Siouxland Life Magazine - March 2011

a guide for living in siouxland

A summer retreat expands into a permanent lake home

Director Steve hanSen giveS you a Sneak peek

Vintage recipesFooD timeleSSneSS preServeD

Program provides car seats for special needs children

Athletic trainer keeps the Musketeers in stitches

Siouxland life iS on the web! Visit www.siouxcityjournAl.coM/siouxlAndlife

March 2011

MuseuM Makes a MoVe

2 march 2011 Siouxland life

Siouxland life march 2011 3

contents March 2011

19

PubliSher steve griffith editor Bruce millereditorial Joanne fox, Tim gallagher, earl horlyk, nick hytrek,

marcia Poole, John Quinlan, lynn ZerschlingPhotograPhy Tim hynds, Jim lee, Jerry mennenga PreSentation editor amy hynds

advertiSing SaleS nancy gevik advertiSing deSign stacy Pajl, Jill Bisenius

©2011 The sioux city Journal. siouxland life is published monthly by The sioux city Journal. for advertising information, please call (712) 224-6275. for editorial information, please call (712) 293-4218.

38 inciSionleSS Surgeryradiation therapist amy sorensen makes adjustments on a control panel for sterotactic surgery at the June e. nylen cancer center.

12 vintage reciPeS

14 collectionSadair Kaehlar of Whiting, iowa, shares his large collection of guitars.

on the covermuseum director steve hansen helps introduce the new sioux city Public museum facility.Photograph by Tim Hynds

featureS4 feature home: lohry house12 food: vintage recipes14 collections: string instruments16 Q&a with steve hansen19 museum: new space for everyone26 museum: looking for artifacts28 museum: What’s in the archives30 museum: Peirce mansion

32 museum: history34 museum: other museums36 health: musketeers athletic trainer38 health: incisionless surgery40 health: car seats for special needs42 out & about44 medical answers from the doctor47 Parting shot: Pictures of life

m4 march 2011 Siouxland life

McCOOK LAKE – Walk out the back door of the home of Dirk and Bonnie Lohry and you are steps away from – well, this time of year – a panoramic view of a lot of white.

“We tell people one of best features of the house is its location on the west shore of McCook Lake,” Dirk said. “This time of year, with all the snow, is maybe not the best palette to show that off.”

But when the weather switches to the milder seasons, the house’s large picture windows – from floor to ceiling – offer a breath taking view of the lake and the sunsets that reflect off of it.

Realtors push location as a primary choice in a home, and the Lohrys bought the lake lot with that in mind sev-eral years ago.

“What happened was Bonnie bought me a kayak, and I

Decorating Feature Home

text by Joanne Fox | Photographs by Jim Lee

lake house becomes permanent home


dirk and Bonnie lohry wanted an angular look to their mccook lake home. at far left, the large picture windows off the dining area showcase a view of the lake. above, the lohrys enjoy the loft, which presently serves as an office. at right, the earth tones of the home are covered with snow.

was in search of a place to use it,” Dirk said.

“I told friends the kayak became one of the most expensive items I owned, after I bought the lot,” he quipped.

Dirk confessed originally he had thought of just building a modest house on the lot, “more like a man cave than anything else.”

“That’s when I started to suggest we might need more room at the lake house,” Bonnie noted.

“And a basement,” Dirk added. “And suddenly, it went from a summer home to our permanent home.”


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Dirk began messing with “thousands” of plans and enlisted the help of archi-tect Nathan Kalaher of PLaN Architects P.C.

“I wanted a relatively new look to the house, more angular,” he said.

That kayak needed a home as well, so the design included a boat house and ga-rage under the detached garage. There is a ramp from the boat house to the lake. Boats can be wheeled into the lake from the boat house. In the winter, the ramp allows an ATV and ice fishing tent access to the ice.

Of equal importance, the Lohrys de-cided to use the earth’s natural heat to keep utility costs down. It has resulted in a savings of energy dollars, as well as a consciousness of saving the earth’s resources.

Since the mid-1970s, tens of thou-sands of homes and businesses in the United States, Canada and Europe have been heated and cooled by a system that bridges the gap between high technol-ogy and energy savings – the geothermal heat pump.

In simple terms the heat pump in the winter transfers heat from the ground to the floors of the house. In the sum-mer the cycle is reversed and heat is “pumped” from the house to the ground. The ground in this case is six, 200-foot wells located under the driveway.

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have heated pipes sunk in the concrete. Each zone of the house is individually controlled with an indoor thermostat. Most of the water for residential use is heated for free using the waste heat from the heat pump compressor.

This geothermal heat pump is unique in that is a “water to water” system. Heat is transferred from the ground to water in the wells and then to water in the floors of the house. In the summer the water is cooled and used in the air con-ditioning. The heat pump contains both the condenser and evaporator in one unit. It is located in the basement. Dirk watched the heat pump being assembled in a factory in Mitchell, S.D.

Water, with anti-freeze added, is cir-culated from the heat pump in the house out to the wells and back. The other side of the heat pump circulates heated water to pipes in the floor. In the summer the central air system forces the air past a coil-cooled with the liquid from the heat pump.

The heat pump, which is electrically powered, moves heat energy from the natural heat storage of the earth to the floors of the home. In the summer the cycle is reversed and heat is “pumped” from the house to the ground.

This eliminates a noisy compressor sitting outside, adjacent to the house or “whooshing” hot or cold air flow, Bonnie said.

“That sound you hear right now?” she asked. “It’s the dishwasher.”

The house is also super-insulated, Dirk said. The walls and roof are six inch-es of Styrofoam, sandwiched between plywood, sealed with foam. The system is referred to as SIPs Structured Insulated Panels. They were prefabricated and as-sembled in a few days on site.

“The house is so air-tight that forced ventilation was required,” Dirk explained. “An air-to-air exchanger preheats air from outside with air coming from the house.”

It has paid off; the Lohrys’ Decem-ber utility bill was $170 for their 4,000 square-foot home.

But it isn’t all about savings. Comfort was important enough the Lohrys had in-floor heating installed throughout the four-bedroom, three-bath house, includ-ing the garage and boathouse.

“Heat is provided by hot water pumped through tubes embedded in the floor,” Dirk said. “A heat pump heats the water directly.”

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“The house is very allergy-friendly, for me,” Dirk said. “We have HEPA air filters

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in the central air system; there are lim-ited carpets and there are no gas appli-ances, and the ventilation system keeps the air fresh.”

The Lohrys moved into their home in June of last year and enjoyed hosting the

family Christmas celebration. The kitch-en was a popular place where meals were created on the Corian countertops and tableware was pulled from the warm brown walnut cabinets. Off to the side, a grand piano is positioned, which Bonnie

admitted she enjoys playing in between cooking or gazing at the lake.

“We really just wanted the house to be less formal,” she said. “More user-friendly, than a showplace.”

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above, the bathroom features a walk-in, tiled shower. at right Bonnie lohry found online a ladder that rolls to allow access to their floor-to-ceiling bookcase.

We really just wanted the house to be less formal. More user-friendly, than a showplace.


w text by Marcia Poole

FooD Bobs Drive Inn

VIntage recIpespreserve real-food

timelessness

Weeding out “clutter” froM cupboards, closets, draw-ers and bookshelves is getting easier for me.

That juicer I haven’t used for years? Somebody else can probably use it. That set of salmon-and-black fabric place-mats? What was I thinking? Even some of the cookbooks that crowd my bookshelves are open to consideration. Do I really need that many holiday cookie titles?

But some areas of the bookshelves are off limits when it comes to clearing out. Near the top of the list are precious vintage recipe booklets that serve up slices of food history and kitchen appliance marketing trends. Each offers a precious glimpse into where we’ve been, what was cool and why it no longer fits our lifestyles.

Chafing dishes, for example, were stars of home entertain-ing in the 1960s when the likes of Beef Stroganoff, Lobster Newburg and flaming desserts were all the rage. Sterno-fueled versions gave way to electric buffet appliances about the time we started hiking up our hemlines and teasing out our hair.

Other nostalgic recipe booklets show us that some products never really leave. They adapt to our changing ways, but the essential product endures. Such is the case of Jell-O. A recipe booklet titled “Joys of Jell-O” published by General Foods Corporation is a prime example of product staying power.

There’s no copyright date in “Joys of Jell-O,” but the introduc-tion holds a clue. It takes readers back to 1897 when Jell-O Gelatin first “grandly shimmered its way into American dining rooms... Just how many brands in your kitchen go back 65 years?” That makes this 95-page recipe booklet an early 1960s con-sumer piece. It followed many other Jell-O driven recipe booklets which started appearing early in the 1900s.

Today, Siouxland isn’t likely to deny or even downplay its Jell-O heritage. Jell-O is part of our food past and present. We serve it plain, buy it packaged in its most basic form or as single-serve products. More and more,


michael and Jane stern are shown in front of Bob’s drive inn in le mars. (courtesy photo)

Brand x Pictures

we scoop it up as a deli “salad” ready for the table.

Back 25 years ago, Jell-O was less widely acknowledged. The 1986 Journal Cookbook called on two of the top food authorities in the nation to comment on the pervasive food “snobbery” of that time. Foods with genuine social roots,

including Jell-O, weren’t getting much respect as we were trying to distance ourselves from a meat-and-potatoes heritage.

