Wine sampling??_Katie Dieckhaus_Gottfried Duden_Fred and Lucian Dressel_T. V. Munson_Georg and Georg Muench Jr._Paul Hopen_Bill and Mary Ann Sadler_Gabe Miller_Gerard Eisterhold Gentle readers, our live Tell It Like It Was in July features Derek VanBooven, who will speak about Friedrich Muench of Dutzow. As always, this event takes place at The Harmonie, 5333 Hackmann Rd., Augusta. It’s on Tuesday, July 14. Doors open 6pm; conversation starts 6:30pm. Admission is free. Wine

Nick & Rupert_Simple Gifts_She did not like me_Game show host_Gold mine of history_Tecklenburg_Top shelf Gentle readers, it all started when I saw an ad flyer in the Boone Country Connection. It was the December 2025 issue, in which I learned of an event in Femme Osage at the old stone schoolhouse. Here, let me show it to you… How could I resist? I love stone buildings (but not stone facades ☹) …and once upon a time I was hired to repair the bell tower you see atop the scho

Augusta Branch Library_Diane Jasper Kessler_Sherman tank_St. Francis Borgia_Carol Jasper Riegel_International and Deb_Roseland Ballroom Gentle readers, sometimes things just fall into place. On the Thursday after Veterans Day (Nov. 13, 2025), I stopped at the Augusta Branch Library and noticed that the coffee clutch was still going on, so I asked the ladies what they were chatting about. Immediately, Diane Jasper Kessler handed me her cellphone which was playing a video of

Us-and-them_Anita Mallinckrodt_Walter Kamphoefner_swung from trees_met in the Peace Corps_kiss your ring?_Eden Seminary_Janet and Don Fuhr_ye olde towne painter Gentle readers, I was born in the early 1950s in Jefferson City, MO, a plenty German American town, and I was immediately baptized and raised Catholic. From my young perspective, it was always us-and-them when it came to considering the religious environment around me. Notice, I didn’t say, us-against-them. I think

Louis Edward Nollau_King of Prussia_tired of all this religious fighting_Evangelical meant something very different_Friedrich Muench_Emmaus Home_Eden Seminary

Rev. Doyle_Donna Ruether Hellebusch_Franz Krekel_Giessen Society_Howmet Aerospace_twin spires

Gentle readers, neither I, nor any of my relatives, ever worked for the MK&T rail system. What’s more, I was never even a passenger on what was affectionately known as the Katy. And yet I feel a certain affiliation with, and even affection for, that railway.

Bob Marstall_St. Vincent de Paul Church_Dan Mudd_Tom Marstall_cholera_Washington Monument Co._Blumenhof Winery

FRESH Renewal Center_Maryville University_Mel Fuhr_Jerry Aholt_Lee Newman_God of the Wind_Rennard Backhaus_Frank Schwaiger, Jr._I am an aberration-A. E. Housman

Cheryl McKinley_F.R.E.S.H_Frank Schwaiger, brewmaster_Trudi Strauhs_Ford and Gladys Hendricks_Judy Paul_Mae Gravemann_Dotty Struckhoff_Frank Schwaiger, Jr. Cheryl Schwaiger McKinley: I think of it as storytelling. If you told me the word, interview, I would sort of freak out, but…I tell stories all the time. So…I like it. I don’t think I’ve ever been interviewed in my life… Really, what I do, which I enjoy very much, is telling stories… and people ask me…the origin of the S

a confession_MoSAC TPA_granny owned 5 tractors_Clarence Sehrt_ not a blood and guts guy_Bold Gold_Kevin Nadler_Ed Kamphoefner_Vernon Borgmann Gentle readers, I have a confession to make. Sometimes, I fail to exercise my curiosity, and I walk about blindly, ignoring the amazing things to be experienced right here in our corner of the world. Yessir, that’s a pretty sweeping statement, but nevertheless, I have reached that conclusion because of what I have learned from interview

TILIW - Dennis Nadler part 2 - Leonard - Roberta - Oscar and his cello – Kevin – Bernie – Genuine Stradivarius, 1720? – carried it under his

Town fixtures – Sam and Kaeko blowing glass - friends, Augustans, countrymen – Dennis Nadler – Jackie (Gerdiman) Nadler – August and Carrie (Tuepker) Nadler - we took the farm with us – Sunnyside Hatchery – Luetkemeyer Feed Store - Uncle Oscar played a cello Gentle readers, I’ve been living in or near southwestern St. Charles County since 1976. Hence, I’ve collected a lot of memories of this place. I try not to dwell on the past too much, but truthfully, I miss having town fi

Gentle readers, what does Klondike Park, located a few miles east of Augusta, mean to you?

TILIW Bank Vault to Burial Vault – Angela Stephens – Bob Brail – Bank of Augusta – the Town Painter emeritus Gentle readers, recently it was my pleasure to collaborate with Angela Stephens and Bob Brail on a video to unearth the Bank of Augusta from its resting place within the walls of the Pitman-Thilking Funeral Home in Augusta. Angela (president of Friends of Historic Augusta) is very creative with video recording, and Bob (editor of the Boone-Duden Historical Soci

The Buddhists Are Coming – my buddy, Paul - lotus flower - Herbie Hancock’s sidemen – Tina Turner – Monastic Deep Reflection Period – Leroy Nadler – Tom Whelan – the Chinamen – music so loud you can scrape it off the wall - the caretaker - that’s just crap on their radio – they built their temple on the hill Gentle readers, there once was man named A, shall we say… namo amituofo married to a girl named B, do you see… namo amituofo they had children, 1, 2, 3… namo

Tell It Like It Was – Roy Jentzsch - The Day the Tornado Struck Our Farm in 1949 Gentle readers, on a few occasions, some of you have suggested…make that complained…that my stories lack any interpretation…or analysis…or conclusion. (Dang...I started chuckling just now.) Well, interpretation is not my job and it’s not my jam. But I’ll play along with you this one time. You see, I have already reached some conclusions about my ongoing Roy Jentzsch stories. Conclusion #1: Our

Fighting For A Free Missouri Gentle readers, it’s a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon up here on Duke ridge, and I’m drying tomatoes that finally ripened in my shop. Hey…do you mind if I tell you what I’m currently reading? …I guess I will anyway. The book is called Fighting For A Free Missouri and it was copyrighted in 2023. It was edited by historian Sydney J. Norton, who, along with playwright Cecilia Nadal, was the guest presenter at Boone-Duden Historical Society’s most rece

Tell It Like It Was - Roy Jentzsch - Ponde-Rosa-Lakes – a floating swimming pool? – Delco plant down in the basement – the sawmill – a performance stage – talking to the quail on the telephone Gentle thinkers, I typed “ponderosa” on my laptop and immediately came up with these meager definitions from Wiktionary: noun – 1. A ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa. 2. Common and widely distributed tall timber pine of western North America having dark green needles in bunches of 2 to 5

Adapted from the email letter sent by Paul Ovaitt (paulO) on September 7, 2023 TILIW – Digging Up Bones - A lynching in Augusta – Facebook is the Minister of Good Taste? - Bob Brail – a town called Wolkes – seriously, Bob? Gentle readers, I’m still working on my finale to the 4-part Tom Rueschhoff story, but it has taken me down the proverbial rabbit hole…and I’m still digging my way out…when I’m not playing music. I mean…I’m enjoying it, but I have this gnawing urge to brin