Under the Water Tower Lovilia News

Beef and Chicken Noodle Supper Wednesday, April 28

The United Methodist church of Lovilia will sponsor a supper Wednesday, April 28th from 5-7 pm at the Lovilia Community Building.  The meal will consist of beef or chicken noodles, salad bar, pie and beverages.   Free will offering for the missions is the cost of the meal.  Everyone is welcome for their good home cooking!

May 1st is all city yard sales for Lovilia

May 1st St. Peter’s bake sale

The ladies of St. Peter’s will hold a bake sale Saturday, May 1st.  It will start at 8am and go until sold out.  It will be held on the sidewalk just north across from the post office in Lovilia.

May 1st 4-H Bake  Sale and Yard sale

The members of Bluff Creek Progressives 4-H club with Lovilia members will hold a bake sale and yard sale on Saturday, May1st in Lovilia.  Starting at 8am at the Brandy Mansur home on West Third street in Lovilia.  Treat yourself and help out the club.

St. Peter’s Spring Sacraments and Honors

May 2nd, Sunday we have three young ladies receiving first communion.  They are:  Hailey Kurimski, daughter of David and Tina Kurimski; Savannah Stalzer, daughter of Brad and Mindy Stalzer; and also Hanna Kuhlmann, granddaughter of Joe and Kathy Welsh (Hanna’s mom is Michelle).

Also being honored is Aaron Kurimski, son of Bernard and Helen Kurimski who will celebrate confirmation when the bishop is here.

Seniors graduating from high school to be honored are:  Amber Davis, daughter of Jay and Ellie Davis; and Emily Welsh, daughter of Pat Welsh and Brenda Welsh.

As part of our rotation with Georgetown and Melrose, St. Peter’s will celebrate mass in May through August at 8:30am in Lovilia.  Also, starting May 2nd, we will resume collecting non-perishable food items for the Helping Hands food pantry each week.  A & R dues for the year of $10 are to be paid to treasurer Mary Chamberlain.

Recycle in Lovilia Saturday May 8th

Remember to recycle at the usual place and time from 8am-10am across from the post office.  It is free and new recyclers are encouraged .   We just celebrated another annual Earth Day.  Recycling makes you earth friendly!  It will make you feel good and it is free.  Yes, free!

Walmart and Proctor and Gamble are leading an initiative to get more family programming on television that moms and kids both like(without sex, violence, and bad language).  The first movie they are developing is to be on NBC April 16th, Friday, at 7pm.  the movie is called “Secrets of the Mountain”.  To see a movie trailer (preview) go to www.youtube.com/videos.  Then in search space type :  secrets of the mountain movie trailer.  Then when that appears click on the movies picure to start the video preview.   Watch the movie and if you like it let these companys know you would like more such family movies.  Let me know what you thought of it.  I am not promoting Walmart or P & G but I would like to see decent prime time tv shows the whole family can watch together.

Census Forms Send it in soon

Please send in your form.  It helps get the government money per person for our city streets and other programs.  If you don’t mail it, the census bureau will send someone to your home to get the answers to the census questions.  That will begin about May 1st.

If you don’t fill out your census form and return it, the federal government has to hire people to knock on the door of every home that did not return their form.  Paying those people costs all taxpayers millions of dollars.  So please fill out and return the form and it will save you money.

Our quality of Lovilia streets depends on you sending in your census form too.  City clerk, Patti DeGross, says the dollars the town receives to pay for street repair is based on the number of people who live in Lovilia.  So to get all dollars we are eligible for, we need to count everyone who lives here.

Currently, 58% of the forms have been returned.  That means over 4 out of 10 people still have not filled out the form.  So please save yourself money, help pay for good streets, and send in your completed census form.

Retiring Teachers with Lovilia Roots

Retiring at the end of this school year are Judy Jones and Roxanne Cox who teach at Albia.  Judy grew up in Lovilia as Judy Blomgren and has taught many years and is retiring as a fifth grade teacher.  RoxAnne taught several years in Lovilia as the third grade teacher and then when the Lovilia gradeschool closed was transferred to Albia where she is retiring from the sixth grade.  Both have served the children well and we wish them an enjoyable and fruitful retirement.

Updates on Deceased Lovilia High School Alumni

Those who have died in the past year and their year of graduation:

Paul Ansley 1955

Jack Avon class of 1955

Catherine Cummins Beeson 1950

Napolean “Buddy” Nutter 1945

Robert Richmond 1943

If anyone knows of others please tell the alumni committee:  Sandy Winegardner 641-842-3278 or Ilene Pottorff 641-946-8130

Other recent deaths:

Sister Marcia Kearney, age 86 died March1st.  She was born in Weller and entered the Congregation of the Humility of Mary in 1950.  She spent all her working life in Davenport.

Margaret Clark who worked  20 years in the post office and then five more as postmistress at Lovilia before retiring recently died.  When her husband Purl died in 1982 she moved to DesMoines.  She has a daughter, Judy, in Florida and a son, Jim in Clive, Iowa. Burial was in Lovilia Woodlawn Cemetary.

Ruth Parker, wife of Harold Parker, recently died.  She and Harold lived in a farm home south of Lovilia on Hwy 5.

May they all rest in eternal peace.

Notes from Lovilia History

In 1902 the Lovilia school was closed for two weeks due to an outbreak of smallpox.  Then in 1921 the school was closed for five weeks for a smallpox epidemic.  Families were officially quarantined with a sign marked smallpox in large letters nailed on the side of the house and no one could leave the premises during the quarantine period.  This could go on for weeks if the whole family did not contract the disease at the same time.   The town marshal would bring the family groceries if they had no one else to do it.  The quarantined family would then pay off their bills after the quarantine was lifted.
I clearly remember in 1955 getting the smallpox vaccine before starting kindergarten.  It was scratched into my upper left arm and caused a large pox scab which later fell off leaving a permanent scar.  But a small price to pay for not being sick and covered head to toe with scars or death.

Now it is believed the disease has been eliminated from the face of the earth and children are therefore no longer vaccinated for it.

This is one success story in medicine that we can all rejoice in.

Easter Weekend

Have a Blessed Easter! Don’t eat all the candy and eggs at once!