Authors and food anthropologists Jane and Michael Stern served as our 1986 Journal Cookbook judges. They embraced the opportunity to learn more about what people really ate rather than European-influenced trends that would never take hold in Siouxland.

“The difference between Europe and America is that in America when traditions get old, we throw them away.

Europeans would sooner die than change anything they do. Americans are almost embarrassed about our meat-and-potatoes cuisine.” Jane said that in a 1986 Journal Cookbook story. She was quoting an-other food writer with whom she agreed.

The Sterns’ “Real American Food” (Alfred A. Knopf; 1986) had come out about the same time as our annual cookbook. That accomplishment followed at least 10 other books, including

“Roadfood” and “Square Meals,” by the same publisher.

The authors criss-crossed the nation in their Volkswagen, always look-ing for food people really ate. In the Hawkeye State, they

found Jell-O in a rainbow of

jiggly versions. “When you buy

cookbooks in Iowa, every little town has

100 different ways of making Jell-O,” Jane said.

It’s likely many of those ways were inspired by General Mill’s collection of Jell-O recipe booklets, including “Joys of Jell-O.” It’s no surprise that the bulk of the early ’60s recipes were molded affairs complemented by several pages of il-lustrated directions on the delicate art of unmolding Jell-O. Additionally, “Joys” told readers how to whip, cube, flake, layer, scallop and crown Jell-O.

As for recipes in the vintage booklet, there’s plenty of familiarity with the likes of Cherry Waldorf Salad with diced ap-ples and bananas. Jell-O “ambrosias” tell us that some things never change. Other recipes are more curious. Herb-Glazed Sandwiches, for example, go like this:

Lemon Jell-O, salt and cayenne dis-solve in a simmered mix of water, peppercorns, bay leaf and dried dill. Next, vinegar is added to the hot liquid. After chilling, the syrupy mixture is poured over luncheon or tea sandwiches of your choice. “Your luncheon or tea sandwiches stay fresh and flavorful under a glaze,” according to the vintage recipe.

Among the suggested sandwiches for this Jell-O herb glaze? Pumpernickel bread, spread with mustard and topped with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and corned beef.

Just as intriguing are Jell-O recipes for Old-Fashioned Cole Slaw; Barbecue Salad; Chicken Salad Surprise; and even Easter Eggs. Perhaps the most nostalgic of them all is Creamy Freeze – an illustrated frozen treat molded in the type of metal ice cube tray I haven’t seen for decades.

The Sterns’ participation in the 1986 Journal Cookbook hasn’t been their only link to Siouxland. Their visits have kept them in touch with some of our longest-running authentic Siouxland food establishments, including Tastee Inn and Out; Miles Inn; The Green Gables; Milwaukee Wiener House; Bob’s Drive Inn, and Archie’s Waeside both in Le Mars, Iowa.

In our most recent reconnection, Michael reiterated his feel-ing that our meals – wherever we eat them – are about much more than something delicious to eat. They’re about our “food, community, heritage, cultural touchstones and values.”

As the judges for the 1986 Journal Cookbook, Jane and Mi-chael chose Caramel-Apple Ladder Loaf as the grand prize. No Jell-O in these warming rolls, but plenty of comfort. Hattie Johnson, of South Sioux City, baked the winning entry.

Check out more on Jane and Michael Stern’s road trip foods at: www.roadfood.comCheck out more on Jane and Michael Stern’s road trip foods at:

www.roadfood.com


WHITING, Iowa – The walls of Adair and Nancy Kaehlar resound with splen-dor.

That’s because they are decorated with a number of different types of stringed instruments.

Adair Kaehlar recalled as a youngster singing with his dad in their truck as they transported hogs or cattle to mar-ket.

“Dad played the piano, but not the guitar,” he explained. “I think it was for my eighth birthday that he got me a Hawaiian guitar from Flood Music Co. and told me I was to take guitar lessons. I think if I was to give a reason why Dad wanted me to take the guitar over the piano, it was because I could carry the guitar.”

Kaehlar took lessons at the Monona Hotel in Onawa from a Sioux City wom-an.

“Her name is long forgotten,” he ad-mitted. “But I remember if we did well, she would do the hula for us.”

Kaehlar previously played with the Siouxland Country Music and with the Christian Minstrels. Once a week, Kaehlar, 81, and others play at area care centers as Monona Country Gospel. Wife Nancy does not play any instrument. She claimed not to sing either, but her husband disputed that: “She can if she wants to.”

Because Kaehlar has more than just the guitars – he also has mandolins, uku-leles and banjos, he wasn’t sure just how many items were in the collection.

“Let’s just say more than anyone ought to have,” he quipped.

Kaehlar answered some questions about his collection.

Q. where have you found all of these guitars?

A. When we owned the grocery story in Onawa (Kaehlar’s Onawa Foods), peo-ple would come in with guitars and just

give them to me or offer to sell them to me. Then I’ve found some in stores and in catalogues.

Q. what the most unusual guitar?A. I have a nine-string guitar that I

know of only one other. That was from Branson, Mo. I got a six-string banjo from a lady from Orange City, who came to the Lewis and Clark Festival (in Onawa). It has quite a different sound. She said if I didn’t want it, I could give it back. Well, you don’t give a kid a lollipop and ask for it back.

Q. is it just you or is nancy in on this collection as well?

A. Nancy got me that Epiphone hum-mingbird guitar for our 50th wedding an-niversary. I play it a lot.

Q. is there one that you have more memories with than the others?

A. I have a “named” guitar, where I have about 45 people who have signed it. They’re people who I’ve played with. It’s meaningful because now there are people who are gone.

Q. which ones would you say are valuable?

A. I have three Gibsons, which prob-ably might be called valuable.

Q. Since they’re on display, who dusts

coLLection stringed Instruments

Left adair Kaehlar, at left, talks about his large collec-tion of stringed instruments in his Whiting, iowa, home. Above a number of guitars with accompanying musi-cal notes adorn a wall.


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adair Kaehlar displays his “named” guitar that has close to 45 signatures on it. Below is a photo of a young Kaehlar with a banjo.

them?A. I do. In fact I spent about two to

three hours tuning, dusting and polish-ing them yesterday (the day before the interview).

Q. is there a price limit on what you’ll spend?

A. I was recently at Midbell Music in Sioux City and looked at a Takamine. It was $1,600. That was too much for me. And I don’t buy any of the instruments as an investment. It’s just fun.

Q. what’s the oldest one?A. I have a Super Tone that sold out of

a Sears & Roebuck catalogue. I’m sure it’s over 100 years old. I also have the origi-nal case and picks for it.

Q. is there a guitar player you admire?A. Chet Atkins. Although I have a

friend in Jefferson, Iowa, who I really look up to. I’ve known him since we were teenagers and I really like his style.

Q. Your guitars are impressive, but what about the other stringed instru-ments?

A. I have a balalaika, that’s three strings, three woods and three-sided. I have a hammer dulcimer and a lap dulcimer. I have a dulcibro that has a dulcimer frame, but is played like a steel

guitar. I have a mandolin and an auto-harp. I have two banjos, a four-string and six-string.

Q. no harp?A. We did look at one once. (In the

background, Nancy interjected, “We’re not getting a harp.”)

Q. You have two banjos. Can you play “dueling banjos”?

A. Oh, no! That’s too complicated for me. I used to do it on the guitar years ago, but I wouldn’t try it any more.

Q. what about the accoutrements that accompany stringed instruments?

A. I’ve got microphones for when we have jam sessions. I’ve got amps coming out of my ears.

Q. do you collect anything else?A. No.Q. what do you think of today’s coun-

try music?A. I’m not a fan. It’s more pop than

country. I don’t like that rock music that’s played today. But I have to give those kids credit. They can really play those guitars.

are you a collectorif you have a collection to share with siouxland life readers, contact Joanne fox, [email protected].


20 questions with sioux city Public Museum director

steve Hansen

As work nears the end on Sioux City’s new Public Museum, Nick Hytrek talked with Director Steve Hansen about the facility’s future.

proFiLe Q&a

text by Nick Hytrek | Photographs by Tim Hynds

1. when is the new museum open-ing?

We’re looking right now at late March.

2. when will the move take place?We moved the archives collection

service over in the fall. By the time this (story) runs, we’ll be close.

3. how long do you think it will take for it to feel like home, like the mu-seum?

It’s a new facility, it’s a new home. I think it will take at least a year for the newness to sink in.

4. how much is the staff looking for-ward to working in a new facility?

I think the staff is pretty amped up to be at the new site. We’ve been planning this for two years now.

5. having a brand-new, up-to-date facility like this, does it make your job easier or harder?

From a marketing standpoint, it makes it easier. From an operational standpoint, it certainly makes it more complex and more involved.

6. what will the new museum allow you to do that you haven’t been able to do before?

It allows us to showcase artifacts we’ve never been able to show before. It allows us to expand educational pro-grams. And it allows us to bring in tem-porary exhibits that we didn’t have the physical capacity to do.

7. what excites you most about the new museum?

I just think it’s an opportunity to bet-ter serve the community. Every area that the museum operates in, we’ll be able to raise the bar.

8. how much more exhibit space will there be?

