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Creston News-Advertiser
Creston, Union County, Iowa
Monday, March 22, 2006, Page 41A
Family ties brought them home
by Kerri Carson, CNA staff reporter
DIAGONAL -- When Doug and Darla SOBOTKA moved to Columbus, Ind., in June 1993 they knew it was not going to be forever. "We
planned to stay only five years," Darla said. "We ended up being there for nine years, but we're sure glad to be home."
Doug and Darla graduated from Diagonal High school in 1988. They had been high school sweethearts. After high school,
Doug went to school at Des Moines Area Community College for two years and Iowa State University for three. When he
graduated he had his degree in mechanical engineering. Darla went to Southwestern Community College for two years,
then got her RN/BSN degree from Grandview. "We were married in 1992," Darla said. "I worked at Mary Greeley Medical
Center in Ames, while Doug finished his last year at Iowa State." When Doug graduated in 1993, the couple moved to
Columbus, Ind., because Doug had gotten a job at Cummins Technical Center. Darla then decided to further her
education. "I knew I didn't want to be a nurse my whole life," Darla said. "In 1995, I went back to school at
Butler University in Indianapolis to become a physician's assistant." Familiarity
Doug and Darla were both raised on farms and said their families are very important to them. "We came back every four to
six weeks during the first year we were out there," said Darla. "Our families came out there a lot, too. We had a lot of
visitors during the summer." When the couple didn't have their family with them, they would go places that made them
feel at home." "We went to Wal-Mart a lot," Darla said. "It was the only familiar thing out there. We hardly ever
talked to our neighbors. We were just on our own." "We drove back everytime we had vacation," Doug said. "It was
546 miles and we could make the drive in nine hours." Doug and Darla had their first daughters in August, 1999. Darla
was working for a family practitioner and Doug was working for Cummins during the day and trying to develop his own
business at night." "Doug was working very hard," Darla said. "He would work all day, come home and head out to his
shop. He'd come in, have supper and head back out to the shop until 9:30 when he would come in and start making phone
calls." At Christmas 2000, Doug and Darla learned Doug's parents, Carrol and Arlene SOBOTKA, would be selling
their farm south of Diagonal. The couple knew they wanted to move home, they just had to decide if the timing was right.
Soul serching"We knew we were ready, Doug's business was going well, and our second daughter
Erin was born in Jan. 2001. We wanted to be home," Darla said. "We just had to decide what to do about the farm." The
couple made a decision and bought land west of Diagonal to build a shop to house Excel Engineering, Doug's business. They
also purchased a house in town to live in until they could build a house by the shop. "After a lot of soul searching
and number crunching we decided to build a home close to the shop and let Carrol and Arlene sell the farm to someone
else," Darla said. "It is so nice to have our house right here across the road from the shop, the convenience of it is
wonderful for us." The couple regrets nothing about moving back to their home town. Doug's business continues to
thrive. He employs six people. Three of them are family members. Darla works as a physician's assistant at Crain
Medical Center in Mount Ayr. She likes the work, and likes knowing who she works for. "It's such a small community,"
Darla said. "People talk and it's nice to be respected in your community. I always want to make sure I do my best for people,
it could be my friend's child I am taking care of." Family really brought this couple home. Their children are young,
but they always have lots of family at every event they are involved in. "We moved home because my girls weren't familiar
with their families," Doug said. "I know my childre would not be the way they are without the family influence, and
that's important to me."
Photograph courtesy of Creston News-Advertiser/Kerri Carson
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2012
Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, May 11, 2017, Pages 1 & 9
Ringgold County's own 'paparazzi'
By Megan Warin, MACHS Senior
Darla Sobotka can be seen, camera in hand, around Ringgold County school events, almost every night of the week. Some even nickname her the "paparazzi," because on any occasion, you can spot her right in the middle of the action, snapping pictures. "I thought when my kids graduated, I would stay home more often, but then I got busier because I started to attend more events than I ever had before," Darla reflected on her photography.
Darla was born in Creston, Iowa, and was raised on a farm near Diagonal, Iowa. She received her Master's Degree from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. She is married to Gary Sobotka and has four children: Alex, Matt, Cody, and Rachel. Her family has now expanded to a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, as well as three grandchildren, and another one on the way! Darla has been a teacher at Mount Ayr Elementary since 1990, and has taught third grade all but one of those years. "I've always wanted to teach. I enjoy third grade because the children are passionate about learning, and are starting to grow up. I am very fortunate to have taught third grade for a long time," said Darla when asked why she chose this grade to teach many years ago.
Darla started taking photos
when her kids were in high school. During this time, cameras weren't as high tech as they are now. She remembers trying to take pictures of Matt running hurdles, while using a film camera, and back then, she didn't have it mastered that to take action shots you have to start taking the picture before they get to the hurdle. "I never got any hurdle pictures with Matt in them, because I always clicked too late, and all I got was a picture of a hurdle," she laughed.
 Depending on the season, two to three nights per week, Darla captures the important moments for student athletes at both Mount Ayr and Diagonal High School events. Each event she snaps around 2,000 pictures, and then goes home and spends 2-3 hours editing and picking which pictures are well enough to publish. She only keeps around 10% of the pictures she takes. She has around 250,000 pictures on Snapfish for people to order, and if this is only 10% of the pictures she has taken, you can about imagine the millions of photos she had discarded! The amount of time that Darla spends uploading these pictures is very much appreciated by parents, students, coaches, and others in the community.
Her favorite sport to photograph is football, because she enjoys all the action shots. She always enjoys capturing track meets because of the emotions shown in the pictures through the races. She shared that volleyball is her hardest sport to photograph, because it is hard to get the ball in the picture because it is usually moving so quickly and it is often hard to get a clear picture. The most intriguing events she has ever photographed are State Football at the Dome, State Basketball, and State Track. She especially enjoyed taking pictures the year the boys became State Champions in Track. She shared, "I wouldn't normally have been able to be that close. It truly puts the event at a whole new perspective when you are down on the field court, or track."
At the beginning of this passion taking flight, she mostly took pictures of her own children. When she realized how much the pictures meant to relatives who can't always be at the sporting events, parents who don't always bring a camera, and alumni from Mount Ayr, it encouraged her to keep taking [Page 9] then and sharing them on Facebook. In saying this, Darla was a little teary-eyed, and sharing from experience, I have relatives who don't live in Iowa. For Darla to share those pictures, and have my loved ones be able to keep up with my athletics means so much a lot to my peers, too. Darla has a large part in keeping everyone connected through her photographs.
In the future, Darla will continue to take pictures of her grandchildren, and even wants to travel with her husband to take pictures of new places as well as things in nature. We appreciate Darla using her free time to caption our most precious moments of high school. Whether it is a play, sports, band, choir, banquets, Sparks, Homecoming or other events in Ringgold County, you can find Darla there with a smile on her face, ready to snap pictures so that we can remember the special times we have. Darla is a person of good character, and generosity, and we can't thank her enough for everything she does for our schools.
Photographs courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, July of 2017
To submit your Ringgold County items, contact
The County Coordinator.
Please include the word "Ringgold" in the subject line. Thank you.
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