10 stories that pulled at our heartstrings

Acts of charity, expressions of love, familial celebrations topped 2017 'good news' list

Hudson Patrick serves a cup of lemonade to Jake Biermann at his stand Sept. 9. The 6-year-old was helping raise money for relief efforts from the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey.
Hudson Patrick serves a cup of lemonade to Jake Biermann at his stand Sept. 9. The 6-year-old was helping raise money for relief efforts from the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey.

Not all news is good news, but it happens more often than you might think.

In the past week alone, the Jefferson City community has given the News Tribune an average of almost three positive, holiday-related stories to report per day, ranging from our "A Christmas Wish" series featuring United Way agencies and clients to various charity fundraisers to a Salvation Army "Red Kettle Ring-Off." That's on top of the other kinds of positive local news that happen year-round.

While the surge of good news may be more noticeable around Christmas, we see it all year.

So, to mark Christmas Eve, we're looking back at our favorite 10 positive stories about local people and what they've contributed to the community.

1. Hudson Patrick donates lemonade stand profits

When 6-year-old Hudson Patrick heard about the devastation Hurricane Harvey left behind in August and September, he did the only thing he could think of - set up a lemonade stand.

The Pioneer Trail Elementary School first-grader raised $1,076 and donated it to the J.J. Watts Hurricane Relief, run by Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watts, to benefit those affected by the Category 4 hurricane. Houston resident Vanessa Robertson Gray matched him dollar for dollar, meaning a total of $2,152 went to the foundation.

"They lost all their homes and clothes," Patrick said in September. "Maybe they'll be able to move to a new home."

A little over a week ago, Patrick returned with a hot chocolate stand in the Hy-Vee parking lot. Instead of asking for donations, he asked people to donate toys to Toys for Tots and food items to the Food Pantry for Northeast and Central Missouri.

Allison Patrick, Hudson's mom, said there was a decent turnout with several people donating toys, food items and money. The money donated was used to buy toys for Toys for Tots.

Hudson also went with Allison to deliver the toys and food items, which he was excited about, she said.

"With his lemonade stand, he didn't really get to drop off anything; he just had to make the donation online with my credit card. So he wasn't really able to physically give the money that he collected," she said. "He helped count up the money and everything, but with this (hot chocolate stand) he was actually able to physically give it."

The young boy decided to sell hot chocolate for charity after learning there were families who couldn't afford Christmas presents for children. He also wanted to do something that would help the local community.

"Before, we did something that was far away from us so that Hudson could realize that stuff happens that could not actually affect us but we still need to do what we can to help," Allison said. "The need is also right here in our city. It shows him that people need stuff right here in our community as well."

2. Loose Creek woman turns 100 during total solar eclipse

While thousands flocked to Jefferson City to view the total solar eclipse Aug. 21, Hildegarde Haslag celebrated another momentous event at her Loose Creek home - her 100th birthday.

"I don't know how I got here, though," she said at the time. "Time goes by so fast."

Haslag grew up in Koelztown and worked hard from a young age. When she turned 14, she started working as a caretaker, cook and at a variety of jobs. During that time, she met Aloysius Haslag at a friend's party, and it was love at first sight for him.

The couple married in 1939, and she has many fond memories of their farm. Also a carpenter, Aloysius built their family the house where Hildegarde still lives today. The couple had six children - Leroy, Pat, Laren, Arlene, Janet and Steve - 18 grandchildren and a handful of great-grandchildren.

The day before Haslag's birthday, friends, family and fellow congregation members recognized her 100th birthday with a community celebration at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Loose Creek. She received lots of gifts and played a few tunes on her harmonica. Haslag's love of music is still vibrant, hitting the American Legion dance floor recently for the first time after retiring from a more than 20-year stint.

"About a month ago, she went dancing at the American Legion. She got out in her wheelchair, but she just loves the socialization and seeing her friends there," said Haslag's daughter, Arlene Woods.

Just a few days before Christmas, Woods took her mother to get her hair done and visit friends in Jefferson City.

"My mom was a great cook," Woods said. "Nowadays, Mom has an open house on Christmas Day. She'll make snacks and anybody can come by when they can to visit."

Haslag's health is so good her doctor even told her she might live to see 130.

