Recipes for Living Don Reasoner

"Don Reasoner, tourism's big booster in Clarke County, was named recipient of the 1997 Community Service Award Tuesday night at the annual meeting and banquet of the Chamber of Commerce and Development Corporation.

"The award, co-sponsored by the Chamber and Rotary Club, was given to Reasoner for his work as co-chair with Elvin Soll of Murray of the County Sesquicentennial Commission. Reasoner has also been active in promoting the Mormon Trail festivities in southern Iowa and is past president of the Iowa Pioneer Mormon Trail Association.

"His community service also includes past president of the Eagles, a 19-year member of the fire department, member of the Extension, Council United Methodist Church and Clarke County Zoning Commission. A native of Clarke County, he is a longtime employee of the Clarke Electric Cooperative.

The news article, quoted above, did not mention the accomplishments of the Sesquicentennial Commission while Don was its chair: installation of a time capsule in the court house; successful sales of Sesquicentennial license plates; creation of the county's first flag; design of two commemorative Sesquicentennial posters; planning the logistics, food and entertainment for two Mormon Trail wagon train reenactments; creation of a county quilt square for the state's Sesquicentennial quilt; publishing an historic book about Osceola’s businesses; and other such city and county-wide events.

Don would qualify as the Champion Booster for southern Iowa, its past, its present and its potential for the future. He has no patience with those who ask, "What is there to see in Clarke County?" His observation is that they can't see the forest for the trees, because the answer is all around, everywhere. There are 20,000 acres of woodland and 2,250 acres of parks for camping, picnicking, and hiking, equipped with playground paraphernalia. There are lakes for fishing and boating, some of them drawing fishermen from throughout the state. Other visitors come to hunt quail, wild turkeys, pheasants and deer.

There is nothing to do? The calendar of events listed in the 1997 Southern Iowa Tour Guide calls attention to Osceola's location for the Clarke County Historical Society Museum; events which include: Folk Arts in the Forest at East Lake Park, Thursday nights on the square, Heritage Day, Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo, District #5 High School Rodeo, Horse Pull, July 4th Celebration, Clarke County Fair, Flea Market and Craft Fair, Appreciation Day, Hospital Auxiliary Craft Show, Red Carpet Day, Lighted Parade on the Square, Tour of Lights and visits from Santa at Christmas-time. In Murray, Trail Days, Christmas Event in Log Cabin and the Murray Jamboree; in Woodburn, Antique Tractor Pull, Alumni Association banquet, Homecoming and regularly scheduled Jam Sessions and Bingo; and at Hopeville, Music Festival.

I was the youngest in a family of seven, born at the University of Iowa hospitals on January 13, 1936, to Floyd and Gladys Reasoner. It must have been the winter of all winters, as for years I was told about neighbors shoveling snow from the roadway so my mother and I could get to our home south of Thayer. I have lived my entire life in Clarke County except for two years in the Army and five years as a communication lineman for the Burlington Railroad.

I attended country school, Doyle #3, named Pleasant Valley School, and graduated from Murray High School. I completed courses in electrical wiring, heating and air conditioning, and have taken various educational courses, but I do not hold a degree.

My parents were farmers, involving our larger family as we had a Jersey dairy herd, milking up to 25 head by hand. My dad's first new car was a 1952 Studebaker. My parents moved to what we call the "family farm" when I was three-months-old. 1936 was a very depressed time. I guess we were quite poor, but if you do not know it, what makes the difference? My dad received one of the first FmHA loans from the government and was kind of a role model for his success, but, as he often said, "We didn't have any way-to go but up."

There were six of us boys and one girl. All the boys served in the military. I was the only one not to leave the continental United States. Olin was a prisoner of the Germans in World War II. He was drafted while in high school. I recall that after the telegram came telling he was captured, some people said Olin would never return; but my mother kept her faith. She said he would and he did. Dale was in Korea twice, Bob also served in Korea, John in Okinawa and Keith was in the Navy.

I feel that I grew up during exciting times. After World War II the economy was good for farming. New cars and machinery with modern technology came into place. I thought that when brother Olin bought a. 1957 Chevrolet hardtop convertible, it could not get any better, but it did.

