MONTY AND KAREN CHEW

Karen begins their story: I was born in 1944, so I just turned 60 in February 2004. I didn't let it be traumatic. I tell myself I am lucky to be here and to be healthy, so that is what is important.  I was born in Osceola to Frank and Opal Smith, who had waited eight years for their first child to be born. This was a baby boy, born a year ahead of me. It was during the war and there was only one doctor available. He was probably somewhere else taking care of patients, and Mom had to lie there unattended for a long time. This probably caused the cerebral hemorrhage that took the baby's life when he was born. I was born a year later, so I grew up as an only child. That doesn't mean I was pampered. I was taught to work from the time I was fairly young, and when you learned from my mother, you learned to do it right.

In the mid-50s, when I was nine or ten years old, my folks took on a rather unusual  venture. There was another house on the farm so they rented the house and farm land to Joyce and Earl Latham, and started a guest farm. They got the idea from my dad's sister and her husband who had a guest farm in Alden, near Iowa Falls. Every Christmas our families got together. They told stories about what was happening, exchanged recipes, and got Mother and Dad excited about trying it. It is an understatement to say they were successful and that it was a lot of hard work.  They were open every day of the week but one, beginning at noon on Sundays and sometimes Saturdays. People came by reservations, usually starting at 5:00 PM and often they were still coming at 9:00. They brought visitors who brought other guests. They came from other states and even other countries when they were visiting someone in the area.

It was a family affair. Dad grilled the meat in the garage. Mom hired other people to help her, but she made everything from scratch down to the sherbet and ice cream, even raising the flowers that decorated the tables. I waited on tables. Every once in awhile someone would notice the piano sitting there and ask if I played. I had started taking lessons when I was seven, so when they asked, I played a few tunes.

There were some difficult aspects of it for me, especially when I was a teenager.  I would come home from school functions and the house would be full of people. I'd have to come in the kitchen and sneak up the stairs to my room, but by then I was used to it, so I didn't think too much about it.

The business continued for about six years. Its reputation grew.  People loved it. We met so many really nice people, and we couldn’t take all who wanted to come. However, about that time, the county planned to tear up the road and grade it. That meant we were going to have mud roads all summer, and my parents decided to quit. I think they were ready. It was very demanding. They had to give up everything else in order to do it, and I suspect they were tired.

They closed the guest farm, but within the year, another opportunity came along. Woodson Warren built the Champlain truck stop at the west edge of Osceola. There was a restaurant connected to it and he asked my parents to lease it and get it started. That happened when I was 16, and once again I waited tables. I worked the 6:00a.m. to 2:00p.m. shift during the summer between my junior and senior years in high school. If I didn’t have school activities, I helped out through the school year as well. So during my growing up years, I learned a lot about the restaurant business, and I learned to work.

Monty and I have known one another since second grade. He was born to Montel and Mildred Chew, in their farm home in Doyle township on December 3, 1943. They lived on the farm for three years and in 1946 moved to the farm where his mother still lives. He attended country school for two years, and when they closed the country schools, Monty went to Murray, and that is where we met. I always thought he was a cute little guy but ornery. He would do things like tripping me. One time he tripped me in gym, and one time on the sidewalk and I had a big scab over one eye for weeks. In fifth grade he sat behind me at school, and every once in awhile he would poke me in the ribs.  Of course, I reacted and made a commotion. One time I decided to retaliate for something he did to me. I kicked him in the shins, which left bruises. His mother came to school to complain, and the rest of story is that I got in trouble because of it.

Won't there be time for our own work and play
When the little ones have gone away?
Can we find joy in the simple things,
A fluffy cloud, a hummingbird's wings,
A baby's burp, a tiny toe,
A young child's question (Why did that grow?)
His look of pride from a job well done,
Who will be there with praise and love?

