‘Kids’ come back to Ricketts

The second annual “Ricketts Kids’ Reunion” enjoyed a great turn out. Reunion organizers Durene Krohnke, Nancy Landon, Marge Neddermeyer and Judy Neitzke were pleased to see so many of their friends and former neighbors come out for a night of reminiscing. The Ricketts kids enjoyed a potluck picnic starting around six and stayed up visiting until the wee hours of the morning.

Most of the “Ricketts Kids” grew up in the Ricketts area, many attended the Ricketts school, others went to country schools. A few even still live in Ricketts. What they had in common were Wednesday and Saturday nights- “Town nights,” when farmers brought in their eggs and cream.

“Back then we made our own fun” said Lloyd Carlson, and that sentiment was also the theme of the reunion.

In anticipation of the reunion, the Ricketts shelter house received a bit of a face lift with numerous repairs, clean-up, a paint job and donated appliances for the kitchen. Much of the work was headed up by Nancy Claussen.

“Everybody had a great time renewing friendships and laughing,” said Marge Neddermeyer, “One of the things that we did was that everybody shared a favorite memory from their Ricketts Days.”

Next year, the reunion will be on the fourth Saturday in July (July 28) and will start a little earlier, at 3 pm with dinner at 5 pm. More information on the reunion is always available at the official Ricketts Reunion website http://rickettsiowa.blogspot.com, or by contacting one of the organizers.
Wanna see your picture on the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper? Get a copy of the Thursday, July 26, 2007 edition. Call the Mapleton PRESS office at 712-881-1101 or email mpress@longlines.com subscriptions are just $22/year for local, $26 in Iowa outside of Monona, Crawford or Ida Counties, and $29 outside of Iowa! What a way to make sure you can keep up in Ricketts area news and read Ted's column and cartoons too!