An Early Morning Salute

July 4, 2023

We drove all night from Shawnee, Oklahoma, to Topeka, Kansas. Our three-year-stint in Shawnee was behind us. Oh, how we loved those three years! Our neighbors would come over and our two families would play “Red Rover, Red Rover.” Sometimes, the young man next door would join us. Mrs. Shepherd, the neighbor on the other side, kept an eye on the neighborhood and made handcrafted items for us or delicious food. So many other good things happened in Shawnee, but the time had come to move. Don sent out his resume and Washburn University hired him on the spot!

We rented a house, hired a mover, and here we were on a hot, muggy August morning driving into our driveway on Atwood Terrace. Don drove one car full of stuff and I drove the other with Laura, age 4, and Rebecca age 11. The electricity and gas weren’t on yet, so we had no lights or air-conditioning. We sat in our cars, half-dozing, waiting for the sun to come up. As the morning dawned, we spotted our neighbor coming out his front door with his pj’s on, carrying a folded object. He walked to the flagpole in his front yard and proceeded to raise his American flag. He stood at attention, saluted, pivoted, and that’s when he saw the sleepy audience in the two cars next door. He darted into his house. We later learned Mr. Klassen had served in World War II. He did this ritual every morning.

We will always remember this wonderful introduction to our new and, soon to be discovered, very special neighborhood.