"She agrees and thinks she could live to be 130, and she just might," Woods said with a laugh. "She has always been a strong person. She would tell me, 'You can do it; you're a Haslag.'"

Haslag's 100th birthday was an eclipse celebration like no other. There were many keepsakes from her eclipse birthday celebration, including blowing out candles during the eclipse, a special note from President Donald Trump, handmade T-shirts from her family that read, "1917: 100 years of awesome," and photos to capture it all.

Woods said her sister is planning to create something with the photos for their mother, who thoroughly enjoyed the special day.

"She still talks about it," Woods said.

3. 5-year-old St. Peter student goes door to door for food drive

 

He has the face of an angel - and apparently the heart of one, too.

Five-year-old Landon Connally defined what it means to have a giving heart when he set out to fill his parents' van with canned goods for the hungry in September.

"I think it was just a really good experience for him and something that's just true to his heart," said Landon's mother, Rhonda Connally. "Every time he sees a homeless person, he wants to stop and give them money. I think it's something that he'll continue to do throughout his life."

Connally's efforts were part of area Catholic schools' third annual War Against Hunger food drive.

Going door to door through several neighborhoods and traveling across Jefferson City to pick up boxes left on front porches, he filled the family van multiple times over two weeks, contributing to St. Peter Interparish School's 2,500 pounds of food collected.

When many people didn't answer their doors on his first go-around, Connally took it a step further and set up outside local grocery stores, offering toys he no longer plays with in exchange for canned goods. A local homeless man even donated to the cause outside Hy-Vee.

"That was one of the most memorable moments for me out of the whole thing," Rhonda said.

St. Peter, Immaculate Conception, St. Joseph's Cathedral and St. Francis Xavier schools combined for more than 27,900 pounds of food to donate to the Samaritan Center - the schools' biggest haul ever at 11,000 pounds more than last year.

"They really got into quite the competition. They really went all out this year," said Denise Kuensting of the Samaritan Center.

Ultimately, Immaculate Conception won the contest for collecting the most pounds of food per student.

Connally's efforts at spreading generosity didn't end with the contest, though.

"He wants to use the rest of his allowance money and get toys and wrap them up and give them to random people at Walmart this weekend," Rhonda said Thursday. "He wants to 'elf' people, he calls it."

4. Rhonda Allen named JCPS Teacher of the Year

Rhonda Allen was named Jefferson City Public Schools' Eisinger Teacher of the Year in April - an honor the fourth-grade Thorpe Gordon Elementary School teacher's mother, Saundra Allen, received two decades earlier.

"I think it really brought it home to me whenever I was named Teacher of the Year because how awesome is it that your mom was Teacher of the Year 20 years ago and that now I am because of everything she's taught me," Rhonda said in May.

Saundra is retired from teaching after a 37-year career that started in 1972. She began teaching art at Blair Oaks High School, then moved on to St. Peter Interparish School for 15 years to teach fifth- and sixth-grade language arts. She then spent 21 years teaching elementary art for Jefferson City Public Schools.

Rhonda has taught at Thorpe Gordon for 13 years, and she was at East Elementary School for two years before that - where she and her mom worked together.

Saundra said Rhonda's achievement was in some sense a bittersweet moment for them after a difficult prior year in which her husband and Rhonda's father, Tyronne Allen, and their son and Rhonda's brother, Robert Paul Allen, died.

Rhonda added: "We know that they had a hand in that because they're our guardian angels."

As Teacher of the Year, Rhonda received $1,000. She said last week that she gave half of it to Thorpe Gordon.

Saundra also was recognized in July by the State Board of Education and the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as a Pioneer in Education. She was one of six individuals to receive the award this year. Since 1974, the governing bodies have recognized people for "their distinguished careers and contributions to public education, either at the state or local levels."

Since publication of the Allens' story, Rhonda said, she's also been asked to serve on the governing body of the local United Way. She and her mom volunteered some time at Thanksgiving to serve and deliver food to families, and she led her fourth-graders in their performance at the ceremony for this year's Wreaths for Heroes.

Nominations for the 2018 Eisinger Teacher of the Year award are due Jan. 10, according to JCPS. More information and a link to submit nominations is available at www.jcschools.us/Page/9684.

5. HALO opens new teen homeless shelter

HALO expanded the services it offers to Jefferson City area youth when it opened a new, larger home Jan. 24.

