefully constructed set, though it somehow held up for nearly the entire time.
Still, despite the situation, since no lightning accompanied the downpour, hardly anyone left- even though everyone knew how the pageant was going to end- with the birth of the future president.
With Marilyn McCarter providing a recording of a baby crying (definitely not Harry S Truman) and my closing narration, the Truman Pageant and the Truman Centennial celebration came to an end.
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This week's 10 most visited posts for the Turner Report, Inside Joplin and Inside Joplin Obituaries are printed below with links to each of them.
The Turner Report
1. Former Jasper fireman sentenced to 15 years for child molestation
2. Lawsuit by sexually abused minor against Ozark Christian College appealed to Missouri Supreme Court
3, They're no longer my Facebook friends, but they will always be in my memories
4, Long time area music teacher pleads not guilty to felony statutory rape, sodomy charges
5. Diamond church director bound over for trial on child molestation charges
6. Judge suppresses former Joplin doctor's confession in child pornography case
7, Hearing set for Illinois truck driver who killed eight-year-old Destiny Chambers
8. Hearing Monday for Joplin man charged with Christmas Eve murder
9. Arraingment set for Joplin man accused of first degree murder in stabbing death
10. Former Jasper fireman back in court Monday on child molestation charge
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Lost Angels: The Murders of Rowan Ford and Doug Ringler is available locally at Always Buying Books, The Book Guy and Changing Hands Book Shoppe in Joplin, Pat's Books in Carthage and Granby Auto Supply and Hardware in Granby and in paperback and e-book formata at Amazon.com
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Inside Joplin
1. Elevaated tornado risk for Joplin, southwest Missouri today, tonight
2. Joplin Police Department arrests three for DWI, all attempt to flee
3. Three arrested on meth trafficking, possession charges after search warrants executed in Carthage, Lamar
4. $100,000 cash-only bond set for Joplin man charged with statutory rape, sodomy
5. Jasper Police: Keep an eye out for this sex offender
6. Carthage man arrested on felony assault charge following incident at I-49 and Fir Road
7. Police: Many Galena roadways flooded
8. Webb City pedestrian struck, killed by semi on I-44
9. Joplin Police Department Weekend Arrests
10. Joplin woman injured in head-on collision on 43
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Newton County Memories by Randy Turner is available locally at Always Buying Books, Changing Hands Book Shoppe and The Book Guy in Joplin, Pat's Books in Carthage and Granby Auto Supply and Hardware in Granby and in paperback and e-book formats from Amazon.com
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Inside Joplin Obituaries
1, Andy Clark
2. Alex O'Bryan
3. Connie Henson
4. Beth Ogden
5. Kevin Trahin
6. Tom Collingsworth
7. Nate Berry
8. Mary Messner
9. Earl Goddard
10, Kurt James
2 comments:
Nice account, Randy. "Hee Haw" was a part of my growing up.
Many memories of watching Hee Haw.
It was a different time.
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