Then come to Cowley.....I didn't realize that Mayberry still existed, but it does! People take evening strolls, stopping to visit in front of the post office or the Merc. There is no house to house mail delivery so the entire town at one time or another is at the post office during the day - so the post office serves as "Floyd's Barber Shop." Town-wide festivals keep us busy all summer. Rodeos start in the spring. Cowley Days, the third Saturday in July, is a weekend of parades, lunch in the park put on by the town, talent shows in our amazing "Log Gym", family and class reunions. Katie and Kendra have marched in the kiddie parade every year. There's the Cowley Corn Feed in August - the town provides pit-roasted hog, beef and lamb. Folks on the north side of town bring desserts and those on the south side bring side dishes - it alternates annually. The night before dozens of us meet at the park and shuck fresh corn while we visit. There's a dance under the stars in the park after both Cowley's Day and the Corn Feed. At Christmas we use the "log gym" and feed the whole town......ham and turkey provided by the women in town and everyone brings a dish to pass. Santa is there, carols are sung loudly and slightly off key, and kids run around that huge gym all evening long.
When I had gangrene in 2001 I spent 10 days in St. V's in Billings. I got home on a Friday and had a recheck the following Monday. We got home that Monday to a note on the door. I have it memorized, and that note is still in my Treasure Box. It said, "You don't know me.....my name is Jo _________. I heard you'd had a rough time and I just wanted to see if I could help in some way. There's a casserole in your fridge with instructions and I left a plate of cookies on your microwave. My number is 548-****. I hope you'll call." A few days later a man who lives 3 blocks down stopped by. "I know you're not Mormon, and I have no intention of making you Mormon. But you and Ken have become part of us, and we'd like to come in and give you a 'healing blessing' if we may." I just nodded. So he said he'd go get a few people together and be right back. Ken's Aunt Norma, who lived in this old place for years before we bought it from Ken's Mom and Dad, just glared at me. "You're not letting those #$&~* Mormons into my trailer are you?" I glared right back. "Nope. I'm letting them into mine!"
When we got custody of the grandkids, we weren't really prepared to take on two more in this tiny place. We needed letters supporting our ability to take care of them. We'd only lived here a few years, but we were inundated with letters. The deputy sheriff who had done the initial investigation when our daughter disappeared and left the kids with us knocked on our door a few days before Christmas, reassuring Little Diane that Santa knew where they were and had left some things for them. Yeah, I guess! How about a box full of brand new clothes for both, CD players, skateboards, scooters......and $200.00 in cash to help Gramma and Grampa. Then when we got home Christmas Eve there was a beautiful card on our door with $500.00 in cash and a note saying that this community admired what we were doing and wanted to be part of rebuilding the kids' lives.
This is a Mormon town. Ken and I are not Mormon. But we have been welcomed so warmly and treated with dignity and respect for our personal beliefs. It is almost unheard of for a non-Mormon to serve in the town government, not because the people here are closed off against non-Mormons but because there are so few of us here. I think there are 4 non-LDS families here. Yet I was appointed to our town's Planning and Zoning Commission and was elected to serve on the Town Council with no issues at all. The council I serve on was instrumental in restoring our "Log Gym", the heartbeat of Cowley.
Here it's still okay for our teachers to pick up our kids and give them a hug if they're crying. Here it's okay for our teachers to say, "What were you THINKING?" or even, "You didn't think that decision through at all." and school discipline is swift, fair, and forgotten as soon as it's given. Here it's okay for a teacher on the playground to join in on the recess games. Our kids still bring cupcakes to school for birthdays, pack their own lunches if they want to without food police examining the contents, and bullying doesn't exist because these kids would get their fannies paddled when they got home if they were unkind to others. I love this town, these people and I love serving them on the Council.
Mayberry exists. It's a little town of 600 up in Northern Wyoming and the welcome mat is always out.
