Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 135, Number 39, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 29 September 2016 — Page 3

Tried tomatoes The last thing I did the morning I left on vacation was walk out to the garden in our back yard and pick all the ripe tomatoes I could find. We were coming off a mini-drought, when lawns got brown and the com got dry. As it turns out, that dry spell ended when I bent over to reach for a tomato. The sides

opened and I got drenched. That was the last I saw of the garden for about three weeks. I put all the tomatoes in baggies to eat during my travels, while

I rode jets from South Bend to Chicago, Chicago to Denver, and, after a six-hour layover, Denver to Rock Springs, Wyoming. I ate my last tomato during that layover in Denver. The first thing I did when I got back from vacation was go out in the garden to see what shape it was in. There were some good looking ripe tomatoes in the garden, but there was a greater number of rotting tomatoes that had split open and in many cases fallen to the dirt. It was hard to separate good from bad. > Mostly there were Tired Tomatoes. Maybe they were red, but they were thin skinned and tasteless. Summer was over. Back when we'd planted the garden we were full of hope, and this year most of our hopes were fulfilled! Tomatoes, hot peppers, egg plants, and cucumbers. That first tomato is almost sinful with its thick skin and rich flavor. I ate them like apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We weren't overly ambitious with the garden. My wife Jennie and I usually plant only what we can eat, with some left over to share with family and friends. We don't do any canning and almost no freezing. Our garden is for the glorious present, and it's designed to be enjoyed until the day it becomes a pleasant memory. Now it's time. Oh, they taste good enough in salads, these tomatoes, and cucumbers, and peppers. But whereas earlier this summer I ate my salads without any dressing because the flavors were so rich and wonderful, now I get out the balsamic vinegar and some pepper and spice things up a little. Summer can't last forever. And I wouldn't want it to. Fall is beautiful anyway, what with the bright colors as the leaves take their leave and fall. There are brisk winds, football, and open windows at night. Mosquitoes die (for now). So maybe losing the garden is a small price to pay to embrace the most beautiful time of the year! One by one we're pulling the plants out by their roots. One by one we're laying them to rest, giving them a proper burial in the compost. One by 0ne.... Then it hit me -- tired tomatoes? I'm pretty tired too. There's a bowl on the counter with the last of the ruby red tomatoes, symbolic of great hopes. IFs over for now, but trust me: it won't be long before it gets cold, the snow covers the earth, the winds howl - and the first seed catalogs arrive in the mail! And while we pore over their profusely illustrated pages we'll dream again of planting, picking, and eating summer wrapped in a thick, red skin. That's how it works. I still have hope. Frank Ramirez is the Senior Pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren.

Death notices Harold Leroy Berkey GOSHEN Harold Leroy Berkey, 89, of Goshen, died Wednesday, Sept. 21 at his residence. Arrangements are with Thompson-Lengacher & Yoder Funeral Home, Nappanee. Eryl D. Bumworth NAPPANEE - Eryl D. Bunworth, 92, of Nappanee, died Monday, Sept. 19 at Greencroft Healthcare Center, Goshen. Arrangements are with Thompson-Lengacher & Yoder Funeral Home, Nappanee. Lindsie Michelle Kaufman ETNA GREEN Lindsie Michelle Kaufman, 7, of Etna Green, died Thursday, Sept. 22 at Riley Children's Hospital. Arrangements are with Thompson-Lengacher & Yoder Funeral Home, Nappanee. Richard “Jake” Harold Mattem NAPPANEE Richard "Jake" Harold Mattem, 94, of Nappanee, died Monday, Sept. 19 at Elkhart Hospice House. Arrangements are with Thompson-Lengacher & Yoder Funeral Home, Nappanee. Donnabelle ‘Donsie’ J. (Hepler) Monhaut NAPPANEE—Donnabelle "Donsie" J. (Hepler) Monhaut, 83, of Nappanee, died at 7:15 p.m., Monday, Sept. 5, at Miller's Merry Manor in \Vakarusa. Arrangements are will Thompson-Lengacher & Yoder Funeral Home, Nappanee.

