Ole Pappy
Life’s wonderful surprises! When I least expected it, a most unusual message came to me in an email.
“Are you the son of Dick Higgin who once owned the Cosmos newspaper?” the message asked.
It came from a Mark Minnick of Cosmos ... a name that immediately linked me to the past because Mark’s father “Spike,” as we called him, was running the local gas station on the corner back in my growing up days in Cosmos.
When I left town to make my way in the world, Mark was six or seven years old and not a part of my “inner circle” of Cosmos-ites.
But Mark, searching for news about the Minneota football team, found the Mascot website and on it he noticed the name, “Higgin.”
Could it be? Was this Dick’s son?
He buzzed off an email and got one back.
“Yep, the same Higgin family” ... Dick’s son was publishing his own newspaper in Minneota, Minnesota.
Unbelievable!
We met last November at SMSU in Marshall after the Minneota victory over BOLD in the Section 5A finals. I was interviewing a Minneota athlete when this tall gentleman with a cane, farmer overalls and a partially crumbled beer hat on his head tapped me on the shoulder.
I turned and saw a smile cross his face.
“Hi Byron, I’m Mark Minnick,” he said. I hadn’t seen him before but I knew it was him the minute he tapped me on the shoulder. We spent some time re-hashing our lives and trading newspapers.
Mark helps edit this kinda “far out” newspaper in Cosmos called, “The Galactic Gazette,” an e-edition monthly with some copies in magazine form published for readers who want it that way.
A long time ago, folks like my Ole Pappy, Dick Higgin, decided to capitalize on the fact that Cosmos meant, “Center of the Universe.”
They put a rocket ship on the top of the Cosmos watertower and named all the streets appropriately, such as, “The Milky Way.” So it’s not surprising Mark was “capitalizing” on the name Cosmos by publishing, “The Galactic Gazette.” Ole Pappy only got as far as re-naming his newspaper, “The Cosmos Sun,” to stay with the theme. Mark has taken the name to a whole new level. While it’s still a link to Cosmos, it has taken on other levels ... such as a “Time Warp” section where he prints photos and even stories from Ole Pappy’s newspapers .... a “Turn That Crap Down,” column about musical recollections, a column written by, “The Local Chicken,” my favorite, “Tales from the Cosmic Tavern and Lounge, (a fictional place)” lots of stuff about the planets and universe, column about “Nature and the Great Outdoors” subtitled, “Hey, it’s nice outside,” and other sultry stories.
He keeps Cosmos informed, yet strays away from breaking news.
Anyway, Mark Minnick walked into my life. I asked how he accessed information from Ole Pappy’s newspapers. Then he confirmed the hope I’d held for many years .... “That someone put the papers on a disc and the bound editions were no longer used.” With that answer, I got one step closer to fulfilling a dream I’d held for many years — to get, in my possession, the bound volumes of Ole Pappy’s newspapers. “Do you know where they are?” I asked Mark.
There was a long pause and I expected him to say they’d been destroyed.
But instead, he said he might know where they were. To make a long story short, Mark found them, negotiated a price with the owner for me and last Thursday, Mark Minnick delivered to me, 37 volumes of Ole Pappy’s newspapers.
I was practically giddy with joy. It was like my history, Ole Pappy’s life and my recollections of Cosmos were about to come to life before my very eyes.
Later, when I sat down to look at Ole Pappy’s first editions of The Cosmos News back in 1955, my thoughts turned to Heaven, I looked up and felt as though Ole Pappy was proud of me.
I’m so thankful for Mark Minnick, his understanding of the meaning these books of Ole Pappy’s newspaper brings to me and for his willingness to help make my dream come true.
On behalf of Ole Pappy, I’ve got to say, “Thank You Mark Minnick.” Ole Pappy would be proud!
LAUGH A LITTLE: Too late! The trouble with jogging is, by the time you realize you’re not in shape for it, you’re too far from home to walk.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: As my Ole Pappy would say, “Life is full for surprises. Don’t waste them.” Thanks Ole Pappy.