My small home town of Buffalo, South Dakota, celebrated its Centennial and an All School Reunion over Labor Day weekend. It was a homecoming in the best of ways. Spending time with friends from long ago and cousins that came back to my generation's start in life was heartwarming.
My high school friend, D, and I worked the registration table a couple of three hour shifts and got to see other students that came home for the occasion. What a great way to find out about all the activities during the four days and to greet travelers and those who were wise enough to stay and make their homes in Harding County.
A cousin who stayed operates the Tipperary Motel where we always stay. That in itself is a sort of a homecoming.
In the Rec Center basket ball court other cousins had set up the T-REX STAN replica that was found just south of my grandparent's homestead. In 1987, a cousin, Stan Sacrison found the pelvis weathering out of a sandy cliff 100 feet above the prairie.
Parties, pot lucks, parades, rodeos and the dedication of the newly designed city park were just a few of the activities that were offered. A couple of dear friends and I drove the 12 miles north in the Cave Hills to take a picture of the little Finnish Lutheran Church that my grandparents worked so hard in the early 1900's to build and establish. I was baptized, confirmed and attended this church until I went away to college. Early in my life this meant listening to the service in Finnish and about turn listening to it back to back in English. I loved being able to read the hymns in the Finnish hymn book.
He Who Must Be Obeyed had reproduced, prepared, and framed two of my dad's paintings, one for the Senior Center and the other joined the four already in the Museum. It was most pleasing to be able to honor my dad, who was the town blacksmith, in this manner.
