JOYCE DORRELL TURNER

I was born in Des Moines, Iowa almost exactly 60 years ago, on April4, 1937. My parents were Robert Dorrell (my father pronounced it "Darl") and Frances Henry Dorrell. My father passed away from lung cancer in 1963 and Mom remarried Howard Jeffries in 1967. Howard sang in our Osceola United Methodist Church several times. He had sung many places, and in Brown's Chapel, Indianola for years, three services every Sunday.

Howard passed away in 1993. Mom did well, considering that she had lost two mates. Her strength came from the deep Christian faith that she always had. When Dad was sick, he was in the hospital for awhile; but he was at home for two months. The cancer ate his spine in two, so he had no feeling from just below his shoulder blades and on down. He had horrible nightmares, would sometimes wake up screaming and sometimes was just wild. Mom went for those two months with practically no sleep, but, she said, "I could pray." Maybe she would have fallen asleep for an hour but would wake up feeling rested. Howard was sick only about a week and Mom considered it a. blessing. She had watched lingering death and once is enough.

I have one brother, Larry, who is four years younger than I. Larry's first wife died from cancer about seven years ago. Their son, Lance, was born prematurely and they gave him too much oxygen. That resulted in his being born blind and with some brain damage. They have had the advantage of living in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, because, even though Larry is a United Methodist, he has benefitted from the strong influence the Mormons have had on the community. They are very family-oriented and work with people who are handicapped. Lance has gone to school and graduated. He went with high school kids to football games, sang in a choir - all such things. He has been through training and has worked in a greenhouse, potted flowers, and now he is working at a cleaner's establishment, sorting hangers and is paid so much an hour. He is thrilled with a paycheck. It gives him a feeling of really doing something.

Larry and his wife had two other children, Jolie and Chad, both of whom are now married. Larry remarried and Debbie is fantastic. Her sister had died and left two children. Debbie took them when they were one and two years old. She and Larry have adopted them and the children have gone into a wonderful family. They are now 10 and 11. Lance, also, lives with them. He walks with a cane, but, as we hear about blind people generally, his other senses have been increased - specifically his senses of hearing and smell. He can listen to a record and detect every instrument. He mentions smells that none of the rest of us are noticing. He can do his washing. Deb sorts it and Lance does it. They have Braille on the microwave so he can heat a cup of coffee. He does real well.

I started to school in Des Moines until the last part of the 4th grade, when we moved to Afton. My father was a mechanic. He had a garage in Des Moines but it had no outside vent and was very hard on his breathing. Mom's sister's family lived in Afton so we went there until my freshman year, when we moved to Osceola. For my sophomore and junior years we were back in Afton and then, for my senior year, I was in Indianola. When I was in Osceola, my classmates were Cay Canavan Culbertson, Deloris Osborn Thornton Sutton, Gracey Sparks Crawford, and, I think, Bob Schader. In Indianola I was in the same class as Cay's husband, Vernon Culbertson.

I took a regular course in high school but had on-the-job-training when I went to work for the telephone company in Des Moines and later in Indianola. I was with the telephone company in Des Moines for seven years. I was in accounting and the business office. That latter was the main office in which we took orders for telephones, collected bills, and, in general, answered any questions customers might have. Later, I worked in the cashier department. I was responsible for disconnects and for accounts assigned to me. One time I caught some kids making phone calls and charging them to other numbers. All the kids happened to be black and, when I caught them, they threatened that they were going to get me. For a long time I didn't go out of the office by myself and when anyone came in and asked for me, they were told I wasn't available. It is highly probable that now all those telephone company jobs are computerized and there is no personal touch. However, the girls at the Library, now, tell me it may have been that job that makes me death on "overdues."

I lived in Esther Hall for about nine months; then another girl and I got an apartment. I had six roommates and all of them got married. I told the last one, "I am getting married before you do."

I met Orville through mutual friends, Carolyn and Rodney Patch. Rodney lived in the same apartment building as Orville, and Carolyn and I had been friends since I lived in Indianola. Orville was a retail clerk for Jones' Shoe Store in Indianola. We had lots in common. He was fun to be with. Even though he lived in Indianola and I in Des Moines, we used to be together four nights out of the week. We went together for three and a half years and were married in 1959 at the United Methodist Church in Indianola by Dr. Edgar Walker.

I had been baptized in Afton but had not joined, which I did in Indianola. The church has been a very special part of our lives. Orville ushered every Sunday from the time we got married. He used to fill in for the custodian when it was the latter's day off, making sure the heat or air conditioning was turned on, or closing the building every Wednesday, which was church night.