The whole Peirce Mansion (the cur-rent museum) is 9,500 square feet. Our permanent gallery space will have 12,000 square feet and temporary gallery space is approximately 7,500 square feet.

9. how much more of the museum’s collection will you be able to display?

We will be in a position where any-thing we want to display, we can.

10. what will people notice most when they walk in?

I think people will think it’s not their concept of an old museum. It will be a very open concept, and they’re seeing history they weren’t aware of. Hopefully they’ll see it as a fun, exciting place.

11. is it already generating interest from schools planning field trips?

Schools, service groups. The good news is, the interest isn’t just local. We’re getting interest expressed from a 60-mile radius, so that’s encouraging.

12. what kind of interest do you sense from the general public?

We’ve had a really high level of inter-est and support. I don’t go anywhere without people asking me about the museum, when it’s going to be open.

13. from an operations standpoint, what is the best thing about the new museum?

Being all on one level. It will be truly accessible to everyone.

14. will everything in the museum’s collection now be at one site?

Yes. We still have the Sgt. Floyd Wel-come Center. As far as the museum, the archives all are on one site. No more Pearl Street Center.

15. what’s the biggest adjustment you and the staff will have to make?

I think it will just be time manage-ment. We anticipate that we’ll serve triple the numbers we now do, and it’s going to take more time and energy.

16. did you visit other museums to get ideas for the design and floor plan here?

We did – dozens, and we appropri-ated some really good ideas from them.

17. what are some of the more no-table museums you visited, and what ideas did you integrate from them?

The Smithsonians. A whole range from some of the largest museums to the smallest. The State Historical Build-ing. Some of the things we picked up is a better way to deal with collections, different ways of making the museum more visitor-friendly.

18. how do you think visitor num-bers will be this year?

I think initially visitation will see a real spike. I think the first two or three years, there will be a lot of interest, and after that it will be up to the staff to keep it fresh.

19. how does Sioux City benefit from having a new museum?

I think bringing in traffic downtown, bringing people in from out of town. It’s a new showcase piece downtown.

20. how do you think being down-town will affect the museum?

We chose downtown because we thought it would be great for the mu-seum. I always said we’d be part of the solution to downtown. We want to be part of the evolving downtown. I envi-sion the museum to be a community meeting place. We want to be utilized by the public.


“It’s a new showcase piece downtown.”


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wowfactorthe WoW factor.

That’s what backers of a new Sioux City Public Museum sought when they talked about remodel-ing the former JC Penney department store five

years ago. Now that the new museum nears an April opening, did they get it?

To those involved in the project, the answer is a re-sounding “Yes.”

“I think the scale of the place will be part of that ‘wow’ factor,” businessman Irving Jensen Jr., said. “Your eyes will take in two stories seeing the Kari-Keen plane. That Corn Palace entry is almost two-stories tall.”

A copy of one of the original architectural drawings of one of the city’s famous corn palaces surrounds the door-way into a theater.

The video that will be aired in the 48-seat Orientation

new MuseuM has space for eVeryone to enjoy

text by Lynn Zerschling | Photographs by Tim Hynds

Above vintage sioux city beer bottles are part of an exhibit on brewing and grain milling at the new sioux city Public museum.

The popular replica of french-canadian fur trader Theophile Bruguier’s log cabin has been moved from its longtime home on Jackson street to the new museum. in 1849, Bruguier established a trading post at the future town site. his original cabin sits in riverside Park.


Disaster waLLThe wall will commemorate three major ca-lamities that hit the city and the community’s responses to them: the dec. 23, 1904, Pelletier department store fire, the 1953 floyd river flood and the crash of united airlines flight 232 at sioux gateway airport on July 19, 1989.


Left museum director steve hansen stands in front of a vintage paving machine.

Above a timeline outlines the history of sioux city’s packing industry.

teMporary exhibitsrotating exhibits will feature various displays, such as sioux city-produced bricks from the lower Brick co. and other companies in riverside in the late 1800s to early 1900s, surveying equipment used by dr. John cook, who laid out city streets, and wood from the coffin of sgt. charles floyd, who was buried in 1804 after he died on the lewis and clark expedition.

Theater illustrating Sioux City history will be another “cool factor that will set the tone for the whole museum,” Karen Van De Steeg added.

Van De Steeg is president of the non-profit Siouxland Heritage Foundation that is overseeing planning, construction and fundraising for the project.

To her, the biggest wow factor is the free-standing Disaster Wall showcasing three major calamities and outlining how the community came together in coordinated responses.

The wall illustrates the 1953 Floyd River flood that inundated businesses and homes in the Hoeven Valley and the stockyards; the crash of United Flight 232 at Sioux Gateway airport on July 19, 1989, and the Pelletier Department store fire on Dec. 23, 1904, which destroyed 2½ city blocks in what is considered the worst fire in the city’s history.

“To me that wall is interesting, perhaps because of my medical back-ground,” said Van De Steeg, executive di-rector of Health Inc., which oversees the June E. Nylen Cancer Center, Hospice of Siouxland and Siouxland Paramedics Inc. “It’s a good example of how the city sur-vived these different disasters over the years, came together and still is strong.”

Museum Director Steve Hansen ad-mitted he enjoys the view from the sky-way’s glass windows overlooking the in-terior from a second-floor vantage point.

“And, my favorite deal right now is to go down at night and sit at Fourth and


Nebraska and just look inside the win-dows. You can see the Kari-Keen plane backlit. It’s pretty cool! It’s all coming to-gether like we had planned it.”

In no way does the remodeled space resemble the building’s former home as a department store.

“It’s open and airy,” he said. “The ceil-ings are white. It doesn’t feel like you’re walking into a dark cave.”

“I think it will be easier for people from out of town to find once the mu-seum is located downtown,” Jim Jung, chairman of the city’s Historic Preserva-tion Commission, said.

“It will add to the cultural activities in the downtown area in addition to the Orpheum Theatre, the Tyson Events Cen-ter and the Art Center,” Jung declared. “I think this museum will be the crown jewel for downtown.”

Jensen added, “I think it will blow people away when they go in there.”

More rooMThe new $12.5 million museum at 607

Fourth St. will have space to showcase the majority of the museum’s perma-nent collections, storage for the rest and will display traveling exhibits.

In the Peirce Mansion, at 2901 Jackson St., Hansen said there only was room to display about 15 percent of the collec-tions – which includes more than 50,000 objects. At the Pearl Street Research Center, at 407 Pearl St. the vast majority of its collection – including more than a quarter of million photographic images – were in storage.

The Peirce Mansion contained about 9,500 square feet of space, while the Pearl Street Research Center contained 8,000 square feet. At the new museum, there are 55,000 square feet of usable space on the first floor.

An atrium has been created on the southwest corner of the building for the museum. The rest of the second floor is leased to Delta Airlines for its reservation center.

PerManent exhibitSOne of the children’s favorite exhibits

is a replica of French fur trader Theophile Bruguier’s log cabin, which has been installed at its new home. His original cabin still stands in Riverside Park.

The permanent collection includes that free-standing disaster wall and ex-hibits on the Sioux City Stockyards and meatpacking industry, the Native Ameri-can Gallery, as well as displays on Sioux

heritage foundation raiSeS Majority of MoneyThe new sioux city Public museum carries a $12.5 million price tag.“all the bids came in lower than predicted due to the competition for work during the recession,” steve han-sen, museum director, stated. “We still have between $25,000 and $40,000 yet to raise in our capital campaign.”The city council bought the former Jc Penney building for the museum’s long-needed home, as part of its overall $1.5 million contribution. The state’s vision iowa commu-nity attraction and Tourism program awarded the city $2 million for the project. The nonprofit siouxland heritage foundation Board has raised the majority of money for the project.hansen said an endowment fund has been created. The goal is to raise $500,000 and to date, $385,000 has been donated.anyone wishing to make a donation or make a pledge should send a check made out to the siouxland heritage foundation, in care of the sioux city Public museum, 2901 Jackson st., sioux city, iowa 51104. more information is available by calling (712) 279-6174. donations to the foun-dation are tax deductible.


corn paLacea two-story replica of an architectural rendering of one of sioux city’s corn palaces serves as the main entrance to an orientation theater and exhibit space. The 48-seat theater will air a 12-minute video on the history of sioux city three times each hour and will feature special ef-fects. nearby is “The attic,” where unusual items will be displayed that usually get stored in the attic since no one wants to throw them away.

City businesses and some whopper-sized vehicles.

The Stockyards wall consists of more than photographs and narrative infor-mation. Cattle pens stand in front of it, with a Black Angus cow and pig gazing back at onlookers.

“It will be an interactive exhibit with some hands-on activities for children” Hansen noted.

The museum always has excelled at presenting exhibits on the area’s Native American history, Jensen said. In addi-tion to the variety of pottery, clothing, arrowheads and other artifacts in the collection, Hansen said the Iowa State ar-chaeologist at the University of Iowa has agreed to allow the museum to display a number of items from the Mill Creek Cul-ture dating to 11,000 A.D.

“These people were farming up and down the Sioux River Valley,” Hansen said.

The artifacts on loan from the state were found in the Kimball site in south-ern Plymouth County, just north of Stone Park. Some of the tools were made out of large mammal bones, while gardening tools, hoes and fish hooks were crafted out of fragile bird bones.