Is five or six years too many to give to a sweet little daughter or tiny son,
When we still have most of our lifetime left to finish the many things undone?
Who will kiss away the tears,
That come with a little one's hurts and fears?
Will we be the ones to bake cookies and cake
For our kids and their friends, or will we be awake?
Will the eight to five shift have us clear off our feet,
While the kids look around for something to eat?

The children are so helpless, I think.
Will their ship sail, or will it sink?
Are we strong enough to meet the need?
Can't we have it all, I sometimes ask,
I find it so bewildering.
Who will take on this precious task,
Who will raise the children?
- By Karen Chew

This is another of my favorites which I wrote a few years ago after taking an evening walk in November. I love to write poetry, but my mind is so scrambled with so much to do, that I rarely have time for it anymore.

NOVEMBER SUNSET
Oh how I love the sunset in a red November sky
The vivid shades of color so beautiful to my eyes.

The reds, pinks, purples and gold, grow brilliant as light fades away.
The quiet song of this lovely sight sings out with every ray.

The shadow of a water tower looms high in the evening sun.
It gives me a feeling of safety and peace, as another fine day is done.

The shining gold of a brand new day will dawn with the rising sun.
It brings hope and promise to those who see this gift from the "Perfect One."

The sunsets change with each season, bringing beauty all of their own.
But of all nature's pictures when the year has gone by,
My favorite is the sunset of a red November sky.
- By Karen Chew

Farming got really bad in the mid-'80s, so I did go back to work when our youngest son was in eighth grade, and our daughter was getting ready to go to college. A position opened for an associate, and I put in my application. The attraction was that I could have my summers off. I absolutely love to garden. I have a huge vegetable garden, and I've always canned and put up all my own fruit and vegetables. I raise flowers, have a big house and yard, and I did the mowing until the boys were old enough to take over the job. I would have been able to do all that.

I didn't get the associate position. Monty's cousin, Cindy Flaherty, was hired. She is great with kids. However, the superintendent called the next day to ask if would consider going to work as his secretary. We negotiated three-day weekends in the summer and I said yes. So, in 1986, I went to work at the school under Superintendent Paulsen for one year, then Lynn Padellford came and was there for 12 years. He was a wonderful boss. He could read people better than anyone I ever knew. He hadn't been there many months before he could mention aspects of someone's nature, understanding why they did this or that. Maybe the rest of us had known that person their whole life and not understood them as well as he did. He was a wonderful person to work for - grateful for what people did. And best of all, he told them how much he appreciated what they had done. He also cared about and did so much for the community while he was there. I never knew anyone who didn't like him.

When he left, Dr. Bishop came, and we are so fortunate to have him! He, too, has done lots for the school. He is very good at grant writing, but he is also not afraid to take off his coat and go out and do whatever needs to be done, working right along with the rest of us. This is an outstanding feature of our school. We all work together. A principal is apt to be painting the walls. Deb Gray and I painted the foundation from the offices around to the gym. We painted the outside doors. Liz Justice, Deb Gray, Mary Klein, and I contributed to an outdoor garden, planting flowers in the planters. Mary Klein has planted thousands of trees on school property and all around Murray. None of us let our job description keep us from pitching in. Whatever needs to be done, somebody finds the time to do it. We may lack some of the resources that a larger school has, but we all support the school, work together, and get things done.

One of my problems is that I always find myself with not enough time. I like doing too many things. I like to play the piano, I like to sing, and I love doing things with my children and grandchildren. Whatever they are doing, or if they have an accomplishment, I love being included. I love to cook and bake - when I have time, I love to bake bread and make jelly. I like gardening. People will say, "Why do you do that to yourself? You really don't have time to do all that gardening and canning." But there is such a difference in taste. My mother-in-law agrees. She is now 86 and still gardens and cans. People tell her, "You need to move in off that farm and take it easy and not try to do all that stuff." Her answer is, "I'm not ready to move yet." Where she lives was her grandmother's home, and she says, "If Grandma Coon could live all those years by herself, I can too."

