The Superior Express -

No. 52 . . . look forward to that number every year. For people in the weekly newspaper field, it usually means we’ve lived another year. Some years there are 53 Thursdays, but we just don’t worry about those years.

Happy New Year to everyone, May God bless each of you and answer everyone’s prayer for peace in the world.

A O

Boredom . . .

In spite of ‘millions’ of things to do, there are times we all “get bored.”

Even in the middle of the professional football season on a Sunday afternoon.

Several weeks back, Russ Menke stopped to visit a little and related a little story, I’m going to pass on.

It was one Sunday afternoon in early December, he had little interest in any other football games on TV (bored) and he thought about his family history.

He had some information provided years passed from Martha (Menke) Faimon and he was reading and learning more of the history. Well, in today’s world of technology, Russ turned to the internet and looked up some of the history from where his ancestors came from in Europe.

The first thing he found was that the name of the town in Germany was always spelled “Aukum” in most writings he saw. The correct spelling is “Ankum.”

He also found that the mayor of the city (population about 6,000 to 7,000) was a Menke. It is located in the northwest part of Germany, I suspect not far from the source of many other families in the Lawrence area.

Interest in genealogy seems to increase as a person increases in age. At least I’ve heard many a person wish they had paid more attention to family stories when they were young.

I learned an interesting fact while I looked into this Menke history a little. From the history of the area around Ankum, Germany, there was a strong history of folks there immigrating to the Netherlands over the course of many, many years up until the mid-1850s. After that, most of the immigration that took place was to the United States of America.

I have no idea of how, or why, but that may help explain how the ‘Ostdiek’ name evolved. I have always heard that the Ostdiek name is a name from the Netherlands, but the Ostdiek people are German.

Perhaps much earlier immigration took place with my ancestors moving back and forth between those two countries.

I suspect I’ll never know, but it is something interesting to think about.

So, if professional sports get boring for you, take some time and look into your family history. You may find a cousin was mayor of a city someplace in the world. Another equally interesting thing to do is to read a book or two. Maybe a book about your family history?

A O

Now, the Christmas – New Year’s holidays are generally known for a lot of good eating. Most families have their own special food dish.

However . . . I’ve heard of them before, but have never eaten them.

Alfalfa Sprouts . . . don’t have the slightest idea of what they are but the Nebraska Department of Health put out a warning recently that a number of people in Northeast Nebraska ended up with sickness and the common thing they ate was . . . Alfalfa Sprouts.

That’s enough news for me. I’m not about to actually eat any alfalfa sprouts.

A O

Armadillos . . .

One of the more interesting news items I came across this past week was a story on armadillos.

Most of us of a certain age remember this animal connected to stories of the southwest America where it is just a little warmer than it is here in Nebraska.

However, for a number of years now, I’ve read of stories of the animal here in Nebraska. Last week the Nebraska Game and Parks had two such animals delivered to them. The concern by the game and parks commission was the cold weather. Seems the animals don’t have a lot of fur to help keep them warm, so they weren’t getting along too well with the sub-zero weather we’ve all learned to love and enjoy.

The interesting thing to me was that we were told the two animals were found in ‘South Central’ Nebraska. No more specific location was given.

So, keep your eyes open. I’ve read of vehicle accident caused by these little animals and the results did not favor the humans involved, or their vehicles.

A O

So, as I started this ‘end-of-the-year’ note talking about family, I’m going to end it with talking about my church family.

As many of the local members of Sacred Heart Parish know, the parish is planning on celebrating the 100th anniversary of the church building in 2024.

Part of what we are doing is putting together something of a history of the building and all its parts. These include the statues in the church.

We’ve found information on ‘most’ of the statues, however, we are coming up short on when, and why the angel statues came about. I mean the two angel statues on the side of the main altar. Does anyone know when they were purchased?

The other statue we have not found any information about is the statue of Mary on the west side of the church on the ‘side altar.’

If anyone has information on these statues, would you please contact me? If you use email my address is

[email protected]

USPS address is:

Allen Ostdiek

PO Box 188

Lawrence, NE 68957

So much for my church family for now.

A O