“Sioux City has one of the best Native American collections in the state of Iowa and the region,” asserted Jensen, who also is a member of the heritage founda-tion board.

A rotating display will feature Sioux City businesses.

“We built a trolley car and you can go inside and watch a screen,” Hansen added. “You can choose from one of five topics.”

Flying high over the exhibits is the Kari-Keen coupe, a two-seater

MeDicaL equipMentsioux city dentist frank epstein used this chair and related equipment in his office in the 1950s. epstein was born July 15, 1909, in russia and immigrated to the united states with his parents as a child. he was known to his patients as “dr. Pickle” and was a practicing dentist for 57 years, specializing in children’s den-tistry. he died dec. 23, 2006, at age 97.

Floor plans for sioux city Public museum by design firm gerard hilderty & associates, inc.


manufactured at the aircraft plant in Leeds. It is one of only three known to exist out of the 40 to 50 Kari-Keens that took to the skies in the early days of avia-tion.

“From our standpoint, this is one of the most significant donations we’ve every received,” Hansen said. “It would sell for $85,000 to $100,000 on the open market, but for us it is priceless.”

Towering into the second floor atrium along a nearby wall is the red Bus Hotel sign.

Jensen, his son, Irving Jensen III, and their family have donated a 1918 Mack fire truck and a 1957 Diamond T dump truck used in the family’s construction business. The Jensens had both vehicles painstakingly restored to mint condition. The Sioux City Fire Department once used a similar fire truck.

“You can walk down one hall you will find the stuffed animal displays and Dr. (James) Hartje has given them a magnifi-cent collection of rock artifacts,” Jensen added.

The permanent gallery covers 12,000 square feet of space.

teMPorary exhibitSAnother 7,200 square feet of space

will be available for rotating exhibits out of the museum’s extensive collections, as well as for traveling exhibits.

“We have the capacity to expand to 9,500 square feet if we need the room,” Hansen stated. “Most traveling exhibits need at least 5,000 square feet, like the Titanic exhibit. … A Hawkeye truck also will be on display which was manufac-tured at a plant on Hawkeye Drive here.”

One of the first new exhibits? Sioux City fourth graders’ history projects. The pupils’ renditions of Sioux City land-marks will be displayed in May.

Van De Steeg, a former Sioux City mayor, said another of her favorite ex-hibits is The Attic, located inside the Ne-braska Street door.

“They are kind of these old, eclectic items you might find in the attic that merit being on display, but not a separate exhibit of their own,” she noted.

Such as? The bison head. The original Thorpe’s jewelry store clock.

“There will be an interactive mirror there,” Hansen revealed. “You look in the mirror and will see your image. If you hit a button, you will see the Rev. Haddock or John Peirce pop up in the mirror and there will be a two-minute film on them” shown in the mirror.

The Rev. George Haddock was a fiery

temperance pastor who was murdered at Fourth and Water streets on Aug. 3, 1886. His assassination catapulted Sioux City into the national spotlight. Peirce was an 1890s entrepreneur who once owned the mansion that has served as the mu-seum’s home since 1961.

other SPaceSHolding educational classes at the

Peirce Mansion was limited to a dozen or so people who met in a small backroom. In the new place, Hansen said one class-room will hold twice that many people, while two other rooms will be separated by a partition, which can be opened to a larger room for meetings and classes. That flexible space will be available for community groups.

The Pearl Street archives’ new home is on the Jackson Street side of the build-ing.

Storage room is available on the north side. Crews who back trucks into the loading docks off Fifth Street will be able to unload exhibits into the temporary gallery or into the storage area. Another storage area on the southeast corner of the building has been designated for fu-ture expansion.

Administrative offices are located near the Nebraska and Jackson street sides of the building. The gift shop is located just inside the Nebraska Street entrance. The Museum Trustees and heritage foundation board decided not to include a café in the building.

“We didn’t want to compete with private restaurants,” Hansen explained,

noting there are sandwich shops and restaurants nearby.

During warmer weather, he expects a number of people to brownbag their lunches to the outdoor plaza facing Fourth Street, which will contain green space, plantings and benches. Events also will be held in the plaza.

ParkingPeople driving to the museum may

park on the street at the meters or in one of the nearby city parking ramps. The city allows free parking at the meters and in the ramps on the weekends.

“If you have a product worth seeing, people won’t worry about having to pay for the parking,” Hansen maintained. “The museum is free.”

attraction“Our designers believe they have de-

signed a four-hour experience,” Hansen said. “Even if you are visiting for just 60 minutes, you will get to see a lot and want to come back.”

The exhibits will bring the past to life through the use of state-of-the-art tech-nology, interactive displays, hands-on elements and presentations. The hope, planners said, is that the exhibits will in-spire the imagination and encourage the desire to further explore the rich history of the area.

“With our educational programs and exhibits, we’ll only be limited by our own creativity,” Hansen said, with Van De Steeg adding, “It will be a lot of fun.”

MeDiaThe museum has a display representing sioux city’s media.


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The market board in the lobby of the sioux city livestock exchange Building.

artiFacts

MuseuM alwayson the lookout for

text by Nick Hytrek | Photograph by Larry Myhre

if you Watch “PaWn Stars” and “American Pickers,” you know there are all sorts of interesting, historical stuff sitting in garages and old buildings all over the place.

Steve Hansen would love to see what’s stashed in Sioux City and the Siouxland area.

“I’m convinced that every day something gets thrown away or goes through the thrift shop,” said the Sioux City Public Museum director. “If it’s Sioux City history, we’d like to get a chance to look at it.

“Part of our mission is collecting Sioux City history, preserving it and showing it.”

The museum has what’s known as its “hunt list.” It includes areas of Sioux City history the museum may be short on. Han-sen said it’s hard to list specific items be-cause it’s not known if they even exist.

“It’s hard to say we want something when we don’t know what’s out there,” he said.

And what museum officials consider his-torical might not fit the same definition to people cleaning out their closets. The mu-seum isn’t interested only in artifacts from the 1800s and early 1900s. Hansen said the museum would like to show more recent history – artifacts or photos since 1950.

here are some of the things hansen said the museum is most interested in obtaining:

sioux city stockyarDshansen said the museum has only two pieces of video footage from the stockyards: the last auction and a promotional piece from the late 1940s or early ’50s.“We know there’s got to be more out there,” he said.The museum would welcome more video on the stockyards and is always interested in expanding its collection of photos and arti-facts from an industry that made sioux city famous.

construction inDustryThe museum is seeking photos of construc-tion projects: roads, buildings and other structures, especially from the 1940s and ’50s.as an example, hansen said that around christmas, an individual brought in several photos taken during the construction of allee gymnasium at morningside college.

sioux city businesses beFore 1960“The earlier the better,” hansen said.Just about anything goes here: artifacts,

signs, old promotional materials.some specific businesses hansen mentioned were hawkeye Truck, Wetmore automobile company (especially an old tractor) and old sioux city bank notes and other currency.hansen said more recent photos would be nice, too. The museum has few photos of downtown sioux city since 1950.

natiVe aMerican artiFactshansen said the museum could use more items to tell the story of the indians who lived in the sioux city area.“We’re always looking to expand our collec-tion there,” he said.

perioD Furniture FroM the 1890sas the Peirce mansion is converted from the home of the museum to a period home, fur-niture from that time period will be needed.

MiLitary artiFactshansen said the museum’s collection of arti-facts, especially uniforms, through World War ii is very good. The museum could use more items from the Korean War, and especially needs more from the vietnam War and re-cent wars in the middle east and afghanistan.


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SlotS, draWerS and neat stacks of paper don’t amount to a feast for the eyes or ears.

No lights. No bells, whistles or whirls.But to a museum that’s all about lo-

cal history, these papers amount to the foundation. The nerve center.

“We are the attic of Sioux City. We keep these things because the next gen-eration must know what happened in the past,” said Grace Linden, curator of history for the Sioux City Public Museum.

Linden and staff take documents such as personal histories, family trees, diplo-mas and Bibles and carefully examine, catalog and store. In a word: Archive.

“We take an item in and we accession it,” she said. “That means we get all of the information we can from the owner. We find out where they got it, the object’s provenance; who made it, how it was used, when it was used and who used it.”

Without that history, the document (or the item; be it a uniform, a buggy, a truck, a tool, etc.) is just a thing.

The Sioux City Public Museum is more than things. It is history, stories behind those things. This is a must for an entity whose mission is to educate peo-ple about Sioux City and its surrounding region.

A formal selections committee, in fact, meets to decide what artifacts should be archived and admitted to the collection. At times, items are turned away. If they have a local tie, chances are they’ll be re-ceived and archived by Linden or a fellow staff member.

“We’re not here to tell people about Chicago,” she says. “We’re here to tell about Sioux City.”

Telling those stories would be next to impossible without organization. Sioux City Public Museum staff members find

order through a system that enumerates items by subject, by giver, by time frame and more. While complicated to a visitor from the general public, Linden and the staff breeze through the digits via two computer databases and often produce the item, document or collection sought

sioux city Public museum archivist grace linden talks about the museum’s collec-tion and its new home.

framed prints are stored in the museum archives.