There was a time when she considered moving. It was after Monty's dad passed away on January 1, 2000. About six years before then he showed signs of Alzheimer’s or he had a series of light strokes. After his death, Mom wanted to move to town immediately, and her friends encouraged her. She kept asking Monty, "Which house should I buy?" We took her house­hunting in Osceola and Murray and everywhere. Finally Monty told her, "Mom, I'm not going to tell you which house to buy. Just wait a little while." Six months passed and she quit looking at houses. She is happy she stayed where she is. She is very healthy, and I think her continuing to work as hard as always has kept her that way.

My goal is to do as much in this life as I can. That can sometimes be stressful and gets me in a lot of trouble. My problem is that I get tired sooner than I used to. My time clock is set for 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. When the children were small, after they were in bed, I would vacuum or work on crafts - I used to like to make all my Christmas presents, so I'd sew and do ceramics and all of that. I would often stay up unti12:00 a.m. doing all that after the children were in bed. I can't do it anymore, and it makes me mad that I wear out too soon.

Our children mean so much to us! Our oldest child is our daughter Stephanie, born in April 1966. We named her Stephanie LuAnne - a combination of our middle names, Monty Lewis and my middle name, Anne.  Through the years I taught her to cook and bake. She also worked in the fields. She would haul in hay or help with whatever was happening in a particular season. I think it is important to teach these things to our children. It is hard now with moms and dads both having to work. That is why I am so thankful that I could be home with our kids.

All three of our children went through Murray Community School and Stephanie graduated in 1984. She played basketball, softball, was in track, FHA (Future Home Makers of America), and National Honor Society. She went to Kirkwood College in Cedar Rapids on a scholarship for her pitching ability in softball. She had played in lots of tournaments and won lots of awards for pitching throughout southern and southwest Iowa. After the regular season, she was asked to play in the IASA (Iowa Amateur Softball Association) with a Des Moines team.

In Kirkwood she had the opportunity to play basketball and softball. Their softball team went to the National tournament at Benton Harbor, Michigan. She would finish junior college that spring. The coach from the University of Eastern Michigan saw and recruited her for their team, with a "full-ride" scholarship. Initially we were sorry to have her go so far from home, but it was pretty hard to turn down a full ride scholarship. She wanted to go to Iowa State but they wanted her as a "walk-on," and if she was good enough, they would help. Both were Division I schools, and it came about that Iowa State played Eastern Michigan in Illinois. We went to the game and Stephanie was so excited to play that team. The coach knew what it meant to her, and let her pitch the whole game. One of the girls from Iowa State, whom Stephanie knew, told her that the coach said, "We missed out on that one, didn't we?" That made her whole pitching career! In the end we were all glad for her years at Eastern Michigan. She met so many wonderful girls - friends she has kept in touch with. Among other honors, she received First Team Conference All Academic Team and Most Valuable Player.

Stephanie came back and married Steve Sandquist the same year she graduated from college. She became a special Ed teacher, presently in Norwalk Middle school. Stephanie also received her Masters from Drake University. She and Steve have two children, Jenna (8) and Levi (5), who attend I-35 school. Both are in tumbling. Jenna has the same competitive spirit as her mother. She has qualified for nationals, and has gotten to go twice, once to the Quad Cities tournament in Davenport, and once to Rapid City, South Dakota in the Black Hills. This year she and her brother both qualified for nationals. We are on our way to Madison, Wisconsin! Jenna also likes to sing, so she and I have a lot of fun at the piano. Pennie Gonseth also plays piano for her, and she sings at church and at the Hopeville Music reunion. She also sang solos in school music programs.

Grandpa Monty told about Levi, who, even though he is only five, is an avid sportsman. "He loves to fish and hunt. Last summer when he was four, I took him fishing in the spring. He had his own rod and reel, and I was trying to help him cast. He said, 'I can do it.' He didn't do badly and later in the summer when he came back, he could cast better than I could - farther out in the pond. I thought I'd test him and said, 'I'll bet there are some big fish parallel with the bank, down under those willows trees.' He cast in under there and caught a fish. I asked him how he came to be so good, and he said he'd been practicing in the driveway 'when Dad's in the shed.'

