Although I am a West Coast woman now, I have a big corner of my heart saved for Iowa.
I grew up in Storm Lake, Iowa, an agricultural community with about 10,000 people during the time I lived there. In the fifties, it was one of those little Mayberry communities with a wide, tree-lined main street right down to the gorgeous three mile wide lake. I attended one of the two high schools--St. Mary's, although I burned to know what life would be like at the big public high school several blocks away. The town was very different then: the little Presbyterian college had a smaller footprint, there was no racial diversity in this town that is now half Hispanic. Parks surrounded the lake which was full of bass, pike, catfish, bullheads, and crappies.
My childhood was happy there, so I am delighted when I get a chance to go to my first hometown. Storm Lake looks quite similar today. Despite the recession, there were few empty store fronts. We visited my old church, St. Mary's and were delighted in the beautiful remodeling. No confessionals in 2010, but there was a reconciliation room. We had lunch at King's Pointe, the new waterpark resort built on the lake by the public golf course. We all walked along the lake, visited my old college, and did a bit of shopping.
Sometime around 2004 Mom and Dad moved from Storm Lake to Sac City to live with my brother Mike and his wife Carol. It was safer and easier on dad who had been taking care of mom for some years. Mike had spent half his life on the road traveling to Storm Lake to check on the folks and do their errands; so in many ways it was easier for him as well.
Sac City is another small town of about 3000 based on agriculture. Today it seems like only senior citizens live there, and it is true that retired farmers move to their favorite small town after they leave their farms. There is only one grocery store, a cafe that never opens, a post office, drug store, dentist. Whereas this town is blessed to have a hospital and a good medical staff, many nearby towns don't have one. There are many main line churches; unfortunately the smaller and older congregations can barely keep their huge churches in decent repair.
Iowa's consolidation of schools has had a disastrous affect on these small communities. It is impossible to run a complete school system with their tax base. These communities are usually 5 to 10 miles apart, so the solution is to have one community provide the elementary school, another, like Sac City, provide the middle school, and yet another, like Lakeview, provide the high school. Many of the young families have decided to settle in the bigger towns, or they have decided to work in the big towns and live in a smaller community close by. Consequently, the small communities have lost many facilities. We drove about 15 miles to find a theatre that provided almost current movies. Lake City has a fine theatre run by volunteers. We saw a fine film for $2 a piece. The profits go into paying the heat, film rent, and keeping the theatre in good shape.
It is a good, quiet life. Each day we walked around town, often right down the middle of the street. There were few children and fewer cars. It was a great place for my 97 year old dad to ride his 3 wheeled bicycle. It was a great place to relax and enjoy a beautiful fall.