Hopeville was a flourishing community. During high school we had a bus load of kids living in that area. The first TV was at Johnson's store. Highlights were Tuesday and Friday "store nights" when the stores were open until 10:00, the theater in Murray on Saturday nights, then, later, the Afton dance on Saturday nights. Many Friday nights there were dances in Hopeville at the Odd Fellows Hall, which was above the north store. We referred to the two stores as the "north store" and Symonds’s store.

On August 17, 1963, I married Deloris Jean Morris from Osceola. We met through my buddy, who was going with her sister. I believe we met at an Afton dance. Deloris never took kindly to my statement, "The Morris girls came to Hopeville and three of us did not escape."

Deloris was born in Osceola and, except for being in Des Moines for a short time, has lived in Osceola her entire life. Her parents were Chris and Dorothy Morris. After they left farming and moved to Osceola, Dorothy worked at Snowdon's and then for Clarke County Hospital in the kitchen and laundry for many years until illness forced her retirement. Chris had a variety of occupations. He worked on construction-one project I recall him speaking of was laying the Williams Brothers pipeline through the area. He did building repair, painting, worked as a bartender, and for Clayton Mateer, hauling grain and at his sawmill I recall that, when Chris was still farming, he worked with the Ries Burchett threshing "run", stacking straw behind the grain separator. Speaking from experience, that was a dirty, tough job!

Deloris is a homemaker, Avon sales person, manager of our rental properties, assists on our farm, has a large garden, and follows up on many volunteer projects I get involved with and run short of time to continue. I am amazed at how well she organizes her time.

The drought of 1955 convinced me that farming was not my thing and my uncle got me a job on the railroad. In October, 1956, I was drafted into the Army. Basic training was at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, with a second basic training for artillery survey at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. From there I spent the remainder of my military time at Fort Carson, Colorado, where I was retrained, first as a company clerk, then as a personnel specialist at Division Headquarters. This dealt with military records and personnel placement. Then I was obligated to four years in the Army Reserve. I was discharged from the service in 1962. My time was extended and I came very close to being recalled to serve in Vietnam. It was a great relief the day my discharge came in the mail.

After leaving the Army, I returned to the railroad. This was with a crew that traveled throughout the Chicago Burlington and Quincy railroad territory. After Deloris and I were married, I decided this was not the best situation and left the railroad. In 1963 I worked for a short time for Iowa Power on a temporary crew and in February, 1964, I went to work for Clarke R.E.C. (Rural Electric Cooperative).

I was a lineman for 20 years. An arm injury prompted me to do less pole climbing, so I transferred to the service department. In this capacity I have worked as an electrician, energy advisor, and am now director of member service and marketing. In this department I have two technicians. We do wiring, outside lighting, ground source heat pumps, electric water heaters, energy audits, power recommendations and load research. We have 20 part-time meter readers and read meters of our entire systems in two days. I am on the company Development Committee, promoting business and industry in our service area, and assist with public information for the utility industry. We sell generators, do electrical inspections and various other functions.

One of my primary activities in recent years has been with the tourism industry. John Klein, our former conservation director, got me involved in that promotion by asking me to attend. a regional tourism meeting. It is a lot of work but it is sort of fun. These people are proud of their area and want to convince others to visit and enjoy our communities. It has made me even more aware of what we have in southern Iowa and the potential within the tourism industry.

For instance, the Iowa Division of Forestry estimates that there are about 20,000 acres of woodland in Clarke County. Formerly there were several saw mills, but now, outside of portable mills, the only stationary one we have in the county is Ivel Bish's sawmill in Woodburn. They say soft maple and cottonwood are good for shipping pallets. With our expanding industry it would appear we could expand the forest industry within our county.

Our Sesquicentennial Commission activity is winding down. It has been gratifying to help preserve our heritage and promote our future. My hope is that all the publicity of the Sesquicentennial year keeps the public aware of our historical assets. We had a great opportunity to be able to place the time capsule in the courthouse. Clayton Scott and Saquib Muktkar deserve the credit for that project to happen.

This commission made me more aware than ever of the original pioneer Mormon Trail passing through our area and the fact it is not getting the promotion for tourism that it should have. In December of 1991, a meeting was held in Garden Grove to discuss this situation. This was followed by a meeting held at Deloma's Cafe in Murray and the Iowa Pioneer Mormon Trail Association was formed. Our goal of promoting, marking and identifying this trail has made outstanding accomplishments from that time.