His father is a deer hunter and fisherman. He farms and sells seed com and real estate, so he spends a lot of time in an office he has in his shed.

"Levi came over during trapping season. Our older boy, Monty, trapped more than our younger one. He decided it would be nice to bring Levi over to our place and trap one weekend when the season opened. We got up early in the morning to check the trap lines and got about $300 worth of fur to sell.

"We might be called 'red necks,' because we could live off the land if we had to. In addition to all the gardening, we go out in the timber and pick wild raspberries and bring them home. Karen and Stephanie can them. We pick up nuts in the fall and generally get a deer or two for meat. We catch and eat fish. We are pretty self-sufficient."

Karen picks up the story again: Our middle child, Monty Sheridan, was born in 1968. He was named after his grandfather Chew, and my father's middle name.  Beginning in his early years, he loved sports, trapping, and hunting. He was in Little League, and in school played football, basketball, and baseball. He was also in National Honor Society and a member of FFA (Future Farmers of America). One of the things that was particularly hard for Monty was due to his father's illness. We were in Rochester at Mayo Clinic, and, while he was still in high school, Monty had to get up every morning and do all the chores before going to school. Of course, we had really good neighbors who helped, and Cory was old enough to help some, but Monty had most of the responsibility. He still went to classes, of course, and Mr. Brown, the high school principal, was so good and lenient with him. The school worked with us so well, understanding that he had extra duties at home. In Monty's last year in high school and his first year in college, his father had to have his colon removed.

Monty attended Iowa State University (ISU) and graduated with an ag business degree, with a minor in agronomy. He went to work for Pioneer Hi-Bred as a district sales manager trainee, but he went all over the states as a trouble shooter. For instance, there was a fellow in Texas who had cancer, and Monty went there for six weeks to run his business while he was going through treatment. He went to Tennessee and Missouri to fill in for fellows there, doing whatever needed to be done. He became convinced that he did not want to relocate. He quit Pioneer and went to work as a supervisor for Osceola Foods. In that way he could remain with his love of farming and have a partnership with us.

Monty married Sherri Browns, who was also an ISU graduate. She manages the Creston office of Children and Family Services. They have a little girl, Hailey, who is three, and she also likes to sing. She and I sing and play the piano together. Hailey loves to be outdoors, out on the farm with her daddy. She loves the cows. Monty has bought five acres that joins our original farm, and he and Sherri built a new home in center of the five acres. There are cows on three sides of their house, and as far as Hailey is concerned, they are all her cows. Her grandpa Monty loves it when we go to see them, and she asks, "Do you want to go see my cows, Grandpa?"

Cory Lewis is five years younger than Monty Sheridan, and his middle name is also after his dad. Cory loved football and baseball and loves to hunt and trap. He graduated from ISU where he majored in agronomy, but during the summers while he was in college, he worked for Cedar Valley Corporation. All our kids worked for the DOT (Department of Transportation) during their summer vacations, and that is where Cory got a taste of construction.

Cory had an opportunity, the year he graduated, to continue working for Cedar Valley. During the year, the paver operator quit. Cory had been running the spreader in front of the paver, and when the boss asked if he thought he could run the paver, he said, "I've been up there and watched. I think I can run it. I'd like to try." Being a farm boy, he had operated lots of equipment, so he got on the paver and did well with it. When they were working on I-35 and I-80 on the north edge of Des Moines, he won a national smoothness award for his company, for that stretch of highway. Due to winning that award from the federal government, the company received a big bonus, so he had the opportunity to move up to being a foreman. He has learned a great deal about the construction business and hopes to continue advancing. He decided he could make better money at that than in agronomy. So he, too, chose a partnership and to stay involved in the farm. That is a great help because he is home in the wintertime, does all the calving, and manages the cow herd. It gives Monty and me a rest. When he is gone in the summertime, Monty and I do the row crop farming and put up all the hay. It works out that we all pitch in and try to make it work. Sometimes we're a little over-extended. We're always tired, but everybody enjoys it- farming is in our blood!

