About town with LaVern Johnson
Another week gone by. Very unsettling. The message is, “STAY HOME. DON’T LET ANYONE COME IN! SPRAY THE DOOR HANDLE. DON’T CATCH THE VIRUS. COULD BE DEADLY.” Although it is very trying, we don’t want to get the virus. It may be as bad as the Spanish Flu of 1918 where millions died; it let up some but came back with a vengeance.
Mr. LaVerne’s sister and brother, Hazel and David, ages three and five, died from the Spanish flu in 1918, a week apart. Sad for everyone, something you never get over. They say the hearses drove around in the country going after the many who had died.
Yes, it looks like that is what we will be facing, if we don’t get this controlled. SO STAY HOME, wash your hands, spray, don’t go anywhere. A vicious disease is contaminating the entire world, many millions of people. Some folks think the virus is a hoax, but they are not beyond getting it.
As of 9 p.m. Monday evening, there were 720 cases in Colorado, 72 in the hospital, and 41,000 cases in the United States. You can go on hikes, biking, and so on if you stay six feet away. Indeed it is truly a worry. Stay healthy! Take care of yourself and all.
STAY HOME, WASH, WASH, WASH, SPRAY, SPRAY. WE HOPE ALL WILL DO THAT AND IT WILL DISAPPEAR.
WATCH FOR FRAUD: The National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline number is 1-866-720-5721.
It is hard to tally up what all has been affected here in the Lyons area. Schools, churches, restaurants. Thankfully the St. Vrain Market is staying open. Thanks to Spirit Hound and Green Goo who made and bottled a thousand bottles of hand sanitizer in one day.
Huge garage sale at 223 Fourth Ave (Confluence area) Sharen Kelling has a houseful of stuff. She is moving to Florida with her kids. 10am – 4 pm. 303 478 3601
Lyons Town Board met Monday evening via Zoom and voted to limit groups in Lyons parks to five or fewer and to cut out short-term rentals. Otherwise, the distancing will not be effective. Pay heed.
Lory Barton, the head of LEAF, will publish a list of all things available for Lyons area folks, such as Meal on Wheels, Food Pantry, curbside pickup, the food bank, lunch furnished by the schools, basic needs, groceries delivered, senior meals, help on rent and utilities so we will know what is available. Thanks to all who have been helping. This is really a historic event.
Lory writes: LEAF has volunteers who will check in daily by phone with our most at-risk neighbors, most of whom are aging adults. The program is called Care Calls. Ellen Keane is coordinating it. To sign up to receive these daily calls, email her at ekeane@q.com.
The Food Pantry is now operating with a “curbside pickup” model outside the Lyons Community Church from 3-5pm on Wednesdays. Residents in the Greater Lyons area who need supplemental food are encouraged to come; no proof of need or income is required. In the event hours change at all, LEAF will post on its Facebook page and Lyons Happenings.
LEAF serves as the human services safety net for the Greater Lyons area. We will continue to work hard to meet human services needs, but we are not, nor can we be, direct medical care providers (taking people’s temperatures, etc.).
Thanks to Laura Levy and Co-horts for collecting nearly $10,000 for LEAF last week. Keep those donations coming, they pay for groceries and basic needs. Leave your check at the Lyons Community Church.
Ralph of the veggie stand is fixing a box of veggies for $20. Stop by 12-5.
Virus face mask makers: LCF is issuing grants to mask makers. If you have cotton fabric to donate, drop it off at Reruns. Erin Kott, Katherine Weadley, Amanda Anderson, Ginger Palmeri, and Laura Mayo are currently making masks.
MUSICIANS’ RELIEF FUND: Go to https://bouldercountyarts.org/musicians-relief-fund and fill out an application for funds for all county band members who are now missing their engagements and any pay. The site has been overwhelmed with requests and has suspended taking new applications, but check it out in case they can help.
CANCELLED:
Schools, churches, meetings, proms, track meets, graduations, Botanic Gardens, and all the pleasures that go with these events. Lyons’ Outdoor Games have been postponed to September 5.
