Beginning of the third year

Last but not least, is Donna Rae Eilts and Jary Lynn Oncken whose research of Minonk history was the inspiration for this website. Donna has done much typing for this website and Jari Lynn continues to discover old photos.

Many of you have written me privately telling how much you enjoy the website. These letters mean a lot to me and that is probably what keeps me working hard to improve the website. One letter in particular really moved me. It was from a former Minonk person about my age who was living in a nursing home and unable to get out and around any more. This person wrote and said that the MinonkTalk website helps her get through the day and reminds her of the happy days of her childhood. That testimony is more important to me than any money I could make from this website. I am not ashamed to admit that I had tears in my eyes after reading her letter.

I have established some goals for the website for this year. As most of you know, I am in the process of restoring the former OddFellows building at Fifth and Walnut and plan to move my office into the building sometime this year. At the rate in which things are going, it will probably be June before I can set up an office for the website in the building. The basement in the building is a total disaster and must be cleaned out before I will feel comfortable moving in. All that remains for the main floor where my office is to be is to put down a new floor.

Due to the many requests for a trading post or a want ad section on the website, I will attempt to set one up sometime this year. By having an office in Minonk, it will be more feasible for people to bring in their want ads. I also have to mention that there will be a charge for want ads because it will require more time and paperwork to process the ads.

I find it dismaying that it is difficult to give the old MDR trophies away. They have been advertised on the website for over a year now. If any trophies are left over after the open house this spring, I will attempt to have someone else take control of the trophies. If that is impossible, I may advertise them on EBay in order to get some money for them and donate the proceeds to some charity in the Minonk area. Perhaps I should mention that I saw some trophies for sale at an antique mall last week. One of the trophies was for "Miss Congeniality of 1962" and it had a price tag of $18. That is pretty incredible considering that I can't even give away the MDR trophies that should mean something to someone.

You may have noticed that there is a new section on the first page of MinonkTalk called "What we've received". I get a lot of emails from people all over the country. It occured to me that this website could be a clearing house for those interesting links that are bouncing all over the internet. If you run across a link or an article that you feel others would enjoy, email it to me. I may not be able to put them all on the website but the ones that I feel are interesting and in good taste will be put into the "What we've received" section. The links or articles that you send should be of temporary interest since they will only remain on this website for a week.

In closing, I wish to thank everyone for checking out MinonkTalk on a regular basis and look forward to making the website bigger and better as we start our third year.