Longtime Osage County residents Fred and Pat Pearson have been selected by the Osage City Chamber of Commerce as Mr. and Mrs. Osage City for 2019.

Fred was born and raised on a farm near Miller, Kan. He attended Kansas State University 1959 to 1963, and studied agricultural education. He met Pat during college. Pat grew up on a farm near Manhattan, Kan.

“My father wanted someone in the family to farm and he was pleased to find out that Fred and I planned to marry,” Pat said.

Fred and Pat were married in 1963. From 1963 to 1968, Fred taught vocational agriculture at Burlingame and Pat taught grade school at Osage City. Pat retired from teaching to take care of her grandchildren and help as needed around the farm.

The first ground Fred and Pat bought was in 1966. Also that year, Fred and his father, Earl, started the Miller Elevator. The young couple purchased 240 acres and moved to their current home in 1969.

Fred and Pat’s family includes son, Clark, his wife, Bobbi, and their son, Max; son, Jim, his wife, Dawn, and their children, Paige and Peyton; and son, Jeff. The Pearson family has farmed in the Osage City area for more than 145 years.

Fred and Pat said they felt very honored and appreciative for being selected and offered these words:

“We have had the honor, privilege and opportunity to live and work in the Osage City Community for over 51 years. This community has many advantages that we feel are intensely important to enjoying a pleasant life style.

“The excellent school system that is stable, progressive and effective was our greatest priority.

“The character of the people in this community has always contributed to a neat, clean and progressive community. Osage City has a history of many fine churches, clubs and organizations that enhance great citizenship.

“A good solid business community is very important to the well-being of any area and Osage City has been outstanding in this concept. We have been richly blessed by the opportunities in the cattle business, farming and the grain elevator business. We are confident that we could not have found a better community in which to live, work and enjoy life.”

The Pearsons will be honored guests and ride in the annual Osage County Fair Parade, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 12, 2019, along Market Street in Osage City, Kan.

The Sunflower Days parade always draws a crowd to downtown Melvern. Photo by Jeff Burkdoll.

The Melvern Sunflower Days 4-H Fair happened last week, despite Mother Nature trying to dampen the atmosphere for Osage County’s first fair of the season.

Rainstorms, generator problems, and cancelled carnival rides presented obstacles for the fair organizers, but in the following report local 4-Her Bella Reeser tells us that the fun continued anyway and the fair was enjoyed by many.

Sunflower Days 2019

By Bella Reeser
Melvern Jr. Highline 4-H Club

Hot temperatures, 4-H projects, cotton candy, parades and rides are all indicators that fair time is here. This year’s Melvern Sunflower Days was held June 20-22, 2019, in the Melvern City Park.

Even though weather conditions weren’t ideal, it didn’t stop hundreds of fairgoers from coming out to support their local fair. As always, Melvern Jr. Highline 4-H club did their part in supporting their local fair. The fair parade theme this year was  “Small Town USA – Redneck Jamboree!”

Melvern Jr. Highline 4-H Club members strutted their stuff in the parade with their walking float; club members dressed in a club T-shirt and covered themselves in American pride decor.

Following the parade the club held a fundraiser homemade ice cream social at the Melvern Community Center. To make this year’s social even more special, Lloyd and Kathy Sowers loaned their engine and knowledge to the club and produced the ice cream in front of everyone’s eyes.

Even though the weather wasn’t great, it was still a successful time at the fair this year.

Enjoy these photos of Sunflower Days by Jeff Burkdoll, Bella Reeser and others.

MdCV FFA officers for 2019, Frank Warner, Cole Lacey, Koby Vanderpool, Bayleigh Lacey, Sadie McGowin, and Kaelin Criqui stop at KSU McCain Auditorium following a session. Courtesy photo.

By Sadie McGowin
MdCV FFA Reporter

The MdCV FFA officers team attended the 91st annual Kansas State FFA Convention May 29-31, 2019, in Manhattan, Kan. This year’s convention theme was “Just One.” The Kansas FFA had around 2,500 members and guests in total attendance from 207 chapters for the convention. The officer team assisted in a meal service program, convention sessions, and a career fair to help get them inspired and motivated for the coming school year.