County Road Seven I By Frank Ramirez

/ U Store It Mini Warehouse sxlo • 10x10 10x20 • 10x30 ... .. 1 1100 W. Market Street, Nappanee

Berger Real Estate Auction Tuesday, October 18,2016 • 6:00 p.m. Auction Locatlan: Hahn Auction Building, 401 S. Oakland Ave., Nappanee. IN. east of downtown Nappanee on US 6 (Market St J to Oakland Ave.. then 2 blocks south. PrafMty Location: One mile south of the downtown square in Nappanee. IN on St. Rd. 19 to 1350N,then east 11/2 miles at 6491W1350 N, Nappanee, IN 46550

HOUSE, BUILDINGS AND 3.2 ACRES

GENERAL INFO: This 3.2 acres has a large 2-story 4 older house with 4 bedrooms, 13x91/2 down & 3 up - 12) 9x15 & 9x16. The living room is 15x12. The dining is 11x15 and the kitchen is 91/2x24 with utility room K area and pantry. There is a 32x20 attached garage. The house has vinyl siding, gas FA furnace and a newer 4” well. The house is spacious but the only I bath needs upgrading. There are two outbuildings. one is a 42x90 pole barn with stone floor and the other is 33x90 with a concrete floor. - TERMS & CONDITIONS - PROCEDURE: The property will be offered in 1 tract, subject to confirmation of the sellers. DOWN PAYMENT: 10% downpayment on the day of the auction with the balance in cash at closing. The down payment may be made in the form of cash, cashier’s check, personal check or corporate check. Your bidding is not conditional upon financing, so be sure you have arranged financing. If needed, and are capable of paying cash at closing. SURVEY: Will be split 50/50 between buyer and Seller. ACCEPTANCE OF BID PRICES: All successful bidders will be required to enter into purchase agreements at the auction site immediately following the close of the auction. All final bid prices are subject to approval by the Sellers. ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS MADETHEDAYOFTNESALETAKEPRECEDENCE OVER PRINTED MATERIAL OR ANY OTHER ORAL STATEMENTS MADE. AUCTIONEER NOTE: Your bidding is not conditional upon financing, so be sure you have arranged financing-if needed. For more information on financing or inspection, contact Hahn Auctioneers, Inc. _ . . . Tin formr property of Stanley W. ft Martha C. Berger, deceased

HAHN AUCTIONEERS, INC.

Community

My biggest influences in life

Growing up, I was blessed with a big strong protector. My Uncle David was my hero for I always knew I was safe with him watching over me. That one of his hands was missing all fingers was of no matter because that was the only way I had ever known him. My unde's crescent shaped stump seemed a magical part of him. It was one of the

many things that made him spedal and unique. My unde was not any different than anyone else. He loved his family. He was a hard worker. And he was a Christian man who loved God. Unde David (whom I have affectionately called Unde Bud since I first started talking) never appeared handicapped. I never heard anyone call him disabled. He was simply living a normal life by utilizing his mind and learning to physically accomplish things in a new way. The acddent which took my unde's fingers happened in his teenage years. He healed and retrained himself to write with the opposite hand and make it his dominant source of action and in handling things. He finished high school continued working helped neighboring fanners during bailing season was just as proud as his teenage peers to drive a vehide and remained sodal and active in tne same teenage life as those around him. After graduation Unde Bud became a laborer. He has worked many different industrial positions, and learned spedal skills induding electrical work to keep things from lights and appliances to machines operating at both work and home. Everyone knows my uncle a sharp thinker dever witted well humored a tender heart that will do anything he is able for anyone around him and a devout Christian. Sometime after he graduated my unde's epilepsy not his injured hand led him to give up his driver's license. He has always been such an awesome inspiration of the kind of person to be when you grow to adulthood. Unde David never let on like he was any different than the next guy, so I nearly grown before I was aware that his injured hand was actually deemed a disability. Suddenly I was aware that to some his hand was a handicap but never to him. I have a second uncle who was bom with a spine that literally contorted his torso at odd angles leaning severely one direction, then suddenly another. He had multiple other health dilemmas develop in his lifetime. Again, 1 never knew this to abnormal. I didn't see others with the same diseased back but that didn't matter. This was the only way I ever knew my uncle to be so that in and of itself was normal in my eyes. My Uncle Wilbur had so much love in his heart that it overflowed onto everyone, of every age, whom he met every day of his life. To this day he is one of the strongest Christians I have ever known. And thanks to him, his genuine love for me, and his heart-filled love of God, I am a bom again Christian today. Uncle Wilbur was the first to lead me up to the church alter for deliverance with his oxygen tube secured on his head, and pulling his oxygen tank. That Uncle Wilbur did not have a job never seemed curious to me as a child. I just assumed the reason he was always around to visit with me was because it was Sunday when that side of the family got together so he didn't work Sundays.