The aTTIcIt’s all about the archiVes

text by Tim Gallagher | Photographs by Tim Hynds


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a soapbox derby car is shown as part of the sioux city Public museum’s collection.

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In a way, this is a library on steroids. In addition to books, there are carefully aligned rows of papers, pictures and neg-atives – the two-dimensional artifacts. Then, there are the three-dimensional objects, things like military uniforms, sewing machines and toys.

The additional space at the new Pub-lic Museum site in downtown Sioux City gives Linden and Co. a badly needed boost, allowing staff members and 15 volunteers to store more and find more with ease.

“We put the big puzzle of Sioux City together here in the archives,” she says.

She shares an example. Say John Q. Public visits the new museum’s reading room and asks to see a family genealogy to which he’s connected. Linden would enter the name in a database and quickly return with any documents connected to the family. It might be an old Bible with notes, or a family scrapbook left with the museum eyers ago.

There may also be references to John Q. Public’s family in past newspaper ar-ticles that Linden can access.

“For the public’s protection and ours, we do handle a lot of our items with gloves,” she says. “The books and papers that aren’t fragile can be handled by the public.”

A woman recently showed up with two granddaughters. She told staff mem-bers that the Sioux City Public Museum had an oral history shared by her late husband.

“We had it here,” Linden says. “I brought out the oral history and the girls listened to their grandfather talking about life in Sioux City years ago. I also had the transcript of the oral history; it was 8-10 pages long.”

A tape-to-tape machine allowed Linden to record the tape for the grand-daughters who were hearing their grand-pa’s voice for the first time.

“We put the big puzzle of sioux city together here in the archives.”

how to donate to the MuSeuMif you have something you think might make a good addition the sioux city Public museum’s collection, contact the museum at (712) 279-6174.director steve hansen said the museum relies on the donation of its artifacts. donors can get a tax write-off for the value of the item they donate.


once the Sioux city Public Museum has moved into its new downtown site, its home for the past 50 years will return to its roots.

The Peirce Mansion, which has housed the mu-seum since 1961, will return to a period home concept that will be available for receptions, parties, meetings and other functions.

“It will have a different flavor to it. We’ve had some interest already from people wanting to have their weddings here,” Museum Director Steve Hansen said.

The Victorian-era mansion at 2901 Jackson St. was built in 1891 by real estate developer John Peirce. It was sold and occupied by many families over the years until 1958, when the Junior League of Sioux City purchased the house for $10,000 and donated it in 1959 to the City of Sioux City for use as a cultural building.

Once converted back into a period home, the man-sion, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, will be under the operation of the Sioux City Museum and Historical Association.

“It will loosely be under our umbrella,” Hansen said.

Hansen said the mansion’s conversion will begin once the museum has vacated it in March. Hansen said preliminary plans call for restoring the second-floor bedrooms and filling them with furniture from the 1890s time period. The third floor will be available to rent for special occasions. It should be available for rentals sometime this summer, Hansen said, but the complete conversion may take longer than that.

Some of the museum’s collection of Victorian-era furniture likely will remain in the mansion to help return that residential feel to it. Hansen said the new

oLDMuseuM

to return to perioD hoMe

concepttext by Nick Hytrek | Photographs by Tim Hynds

a book and pair of glasses in a period bedroom in the Peirce mansion.


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steve hansen, director of the sioux city Public museum, is shown in a period bedroom in the museum’s Peirce mansion. The mansion will be restored into a victorian period home after the museum moves into its new downtown sioux city headquarters.

museum will have information direct-ing visitors to the Peirce Mansion if they want to see a furnished Victorian-era home.

Hansen has mixed feelings about leaving the Peirce Mansion. The stained-glass windows and pleasant view from his third-story office will be missed, he said, but it’s hard to compare with having a new, state-of-the-art museum.

“It’s time to move on. The museum outgrew this facility decades ago,” he said. “It’s a great old mansion, but where we’re going is going to be better in so many ways.”


a 1916 exhibit at the Peirce mansion, an early facility of the sioux city Public museum.

1858

1885

1903

1858-1885 – sioux city Ly-ceum, lecture/debate club. Became the scientific associa-tion.

1885-1903 – scientific asso-ciation. lecture/debate club/mu-seum. Became the sioux city acad-emy of science and letters.

1903-1939 –sioux city academy of science and Letters. lecture/debate club/museum.

the Sioux city Public Museum can trace its beginning to 1885, when the Scientific Association (1885-1903) was formed and started collecting artifacts or even back to its predecessor, the Sioux City Lyceum (1858-1885).

However, there is no evidence the Sioux City Lyceum (a lecture and debate club) maintained a collection. There is evidence the Scientific Association did have a collection, as early as 1885, and this became the basis of a museum, maintained by the Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters (1903-1941), (the Scientific Association’s successor), until 1939 when it merged with other collec-tions and became known as the Sioux City Public Museum.

The first reference of a museum (maintained by the Scientific Asso-ciation) was written by the Sioux City Academy of Science and Letter’s curator, H. C. Powers, in the Proceedings of the Sioux City Academy of Science and Let-ters, 1905: “On November 19th, 1887, the County Board of Supervisors granted to the Scientific Association the use of the room of the County Superintendent of Schools in the Court House for its meet-ings and also space in the same room for its cases of specimens.”

Then a second reference to the Scien-tific Association’s collection was in the curator’s Report of the Proceedings of the Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters in 1906: “As a pearl grows from

its small nucleus by continued accretions from without, so has our collection grown from its first single specimen brought to a meeting of the old Scientific Asso-ciation back in the year of its beginning, 1885, until now (1906) when we have a large lot of specimens, thousands in number.”

The meeting place, and supposedly the collections of the Scientific Associa-tion, moved around the city from the courthouse to the high school to the city library. Then on March 31, 1903, a pro-posal to change the name (and broaden the scope of the work of the Scientific Association) to the Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters, stated, “The object of the organization shall be the diffusion of knowledge and the promotion of origi-nal investigation in the Natural Sciences, History, Political Science, Sociology, Literature and other branches of useful knowledge, by the reading and publish-ing of original papers, establishing and maintaining a museum and library and by other suitable means.”

This resolution was adopted Oct. 27, 1903. The collection of artifacts, under the newly formed Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters, found a home at Morningside College.

text and photographs contributed by Grace Linden, Sioux City Public Museum

historyoF the sioux city

pubLic MuseuM


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The carnegie building served as the public library and housed an early facility of the sioux city Public museum.

2011

1939

1961

2011 – Downtown location. The sioux city Public museum moves into its new facility in the former Jc Penney building. The collection was moved in the spring of 1906 to

the library on the second floor of the old city hall at Sixth and Douglas streets. This collection was moved from that location to the new city library at Sixth and Jackson streets around 1920.

In 1938, the Lion’s Club decided to take on a project of revitalizing the old Acad-emy of Science and Letters’ museum col-lection and merging that collection with a large Native American collection, the George G. Inman Collection.

Inman was designated education cura-tor of the Native American collection by the Sioux City Board of Education. The Woodbury County Pioneer Club also do-nated historical manuscripts to the mu-seum that it had been collecting.

By late 1939 the City of Sioux City be-came involved in the museum when the City Council approved the appointment

(designated by Mayor David F. Loepp) of Mrs. Ralph A. Henderson as curator of the museum.

A Sept. 22, 1939, article stated, “Acting on sugges-tion of the members of the Museum board present, Mayor Loepp then mentioned M. H. White and Judge A. O. Wakefield as members of the museum board and the appointments were confirmed by the coun-cil.”

The museum was now being called the Sioux City Public Museum. In 1941 the City of Sioux City be-came known as Iowa’s only municipality to operate a museum.

The Woodbury County Historical Society (includ-ing the Academy of Science and Letters) at some point became defunct. The museum collection was kept in the public library during the 1940s and 1950s.

On May 1, 1959, a City resolution No. R-8611, “…providing for establishment of a Sioux City Museum Board and for the conduct of a museum program by a museum director” was passed by the city.

The Junior League bought the Peirce Mansion in 1958 and deeded it to the City for a cultural center. The Sioux City Public Museum moved out of the li-brary into this facility at 29th and Jackson streets and opened to the public in 1961.

1961 – peirce Mansion, at 29th and Jackson streets, was do-nated to the city. museum moves out of the library space into the Jackson street facility.

1939 – sioux city public Mu-seum. The academy museum merged with other collections to become the sioux city Public museum. The lecture/debate club merged with the Woodbury county historical society in 1941.


SPokeSPerSonS With Siouxland hiStorical institutions viewed a new Sioux City Public Museum positively im-pacting their own missions.

“The Sioux City Lewis & Clark Inter-pretive Center/Betty Strong Encounter Center and the transformed Sioux City Public Museum share a commitment to honor our past, present and possible fu-ture,” said director Marcia Poole. “Our ap-proaches are distinct and different, yet, they complement rather than duplicate each other.”

Poole said the museum collects, pre-serves and interprets precious, often irre-placeable artifacts and archives pertain-ing to local history.

“The Interpretive Center/Encounter Center connects to themes of our region-al relationship with Lewis and Clark, the Native peoples who were here before the Corps of Discovery, our rivers, land and other natural resources,” she clarified. “The Center focuses on stories and ideas expressed in diverse ways, including photo exhibits; cultural and educational programs; traditional games and heri-tage food activities.”

