Have we ever had as much laughter at a meeting of the Greene County Historical Society as we did on Friday, Nov. 1, in Scranton? The program was a celebration of the 70 years of Scranton's Varceis Club, which raises money for scholarships and community projects, mainly with a big salad luncheon and often-crazy skit every September. At our meeting, they re-created scenes from some of those skits, including having the club's "chefs" roll in this huge 70th birthday cake. The surprise was when Roberta Brown Henning, 89, the only original member of the Varceis Club still living, popped up in the middle of it. "Isn't it fun being a little crazy?" she said afterward. The program also featured a round-up of the histories of other women's clubs in Greene County.

At our Oct. 4 meeting and program at the United Methodist Church in Rippey, we learned about the state programs to honor historic farms. Nancy Hanaman, of Rippey (second from left) coordinated the program, in which stories of their families' farms were told by (left to right) Roy Bardole, of rural Rippey; sisters Linda Young of Brookfield, Ill., and Mary Ann Young Miller, of Perry; and Joanne Jones, of Perry. The Bardole and Young farms are in the Rippey area, and the Jones farm is near Dana. There are 278 "Century Farms" in Greene County, meaning they've been owned by the same family for at least 100 years, and 10 "Heritage Farms" here -- those have been in the same family for at least 150 years.

On Saturday, Sept. 7, members of the Greene County Historical Society and others from the public welcomed a motor tour that traveled across the county on the Lincoln Highway. There were about 40 cars on this trans-USA tour, which is being sponsored by the Lincoln Highway Association. We hosted a "museum party" at our building in Jefferson. The tour is commemorating the centennial of a U.S. Army convoy, with Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower as one of its ranking officers, that traveled the Transcontinental Highway in 1919. On August 24, a convoy of restored military vehicles came through Greene County in a similar commemoration.

When Grand Junction celebrated its sesquicentennial on August 2-4, one of the highlights was a big parade that had several generations participating -- and watching, too. We caught up with these two pals watching rom the shaded front entrance of Kennedy's Museum. They are museum owner Jerry Kennedy and his great-granddaughter Edynn Smith, of Paton.

Here's one of the historic steam engines on the move during the 20th “Pleasant Prairie Old-Fashioned Threshing Bee” held July 27-28 by the family of Nick & Annette Foster at their farm northwest of Jefferson. “This is a historic farm re-enactment,” Nick Foster, a member of the historical society's board of directors, recently explained. “We teach the way things were done. It’s one way to keep the rural culture and history alive.” There are demonstrations of threshing and plowing, an antique tractor ride, music and food over the two days. (Photo is by Roger Aegerter)

After retired journalists Chuck Offenburger and Jerry Roberts -- co-hosts of the historical society's "History Chats" at the recent Greene County Fair -- picked the brains and imaginations of these five about the future of Greene County, Offenburger said it was "the best conversation I've had in 15 years here." The five, from the left, Greene County High School senior class president Sophia Ausberger; rock musician, barbecue slinger & barista Parker Willis; Greene Bean Coffee co-owner & high-level IT systems manager for Oracle, Rich Osborne; Greene County Treasurer Katlynn Mechaelsen, and farmer Schyler Bardole. Hopefully, we'll have a story later about the key points of the panel discussion.