Community Calendar 

 

Other Community info can be found at these websites: 

Readlyn Library, Readlyn.com, Wapsie Schools, CLS 

 

Dec. 14. Wednesday - Early Dismissal 

CLS Christmas Show and Freewill Dinner 

 

Dec. 16, Friday - Senior Dinner, 11:30 am, Center Inn 

Dec. 17, Saturday - Santa Visit, 2:30-4pm, Center Inn 

Dec. 25, Sunday - CHRISTMAS 

Dec. 26, Monday - BANK NOT OPEN 

Dec. 28, Wednesday - Merry Elders, noon, Center Inn 

 

Jan. 28, Saturday - Readlyn Community Club (RCC) Dinner 

Feb 11, Saturday - 3rd Annual RCC Valentine Ball 

 

Please contact the Bank if you'd like your event listed:  

319-279-3321. 

 

THE LEGEND OF THE OLD GRUMP 

Grump Days is a wonderful combination of tradition and innovation, with quirky events in between; but what are the origins of Grump Days? This is a question shrouded in mystery. Though 2011 is just the 22nd year of The Grump, the grump story goes back much further than 1990. There's an old saying in Readlyn Town - and indeed its part of the Readlyn Chronicle Journalist Credo: "I don't know what the truth may be, I tell the tale as told to me." That said, there is a tale, sometimes told in hushed tones in the dim nooks of the Center Inn. It is a story that goes back to the younger days of our nation and to the birth of Readlyn Town, circa 1904.  

 

An old-timer - a "rider of the rails" they called his kind - was wandering his Country. Some say he was a soldier of the Civil War, originally from Ohio perhaps, who was on Sherman's March to the Sea (1864). Others say he was but a simple vagabond from who-knows-where. Anyway, the story goes The Old Grump was but a young man then when he jumped his first train. "He road them rails for 40 years," goes one telling. From California to the New York Island, from the redwood forest to the gulf stream waters, our weary traveler saw nary every inch of America.  

 

Just about the time the railroad came to Readlyn this mysterious soul arrived town; by now the young man had grown old and grumpy. He walked the town with his hickory cane, his tired spirit impervious to the happy greetings and smiles of the 857 Friendly People who never did begrudge him his grumpiness. "Too bad for the reason," they'd say, "but he's our neighbor now," and so they were all the friendlier to him. Nobody knew his name, nor did he tell it, so they just called him The Old Grump.  

 

"Good morning, Old Grump!" they'd say happily and sincerely. "How's The Old Grump this afternoon?"  

 

Also what the people didn't know is why The Old Grump got off the train that day and decided to stay. The simple reason is that he loved Readlyn. Never before in his old life nor in all the places he visited had people been so friendly to him. His face was frozen in a frown but inside The Old Grump was happier than he had ever been.  

 

It took him a whole year but then one fine morning in mid-June a miraculous thing happened: The Old Grump smiled! And laughed! They say this sudden smile lit up the town like fireworks and his laughter burst like a marching band in a parade. Some say that he smiled and laughed at his first sight of a child riding a bicycle: a curious sight at the time. But others said it was just that it took a whole year of Friendliness for his heart to finally thaw out. And he lived in Readlyn happily ever after. The End. 

-A.G. SEXTON 

 

THE GRUMP 1990-2010 

Sam Sickles 90 

Arlin Matthias 91 

Bud Rommel 92 

Dr. Carl Venske 93 

Ellen Staack 94 

Delbert Wittenburg 95 

Bob Ungs 96 

Wes Sauerbrei 97 

Doris Seydel 98 

Lavern Brase 99 

Harold Meier 00 

Erv Fortsch 01 

Ruth Steinbronn 02 

Janice Heineman 03 

Burton Thies 04 

Loren Reiher 05 

Roger Deterding 06 

Don Billhorn 07 

Lou Fortsch 08 

Ron Leistikow 09 

Verdeen Pavlec 10 

 

MISS READLYN 1990-2010 

Tracy Heinemann 90 

Sarah Zimmerman 91 

Tricia Moeller 92 

Tonia Hesse 93 

Heather Bailey 94 

Shannon Hartman 95 

Bobbi Jo Meyers 96 

Jill Brandt 97 

Amber Matthias 98 

Alicia Cox 99 

Roseanna Traeger 00 

Chelsea Matthias 01 

Jessica Kleitsch 02 

Heather Boevers 03 

Kira Matthias 04 

Elizabeth Macken 05 

Rachel Rathe 06 

Ashley Kleitsch 07 

Kalais Kuhlman 08 

Jaime Leistikow 09 

Tarissa Hagenow 10