Larry Obermeyer, executive secretary of the Siouxland Historical Railroad As-sociation, agreed the museums are not in competition.

“We don’t see us competing,” he said. “Rather, we will be looking at how do we develop a commonly shared visitor base that will learn from the educational ex-periences offered by both museums.”

The addition of the Sioux City Public Museum can only enhance the railroad museum, Obermeyer added.

“The public museum will have the ability to interpret the railroad’s impact on the historical development of Sioux City,” he said. “We are focused on de-veloping the Milwaukee Railroad Shops as a science and technology museum blended with historical themes focused on the railroad worker and the broader industry.”

muSeumSLook ForwarDto collaborative relationShip


Todd clair, left, of chicago, and siouxland historic railroad association volunteer sam Zimmerman, of sioux city, look through a book about the history of area railroads in the gift shop at the milwaukee railroad shops.


Board member Lily Higman with the proposed Children’s Museum of Sioux-land shared the organization’s support of the public museum’s downtown pres-ence.

“When we were looking for a loca-tion for the Children’s Museum we specifically wanted to be in downtown Sioux City, so, when we heard that the public museum was moving downtown we were thrilled,” she said. “The move

definitely made us more excited about being downtown, because in one stop, visitors can go to all of Sioux City’s cul-tural hot spots – Public Museum, Chil-dren’s Museum, Orpheum Theatre, Art Center and others. We believe that all the museums should be working together to make Sioux City a culturally diverse and exciting place to be for our residents as well as our visitors.”

Larry Finley, executive director of the Mid America Museum of Aviation & Transportation, sees the opening of the new museum downtown as a continu-ation of the representation of Siouxland history in other venues.

“The new Sioux City museum will en-hance our city as a ‘destination city’ for vacationers, travelers and those seeking more historical information on our area,” he added. “It will complement the other cultural entities. Plus, it will be a focal point for new growth and activity in our downtown area.”

The consensus was all of the histori-cal institutions enhance the quality of life in Siouxland.

“Ultimately, we both seek to nurture pride in Sioux City and enhance our

community’s image as a quality place to live, work and visit,” Poole said.

“Informal education is becoming more important in our everyday lives,” Obermeyer said. “The new museum will enable many of our residents and com-munity visitors to have more access to public programs and expanded exhibi-tions. Our community now has almost 175 years of community history, and the new museum gives an opportunity to showcase that heritage.”

“A Children’s Museum is about the fu-ture,” Higman said. “When a community takes the bold commitment to create a children’s museum, they are opening their hands to hold and nurture their future. A children’s museum, thus, be-comes a place of possibilities and prom-ise, the very heart of a community.”

The Mid America Museum of Aviation & Transportation is looking forward to a great working relationship with the new museum, Finley said. “We have some exciting plans for promoting the various historical, religious and artistic venues which call Sioux City home.”

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heaLth athletic trainer

text by Tim Gallagher | Photograph by Jim Lee

musketeers trainer ron Peterson watches from the bench as sioux city takes on chicago during hockey action at the Tyson events center.

there’S at leaSt one non-player at the Tyson Events Center with his gloves available when the Sioux City Muske-teers take the ice.

And it has nothing to do with keeping his hands warm.

He’s Ron Peterson, a certified athletic trainer with Tri-State Specialists. For two seasons, Peterson has handled cuts suf-fered by Musketeers in this contact sport.

“Facial cuts are part of the game,” says Peterson. “When they do get cut, they come off the ice right away and, ideally, they won’t miss a shift. I try to get it un-der control so it’s done by the time their shift ends.”

Every team in the league has a certi-fied athletic trainer on the bench for this purpose. Peterson, 25, travels with the Musketeers.

“I wouldn’t say I see someone at ev-ery game. But at least every other game there’s a minor cut or a bloody nose,” he says.

Bloody noses can come via a brawl.

They can also occur with contact that’s part of the rough-and-tumble sport. Cuts happen in fights occasionally. More of-ten, a cut is the result of a wayward stick.

The glove-donning trainer works quickly with cuts, applying a towel and gauze to clean the affected area. Direct pressure and a Vaseline-type substance called Skin Lube (it’s thicker than Vase-line) help stop the bleeding.

Peterson does not rely on warm saltwater or coffee grounds, a couple of popular home remedies some use to stop shaving nicks.

What if that doesn’t work?“If it is bleeding worse, I have little

tubes of (a thicker Skin Lube substance) that will clot the blood and it will hold,” he says.

For more complicated cuts, Peterson has the player head to the locker room to see a Tri-State physician who is always on hand as well.

“I’ll have the player go off and get sutured so they don’t miss a period,” he

says. “We’ve probably had a total of five to seven guys cut during the course of a game where they’ve required stitches afterward.”

Peterson enjoys the excitement and pace of hockey. He also appreciates be-ing a part of the team, and is considered as such by virtue of his presence at each workout, practice and game.

But, fights? When the gloves go down on the ice, his go on.

“I enjoy fights, yes. But I know there’s a chance I’ll be pressed into duty,” he says.

And while nicks and bruises around the mouth, eyes and nose are badges of honor in this sport, they’re something Peterson didn’t have much in his athletic career. The former Lewis Central prep in Council Bluffs played football at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.

“I never had any stitches,” he says. “Just scrapes.”

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1) Get adequate rest daily-People with the best health and longevity get at least 7-8 hours of sleep daily-Just recently discovered- Lack of sleep also is a major cause of obesity

2) Get regular physical activity-Aim for 30-60 minutes of physical activity on most days of the week3) Eat more plant based foods-Aim for at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily-Most of our diet should consist of foods we could leave on a table and come back two weeks later and not be afraid to eat it. (ie peas, dry beans, nuts, grains, fruits, etc.) A GOOD daily multivitamin can help with this4) Ask for whole-grain breads and cereals when at any counter-Tastes just like white bread but better for you. Aim for 3 servings (including brown rice and oatmeal). Limit white bread, pastry, and

sugary cereals.5) Choose healthy fats-When available, choose unhydrogenated vegetable oil and trans fat free margarine in place of animal and solid fats (ie butter, margarine, shortening)6) Achieve/Maintain a healthy weight-A waist girth less than 37 in. for men and less than 32 in. for women is ideal-Using a physician managed weight loss plan is always advised7) Be FREE of dependence on tobacco, illicit drugs, or alcohol-85,000 people die prematurely every year due to alcohol-Over 45,000 people die prematurely every year from smoking8) Give your body proper spinal care and daily stretching-About 80% of all work comp injuries happen within the first two hours of work. Most of these were from not “warming up” their backs with stretching.-Your spinal column control ever cell, tissue and organ throughout your entire body. The # 1 cause of disability after age 50 is spinal problems. Therefore, spinal checkups by your local chiropractor are vital.9) Maintain a Cheerful Outlook on Life -Choose to see the bright side of life. Be Happy! Laugh a lot! Pass on joy and hope to those you work and live with daily. -Supportive relationships build strong hearts and happy minds. Practice a spirit of friendship, love, and acceptance. Share kindness with some today!10) Take time for spiritual renewal-Plan a quiet time each day to read, pray, meditate, and seek spiritual renewal. A heart primed with gratitude, forgiveness, and service helps you soar over life’s difficulties and challenges.

Partial Source: Lifestyle Goals for Healthy Living by Wellsource Inc. 2003-5. www.wellsource.com

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Mention the terM “brain surgery” and thoughts of an hours-long procedure followed by days or weeks of recupera-tion in the hospital come to mind.

A surgical technique not often avail-able in cities the size of Sioux City can reduce surgery on certain brain tumors to an outpatient procedure requiring no hospitalization.

Stereotactic radiosurgery allows sur-geons to do surgery deep inside the brain without making an incision. Instead, a high dose of radiation beams is aimed at the tumor. For the patient, it obviously shortens the recovery time and is not nearly as dangerous.

“Those people would be at a higher surgical risk and often be in the hospital a week or more following surgery,” said Dr. Grant Shumaker, a neurologist at CNOS, who is involved with fellow CNOS neurologist Dr. Matthew Johnson in do-ing the procedure at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center.

Shumaker said Sioux City is fortunate that the Cancer Center has a Trilogy ma-chine, which can perform stereotactic

heaLth Incisionless surgery

neurosurgeon grant shumaker stands outside the June e. nylen cancer center stereotactic radiosurgery treatment area as radiation therapist amy sorensen works in the background.

text by Nick Hytrek | Photographs by Jerry Mennenga

technique takes the

incision out oF surgery


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Above June e nylen cancer center radiation therapist Kara honslo, left, looks over a chart for a treatment chart for a patient.

Left radiation therapists Kara honslo, left and amy so-rensen prepare a patient for treatment at the center.

radiosurgery and other radiation treat-ments. The expensive piece of equip-ment is rarely found in cities with a population of less than 500,000 people, Shumaker said. It means Siouxlanders who meet criteria for the procedure can stay close to home rather than drive hours for treatment.

The Cancer Center received the Tril-ogy machine in 2007. Shumaker said it’s used for stereotactic radiosurgery on about 30 patients a year. The treatment can be used on both cancerous and be-nign tumors, usually small ones found deep inside the brain.

