Letters to the editor

The changing panorama

Dear editor:

The new storage units going up at Hunter and Main are further signs of Nevada's growth in the 21st century. But as I drove by them Sunday afternoon I could not help but think of the memories that flashed into my mind about the business which used to occupy that land, Welty Sale Pavilion.

The consignment sale and livestock sale held every Saturday by Col. Merlin Welty, his brother, John, and other auctioneers and auctioneer helpers was a driving force which propelled this community on Saturday, if not the driving force.

The auctions, the consignment sale in the morning and the livestock one in the evening, brought hundreds of people into Nevada. The farmers' and buyers' wives and kids were turned loose on the Square, flooding the dime stores, variety stores, restaurants, grocers and pharmacies which dotted the area in or near the Nevada Square for so many years.

I am not talking about the 1930s or '40s here. I'm talking about the 1960s and up to the mid 1970s. Of course, the sale was going on way back in the Depression era, but that was long before my time. I remember the excitement of Saturday mornings up until Col. Welty retired in 1975. My folks had a second-hand shop at Walnut and Main in the basement of the Reed Building. If they weren't there by 8 o'clock that day, they would have to park two or more blocks away (those days where the Community Center is was a parking lot and often they ended up there). Saturday was the most profitable day in their store and I am sure in the merchants shops who sold new things too.

There was even a cafe in Welty's, which I believe was called Blackmoor's or Blackmon's and was open every day of the week. They served up some pretty good food there.

Oh, us nostalgia buffs. I couldn't help but get a rush of nostalgia about the past when I saw the new buildings going up Sunday afternoon. Although I am all for progress, my mind likes to drift back to the days when downtown Nevada was a thriving place thanks to people and places like Col. Merlin Welty and his Sale Pavilion. A hundred years from now when there is a space port at Main and Hunter, some nostalgia minded person will look back at those good old days when there was a storage unit there.

David Shipp

Nevada

Judge H.A. "Kelly" Kelso no longer walks among us but will live forever in memory

It was a sad day indeed when we heard that Judge Kelso had passed from this life on Aug. 11. He was loved and respected by so many and I am sure that there are hundreds of stories like mine, extolling the life of this devout Christian, great American, famous jurist, consummate gentleman, valued mentor and beloved friend.

I first met Judge Kelso in the summer of 1944 at age 10, when my family moved to Nevada. We attended the Trinity Methodist Church, where Kelly and his lovely wife Doradee were members. My brothers and I were drawn to Kelly, not only because of his stories about hunting and fishing, but because he was wearing the uniform of a soldier with many stripes on his sleeve.

He always had time for us and our parents were grateful that just a look from him during Church, could quell a youthful disturbance and restore law and order to the church service. In 1945, the war ended and Kelly was back in Nevada full time and he and Doradee had become parents and would increase the size of their family by the addition of three of the most beautiful, well mannered and delightful little girls that anyone had ever seen.

Judge Kelso really went the extra mile by volunteering to teach the Junior High Boys Sunday school class.

The class size immediately doubled and was soon the largest class at the church. Kelly taught lessons that Jr. High boys understood and were anxiously awaiting the next Sunday's installment. In addition, Kelly and Doradee found time to take "the Judge's boys" on overnight camping and fishing trips. In the next year or two as we began playing junior high, high shcool and junior varsity athletics, the Judge gave sound advice about training rules and teamwork and whenever possible he was at our games to cheer us on. In those days our athletic contests with Joplin were a matter of trying not to get beaten as badly as you were beaten the year before. Kelly told us that Joplin could only put five guys on the court at one time just like us. He also mentioned that he had been on the last Nevada High School basketball team to beat Joplin in 1930 and that he knew that if we worked hard enough and played like a team, we could beat them also. Judge Kelso and Doradee were present at the NHS gymnasium in December 1950 when the Nevada High basketball team beat Joplin 38-35.

We were a family of modest means and Kelly seemed to have a second sense about our activities and the costs involved. Just when I would start wondering how I could afford an upcoming event, the Judge would call and tell me that he needed someone to mow a yard, rake some leaves, paint a building or install some storm windows. I often wondered how he knew. The Judge would also give some words of wisdom by telling me that he called me because he knew that he could count on me to do a good job and as long as I worked hard and did my best, I would never have problems holding a job.I went from Nevada to Fort Scott Junior College and then to Ottawa University and Kelly and Doradee were often present to see our games and to cheer me on and to see how things were going. It was about this time that Kelly and Doradee met Jackie, the Cottey girl who was to be my wife. The Judge now expanded his area of counsel to young love and marriage and family. Jackie quickly became as close to the Kelsos as I was.

Kelly warned me that I might get drafted before I finished college and suggested that I look for a program that would allow me to graduate before I entered military service. Listening to the sage advice of the Kelsos, I found a Marine Corps program that would let me graduate before being called to active duty and Jackie and I were married the summer before our graduation from college.

In August of 1955, Jackie and I began active duty in the Marine Corps. We stayed in contact with Kelly and Doradee and stopped by to see them whenever possible. Our kids loved having the Kelsos for substitute grandparents.

They enjoyed Maridee, Connie and Sylvia as older role models and also enjoyed Judge Kelso's stories and the fishing, horseback riding and outdoor activities that Kelly provided for them at the ranch. After our retirement from the Marine Corps in 1985, we enjoyed many trips to Nevada to my High School class reunions and Jackie's Cottey reunions and P.E.O. functions.

On each occasion, we stayed with the Kelsos enjoyed Chicken at "Chicken Annie's," fished at the ranch and enjoyed going to the Methodist Church where we had first met Kelly and Doradee. In 1998, our grand daughter Kasey Kahler enrolled at Cottey and the Kelsos immediately volunteered to be her sponsors and stand in grandparents.

They offered Kasey their home and their Ranch for her and her friends whenever she had time to use them.

Throughout our lives, we have been aware how fortunate that we have been to have had the influence of the Judge and Doradee in our lives and we have a special love for them which will only grow as the years go by.

If I could make a wish for young people everywhere, it would be they could have someone like Judge Kelso and Doradee in their lives as mentors, counselors and friends.

Col. Billy J. Kabler

USMC (Ret.)

Historic building more

important than video store

Dear editor:

It would be a shame to let a video store replace one of Nevada's few remaining historic buildings. Video stores are a dime a dozen -- historic buildings are not.

Sharon Beisley

Nevada