FLASHBACK 2022: PART I

As Phillips County residents finish their annual unwrapping of Christmas presents, along with festive songs, delectable sweets, special church services and – possibly – a family argument or three, The Holyoke Enterprise will be taking a look back at this year’s top articles. 

Editor Andrew Turck chose 10 stories for the list with input from newspaper staff members both past and present. They are listed by date, from the earliest to the latest, with the first five set for this issue and the next for the following issue just after New Year’s Day.

Included inside will be memorable photos taken from January to June this year, moving on in the next from July to December.

1. “Building a strong foundation/ Holyoke Community Foundation seeks to provide local opportunities” (Jan. 12)

In a move designed to secure more state and federal funding for the local community, Directors Holly Ferguson of the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and Trisha Herman of the Phillips County Economic Development Corporation formed a new 501(c)(3), called the Holyoke Community Foundation. Herman became the new organization’s president, Ferguson its vice president and Russell Haynes its treasurer; Maddie Eurich, Tammy Kelley, Jessica Cumming and Derek Roberts filled out the board.

Herman and Ferguson decided to form the Community Foundation when they realized a significant amount of coronavirus pandemic funding lay out of reach of both the Chamber and Corporation, due to their 501(c)(6) status. Kelley, of Kelley Law, helped in the project’s research and donated money toward its completion. Haynes of Sandhills Accounting & Tax helped with the application process.

“We want to give back to our businesses,” Herman said. “That’s really how this all started. We want to continue to support our community.”

And the best way to “pay tribute,” Ferguson said, “is to find grants and watch that funding grow.”

For more information on the Community Foundation, call the Chamber at (970) 854-3517 or Corporation at (970) 580-3614.

2. “A citizen for the ages/Through years of dedication, James Scholl embodies citizenship” (Feb. 23)

Holyoke’s Citizen of the Years, recognized for community excellence by the city Chamber of Commerce, has spent his life serving the community – even into his nineties.

Winner James Scholl began working for the family business, then called Scholl Oil & Implement Company, at a young age, hauling fuel, working at its gas station and peforming repairs. When tires became rationed during World War II, he brought them in from Denver.

By 1950, his father Jake, the company’s founder, moved into retirement and James took charge of business management, expanding it into what would become Scholl Oil & Transportation Company. Business operations for Scholl Oil currently involve more than 30 employees and about 20 trucks on the road. James still participates in company operations, visiting the office several times a week.

In addition, he has served active roles in the First Baptist Church; hospital board; Sunset View board; and Pinnacol board of directors, which deals with state workers’ compensation. As a pilot with more than 5,000 hours in flight time, he also flew local people to out-of-state meetings and funerals, even bringing patients to the hospital.

During the interview for The Holyoke Enterprise, he often pointed out other Holyoke citizens, praising them for their work.

“I’m really proud of our community,” he said. “Good citizenry has helped our community reach the levels and goals we’ve reached.”

3. “Mexican cuisine and corn: A match made in heaven” (Feb. 23, “a salute to grain” special 

section)

Using cooking techniques passed down by her mother and grandmother, Maria del Rosario Olivas – called Chayo by friends and family – makes dishes that reflect the millennia-old relationship between corn and the Americas.

Growing up in the small, Mexican town of Las Varas, Olivas learned recipes that mix corn with garlic, onions, green beans, cilantro, potatoes and more into meals for the family. She ground corn kernals into dough by hand at 13, forming homemade tortillas she still makes today in Holyoke.

To make tamales, Olivas grinds a maize dough called masa, invented by ancient cooks through nixtamalization, a process accomplished by soaking corn kernals in an alkaline solution before peeling them. With a large spoonful of masa and another of meat, Olivas cooks the tamale with other ingredients within a water-softened corn husk.

In addition to tamales and tortillas, she enjoys making cornbread and pinole.

Olivas, as with the generations before her, has passed down traditional cooking methods to her two daughters. One of them made tortillas at a friend’s house with store-bought masa; without the process of grinding it herself, she later told her mother, it wasn’t any fun.

Friends and family continue to ask Olivas to cook for them: In the largest request, her grandson asked for 96 dozen tamales to use in a school bake sale.

4. “Through blood, sweat, tears and a pandemic, girls claim first title” (March 16)

Holyoke’s Lady Dragon basketball team, ranked second, returned to the 2A state tournament in Loveland after a 2020 championship cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. Bringing a defense that kept all their opponents below 35 points, the Dragons powered through a three-day gauntlet to claim their first ever state title.

Their final opponent, No. 1-ranked Sanford, had been the team they were set to face in the semifinals of 2020, before that tournament was cancelled. Coach John Baumgartner said the Dragons won this championship for Holyoke’s 2020 team as well.

“It’s crazy that we are the first ones to do that,” senior player Elyce Talavera said. “Our crowd showed up, and it helped a lot.”

The Dragons overcame a halftime deficit in their first game to defeat No. 7-ranked Dayspring Christian 33-30. Against Limon, the 2021 state champions, Holyoke played “unbelievably defensively,” according to Baumgartner, running up a 31-12 advantage by halftime, then holding back their opponents for a 45-34 victory.

Facing Sanford in the final championship, senior player Kristin Vieselmeyer said, “we just let loose.”

“Those kids made play after play – big plays,” Baumgartner said. “Couldn’t dream it up any better.”

As with Limon, Holyoke pushed into halftime with a significant lead – 23-8 – then held their opponents back when as Sanford began to outscore them in the third and fourth. The Dragons’ efforts paid off, netting them a 39-34 victory.

“Offense wins games,” Baumgartner said. “Defense wins championships.”

Three senior players graduated after the 2021-22 season and left the team: Lauren Herman, Vieselmeyer and Talavera. These players, Baumgartner said, will be missed.

5. “Community mourns loss of sassy, spunky, sweet 16-year-old / Jessie Owens killed in 1-car accident March 21” (March 30)

Between 900-1,000 people packed into the Phillips County Event Center to mourn the loss of 16-year-old Jessie Owens, a Holyoke High School sophomore known citywide for her kindness, compassion and love for others. She died in a one-car accident on March 21 along County Road 20.

“She loved older people, and she loved kids, and she tolerated the rest of us,” Jessie’s mom, Joan Owens, said with a laugh.

A popular babysitter and dogsitter, Jessie spent many hours with residents at Regent Park Nursing & Rehabilitation. She worked there at the front door check-in, though, as she would tell her mother, “I’d rather come and spend time with the residents.”

People who knew Jessie noted her random acts of kindness. Calling her “extremely thoughtful and intuitive,” Jessie’s ag teacher and FFA advisor Shauna Strecker remembered the many times she brought her coffee before school when she knew she was stressed. Jessie also decorated Softball Coach Kendra Schlachter’s car – inside and out – to celebrate her birthday.

“No matter what she was doing, whether it be 4-H, FFA, softball, working, etc., she did it with her whole heart and was determined to do the best she could at it,” Schlachter said. “She never settled for second best.”

Rebecca Owens, her older sister, said Jessie “was like my little shadow, my little right hand.” By the time Jessie joined the FFA vet science team, she already knew a significant amount due to tagging along years earlier with her sister.

Jessie had planned for for her and Rebecca to buy a tiny house; that way, they could still live together when her sister went off to college.

“The scary thing,” according to Randy Owens, Jessie’s father, “is she would have figured out a way to do it!”

Friends and family marked the crash site with items from “Cars” – one of Jessie’s favorite movies – along with flowers, stuffed farm animals, softballs and more.