The focused radiation procedure is in many cases safer and more effective than traditional surgery, Shumaker said.

“It’s very useful in treating tumors

that are difficult to treat surgically, if they’re close to a critical formation or deep,” he said.

Stereotactic radiosurgery focuses the radiation on the tumor. In whole-brain radiation, normal brain tissue as well as the tumor is exposed to radiation. The focused treatment allows doctors to protect healthy brain tissue while

maximizing treatment of the tumor.Shumaker compared it with using a

magnifying glass to burn ants.Patients who receive the treatment

are in and out of the Cancer Center the same day, though it can take a few hours. Patients arrive in the early morning for a CT scan, which is then analyzed along with previous MRI images. Then the neu-rologist, radiation oncologist and physi-cist spend an hour or more crunching numbers to figure out the configuration of the radiation field around the tumor. Once that’s done, Shumaker’s part in the procedure is done. The technologists ad-minister the treatment, which can take from 20 to 60 minutes.

Stereotactic radiosurgery is not the best way to treat all brain tumors. Shu-maker said traditional surgery still works best on treating large tumors near the surface of the brain.

For now, stereotactic radiosurgery is used only on brain tumors, brain blood vessel malformations and to treat tri-geminal neuralgia, a painful facial nerve condition. Shumaker said that within a year, it will be used at the Cancer Center to treat tumors on or near the spinal cord. He said it someday could be used to treat tumors in the lung and liver.

“It’s very useful in treating tumors that are difficult to treat surgically, if they’re close to a critical formation or deep.”


eMergencies Window of Opportunity

a hippo car seat, left, for children who might be wearing a lower body cast, the roosevelt, center, and Traveller Plus, right, both used for children with special needs such as a child with spina bifida or cerebral palsy.

text by Joanne Fox | Photographs by Jerry Mennenga

Mercy program provides

car seatsfor special needs children

reSearch indicateS Motor ve-hicle crashes remain the leading cause of injury-related deaths in children age 14 years and under. Statistics point to one reason for the high number of inju-ries and fatalities – children are traveling in vehicles unrestrained or improperly restrained.

However, of particular concern are those children who don’t fit a traditional car seat. They be-come even more at risk.

Mercy Medical Center – Sioux City Special Needs Car Seat Program was created to help all children travel safely, said Heather Mehl-haff, Mercy phys-ical therapist and child passenger safety technician.

“Families with children with special health care needs have an especially difficult task of making sure their child is properly re-strained,” she said. “Last year, we started focusing on our inpatients who might need a special seat and putting protocols in place.”

Children and adolescents who may need a special car seat include children in long leg casts or hip spica casts, chil-dren with poor sitting balance or head control, increased muscle spasticity, or range of motion limitations. Diagnoses of children that may be served by the pro-gram include cerebral palsy, spina bifida,

traumatic brain injury, genetic disorders, orthopedic issues or autism.

Mehlhaff, who moved to Siouxland from Lincoln, Neb., had previous experi-ence with special car seats at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital.

“I saw the need and started a car seat program there,” she said. “I became certi-fied as a technician and when I came to Sioux City and Mercy, I knew we needed a program like that.”

For children who don’t have strong head or trunk control, traditional car seats put them at risk, Mehlhaff said.

“An added challenge is some tradi-tional car seats don’t fit correctly into a family’s vehicle,” she added. “The American Academy of Pediatrics has

specifications in place for children who need a special seat. Some need to be upright. Some need to lie down. All are at different levels and we make sure the child is restrained in the correct seat.”

Many special needs seats have higher harness weight limits – greater than 100 pounds in many instances and special positioning features to meet the needs of children with special needs. Travel vests may be used for children with behavioral disorders to prevent the child from un-buckling themselves while traveling.

Because the car seats are customized – even for use on an airplane – they can be costly for a family, Mehlhaff acknowl-edged. Mercy has a variety of special needs car seats available for clinical trial

heather mehlhaff


Left an assura baby car seat for children under 22 pounds and an angelguard car bed for infants with special needs that are required to lie flat.

Below Back seat car bench seat straps secure children with a body cast that need to be transported.

through a grant from the Iowa Gover-nor’s Traffic Safety Bureau.

Mehlhaff said families have been very appreciative of the program.

“They don’t know where to go for in-formation about seats and there’s a lot of information out there, so families tend to feel lost,” she said. “Research shows that about 80 percent of people don’t use a children’s car seat correctly and when you add special needs children on top of that, it’s an alarming situation.”

Stacey Cobb, the mother of 7-year-old Janessa, expressed her frustration with seeking out a car seat for her daughter, who doesn’t walk or talk and moves con-stantly.

“There’s no store to shop for these seats,” she said. “Plus, you look at them and wonder if they will work for my child, with my car.”

Mehlhaff explained a child would come to Mercy for an assessment by a physical therapist trained in special needs child passenger safety. Recom-mendations for appropriate adaptive child restraint would be made based on the child’s individual needs and outcome of trial with available seats in the fam-ily’s vehicle. The physical therapist works with a physician, a special needs safety seat vendor, and an insurance company to assist families in acquiring the most appropriate safety seat for the child.

“With this program, all of the mea-suring and evaluating the child’s needs really helps the parents,” Cobb said.

“This program is so much easier for the parents, who can see the seat and talk to someone about their concerns. Gone is that whole ‘I-think-this-might-work’

worry.”Individuals may call Mercy Medical

Center’s Scheduling Desk 279-2576 for more information.

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snap shots Fundraisers

15th annuaL siouxLanD heart baLLAbove abraham Widjaja, Tyler laPlant and Paige mc-grath, all from sergeant Bluff at the annual fundraiser for the siouxland american heart and stroke asso-ciation held at the marina inn in south sioux city on february 12.Top right Jaclyn Buttermore, south sioux city, and randy Wasmund, sioux city.

your Picture herehave a fundraiser or event that should be featured in this section? call (712) 293-4234 or e-mail [email protected].

out & about

Photographs by Jim Lee

carley adams, south sioux city, and Jackie alexander, sergeant Bluff.

Jim and helen anderson, sioux city.


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i’ve heard you shouldn’t drink grapefruit juice with medicines. if i take my vitamin with my morning orange juice and eat breakfast within the hour, am i still getting the benefit of my vitamin?

‘Doc, i’Ve got a question …’answers to your medical questions

aDVice Medical answers

Grapefruit juice and grapefruit prod-uct consumption have potential health benefits; however, their intake is also associated with interactions with cer-tain drugs, including calcium channel blockers, statins, benzodiazepines, ACE inhibitors, immunosuppressants and antihistamines. There are no studies showing that taking a multivitamin with either grapefruit juice or orange juice will have any negative result on the ef-fectiveness of your multivitamin. You can continue to take your multivitamin as you have been. It is important, however, to meet with your doctor or pharmacist to review all of the medications you are taking to make sure there are no other medications that would interact with the grapefruit juice. I recommend bring-ing all of the medications you are taking (both prescription and over-the-counter) with you to your doctor’s office. It is also important to keep your medication list up to date in case of any medical emer-gency that may arise.

is it true men over 50 are more prone to back pain?

Actually, anyone over the age of 50 is susceptible to back pain. As we age, our spines age with us. Aging causes degenerative changes in the spine. These changes can start in our 30s, or even younger, and can make us prone to back pain, especially if we overdo our activi-ties.

Understanding your spine can help you understand why you have low back pain. Your spine is made up of several vertebral bones that are stacked one on top of another. Your spine is made up of 7 cervical vertebrae, 12 thoracic vertebrae and 5 lumbar vertebrae. Your sacrum and coccyx (tailbone) form the inferior portion of the spine. Inside this stack

of vertebrae is a canal in which your spinal cord lies. Between the vertebrae are intervertebral disks that function to cushion your spine and act as shock ab-sorbers with activity such as running or walking. Along the spinal cord there are several nerves that branch off the cord itself and innervate other parts of your body including muscles. There are both motor and sensory nerves. These spinal nerves travel through the intricate struc-ture of the vertebrae to get to where they need to go. The muscles and ligaments of your back provide support and stability for the spine by connecting the vertebrae and holding the spine in position.

Of the several causes of back pain, strains and sprains of the paraspinal muscles caused by minor trauma and strenuous activity are the most common. With major trauma we see damage to the intervertebral disks causing them to herniate or rupture. Disk degeneration is the next in line for causes of back pain in people over 50. As we age, the disks in our spine begin to shrink and in some cases may collapse completely. This is known as degenerative disk disease. Disk degeneration causes a lot of pain and stiffness due to the effects of bone on bone friction with movement of the spine.

We cannot avoid the normal wear and tear on our spines that goes along with aging. We can, however, take an ac-tive role in lessening the severity of low back problems. Exercise and a keeping a healthy body weight are vital factors in maintaining a healthy spine. Combining aerobic with strength training exercises will help build the core muscles in your abdomen and back. Strong core muscles help prevent unnecessary sprains to the spine with daily activity or minor trau-ma. Also, use proper lifting techniques by bending at the knees while keeping your

back straight. This will help prevent un-wanted injuries and back sprain. Finally, stop smoking. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, both smoke and nicotine cause your spine to age faster than normal.