MdCV FFA president Bayleigh Lacey, vice-president Frank Warner, and secretary Kaelin Criqui also served as delegates at the convention. The members were able to speak with each other and bounce around ideas for things their chapter can do to grow their membership numbers. There were many speakers at the convention sessions including the state officers with their retiring addresses and motivational speakers from across the country such as Cord McCoy, professional bull rider and winner of the Amazing Race, Luke O’Leary, National FFA President, and Kurt Dillon, State FFA Advisor and KSDE Ag Ed Consultant.

MdCV FFA members also participated in the national program “Give Lunch Service Packaging Event,” in which members packed healthy, easy-to-prepare meals to be given out to hunger relief groups across Kansas. More than 5,000 meals were packaged during their one-hour session.

Throwing their caps, the 2019 SFTHS grads celebrate their accomplishment. Photo by Brad Shaffer, allsportsdigital.com.

Santa Fe Trail High School’s 2019 honor students offered an abrupt reminder that you can’t live life to its fullest while sitting on the bench – you’ve got to get in the game. At the school’s 49th commencement exercises on May 11, 2019, the salutatorian and valedictorian, Josh Stone and Reegan Sisson, encouraged their fellow graduates, family and friends, to face challenges as life presents them.

Salutatorian Stone congratulated the graduates for reaching their important milestone, but noted they wouldn’t be there without the help of people around them and also their own involvement in their educations.

“For me, the biggest lesson of high school is that it’s important to get involved,” Stone said. “That’s a lesson I will take with me and hope you do too as we go out into the world today. To get involved and not stay on the sidelines.”

Quoting Benjamin Franklin, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn,” Stone said.

“I hope we can all remember the importance of staying involved as we take our next steps,” Stone said.

“The last four years have been filled with moments of learning and moments of experience,” he said.

Valedictorian Sisson noted the graduates would soon go separate ways, reminding of Mr. Hug’s comment that students “were all going to disperse from this school one day like a covey of quail.”

He was right, Sisson said, “Some of us are going to be moving far from home in the next step our journey. Today, with this ceremony, things got real very quickly. I know we are all thinking about our next big step in life.”

The 2019 graduating class of Osage City High School. OCHS photo.

OSAGE CITY, Kan. – A community came together on May 19, 2019, to celebrate its collective accomplishment – sending 41 graduates of Osage City High School out into the world. Guided by its class motto, “Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that,” by author Ally Condie, leaders of the OCHS class of 2019 recognized that all of their achievements were tied together.

During the graduation ceremony, the class’ top honor students, Claire Crawford and Aliks Serna, offered gratitude to parents, school administration and faculty, and their fellow classmates for helping the students achieve their goals and believing in them.

I’m so grateful for the people that believed in me when I failed to believe in myself,” Crawford said. “If that taught me one thing, it’s that the value of not giving up on people is so important. So don’t give up on others, because we’re human.”

In her comments, Serna echoed Crawford’s gratefulness, “You all believed in us when we didn’t believe in ourselves and for that we’ll never be able to repay you.”

Crawford noted, “Without people … we have nothing – no purpose to laugh, work hard, be successful, or do anything we want to do.”

She said the graduates’ accomplishments happened with their families’ support. “I believe it’s important that I thank my amazing family for loving me through everything,” she said. “I can’t say enough how undeservingly blessed I am to have been able to grow up with them standing by my side.”

Serna agreed, “To all our families, thank you for the endless love and support that you’ve given all of us. Without you we wouldn’t be the individuals that we are today.”

Serna reminisced that her high school years began with feelings of being alone.

“Now that my four years have ended I feel as if I have a whole tribe behind me leading me into my next chapter of life,” she said. “In four short years of high school I’ve gained friendships, mentors, and received outpouring support from my family and the community.”

Both honor students urged the class to give back to the community that supported them and know they will also have an impact on those around them.