This choice of career also works well with Cory's love of deer hunting. He looks forward to that all year long. It's the first thing he thinks about when it is lay-off time for construction, which is about Thanksgiving.

Cory is going to marry Angie Fettkether, who was originally from Oelwein. They met in Waverly when he was doing a paving job there. She is going to nursing school now, and they will be married September 4, 2004. Her mom and step-dad are in Montana, and her step-mom and dad are in Brooklyn, Iowa. That is quite a distance so I'm having the fun of being able to help with the wedding.

I feel that no individual has been more blessed than I. I had wonderful parents. My father lived to be 70, when he died of a severe stroke. Mother died of lung cancer in 1991, the year Cory graduated. She hung on, I believe, waiting for his graduation.

I have a wonderful husband and was blessed with kind and loving in-laws. Our kids are all healthy. They've never needed braces or glasses, never had a broken bone, and they have made us so proud. I have so many very dear friends. When we were young, having our children, and looking for a way to get out of the house in the evenings, Wretha Webb from Chariton moved to Murray. She belonged to an international sorority, Beta Sigma Phi. She asked some of us if we would be interested in starting a chapter in Murray and we thought it sounded like fun. There were nine or ten of us who started it 35 years ago. Over the years lots of gals have come and gone, but Alice Brown, Vicky Mateer, Pennie Gonseth and I are four of the charter members. JoAnn Callison and others have been members for a long time. There are nine presently - the ones mentioned and Janice Henderson, Jo Johnson, Delores Robins, and Tharon Flaherty. We meet in our homes and are now at the age when we like to drag out our pretty things. We're afraid that if we don't use them, we won't get to. So we get out our fine china and silver and fix meals and we never miss a meeting. We go places together and visit tea rooms and so enjoy one another. I am thankful for those gals, along with everything that has made up this wonderful, happy life. I couldn't ask for one more thing if I died tomorrow.

Monty picked up to add some details of his life: Karen told about our being together since elementary school. In junior and senior high school I played football. I liked track but I frosted my feet a couple times hunting, and there were times I couldn't run. That ruled out track. After I graduated, I worked about six months at the Champlain truck stop and rented 80 acres of land, which I farmed with my folks' equipment. Karen was riding back and forth to Des Moines with Paul West, who is now deceased, but he had been an iron worker. He got me on as a union iron worker on building construction. I was laid off in the winter and worked for Union Carbide in Des Moines. I liked farming better than commuting, so we rented Karen's folks' farm for three years and then decided to buy it. We struggled because we had to borrow everything.

It gave us a boost that, when Karen was in 4-H, her Dad bought her a purebred Hereford heifer to show. He told her that from then on, her parents would keep any heifers for when she graduated, but any steers they would sell and put the money aside for her. That one little heifer started it all and she never had a bull calf. Her dad had to keep them all and feed them. For eighth grade graduation, my parents gave me a heifer, so by the time we were married, we each had 13 cows.

We kept the 26 cows, even though we were working away from the farm. We rented pasture and bought hay. The herd has grown to 240, but it has been a long struggle. Farming has its ups and downs. We are lucky to still be there. The '80s were tough, and I had health problems, which made them tougher. When I had my colon removed in Rochester in 1987, they told me that about 4% of the time, when you have ulcerative colitis, it will damage your liver. Probably down the road somewhere, maybe 15 years later, I would find myself in the 4% and have to have a liver transplant. It was almost 10 years ago to the day that I had a liver transplant. I went to Omaha because it was closer, but it is a great facility. We met a lot of special people.