The organization, which works to provide homeless youth with basic needs, shelter and residential programs, has operated a teen homeless shelter in Jefferson City since 2015.

The renovated facility in the former Rickman Conference Center at 3519 Bennett Lane - made possible through a partnership with F&F Development which bought the property in 2015 - can serve up to 48 youth at a time, where HALO previously could serve only six. The new facility also makes it easier to monitor residents' safety, as opposed to the previous apartment rental arrangement.

The HALO Home helps Transitional Living Program participants learn to cook their own meals, pay their own bills and take care of themselves independently. Depending on circumstances, they can stay with HALO for up to two years.

HALO founder Rebecca Welsh said the program has served 36 girls since it started and continues to grow.

"It continues to be eye-opening every day because there are kids that come from all different types of circumstances that are in such dire need and in our backyard," Welsh said. "I'm grateful that our community has made it possible to be able to provide a home for them."

She said HALO anticipates a jump in program participation in 2018.

"This first year we wanted to get our feet on the ground at the home - just make sure that everybody has their system in place and our policies are strong," she said.

A highlight of the year has been hosting holiday dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas where HALO graduates returned to share their stories with current participants.

"That is such a victory for us because it's what we hope for," Welsh said. "Especially the young mothers who have children that are maybe 3 or 4 now, they're able to provide for them now and they have good jobs and are successful, and they're able to be a great example for other people in their lives."

They hope to continue those dinners monthly to foster a sense of family.

HALO also plans to start 2018 with a new goal - establishing a second Jefferson City home, this one for boys.

"The way that the home happened the first time around was so quick and we were so blessed, and we're hoping for something to happen fairly quickly for the boys as well because we get calls on a daily basis."

6. Local woman receives delayed military footstone for husband

After waiting 32 years, Wardsville resident Elizabeth Hoelscher-Siebeneck saw a military footstone placed on her late husband's grave in June.

U.S. Army veteran Leon Hoelscher died June 24, 1985, leaving behind his wife and three children. He joined the Army in August 1966 and served in Fort Lewis, Washington, and Thule Air Base in Greenland before being discharged in August 1968.

After his death, Hoelscher-Siebeneck applied for a military marker through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for her late husband's grave. Since she already had purchased a headstone, she was told she was ineligible for the military footstone.

The VA furnishes government headstones or markers for veterans who died on or after Nov. 1, 1990, and whose graves have privately purchased headstones. Veterans who died before Nov. 1, 1990, couldn't receive a furnished government headstone or marker, by law, if their graves were marked and they were buried in private cemeteries.

Hoelscher-Siebeneck wrote to the VA and Missouri lawmakers multiple times requesting a footstone, but to no success.

"It's not that I couldn't afford or buy the footstone, but the government should have given him the honor," she said. "It's just been a long time, and he deserves it."

When Jim Rosenberg, state director for the American Legion Riders and assistant director for the local chapter in Jefferson City, heard her story, he told everyone he could. Eventually, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States purchased a footstone for Hoelscher's grave.

7. Local veteran first to participate in equine PTSD program

Healing Horses Therapeutic Riding Program in Linn has continued to expand its Horses for Heroes veterans' horse riding and mustang training program, which the News Tribune highlighted in November through the eyes of its first participant.

Executive Director Amy DeCramer founded Healing Horses more than 10 years ago to help people with mental and physical disabilities face social, mental and physical challenges. It provides scholarships for families who require assistance to enter a child into therapy, as well as a scholarship for the first five veterans to sign up for the Horses for Heroes program that began this fall.

Roger Crothers, the first to sign up with the veterans' program, a Vietnam War Navy veteran who works with the mustang Navi to treat long-suffered PTSD, put all the credit on the DeCramer family - Amy, Tye, 14-year-old Austin and 3-year-old Sadie - along with dedicated volunteer Steve Maxwell, for creating a beneficial program he hopes more veterans will reach out to for mental and physical therapy.

"I get really peaceful, and it's just been good for my soul. She named it aptly, I guess, because it is very healing," Crothers said.

Since the News Tribune last reported on Horses for Heroes, another veteran has entered the training ring with Navi. He is the third to enter the program, joining Frederick Gage, who is taking riding lessons, and Crothers, who enjoys doing both.