I was active in UMW, served as vice president and chaired our Circle. That's when I got my first UMW pin. I was so active that when they couldn't find the secretary's old records, and thought they might be in the attic of the church, the custodian and I went up a ladder and looked through everything there to see if we could find them. Where we finally did find them was in the pastor's office, on top of some cupboards. I had climbed up and was just getting down when the minister walked in. But it was a successful climb. I found all the records.

Bob was born in 1962, and, when he was two years old, I started helping with that Sunday school class; then another gal and I taught the kindergarten class. When they didn't have anybody for 2nd grade, four of us taught that grade. I was teaching 2nd grade when we moved to Osceola. At that time I began teaching junior high.

Bob was always a delight. We lived in a neighborhood in Indianola that had lots of young families. He had little friends living around us. While he played with them, the mothers and I would get together. Bob had allergies and when we got those under control, it was fabulous. He started putting on weight and it made such a difference. He was in Scouts until we moved to Osceola.

Karen was born 1966 and was also a delight. Orville and I have thoroughly enjoyed our kids. We always did things with them. When they started to school, we were involved in school activities, attending their functions. I was in PTO (Parents/Teachers Organization). I was a home room mother.

We moved to Osceola in 1973, when Bob was in 5th and Karen ready to go into first grade. From selling shoes, Orville had gone to more general clothing sales with CE’Doc’s in Indianola. When they opened a store here, he transferred. They were located in the building where Ron Ogan had a typewriter business in north half and CE’Doc’s was in the south half of 115 North Main Street.

Bob was in Little League and then in drama all through high school. We hadn’t been here long when Bob was asked if he would be interested in a paper route, carrying the Des Moines Register/Tribune. He actually carried the Tribune for four years; then he started working for Walt Johnson on the Anderson/Erickson milk route. He worked at Hy-Vee while he went to Southwestern Community College at Creston. He completed a two-year computer course.

He married Jean and they have three children- Dan (7), Sarah (4), and Nicholas (6 months). They live in Ankeny. He is still a computer repairman; Jean works Iowa Power and Light.

Orville and I discover that Ankeny gets closer all the time. Dan is a very intelligent boy, top reader in his class. He plays soccer, so this coming Sunday we start soccer games. We will be there. We’ve gone come "rain, hail, sleet" or whatever is the post office slogan - nothing will keep us away. This fall Sarah will play and we are hoping the games aren’t at the same time or we’ll have to find a way to split our time.

Sarah is a very determined child. She will be in pre-school this fall. Her favorite word just now is "Actually." I called last night and she said, "Hello" and when she heard my voice she said, "HI GRANDMA!" She’s a corker. There is nothing like having grandchildren!

Nick is the happiest baby. After he was born Jean had six weeks leave, plus having saved some vacation and personal days. Then she worked three days a week for awhile and, that way, it let her get back on her feet. They have a good baby-sitter in a private home. She takes Dan to school, which is convenient, because her boy is in the same grade.

Karen was very active in high school. She was in band, basketball, Little League, 4-H and in her senior year she started working at the nursing home. She graduated in 1985 and went on to Iowa Methodist School of Nursing. She graduated from a three- year course in 1988 and went to work for Iowa Lutheran Hospital in the Special Care Unit. She continued and got a four-year degree in nursing. She went into the Intensive Care Unit and transferred to Mercy where she works for Iowa Heart Center. She has been Dr. Zeff's personal nurse and now is his office manager. She is continuing toward getting her Master's degree in nursing.

In 1991 Karen married Mike Bachman at the United Methodist Church in Indianola, where we were married. Mike has had a tool route, has worked for a truck repair company, and now drives for a firm in the winter-time and goes on harvest with his dad during the summer months.

When Orville and I moved to Osceola we built a Wausau home on South Lincoln. I asked about going to church Circle. This was the year of Key'73 in United Methodism and one day Fern Underwood crawled over cement blocks to get to our front door and invite me to a neighborhood Bible study that was being started. That was a special group. We met at Dottie Van Werden's. Edith Brown was in the group and announced one day, "I am sorry I'm late but I had to get up on my house and caulk around my chimney." Royanna Spencer was also in the group at the time her mother very ill. There were several others and we got into some depths in our study.

Like my mother, prayer is also very important to me. I sold Avon at the time we moved here so that I could always take off time for such things as our Bible study or the UMW bazaar. Even my Avon work was answered prayer. There were times when I would call on a customer and discover she had a special need. If it was something she needed from the store that I could get for her I would do it. Sometimes customers just needed someone to listen, and I did that. I had a regular route, but there were times when I would call on somebody who was not scheduled for that day. Often it turned out that there was a good reason for my having gone. With few exceptions, my customers were delightful.

