1
r
i .
The
Sower
Kebrsska's siss3 towns cske up ncre Ciza
90 percent cf Nebraska's isrfcsa copshtton. TLb
Issue cf Hie Sower attempts to examine the
fesdaattag histories of Nebraska's sms!! towns
&ssd the v&riosis Issues corJucntin tfiesa.
Jocl Ssrtore tekes a nstd!c, dnsost mclsnc
feo!y look st the GentiM-Russian community la
Iir.cch, story end photos Ic-inr this pe,e.
Two stories examine business problems she3
tCT,rj experience, beginning on Psge 2.
One-room echodhoests msy be pssse In
nsest cf the country, bat Gsh Y. Katy md Joel
bst tslnstes ewsy from
licccla, tfcry on P-s 5.
. XMU settlers uprooted the Oasha Indian
from Ms pescefol csstorcl life more than a
centsry Today, the Osasha Is trying to revive
a c-tH-proad heritage. Rf&tihew Okerhmd end
David Creamer spent a week with the Osasha,
story r.d photos beginning on Fe 6.
FInaOy, Jim Rasmnssen reminisces chout
some cf the 0!d West's more colorful characters
end their roles In Nebraska's towns, story on
8.
Nebr aska in depth
n -
v.
v A
J
PaisSise Stretch, 99, si Akna8 Cexty Shep.
Joel Srtorelbs Sower
rrv
nemmem
aulir.fi Stranch looks out the
porch window of her immaculate
little house and venders why the
Lord hasn't taken her home yet
She sits alone in tidiness. Fifteen
family portraits surround her, keep her
company. The Kleenex twisted in her
99-year-cf d hand gets ' increasingly
ragged is she calks. - ?
"I raised five children and kept them '
dean. I worked and lived sad went to
church," she said-"Bat the ycur.cr
aeration are all different They don't
want to work, not like we did anyway.
"I worked until I wis 82. And now
cy children tell me I'd ping to five to
be 100," she said. "Bat I don't want to.
I'm getting tired of living. There's
nothing for me in this life anymore. I
did register as a Democrat though."
They are the test cf their kind, and
they are leaving us. ;
: ' Slowly, quietly, fc;;t certainly leaving
us. It's as simple and final as
dying in your sleep."
. Few notice their passage. And that's
a shame. For those people compose a
living history' of America.
They are the immigrants. Hons cf
them,- from every nation,' poured into
this country at the turn of the century,
looking for the American Dream, sad
Ending it. Here they stayed and worked
and lived and created a foundation cf
values and traditions upon which this
country stands today. .
Bat these originals are almost gone
now, the simple victims of time. If you
look hard enough though, you'll find a
few. Take the Germans from Russia, for
example, there are a handful of them '
stiii living in Lincoln, And if you ask, and
have the time to sit through a few
scrspbools, they'll remember for you.
Use Genssa-Rssslsa story had a
simple beginning. .. In ' 1763 ' Russia
promised tree land along ths;Yc!p.
Fjxr to those wjio wodd farm it Many
'Germans left their homeland and im-'
migrated to Russia.
Ccns-ei fsrs 4