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Jewell County Record
and The Superior Express Jewell County News section
100th Birthday for Ruth Holdren
A 100th birthday party honoring Ruth (Jacobs) Holdren was held Saturday,
Dec. 1, on her actual birthday at Hilltop Lodge in Beloit, Kan. Most of
her immediate family including nieces, nephews and friends were there to
help her celebrate. Ruth's only living sibling, a brother, Hugh "Bud"
Jacobs, came from Colorado.
Ruth is the oldest and Hugh the youngest of a family of six children. Their parents, Verne and Lulu Jacobs, lived south of Montrose. Ruth graduated from Montrose High School in May 1937 as the class valedictorian. She married Edwin Holdren on May 1, 1939 and raised four children on a farm south of Montrose. Her children and spouses include Walter and his wife, Vergaline, Mary Folsom, Betty and her husband, Bill Meis, and Janet and her husband, David Wilcox.
Ruth and Edwin celebrated 72 years of marriage. Ruth belonged to the Montrose Community Club. She was the Montrose community correspondent for the Jewell County Record from March 1970 to June 1996. She served on the election board for many years. She enjoyed going to the auctions as she collected cream pitchers of all kinds. She knew who owned most of the pitcher in her collection.
The day was festive starting with 100 candles on the lodge's lawn. The reception table displayed many of her memory books. There was a tree of life board with each of her children putting a colored thumb print on a branch. Individual notes of special memories with Ruth were hung on a board.
The tables were decorated with blue table cloths. Centered with some of her favorite things, her pitchers, books, yarn, roses, canning jars with tape measures and buttons glued on and chocolates wrapped in blue and gold put inside. Blue and gold balloons were part of the decorations.
The white and blue tiered cake was baked and decorated by her daughter, Jan, and served with blue punch. The ice cream machine was set up with all kinds of toppings.
Rock Hills graduates honored
Two Rock Hills alumni, Bergen Mauerhan and Mezvah Nobi, were
recently featured in a Kansas Leadership Journal story about the best and
brightest high school graduates in Kansas. Featured along with alumni
from Burlington, Liberal, and Olathe Northwest, it was a feat to have two
students from the same small high school on the list.
Mauerhan was the recipient of both the $40,000 Dane Hansen Leader of Tomorrow scholarship and the $40,000 Hagan Scholarship. She is currently majoring in biochemistry and premedicine at the University of Kansas. Nobi is also at KU, majoring in biochemistry and premedicine. He plans to become a neurosurgeon. He too was chosen for the Dane Hansen Leader of Tomorrow Scholarship worth $40,000 over four years. Both students are 2018 graduates of Rock Hills High School and are from Mankato.
In addition to being successful in academics, both Mauerhan and Nobi were involved in sports, clubs and community work. "I think that this article highlights some of the great advantages of being raised in a small town and going to a small school, like Jewell County and Rock Hills High School. Not only can scholars stand out in their educational accomplishments, students are also so well-rounded because of their involvement in other activities beyond school work. Northwest and North Central Kansas are starting to be a premier location because of all of the opportunities offered by the Dane G. Hansen Foundation through scholarships like Mauerhan and Nobi obtained and the grant opportunities for our non-profits and municipalities," said Jenny Russell, Jewell County Community Development Coordinator.
Sam Meyers, Rock Hills Junior Senior High School principal, commented, "I believe that the article featuring Bergen and Mezvah is a great recognition of their hard work and dedication as students. We are proud to have been able to provide that foundation here at Rock Hills. Their achievements really validate our district's hard work in ensuring there are ample opportunities within our curriculum to provide for advanced coursework as well as the abundance of concurrent college course work to prepare students such as Bergen and Mezvah for post-secondary success. It truly serves as an example that the highest level of education can be provided in a small school setting such as Rock Hills."
The Kansas Leadership Journal article can be found at: https://klcjournal.com/theyre-young-and-talented-high-school-grads-but-will-they-stay-in-kansas/.