The community was so helpful. After my liver transplant, they had a fund raiser. Everybody came to the school, brought food, and had an auction. So many people put in so much work, time, and effort. It was heart-warming and I believe that is what it is like to live in a small community where you have known people all their lives. You have life-long, wonderful friends.

I've made several trips back to Omaha for maintenance procedures. I've had a stent put in my bile duct a couple times. It has to be stretched because sometimes it doesn't drain like it should. About once a month I go to the clinic to have my enzyme numbers checked. They fluctuate a lot and sometimes I have to go on to Omaha for further tests to make sure I am not rejecting the liver. They don't know why I do it but maybe I am an erratic person. Maybe it's my life style. I don't really know.  They told me I would have to adjust after a liver transplant, but I told them it would have to adjust to me. I think it has because I do everything I want to do. I am a rural mail carrier on a route out of Murray. That takes about nine hours a day. I call work at home my second shift, and I do chores until they are done. Sometimes when Cory is here, choring all day, we finish earlier, but if we are calving, which we are now, or during spring planting, there is no telling how many hours it will take. It's hard but we like it.

I had a little surgery done this winter. I had some pain in my stomach around the liver scar. They thought I had a hernia, which wasn't the case. They took out some scar tissue, which was a lot less serious. In a week I could go back to work, and in five days I was driving the tractor. I probably shouldn't have, but I didn't lift anything. I've been really lucky to bounce back every time. If I have something wrong, I just pray that it will be something they can fix. There are so many ways to fix things anymore.

I did just about die when I had the liver surgery. They continued having to go back in. It was more difficult to get the liver attached because I don't have a colon so they had to attach it to the small intestine, the bile duct. It kept coming loose so they went in for the third time in seven days and, even though they assured me, "We're going to get this done," I was about ready to give up. I was there for three months and was down to 130 pounds. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and wondered if I was going to make it. I looked terrible!

Karen was my nurse. They had put a shunt in a main artery in my neck; which had to be flushed every four hours. Our insurance only covered having a nurse come to the apartment for so many days, and they explained that it would be very costly for her to continue. The suggestion was that the nurse trains Karen how to do it the rest of the time. Karen said, "I'm not a nurse. The last thing I ever wanted to be was a nurse!" It involved hooking up IVs (intravenous feeding), and keeping them dripping. Everything had to be so sterile. There was a lot involved! Karen was terrified, but between her trying hard and I watching closely, we did it! I guess we can do lots of things we never thought we could.

I want to mention a special friend, Elmer Nash, who has been like a brother to me. When I started farming, he and his wife were neighbors and it is like we've been life-long friends. When I was so sick and didn't know if I was going to make it, I wrote him a lengthy letter and told him that if I had a brother, he would be one I'd want. We have been really close.

My cousin, Jerry Davis, and I have always been very close. We used to coon hunt together. We had grandchildren before him and his wife, Ingrid, did. They didn't know if they would ever have grandchildren. This last year they passed us. They had two sets of twins in addition to three others. We only have three. Ingrid managed the clinic for a lot of years, but she is resigning now to be a fulltime grandmother. Their children and ours are also very close. Our families get together every Christmas and every 4th of July.

I have a sister who is seven years older than I. We were far enough apart that it was like I was an only child. She married Russell Roberts, a Des Moines fireman (retired). They have now moved back to Truro. We have grown closer as adults. We also try to spend holidays together, and time when we can get it worked out to help Mom on the farm. Both of our families get together for "clean up" days at Mom's and it’s actually fun all working together.

We are members of the Murray Church of Christ. I have been a Lions Club member for close to 40 years. I was very active in it until my health deteriorated, but I try to do as much as I can. I have also been a Township Trustee for several three-year terms.

Karen and Monty agree that God has been good to them. "Even with the trials of life, we try to look at each day as a gift and get as much out of it as we can."

Historical Note: The Champlin station, built by Woodson Warren, mentioned by Karen page 127, was demolished in the summer of 2004, to be replaced by Osceola's third Casey's.

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Last Revised November 10, 2012