Rudy's Corner

OK.  Let’s get back into the swing of things and talk about an individual who paid lots of taxes, created countless jobs and bestowed honor on the community of Morton.  He was born in Wolcott, Indiana and married a Morton girl in 1941.  Two of their four children reside in the Morton area, one resides in a neighboring state and a fourth deceased at an early age.  My first personal encounter with our mystery man was in the late 1960ties when he met me in his shop wearing a welder’s uniform covered with black soot.   It seems that his shop was the only one in town that could fabricate a beam we at Morton Buildings needed for an airplane hangar we were building in Lacon, Illinois. Our hero was born in Wolcott, Indiana on March 10, 1910.  He moved via Cissna Park and Fairbury to Morton and married a Morton girl on October 18, 1941.   They had four Children of which the oldest passed away at a very early age. ...

Proverbs 4: 4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commands and live. During the height of my teaching career with MBI I was always on the lookout for material that could substantiate on what I was trying to convey.  Popular at that time was a guru named Stephan  Covey.  In his book the Seven Habits of Successful People, he broke his teachings into seven parts. His first message was be proactive.   I, took it to mean. Nature gave men two ends - one to set on the other to think with. Man’s success is dependence on the one he uses the most. His second message was , begin with the end in mind.  My grandson’s Peter and Jacob have grasped this at a very early stage in knowing what they want to be as adults. THAT IS COMMENDABLE. His third message was first things first.  This came into focus for me in a project management class. Where the teacher had us identify all the steps it takes to build something and write it on a s...

An inflation factor nobody talks about. What is it?  It is self-inflicted pain, injected by fear into society that inhibits economic growth and prosperity! Countless gurus tell us how much prices have increased. Some elude to causes. But none talks about what we the people did to ourselves. In economics, inflation is a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy. This is usually measured using the consumer price index. Wikipedia  That sounds good but what is it?  I submit when my fuel pump purchases doubled in price or a carton of eggs jumps from 39 cents to 4 dollars a dozen.  Or not too long ago when you bought a hamburger at McDonalds you got change back on a dollar, while today your lucky to get change back on a twenty-dollar bill.   That is inflation that I and most other average citizen can understand.  Beyond that economist, bankers, corporate management and many other so-called experts have inundated us with brilliance as...

In the course of having lived nearly one hundred years it took me a long time to understand that human functions are made up of physical as well as spiritual essentials. One's physical needs are easily satisfied with money to buy food, clothing and mediation. To  satisfy our spiritual or emotional needs is more difficult to achieve. We all want to be happy, be loved, to be popular and respected.   Achieving spiritual happiness requires discipline.  Example what is happiness?  Where does one look for happiness?  Temptation for drying to achieve happiness are lurking everywhere.  Add to it well-meaning suggestions from friends and relatives do see it their way adds to the confusion. I can only give you my life’s experience.   WWII had ended.  In some bombed out building a group of people gathered for a religious service.  I was seven years old going on 8.  The preacher was wearing a ceremonial outfit such as one finds in a Cathol...