2022 Fall Newsletter

Museum President, Jana Harrington-Barcus

but if the recipe wasn’t shared with us by Beverly Jack son, we wouldn’t have enjoyed them all these years… we would have really missed out! You will have to make this Butter Cookie recipe because it’s the best-ever in my eyes! I get them every year as a present from my sister Pamela. My Dad (Bob Harrington) also worked as the outdoor sportswriter for 60 years for the local paper. I loved growing up getting to know who shot that record buck or even their first, or who shot a nice harvest of quail or ducks, caught a big fish, big raccoon, as they were at our house sharing their adventure with our family. That’s history! I am grateful for the opportunity to re live my childhood happiness as I get the chance to talk with folks bringing their knowledge into the museum and learning even more about our area history. When I was younger, and sometime even now, all I wanted to do was get my studies done as fast as possible, pass my tests, and get to the barn so I could ride the hors es. I love my horses and still ride just not as much as I used to. The last few years helping as a tech and on the Goals and Mission Statement committee for the museum, I’ve developed a passion to learn even more about this town I grew up in. There is so much to know, learning about history as it’s written and listening to the folks that have a different opinion of how they feel it really was. We have so many things we all have been working on. We advanced the museum with seven new up-to-date computers, a network system server with backup and an off-site backup system. We purchased up-to-date software and installed security software for all ma chines allowing us to house any digital records more safely. Within this up-to-date system, we moved pho tos and documents entered by all the past and current volunteers to this server. We have a lot of knowledge able people that are working for the museum. Vol unteers are working on organizing and growing each area as to help visitors find their research by whatev er means they like to search, digital or hard copy and more. New research and specific displays are being worked on, and some updated. We have the official website moved over to a server we can better work with. We now have our own YouTube site and our con tinued Facebook site to put information on. It truly takes a village and this year we continue to make prog ress using our Goals and Mission statement. With the help of Economic Development Director Janet McRae, the group was able to compile the boards Goals and Mission Statement to be used each year. Each year

I was born and raised in Paola Kansas by a moth er and father passionate about the town and the families living here. I grew up living the hap py small-town dream. Having the opportunity to enjoy and love this “family town” and the people in it, someone was always stopping by our house, or we were going somewhere to pick blackberries, cher

ries, fish or hunt daily. I enjoyed learning to live off the land, be respectful of it and help others. My father loved this community so much that he offered a lot of his time to the people in it by education, or ganizing events like Hunter Safety classes, fishing derby’s, Rotary Parades and repairing fishing poles given to him by our community to give out to those in need. One of my favorite childhood memories of Paola Square was at Christmas time. We had the light ing of the Christmas tree, the mayor was there, the band and Santa Claus too! Everyone seemed to be in town walking the square in our winter coats, scarves, and gloves, visiting stores, and guessing games within each store to win prizes. I remember winning a Brandy Sniffer from Georges’ gift shop that was located on the east side of the square. Some folks may be wondering why we have recipes in this quarterly issue. Aggie Dillard, Past President came up with the idea and I love it because gathering and food is a major part of history. (Here is one yummy recipe story from our family.) The lighting of the tree in town square and the rest of the festive events were held on the night following Thanksgiving. One easy “recipe” we loved was mom would chop up some tur key, mix it in the left over dressing and mashed po tatoes, pour it in a 9x13 pan and bake it in the oven. When it was hot out of the oven, she would dish up a portion and pour warm gravy over it for each of us. Man! Talk about good, then off we would go to town for the fun. After we spent the evening in town, we went home for dessert. Dessert might be cherry or gooseberry pie, Christmas butter Cookies with hot chocolate or milk. (See our family butter cookie recipe in this issue.) All these years we haven’t given it out,

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