Recipes for Living Mark and Vickie Binning

Mark began with his part of the story: I was born to Vernon and Glendola Binning, on October 30, 1953, in the Leon hospital. Their story is in the 1997 Recipes for Living. I had a wonderful childhood growing up with my brother, Mike, who was six years older than I, on a farm south of Van Wert. I attended the Leon schools from kindergarten through twelfth grade and always knew when I went home each day that my first duty was to change clothes and do chores. They might be related to the cattle, row crop work or hay, or they might have to do with gardening. Besides working with my dad, Mike and I helped in the garden. I remember especially helping can tomatoes and juice, which we carried to a special area in the basement called the "fruit room." I thought it was really neat to have a part in the family responsibilities.

I grew up knowing that I not only had the support of my older brother Mike, and Mom and Dad, but of my grandparents, also. Dad's parents, Vern and Gladys Binning lived in Leon, and Mom's, Charles and Hattie Offield, lived outside of Leon on what we called "The Five Acres." There was a strong family connection between us all. It was like we were one big family. Grandma Offield came to help can com and beans. I was given the chore of cutting the corn off the cob. There were also big Sunday dinners when we would all eat together, sometimes at one house, sometimes at another.

There was never any sibling rivalry between Mike and me. Our interests were a little different. I was into music, Mike was into sports, but Mike taught me to play football, baseball, and to ride a motorcycle. I have always liked motorcycles. Cycling has been a family activity. My grandpa rode motorcycles in the Navy in World War I. He had a sidecar and transported officers. As I was growing up, Dad had a motorcycle, Mike had a motorcycle, and I have had one since I was 13 years old. I knew better than to go out on the highway before the legal age. I just rode around the farm. By the time it was legal for me to drive; I was on my third motorcycle.

As long as I can remember, I have enjoyed music. When I was really little, I played drums on Mom's Tupperware bowls. My drum sticks were her knitting needles. When I could join the band - I suppose it was in fifth or sixth grade - I chose to play drums and continued to do so on through high school. As I think back on it, I consider it a bit unusual that when I had my own snare drum, my parents always encouraged me to practice. They never said a word about my being too noisy. I was fortunate to have Mr. Post as my first band teacher in Leon. He could see how to get through to us kids -something like Mr. Lampe in the Clarke school system. He could teach us how to play our instruments and have fun along with it. It wasn't a drag. For two years I had the privilege of playing drums in the State Honor Band.

There were many ways through which I felt the family support. One was that whenever I was in a musical performance, my parents and grandparents were there. Every Thursday night during the summer, cars lined the square for the concert we played in the bandstand of Harvey Park. When we finished a song, everyone would honk. It made us feel really appreciated.

It is easy to fall into the habit of taking things for granted, but I realize how important it has been to my life that I had some great teachings at home. Mom is a really good cook and meals were an important part of our home life. People don’t realize what they are missing when they eat in front of TV. We always sat down together punctually at 6:00 to have the evening meal. Without being obvious about it, my parents taught Mike and me table etiquette. We dressed appropriately when we came to the table. We asked to be excused at the end of the meal. I remember when a crew gathered at the time to put up hay and all who helped went in for the noon meal. There was always three times as much as we could eat, and we did eat!

One of our great family traditions was that every year we went to the State Fair. It was such a special day. Mom would get up early to fry chicken and make potato salad. When I was old enough to be left alone, I would run around the Midway to see the carnival rides, Mom would be looking at the 4-H exhibits, and Dad and I would see the machinery and sit on every tractor at the Fair. We always looked at all the cars.

Dad and I both liked cars. To this day I like to clean our cars and I have done this for other people, also. During the farm crisis there were things we couldn’t afford, but in 1959 my dad made enough on the farm to buy a new Ford Tractor and new Ford car. That was a good year!

I graduated in May 1972, and went to work at Miller Products in July. That is where Vickie and I met. We had our first date in April 1973. We hit it off from the git-go. I knew right away that she was the right girl, and we were married September 8, 1973. Christine was born October 1, 1975 -the joy of my life! I am so proud of Christine!

Vicki

I was born August 24, 1953 to Betty & Virgil Williams. We lived in Fairfield but had ties to Clarke County because my grandparents on my father's side, Owen and Lida Williams, and on Mom's side, Rolland and Bessie Heston, lived in rural Osceola. Also, my parents came back to see Dr. Story whenever any of us needed medical attention. I have two brothers-one a year older and one a year younger.

Dad is a wonderful, quiet man. We lived in Fairfield until I was six when we moved to the Humeston area and Dad bought his first farm of 160 acres. He also commuted to Ankeny where he worked at John Deere. He worked the second shift, so he farmed during the day and worked at night. When he wasn't working, he was sleeping.

Mom worked hard, too. She preferred being outside and in addition to always raising chickens and having a big garden, she helped Dad by driving the tractor, plowing, and mowing hay. When we were growing up, she also did the yard work. Mom had the patience of Job. She taught us to cook and never criticized our cooking or cleaning, and never got upset if we broke something.

Like Mark, I had a wonderful childhood in a loving family and with lots of cousins. Mom and Dad never did anything without us kids. Neither of our parents ever smoked or drank, and we didn't realize people did that. What we did was pretty simple. Our special occasions were mostly family reunions and picnics. Just going into town was a big deal. Actually, we were quite poor, but we didn't know it or pay any attention to it. We always had plenty to eat, lots of which we produced ourselves.

Mom saw to it that holidays were about family and food, not about spending money. Love was shown in cooking, baking, sharing, and getting together. We always made treks back to Clarke County for holidays, and for birthdays our special present was Grandma's cakes. Even while we still lived in Fairfield, she would bake and decorate a homemade angel food or banana cake from scratch, and cart it from Osceola. For our grandson's first birthday, he probably had 45 presents, but our special present was Grandma's cakes. Doesn't it seem a shame that we have lost that kind of pleasure?

