Keeping an open mind
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To the editor:
Before relocating to Mount Ayr, Iowa my wife and I were reluctant (to say the least) to move to small town Iowa. This was primarily due to the fact that I am a city boy at heart, spending almost 40 years in the cities such as Des Moines, Rockford and Champagne, IL, Syracuse, NY, amongst many others as well. I was addicted to the convenience that these cities provided. If I wanted a slice of pizza and a candy bar at 2 a.m. (Big Tomato Pizza Co.!) all I had to do was head towards Ingersoll Avenue in Des Moines. My beloved City View newspaper was available at every newsstand. I was surrounded by multiple racial and ethnic minorities and was very spoiled by diverse cultural cooking and numerous foreign influenced restaurants. Moreover, we had tried to “fit-in” in a smaller community a few years earlier and had been met with local opposition. Needless to say, upon moving down here to Mount Ayr, I was skeptical.
I was however, willing to keep an open mind, and I’m glad I did. We have met some very genuine friends here. Recently, our son received his First Communion, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and the following friends made it very warm and memorable; Carroll and Mary Ellen Taylor, Joyce Wheeler, Joan Jackson, Cindy Mitchell, Deb Immerfall, Marlene Hinz, Jan Ford, John Schafer, Betsy Keenan, Brian Terrill, Jim Johnson, Liz Schafer and family, The Coulson’s, Jim and Jane Uhlenkamp and several others that I’m sure that I am forgetting! The parishioners at St. Joseph’s have welcomed us into the church family, and we are grateful for the friendships we’ve made.
I am grateful for many others throughout the community as well. Now, I have loitered in many a library across this country, and have never been more impressed by a librarian, then that of Mary Katherine Gepner and Bobbi Bainum. They are very witty, very helpful, especially to a “transplant” such as myself. I enjoy their company and conversation.
Chris Doster, and local historian Mike Avitt are also very interesting and unique friends of mine. I should also mention the fact that the Editor of this fine paper, Tom Hawley, will print some of my radical, anti-government letters is also a great tribute to Freedom of Speech.
Thank you Mount Ayr friends, we look forward to building on our present friendships and making new ones as well.
In Christ the Rebel,
Adam Freeman
Catholic Personalist
Mount Ayr