SQUARE DANCES throughout the country have been cancelled. We are waiting to hear if the State Festival will be held in Grand Junction on June 6 and 7, and the National in Spokane, Washington, scheduled for July 17-20. Fun is going down the drain.
TOWN ELECTION, TUESDAY, APRIL 7, 7A.M.-7.P.M. All registered voters of the Town of Lyons have received their ballots and need to mail them in or take them to the Town Hall any day or the day of election.
Arthur Lee Land and Bonnie & the Clydes were on Zoom the other night. Very enjoyable. Please let us know when this is happening again!
SPORTS:
Boys basketball-2020 ALL-REGION TEAM – Honorable Mention – Gage Basey-Sr and Tucker Mills-Fr.
Girls Basketball-Avery Joy;
Track & Field-Issac Roberts-Sr. is into Track and field and would be sweeping individual and team titles in Class 2A this spring. Last year he won the 3200 meter run but lost the 1600 meter run by half a second. He also helped the 3200 relay team take home the State title and will again, if the sport is started again this spring.
TID BITS:
Congratulations to Jonelle Tucker who was awarded the Outstanding Service award from the Lions Club for helping start the Lyons Leos, a youth group volunteering for Lyons and the schools.
Jim and Kate Kerr spent four days last week at the Old Time Fiddle Festival in Tucson, the Alamo Pueblo and Chinchura Park in New Mexico, the Trump wall in Douglas, Arizona, and several parks. Very enjoyable they say.
Thanks to Monique Sawyer-Lang, Baiba Lennard, and Brianna Hoyt who received a grant from the Colorado Historic Newspaper Collection to digitize old newspapers at the museum. Matching funds of $750 are being solicited. Send to Lyons Historical Society, PO Box 9, Lyons, CO, 80540.
Congratulations – Timber Shehee, Mead Sophomore, seeking State in Golf. Timber is the granddaughter of Tim and Linda Kelling, the daughter of Trey and Tara (Kelling) Shehee, and sister of TJ Shehee, Mead golf pro attending UNC. Timber tied for ninth place in 4A as a freshman in 2019 and shot 86 at the State tournament. She is continuously working out, learning from her sibling, and happy to be in golf. Her mother is head golf pro at The Ranch Country Club in Westminster, and her father is the director of instruction at the Ute Creek Golf Course in Longmont. We wish her well.
BIRTHDAYS: Nancy Liquora, Apolonita Vasquez, Nona (House) Dodd, Cole Bonde, Gayle Anglen, Kitty Keim, Kathy Gereaux, Connie Gereaux, John Bear, Carrie Gonzales. Abby Wynja, John Easten, Jake Glade, Marie Fisher, Richard Salmon, Kiowa Kumph, Nancy Hammans, Harold Mixon, Erin Kitt, Ginger Palmeri, Katherine Weadley, Amanda Anderson, Isabelle Vasquez, Laura Mayo, Lynn Johanson, Meichele Hayes.
OBITUARY: Robert Henry Bloomfield of Everett, Washington, former resident who grew up in Lyons, was born in Cañon City on July 15, 1924. He passed away November 16, 2019, in Bellevue, Washington.
Robert was the son of Icibinda and Clay Bloomfield of Illinois. Her father was a preacher. At 18, she married James Travis and was left a widow with two children. In 1920, the family moved to Cañon City for her father’s health. In 1923, she married Henry Clay Bloomfield, a Nebraska farmer. They lived there until the dust storms came in 1934. At that time they bought acreage south of Lyons (the property on the Southeast corner of the South St. Vrain/Lyons Valley Park) where they operated a fruit and vegetable stand and filling station.
They had three children: Robert H., John E., and Margaret. In 1944, Icibinda purchased the Burlington Hotel (more recently Ferg’s Inn, then The Festivarie Inn) on Main Street here in Lyons. Here she provided meals and rooms for guests and boarders. She did the cooking and baking and hired help. During 1944-1950 the Burlington Hotel had the only dining room in town, and hosted the school banquets and many other meetings. Henry passed away in 1959, and Icibinda sold the hotel in 1973 to Dorothy Paxton and moved to her acreage. She passed away in 1977.