Maxwell's wife and fellow veteran, Nancy Maxwell, is ready to assist female veterans who would like to sign up. Healing Horses also is building a new barn to offer year-round lessons and recently obtained a big Percheron horse to accommodate larger riders.

"The best part about the veterans program is that they look forward to it. They get excited to come out because it is calming for them, and it kind of grounds them," DeCramer said. "Like Roger and Fred tell me, it helps get them through the day."

8. Local couples get engaged during total solar eclipse

The sky went dark. The air grew quiet.

As their girlfriends stared at the corona of a rare total solar eclipse hovering over Mid-Missouri, two boyfriends made the most of the moment.

Two Jefferson City couples became engaged during the Aug. 21 solar eclipse. Both brides-to-be said the experience was one they would remember forever.

"I think he wanted it to be unique, so nobody would ever forget it," Samantha Booher, of Jefferson City, said at the time.

Max Bevell, Booher's boyfriend of three years, worked with her boss to convince Booher to take the day off from her job at Thorpe Gordon Elementary School. The couple watched the spectacle at Ben Branch Lake Conservation Area, 31 miles east of Jefferson City.

Bevell and Booher plan to get married at The Millbottom on April 13, 2019.

About 30 miles west of the conservation area at Jaycee Park Lake, Steve Scrivner also seized the moment.

As the corona faded and turned night back to day, Scrivner crouched behind Katie Goetz, his girlfriend of six years.

"That is so sweet," Goetz said as she looked up at the sun.

"I'm seeing something a lot more beautiful," Scrivner said, looking at her.

"What?" Goetz retorted without looking.

As she turned around, she told him, "You were going to ask."

Goetz said Scrivner had wanted to watch the eclipse at the Carnahan Memorial Garden near the Capitol because they love going to the garden together. When he suggested that, she made a face, thinking something might be up. So he took her to the Jaycee Park Lake, where they also often go.

Fittingly, they plan to get married in the Carnahan Memorial Garden on Aug. 11, 2018.

In the end, it was a dream proposal, she said.

"It was once-in-a-lifetime," Goetz said. "It was a special spot."

9. John and Nina Brooks are 'valentines for life'

On Valentine's Day, the News Tribune visited with a couple who had been married for 68 years, and we fell in love with their story.

When John Brooks met the girl who would eventually become his wife, Nina, he said he had to fight off some other guys to get to date her.

The couple, who grew up and lived most of their lives in Armstrong, Missouri, moved to the Jefferson City area to be near their children and grandchildren. They were residents at Primrose Retirement Community when we met them.

John and Nina Brooks started dating in 1943, when they were freshmen in high school.

John said they broke up for a while but got back together in their junior year and married in December 1948.

One of the first times John met Nina, she was playing the piano. That was something she would do for many more years, often playing at the church she and John attended in Armstrong.

John played centerfield on a semi-pro baseball team for a while in Armstrong before being injured and going on to work 34 years for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

10. Don Webb reminisces on pro football career before Super Bowl

Before the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl this past February, the News Tribune visited with a Jefferson City man who played for the Boston Patriots.

Don Webb played from 1961-71. Boston was one of the original eight teams that formed the American Football League, which was founded by Kansas City Chiefs founder/owner Lamar Hunt. The team changed its name to New England in 1971.

Born in Jefferson City in 1939, Webb - along with Mel West, who also played for the Patriots - were the first black athletes to play Jefferson City Jays football in the 1954-55 school year.

Webb was a 24th-round draft pick for the Patriots out of Iowa State. He was an AFL All-Star selection in 1969 and was selected to the Patriots' All-1960s Decade (AFL) Team.

Perhaps Webb's best day as a pro was Dec. 17, 1961, when he returned a blocked punt 20 yards for a touchdown and returned an interception 31 yards for another touchdown in the Patriots' 41-0 shutout of the San Diego Chargers.

Webb was injured and didn't play in the 1963 season. That happened to be the only season the Patriots went to the AFL Championship Game, which they lost to San Diego.

Webb said he's been lucky all his life, starting when he met his wife, Joyce.

Joyce said Don still loves to watch football - but only if the Patriots are playing.

"They are still his favorite," she said.

Joyce also said Don, who turned 78 this year, now gets his biggest thrills from visits with his family.

"We have a great-granddaughter, and he makes her smile and she makes him smile," Joyce said.