Vernon (Verne) and Glendola Binning

Just outside the window, as the Binnings sat down to do their life story, was a lilac bush with its early spring buds, which led to Glendola to remark that their house is full of plants.  Many of them are vines, along with African violets and begonias that bloom most of the time.  Verne thought there were too many but admitted that when they were on a recent trip to Oklahoma, he bought seeds for melons and black-eyed peas.  He had never had black-eyed peas until they had been in a restaurant in New Mexico and he loved them!  He brought the seeds home and planted the seeds in little containers.  He has had fun watching them grow to the point that they will soon have to be transplanted to bigger pots.  "It’s the farmer in me, I guess." He continued:

We had gone to southern Oklahoma where my grandfather had ridden on the Cherokee strip in 1893, when they opened Indian Territory.  This was my mother's dad.  He homesteaded there and later had a lumber yard in Waukomis.  We went to the city hall to get more information and found out that he had started from the Kansas line for what would have been quite a ride.

My mother was born in 1899.  She was 98 the 7th of April, 1997.  She is living in Westview Acres in Leon; but was in her own home until last summer.  I went one Sunday morning and found that she'd fallen; we don't know when.  She broke her pelvic bone, which requires different treatment than breaking a hip.  It couldn't be set so she was in the hospital for 21 days.  When the doctor said we would have to move her, I wasn't sure how she would take it. She had never wanted to go to a nursing home but at that time she responded typically, "We'll take what comes." That has always been her attitude. When she was released from the hospital, she walked with a walker and the doctor expected that would always be the case; but now she walks without it.  We are grateful that her mind is so alert.  She is Westview Acres' Domino whiz.

Glendola says of my father that he was the best father-in-law anyone ever had.  They moved to Leon when Glendola and I married and he came to visit us a lot.  Being a carpenter, he made a lot of things for the house; but, beyond that, he was sensitive, a real friend with whom we could talk things over. She thinks that, as a young bride, she probably wasn't a good cook but he never complained.  He liked everything she made.  That made a strong impression on her.

I was their only child, born on Mother's birthday in 1924, in the same house where we live now - a farm home in Decatur County.  I went to country school.  We arranged that I would start kindergarten in Popcorn School, which is just south of Van Wert on highway 69.  I would be the third generation to go to that school, which was important enough to us that I stayed with my grandparents in order to go there.

I transferred to Hawkeye country school and went there through 8th grade. Lois Eddy also went to Hawkeye.  Her mother and my dad are cousins. There are a lot of people around Van Wert who are related.  Glendola remembers that she attended a function when 23 people came and only three were not related to one another.

After Hawkeye, I went to Van Wert High School and graduated from there.  The first year I went there, I rode my bicycle; the second year I had a Model A Ford. I played left field on our baseball team in high school.  We had a good ball team and played other small schools like Grand River, Leon, and Garden Grove.  This was before the schools were consolidated, which happened in the late '50's.  At that time many small schools closed.  It is sad to drive past and see the shell of the Van Wert school still standing.

We were married immediately when I was out of school and started farming on the farm where we live now.  We had 408 acres and raised corn, hay and beans as well as cattle and hogs. I farmed until 1958 when I started working in town.  Primarily I worked in car dealerships, first in Leon, and later in Osceola.  At that time I rented out the land but since then I have sold all but three acres.  There is lots of mowing, even with a riding mower; but we do it ourselves.

Glendola was born on a farm in Wayne County.  She tells: I had a brother who was 2I and one who was 11 when I came along. Mother was 43 when I was born. She considered that she was old to be having a baby. Like so many others we went through a bad time.  Dad lost the farm due to the Depression.  My brother, who was just younger than I, died of appendicitis when he was I6 years old. His appendix ruptured and at that time there was no medication.

Both my parents lived to be 85.  They retired and moved to Leon.  The years between I966 and I969 were very hard because, during that time, I lost my father, mother, brother and two nieces.  Except for one niece, at the present time I am the only surviving member of our family.

I started to Pleasantville School, near Leon.  There were 2I in school, lots of big kids.  It makes me smile to remember that I walked a mile and a half to school and now people take their kids even when they live in town.  I remember lunches around the big stove and the games we used to play - ante-over and, in the wintertime, fox and goose.  That was a game we played in the snow.  We would tromp down paths and mark out a circle like a wagon wheel.  I can't remember any of the details, but I know the game involved chasing one another.