Due to space limitations in this edition, ‘All Those Years’ will return next week

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Merrie’s Musings By Merrie Chapman Staff Writer

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Advance News • Thursday, September 29, 2016

of and my unde healed, he would be back to work. Ah, the simple thoughts of a child. The day came when Unde Wilbur needed a surgery that left him with a trachea tube. I remember watching him adjust it each time he would speak. Again it didn't seem abnormal. It was simply the next step in him getting better. Though Unde Wilbur was well aware that it wouldn't heal or change, and he adjusted accordingly and it was indeed his new “normal". Each new medical challenge, and every new day, he continued life in good spirits focused on God and leading others to follow him in both areas. These two men will forever be two of my biggest influences in life. Along the way I have experienced extended family who were mentally challenged, others with physical disabilities, and a few with learning disabilities. I love and respect them all for doing what they are each capable of doing. But these two uncles, representing two different family lines, set the bar high for all on how to be a strong man of character. That is true whether or not you are 100% healthy, disabled in some manner, or fall anywhere in between those two spectrums. 1 would never have settled for anything less in a husband because both of these uncles proved that no matter how rotten the lemons you are dealt in this life, you can still make the best tasting lemonade with what you have in your possession. I thank them both for my recovery following my near fatal auto accident. Thanks to those beautiful impressions they made on me, I came home from the hospital smiling and welcoming the opportunity to learn how to function with the "new me". I did not look at the brain injury, hearing loss, memory loss, weak focus and chronic pain and fatigue issues among other things as disabilities. They are simply a part of the new me I have become since the accident. And, though one uncle has passed, I have two shining examples of how to live life to the fullest and happiest without feeling different or less than. I admit that it was a long time before I accepted my label of disability, or willingly used my handicap tag when parking. But in accepting it, I still accepted the challenge of living life to the fullest because that is what I was taught by example. Thank you, David Gilley, Nappanee, and Wilbur Schuh, a heavenly resident, for creating in me someone who does not see disability, handicap or hindrance. You taught me to accept life challenges not as a punishment, but rather an opportunity to grow and develop in new ways. I know you both are still watching over me. And I know you will both be leading me in coming weeks as I begin talking with members of the Elkhart County Special Olympics team, and introducing them to our readers. I hope to honor and represent them in such a way that my readers can learn from them just as deeply as I've learned from both of you.

And it rarely came into thought or conversation that he wasn't working during the week while I was at school. Though I'm sure if it had I would have shrugged it off, assuming that whatever the newest medical challenge he was facing had to be the reason for his not working. I would also have assumed when the doctor got things taken care

Keeping Your Life in Motion

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Hip pain Because our hips connect our legs to our torso, this generates tremendous stresses across the hip joint. The white, smooth joint cartilage, designed for such stress, acts like ball bearings between two hard surfaces. Unfortunately, anything mechanical can, and does, wear out. Hips can develop severe arthritis. Symptoms often start as a deep ache, sometimes with a painful snap or grind, and develop into constant pain while bearing weight and limiting motion. People tend to stop wearing lace-up shoes because they can’t rotate their hip enough to cross . their teg. Bone spurs (osteophytes) develop on both sides of the joint, acting like doorstops to limit motion. Eventually, restricted motion makes everyday activities no longer easy or enjoyable. How do we treat it? Early on we treat the symptoms with oral meds like ibuprofen. Some people power through or avoid painful activities. But not much else helps for long other than replacement surgery. It sounds daunting, but it can allow you to resume normal and enjoyable activities. And, my job is to get your Life in Motion. To schedule an appointment with Dr. McClain, please coil Allied Bone and Joint at 574.540,2500* JR

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Richard McClain, DO Orthopedic Surgeon on staff at SJHS Plymouth Medical Center