Wilma James lived next door on one side and Bertha Jenkins on the other. For years I took each of them to the grocery store. One liked one store, one preferred the other so I ended up going twice and it took the major part of two days each week. Besides the shopping, they enjoyed having someone look after them. Wilma and her husband had lived in the community where Orville's folks lived and he had run around with both their boys.

The importance of prayer in my life brought me through a crisis. Seven years ago I was diagnosed with MS and was unable to walk. I couldn't move my right leg. I was in the hospital in Des Moines. They ran all the tests, and the doctor told me what I had, so, when everybody left, I prayed for healing. I felt a tingling all over my body. The next morning I could move my right leg. When my doctor came in, a couple days later, I told him that I could walk. He could hardly believe it even when I showed him. That was the day after Christmas. I walked out of the hospital on the 3rd of January. They still had me on steroids and I was in therapy. They sent me home with a cane but I put it in the closet and haven't used it since. I do exercise religiously.

Orville started in the clothing department of the Farm and Home store about 1977. He moved on to repairing lawn mowers, chain saws, weed trimmers and other such implements. He is now semi-retired, working just three days a week.

I started working at the Osceola Public Library in 1979, as Assistant Librarian to Rose Scott. Ten years ago, September, 1997, when Rose retired, I took over as Library Director. During those 18 years, there have been many changes. We have separated the children's section and they now have their own library in the basement. We had a fund raiser to which Timmy Dean was a major contributor, giving half of the needed money. The entrance on that level satisfied the requirement for making the building handicapped accessible. The south walk-out door was a gift from Melvin Goeldner in memory of his son, Paul.

On the first floor, we have added new shelving, new carpet, new front door, and a video tape section, Internet on the computer, books on cassettes, large print books, puzzles, and probably other features that don't immediately come to mind. There are new requirements now that we must have current encyclopedias, so we must constantly upgrade those.

Our present project is an addition that will have an elevator to allow people to come in the downstairs door and take the elevator to the upstairs section. We will have four computer stations, and magazines, as required, at the level needed for wheelchair patrons. Upstairs we will have an expanded space for books and storage space for videos. It will also expand the size of the office. Now I am so crowded that it is impossible to turn the desk chair. The file cabinets are old and crammed so full that some of the drawers can't be opened. We are already measured for fiber optics for 1998. At that time we will be able to have classes here.

The estimated cost is $250,000 of which $200,000 has been raised. We hope to begin construction this year. Of course, I am praying about this, too, and have felt the assurance that the money will be coming. These gifts will be tax deductible because we are supported by tax dollars. I'm excited now and when they break ground, watch out!

It has been exciting to see evidence that the popularity of TV has declined and people are reading more. Readership grows each year. The Children's Library is very popular. We have Thursday morning story hours that are well attended. We have from 15 to 25 children, and in the summer we may have as many as 70. We have a reading program that runs for six weeks for children completing 1st grade and until completing 6th. We give 45 prizes each week. Each week we give six-packs of four books, which Pat selects, and I donate the books. Youngsters are only allowed to win books one week so that winners are spread around. We also give t-shirts and have the same rules for them. Merchants donate many items and they are so generous.

Our librarians are Pat Frahm, Diane Shough, Janet James, Donna Taylor, with Rose Scott, Jean Davenport, Kim Sullivan and Tammy James, when she is home from college, working part time. That makes nine, including me. The Library is open from 12:00 to 6:00 Mondays, 12:00 to 5:00 Tuesdays through Fridays with the exception of Thursdays, when there is story hour. Saturdays we are open from 9:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

I will work several more years before I retire, but there is much still to be done. We need to put all the records on computer, which will take two years, considering the time to bar-code every book and put the card file on the computer; but it is in the city's five-year plan.

Church continues to be important to us. Orville has served on trustees, finance committee and is presently on the usher committee. We also take the responsibility for furnishing and making coffee for the between-services fellowship and for some of the Sunday school classes. I am the church librarian. Orville has also served on the Clarke Community School Board.

CALL AND THE LORD WILL ANSWER; CRY FOR HELP AND GOD
WILL .SAY- "HERE I AM." (ISA. 58:9) 0 LORD, MY God, I CRIED
TO YOU FOR HELP, AND YOU HAVE HEALED ME. (PSALM 30:2)

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

Last Revised May 20, 2012