I was in musical activities in high school and took business courses - typing, shorthand and bookkeeping.  While I was in high school I worked in the office at Armour.  They had a large plant in Leon in those days. During the last year, six girls roomed together, including Lois Eddy. I appreciated being in town, especially for junior and senior year functions.

I graduated from Leon in 1945.  I was sad to see them tear down the old building that held lots of memories, but they put up a nice brick building and landscaped the grounds.  It is very attractive.

One of our entertainments was the movies at the theater in Leon.  That is where Verne and I met.  We started dating, dated for a year and were married in I945, right after I had graduated from high school.  We sometimes wonder how we have stayed married and been so compatible, when we have such different personalities.  Verne likes to do things on the spur of the moment, I like to plan ahead.  I am a "keeper" - Verne says I keep everything.  Verne is a "thrower."  But it has all worked very well. We will soon have been married 52 years.  Our children, Mark and Vickie, gave us a wonderful 50th anniversary celebration with dinner and music and a dance at the Osceola Country Club.  There must have been 150 people who came and it was a fun evening!

Our older son, Michael James, was born in I947.  He was athletic, very active in baseball and wrestled in both high school and college. He attended what was then Northeast Missouri State at Kirksville.  He taught school for a year, and then was in the Army stationed in Fort Meade, Maryland, working in the hospital.  He was called to go to Viet Nam several times but didn't ever need to go.  After being discharged from the service, he stayed in that area, working in Washington D.C. for an ophthalmologist.  He had learned this while in the Army.

He was married and has two children, Lance Aaron (13) and Amanda Sarah (9). They live in Laurel, Maryland with their mother, Linda, who was from New York.  They have been back to visit us several times and each time stayed a month. They like to fish and they like the food; but are accustomed to going to places such as New York City and Hawaii so farm life is different. Our son is now in Seoul, Korea, teaching English in a Foreign Language Institute.

Mark Verne was born in 1953 and graduated from Leon High School. His activities centered on music. He played drums in concert and jazz bands.  The current band welcomes former students to join them and Mark marched in a Homecoming parade. His daughter said "Dad, the kids think you march funny."  He didn't do it again.                                                 '

Mark started working for Miller Products in 1972, when he was just out of high school, and has been with that family (Miller and MacLander) ever since. He started at the bottom and, during the 25 years, has worked his way up.  He married Vickie Williams from Osceola in 1973.

Vicki is very dear to us.  Neither Vernon nor I have any family so we do everything together.   Her family joins us to celebrate all the holidays.  Vicki has always worked - 11 years for Pamida and now 10 years for Miller Products as their inside sales customer service person. About 90-95% of their sales are in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, so she has a wide range of contacts.

Mark and Vickie have one daughter, Christine.  While she was in high school, she, like her father, was involved in music - piano and trumpet.  When she was a sophomore, she had a wonderful opportunity to go to Europe with the Iowa Ambassadors of Music. She is now 21, a junior at Iowa State University, majoring in Elementary Education.  She is doing lab schools, working two days a week at United, just west of Ames.  She is so interested in those children! This is a wonderful time in her life. She is really happy in her work and is now engaged to Jeffrey Ashton of Osceola with a wedding planned for June 20, 1998.

Glendola continued: we, also, have a wonderful life. I started sewing in 1964 at O’Bryan’s in Leon.  This was a factory making Lorraine lingerie. I worked there for eight years.  This was an assembly line operation from cutting the garments to the finished products.  My specialty was sewing pockets on robes.  The person ahead of me would do the pockets and give them to me to
sew on.  Besides sewing, I learned a lot working there - I learned patience and I met so many nice people that I'd not have known otherwise.  They came from Missouri and all around the area.

In 1973 I had surgery.  They were still using the operating room in Clarke County Hospital.  Dr. Doja was here.  He was from the Far East and had a longer name but we called him Dr. Doja. He was practicing with Dr. Bristow until Dr. Bristow was killed while in the Bahamas attending a medical meeting.  A taxi came up over a curb and killed him.