We now have signs on our county roads that mark where the trail passed through the county. We have two interpretative panel historical markers in the county-one in Murray, as this town is on the trail route, telling of the high ground for trail routes. These were Buffalo Trail, Indian Trail, Mormon Trail, and the Railroad. The other interpretative panel tells about the Lost Camp five miles southeast of Osceola. I was informed last month by Kay Threlkeld of the National Park Service that we will be getting another historical panel to be put at the northbound I-35 rest area.

The Murray sixth grade did a history project, studying the trail in Clarke County and found many very interesting facts, such as a rock in a field four miles southwest of Osceola. It had a hole chiseled in it, and it was determined that this had served as a post office for messages to those following behind on the trail. There are ruts in a field two miles west of Murray where you can see a ground depression from a county road. We rebuilt an observation stand from East Lake Park at this site so as to make this rut more vivid.

It is estimated that about 70,000 pioneers who were affiliated with the Mormon Church passed through here, but possibly over 300,000 pioneers passed through going westward with the discovery of gold in California in 1849. This was one of the main routes to California. At that time many referred to the trail as the Mormon-California Trail.

Many Mormons can trace their ancestors passing through here on this trail and I, likewise, can trace one of my ancestors passing through here. My great-grandfather came this way, walking to the gold fields of California in 1849. He did find gold and walked back to Ohio with the gold in a money belt under his clothes. It is told that he befriended the Indians and camped with them to lessen the chance of being robbed of this gold.

He returned to Iowa and homesteaded in a section of land in Pleasant Township of Union County, eight miles south of Mount Pisgah. Within two years, his wife, who had come from Ohio with him, became ill and died. It is said that she is buried with a necklace made of the gold nugget he had brought from California. Their little boy was sent back to Ohio to live with his mother's parents because the new frontier was too extreme to have a small child without the mother.

A few years later my great-grandfather married the daughter of a Methodist circuit preacher. I believe they had eight children. At least I know there were four girls, as my grandmother was one of them. When these children married, the boys were each given 80 acres and the girls a full set of furniture. My mother said all the boys lost their land due to a combination of hard times and poor management. My grandparents purchased the original home site and lived there until my grandmother died in 1936.

Over the years I have joined various organizations. I once belonged to Jaycees and I still belong to the Fraternal Order of the Eagles. I got into that through my uncle in Creston and worked with them to establish the lodge in Osceola. It is a good organization, constantly doing a lot to help people in need. Most fraternal organizations are somewhat similar in their structure. I would say a difference with the Eagles is that they have a social room to help pay expenses and to keep the cost of membership at a lower rate.

Both Deloris and I are involved with the church. In addition to attending, Deloris is the Nursery Home Visitor and I chair the Finance Committee, which means I am also on the Administrative Council. As a child, I attended church at the Pleasant Valley Church south of Thayer and the Hopeville Methodist Church. My dad's sister was my Sunday school teacher and was also the substitute teacher at Doyle #3 when the regular teacher was absent. I will say this aunt of mine was a very determined person.

I took a place on the Clarke Community School Board to fill out the term of Steve Parker, when he resigned. I have served one year and plan to be a candidate for re-election. I feel that we must accept some civic responsibilities.

The R.E.C. newsletter of March, 1997, listed some of my community volunteer functions: past state president of the Iowa Pioneer Mormon Trails Association, chairman of Clarke County Preservation and Resources Association, which was instrumental in the renovation and preservation of the Doc Dean House; officer of the 12-county Southern Exposure Tourism
Board; county representative to the central Iowa Tourism Association; past president of the Osceola Eagles Aerie; former 19-year veteran of the Osceola Volunteer Fire Department; member of the Murray Community Development Corporation; Clarke County Extension Council; Clarke County Zoning Commission; Clarke Community School Board and the Clarke County Historical Society.

I am convinced that Clarke County has a lot to offer. I like it here. If I didn’t, I would relocate. And I think the best is yet to come. This is one of the reasons I think tourism is so important. As more people come to visit, they may decide to move here to live.