Our family went camping, too. We had wonderful trips to Colorado, southern Missouri, and Wisconsin. Five people sleeping in the car didn't detract from our enjoyment. We swam, hiked in the mountains, and visited national parks. We were interested in the talks the Rangers gave. Mom was ahead of her time in being aware of the environment. She wanted us to appreciate and take care of it. To me that is part of being religious. Ours was not a going-to church family, but in their own way my folks were very religious. We children were certainly raised in a Christian home.

I started to elementary school in 1958 at Mormon Trail. I enjoyed getting up and going to school, and I always liked school but didn't really apply myself. I was an under-achiever. One of my first recollections was in 1960 when I was in second grade and Nixon and Kennedy were running for office. When I was in fifth grade, I remember vividly the assassination of President Kennedy. I didn't really comprehend, but I knew that Mom was so shook up. She went to town and bought sandwich meat so we could have sandwiches for supper, and she would not have to cook a meal. It was something that didn't go away. Some aspect of it was reported on TV every day. I think for me that was the end of innocence.

In those days, farmers moved in the spring, and at the end of my eighth grade year, we moved to Clarke County. Our farm was 11 miles south and east of Osceola on Whitebreast Creek.

My high school years were really nice. One of my teachers was Lonna McDonough, who taught English and had a special gift for encouraging everyone. I liked history. I was not particularly musical but I played in the band and loved marching band. I dated, went to ball games, played in the band, and that kind of sums up those years.

Mark has told that we met while we were both working at Miller Products, that our first date was in April, and we were married in September. I have thought that we would have had a spell if Christine had met a fellow and announced to us five months later that she wanted to marry him, but for Mark and me, we knew it was right. Our first home was in Woodburn, in a house that had belonged to Grandma Heston. We lived there for five years.

In 1975, the year Chris was born, my parents and we bought the Woodburn Food Store. It was a small town grocery store, and we kept it for a year. It was doomed to suffer the fate of other small town business ventures. When Woodburn lost their school, they lost the reason for people to come to town. Businesses began closing and boarding up their windows. Everyone was working somewhere else. Chain stores stayed open extra hours and people bought what they needed before they went home from work. The trolley picked up elderly people so they could shop in Osceola. We finally conceded that we couldn't continue. We sold the inventory and closed the store. Financially, it was a disaster, but from that experience I learned a lot that I
could use in later employment.

In 1976, I went to work at Pamida. At that time it was called Quality Discount and was on the northeast comer of the square. Gladys Leeson managed it, and she called to ask if I would be interested in working as part-time clerk. I rode back and forth with her to work three days a week. We were at that location only a year before moving to the present location west on highway 34. I continued to work for Pamida for the next 10 years-many, many hours-and went from clerk to store manager. In 1987 I went back to work for Miller Products, where I am now.

In June 1979, we built a new home on Ridge Road and moved to Osceola. We lived there for 21 years. That is the home Chris remembers. She was and is the joy of our lives! Even now when she comes in the door, she brings the sunshine. Her school years from kindergarten through her senior year in high school were very active. Like her dad, Christ always loved music. She played the trumpet and had a wonderful music education. During high school she had the opportunity to tour in Europe with the Ambassadors of Iowa.

In addition to school and the pretty steady stream of boys, Christine took dance and piano lessons and was in Brownie Scouts. Mark and I, and even the grandparents, didn’t miss anything from dance and piano recitals, to elementary school concerts, and plays. You would have thought each one was a Broadway production. Christine was the Queen Bee for Mom and Dad, and the grandparents. In each case, after the event, we all came back to our house for food.

Christine graduated from high school in 1994, and it was time for her to go to college. That was one of our happiest and one of our saddest times. For 18 years Christine had been the hub of our universe. Of course, we wanted her to go, but where would we go from there? All of a sudden we had to find out what we wanted to do. It helped that this was the culmination of all that Christine ever wanted to do when she enrolled at Northwest Missouri State with the intention of becoming a teacher. She didn't really go as far from home as we feared. She never excluded us. This remained true during her second year when she transferred to Iowa State University. Throughout her college years, she involved us in her activities. We were invited to Parent's Weekends, to football games, and band concerts. She joined a sorority and we went to teas and dinners at the house.

Those four years passed quickly and it was a proud day when she walked across the stage to receive her diploma in 1998. She started to work for Southeast Polk School District that fall, and taught just one year before being hired in the Murray school system to teach pre-school/Head Start. She begins teaching kindergarten at Clarke Community School in the fall of 2001.

When Chris began teaching for Southeast Polk, she moved back to Osceola and rented an apartment on the square, and that winter she and Mark Baker became acquainted. Mark came to Osceola to work in Clarke County State Bank, and they were introduced by a mutual friend, Sue Steams. They were married in the fall of 1999.

At the present time our lives are very full. When we anticipated being lonely, we began getting involved in more civic organizations. We joined Optimist's Club, participated more in church activities, and helped with Fern’s Fun Church. Vickie served on the Clarke County Board of Health, is a member of PEO, and T.T.T. Sorority. We have built a new home in Harken Hills but the biggest news of all is Kenneth Andrew Baker, our perfect grandson! We see him two or three times a week. He loves us, and we love him. Our lives still center on Christine, now with the addition of Mark Baker and Kenny.

Mark and Christine have become parents, we have become grandparents, our parents have become great-grandparents, and the cycle continues. We set more places at the table for family dinners as we celebrate every holiday, all the birthdays, and many Sundays. Ours isn't a spectacular story, but it is complete and fulfilling. We have been blessed beyond words.