I didn't go back to work after my surgery.  I continue to sew but just for fun.  I make things for the grandchildren and whatever suits my fancy. Just now I am finishing a linen cut­ work tablecloth that my mother had started.  My mother's work was prettier than mine; but I was about to put it away when I realized that, if I didn't do it, who would?  I always have a project going - sewing or crafts.  I also belong to several clubs and I read a lot - mostly historical novels and mysteries, but I read almost anything.

I enjoy working in the church.  I am on the Courtesy Luncheon Committee, and one of our functions is serving funeral dinners. Neither Verne nor I went to Sunday school or church regularly when we were young.  Our parents hadn't attended. I remember going to the Dunkard Bible School in their church near Leon, then to the Christian Church; but, when we were married, we knew that we wanted to associate with a church.  We were married and had our children baptized in the Presbyterian Church, but, when we came to the United Methodist Church in Osceola, we felt at home and transferred our membership.  This was while Rev. Haider was here.

Verne tells about the present: After 37 years of selling cars, I retired from the car business. Someone said, "I don't believe that.  In some way you will always be connected with selling cars." But I keep busy without it.  Just recently I've been getting my mother's house ready for the new occupant who rented it - we hadn't wanted to sell it. This lady is 90 years old and it is wonderful to see how happy she is with the house. She had lived in an apartment and now loves to be able to look up and down the street. Anything she wants, I fix. I suppose I learned carpentry from my dad.  I also do electrical work and plumbing.  These days it is hard to find workmen to do small jobs, so I do them myself.

And I am really enjoying my new job, working for the Southern Iowa Gateway Welcome Center.  This one is just off I-35 on highway 69. The building has been remodeled.  It originally housed an implement business.  The facility is owned by the city of Lamoni, so I am a city employee.  There are 20 of these centers throughout Iowa, which offer a range of much appreciated service to travelers including brochures publicizing restaurants, colleges, motels, state parks and recreation areas.  We have a craft and gift shop, vending machines, an exercise room furnished by Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and playground equipment.  The Mite Society of the Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints quilts there very Thursday. This is a group that was
formed in the 1800s and is still active.  People stand and watch them quilt.  There is also a museum with an old printing press and other items.

There were 40,000 visitors last year, both national and international.  The registration book has addresses from Ireland, Alaska, Australia and, literally, all over the world. They single out these places because they know they are clean, safe, and very nice.  They are pleased to find someone to visit with and this is my main activity.  I work 20 hours a week, from Wednesday morning until2:00 Friday afternoons. That gives us long weekends.

My father's death in 1973 caused me to do a lot of thinking.  It seemed as though we had a lot going on in our lives at that time, with Glendola's surgery and other situations.  I told Glendola, "I think we should do some things and enjoy ourselves."  At that time we began taking winter vacations.  We've gone to southern California two years, to Florida, Texas, Tucson, and Phoenix, to mention a few.  We have a travel trailer so we can be quite independent. I like exhibition baseball.  I have taken up golf.  I haven't played for two years, but I am going to play this summer.  Since my mother hasn't been as well as formerly, we now go for short trips.

One of my favorite hobbies, which Glendola also enjoys, is motorcycling.  My grandfather, Frank Binning, rode one when they first came out.  People have told me how he used go down the road with coattails flying. Dad rode a motorcycle with a side-car when he was in the Navy in 1917.  Now I have a Honda.  We have taken trips to the Black Hills in South Dakota, to Wyoming, to southern Missouri and Arkansas.  We do these lots of weekends, and Mark and I have an annual three-day trip.  We've gone to Nebraska, Minnesota, and to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. It is really pretty up along the river. This year we are going somewhere in Missouri. Glendola and I often ride the cycle to go out to eat supper.  We just take off and go to Eagleville or some other place.  We had in mind doing this on our 50th anniversary, but the kids had something else in mind for us to do.

If we were to state our "recipe" for a good life, we would want to emphasize how important are honesty, compassion, hard work and faith in our Lord. We have practiced these. They have given quality to our lives as young people, as a married couple, and as we have been blessed by a larger family and circle of friends. Our involvement in the church has been an inspiration to this end.

Return to main page for Recipes for Living 1997 by Fern Underwood

Last Revised May 7, 2012