If you are already suffering from back pain, speak with your doctor to see what changes you can make in your life to help relieve your symptoms.

what’s the difference between a break and a sprain? do they feel differently?

While fractures (breaks) and sprains are two different things, sometimes their symptoms can feel similar. Fractures are breaks in bones. They are typically the result of high impact force or stress on a bone. Sometimes they are caused from minimal trauma if you have a medical condition that weakens the bones such as osteoporosis or bone cancer.

Symptoms of fractures include pain, swelling and muscle spasm. At times the fracture also causes an obvious defor-mity in the affected limb. The bone itself does not contain pain receptors, however the lining of the bone, called the perios-teum, contains many. If there is a break in the bone, the periosteum is damaged which causes pain. Also, there is usually swelling of the soft tissues surrounding the break which is from bleeding from the broken bone and periosteum. The muscles in the affected area spasm as well, causing pain when they try to hold the broken bones in place. Also, there may be an inability to move the joint in-volved if it is broken. Fractures typically require pain medication and immobiliza-tion of the affected area for treatment. Sometimes surgery is required.

Sprains occur when there is injury to the ligaments across joints. Ligaments

Meet the docSdrs. nicole gullickson, left, and amanda schoenherr dannenbring are resident physi-cians at the siouxland medical education foundation, a family medicine residency program.


Every year, April 22 marks the worldwide celebration of Earth Day. But you don’t have to wait until April 22 to incorporate the concepts of Earth Day in your own home, however. These simple environmentally-friendly household suggestions can make you an Earth Day advocate all year long.

Conserve Water - and Your PocketbookThe Environmental Protection Agency

estimates that the average family of four uses 400 gallons of water every day. To combat this, the agency suggests that you: • Don’t let the water run while shaving or

brushing teeth.• Take short showers instead of tub baths.• Keep drinking water in the refrigerator

instead of letting the faucet run until the water is cool.

• Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash only full loads.

• Wash only full loads of laundry or use the appropriate water level or load size selection on the washing machine.

• Repair all leaks (a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons a day).

• Water the lawn or garden during the

coolest part of the day (early morning is best).

• Group plants according to their water use so you don’t overwater. Check with your local extension service or nurseries for advice.

• Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or sidewalk.

• Use soaker hoses or trickle irrigation systems for trees and shrubs.

• Keep your yard healthy — remove dead grass from your lawn, use mulch, and set your mower on a high setting to encourage grass growth and eliminate weeds naturally.

• Sweep the driveway and walkways outside instead of using a hose to spray it down.A few behavioral changes in your water

usage can make a big difference to the environment, and to your pocketbook.

Incorporate Energy-Efficient Appliances into Your Home

When the time comes, replace appliances with energy-efficient models. Tankless water heaters, for example, are comparable in cost to traditional gas water heaters but are 30 percent more

efficient, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Another easy option is to replace your old thermostat with a programmable one. “These types of automatic thermostats will lower the heat when home owners are at work, but will automatically raise it to make the home comfortable again when they return home,” said Doug Conrad, President of the Home Builders Association of Greater Siouxland.

These suggestions are just the tip of the iceberg. To help you find a green builder or remodeler, visit your local home builders association web site at www.hbags.com or visit the National Association of Home Builders’ green building web site at www.nahbgreen.org.

Celebrate earth Day every Day at home

Doug ConradPresident

Heritage Homes of Siouxland

712-255-3852www.hbags.com

what kidS of health queStionS do you have?submit your questions and they may be used in this monthly feature. Write to siouxland life at 515 Pavonia st., sioux city, iowa 51102.

are strong fibrous tissues that connect bone to bone. Sprains can occur at any joint however are more typical at the ankle.

Typical symptoms of a sprain include pain, swelling, bruising, decreased joint mobility, difficulty using the affected joint and at times a popping sound is heard if the ligament actually gets torn. Sometimes severe ankle sprains are ac-tually more painful and take longer to heal than fractures in that area.

Treatment of sprains typically in-cludes rest, ice, compression and eleva-tion (RICE). Icing, using ace wraps or ban-dages, and elevating the affected joint help decrease inflammation which will help alleviate pain. The joint is typically rested however if immobilized too long, healing is actually delayed. Range of mo-tion exercises may be recommended as soon as the day following the sprain.

if you take blood pressure medi-cine can you still have a stroke? what could prevent it?

According to the National Stroke As-sociation, in the United States, stroke is the third leading cause of death, killing about 137,000 people each year, and a

leading cause of serious, long-term adult disability. High blood pressure is the most common risk factor for stroke. As many as 50 million Americans age 6 and older have high blood pressure. Of the one in every four adults with high blood pressure, more than 30 percent of them are not aware they have it. Because of this, it is known as “the silent killer.” If left untreated, it can lead to life-threat-ening medical problems such as heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.

High blood pressure is one of the most common causes of stroke because it puts unnecessary stress on blood vessel walls, causing them to thicken and deteriorate, which can eventually lead to a stroke. It can also speed up several common forms of heart disease. When blood vessel walls thicken with increased blood pressure, cholesterol or other fat-like substances may break off of artery walls and block a brain artery. In other instances, the in-creased stress can weaken blood vessel walls, leading to a vessel breakage and a brain hemorrhage.

Everyone has some stroke risk. Some risk factors are beyond your control, including being over age 55, being a male (stroke is more common in men than women at younger ages, but more

women experience strokes at older ages and more women than men die from stroke), being African American, having diabetes, and having a family history of stroke. If you have one of these risk factors, it is even more important that you learn about the lifestyle and medi-cal changes you can make to prevent a stroke.

Medical stroke risk factors include previous stroke, previous episode of TIA or mini stroke, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, atrial fibril-lation and carotid artery disease. These medical risk factors can be controlled and managed even if you have already had issues with any of them in the past. Talk with your doctor about what will work best for you.

Lifestyle stroke risk factors include smoking, being overweight and drinking too much alcohol. You can control these lifestyle risk factors by quitting smoking, exercising regularly, watching what and how much you eat and limiting alcohol consumption.


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a big box arrived in the mail last week.It was from my favorite aunt who, repeatedly,

tells me she’s going to send treats.With my mind set on devouring a couple of choc-

olate chip cookies, I cracked the box and realized there wasn’t a crumb to be found.

Instead, there were pictures.“I thought you might like these,” she wrote. More

than 200 in all, they basically documented my fam-ily’s life.

Some – of my high school graduation, for exam-ple – were familiar. But most were new.

There, with a curly permanent and a smile as wide as the state of North Dakota, was my mother as a 5-year-old, proudly displaying a new dress. Several photos later, I saw my dad, beaming in a military uniform, eager to serve his country in World War II.

There were photos of them as teenagers and young adults. And there were ones of them proudly holding my sister and me (but looking like they didn’t have a clue what to do with these kids).

Two thoughts came to mind as I pored over the black-and-white “early years”: 1. We were always good at marking holidays with photographs; 2. Mom always made sure we were dressed up.

As a kid, I wore a lot of suits, donned a fedora (no kidding) and seemed to have a drooling problem. My aunt had photos of me with just about every birth-day cake I got. Some were a little lopsided. Others bore the fruit of a mother who had taken a cake-decorating class.

As I reached the color photo years, I saw specific poses emerge. Strangely, we always stood in the same places when our photos were taken. One year my sister and I wanted to have our cat in a family photo. Dad didn’t think it was right (“We’ll just get cat hair on our good clothes,” he argued) but we in-sisted. It may have been our best photo ever – in it, my sister and I were laughing while mom held the cat and dad looked mad.

In our 20s and 30s, the settings shifted. Photos that were once taken at home now came from

apart-ments – my sister’s and mine. You can see the do-it-yourself bookshelves in the back and a clever attempt at du-plicating what we had learned from mom.

Hairstyles ran the gamut (I was probably the worst offender, sporting long hair, short hair, permed hair, blond hair, brown hair, streaked hair and buzzed hair), heights shifted. Sis and I got taller; mom and dad got shorter.

In my parents’ retirement years, you could see how they had surrounded themselves with family photos.

Because we weren’t together on everyone’s birth-days during the later years of their lives, we’re not in most of mom and dad’s post-70 celebration pho-tos. But the events were still captured. There, you’d see dad and his brother, proudly holding a cake. Or mom and a sister cooking in the kitchen.

Our last family photo – taken in the Black Hills in the early part of the last decade – brought instant memories and tears. Standing near bears at a South Dakota tourist attraction, we looked like we were still young, still as excited as we were 40 years ear-lier.

On the last three pictures, my aunt had included Post-it notes, explaining who was who. “These are from your mom’s last birthday at the nursing home,” she wrote. “She wanted a pizza party, so we decided to bring it to her.”

There, dwarfed in a wheelchair, was my mom holding a slice of pizza so big I doubt she could have eaten it. But she was smiling. And she was in the place where you’d usually find her in a family photo – left side with space for sis, me and dad.

Seeing it in photo form, I felt her life had gone by too quickly. I had just gotten to see her as a little girl and then she was gone.

But isn’t that the way life is? Over in the click of a shutter.

parting shot By Bruce Miller

the pictures oF LiFe

715 East N

inth StreetSouth Sioux C

ity, NE

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n personal style.

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Siouxland Life Magazine - March 2011

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Transcript of Siouxland Life Magazine - March 2011