By Roger and Marcia Eaton, grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
During my peak earning years, I believed that hobbies were a waste of time. Maybe my work was my hobby. Marcia and I had a functional home office where we spent our evening hours. It was equipped with a television and opposing desks. I was the person to turn on the lights in the morning and nearly the last to leave in the evening. After dinner, we went back to work in our home office.
When we started our family, each of us had accomplished many of our professional goals. Our leisure time became spent raising kids. After our first born, I rarely worked past 5:00 PM. I became eager to get home and spend time with our little family. New hobby?
Getting home in the “middle of the day”, provided time with the kids and other things. I recalled my woodworking equipment. Most of my equipment had been loaned to friends and relatives. That enabled me to build kid-sized furniture, a playhouse for the yard and anything that we could imagine. This was new for me. I began to enjoy the process of creating things without being burdened by the pursuit of professional goals. That breakthrough led to other hobbies.
In 1993, I began practicing the martial art of Aikido. A few years later, I joined the Civil Air Patrol Air Force Auxiliary. Marcia and our kids joined CAP, too. As we became empty nesters, I began researching and organizing family history records with Marcia. Her interest in family history began in 1980.
According to some longevity researchers, hobbies can have a positive impact on our health and longevity. Below are some hobbies that our relatives have pursued to help them enjoy the passage of time.
Andy Lehr – Brewing Beer
The church and his family were Andy’s focus. He had little time for anything else. Brewing his own beer was one interest that he managed to work into his busy life. Below is a story from Judy Badwey, his daughter, about his home brew.
Flora (Rogers) Lehr – Tatting
By Connie Sandberg, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
Tatting is a kind of knotted lace made by hand with thread and a small shuttle. It is a lace making technique using a series of knots and loops to create lace used for trimming and edging garments and other articles like pillowcases, towels, tablecloths, etc.
It is a very old art but the origins are unclear. It became popular in Europe and Britian in the early nineteenth century. Not nearly as popular today, it’s still a craft that is practiced. Grandma Lehr made untold yards and yards of tatting lace in her lifetime. Many of my dresses sewn by my mother were trimmed with her lace, as well as pillowcases and towels used in our home. Traditional tatting, as other needle crafts, is often passed down generation to generation. I attempted to learn the lace making skill from Grandma. However, I didn’t have much success, my knots just wouldn’t slide along the thread. I still have the tatting shuttle she gave me and someday I intend to try again. Grandma and her sisters learned as young girls. She would sit watching TV and turn our yards of beautiful lace with intricate patterns of picots, rings and joinings.
Celia (Lewis) Janousek, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
Sewing
This is a loaded topic for me. I have SO MANY hobbies and sent pics of some of my favorites. I have sewn for many years and designed wedding & prom gowns, costumes for Halloween and also for school plays.
Recently I have been sewing baby clothes, teepees and quilts for my kids and grandkids. I have altered many wedding gowns which used to be for a living but now just to keep up my skills. The pic of the gown is my daughters. I hemmed it twice because she changed shoes.
Crocheting
I crochet and macrame a little and made the backdrop for my daughter’s wedding and it was later used by a photographer for engagement and family pics
Jewelry Making
I make jewelry mostly natural stones. Trying to learn silversmithing, which is frustrating the heck out of me. I suck at soldering but I am stubborn and will keep trying.
Painting
Last year [2024] I started taking art classes online and I love it! I am working mostly acrylics but now pulling in watercolors, oil and pastels. I am to the point where I don’t care if anyone ever likes it, it is fun and keeps me outta trouble
Joe Janousek, husband of Celia (Lewis) Janousek, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
By Celia Janousek
Woodworking
Joe is a woodworker and has built furniture and decorative items for family.
Fishing Lures
He recently started to airbrush fishing lures. They are quite impressive!
He also refinishes furniture, bird watches and gardens.
Clay Smith, grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
Sports
I try to follow Iowa girls bb [basketball], Iowa football, golf, WNBA [Women’s National Basketball Association] mainly the Indiana fever, Kansas, Kansas State and the [Kansas City] Chiefs. Track when I can but very busy so I catch them when I can.
Dianna Phillips, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
My hobby is bridge. I’ve been playing since college when our friends taught us to play so they would have someone to play with.
Right now I play every week – first and third Wednesdays and second and fourth Mondays – 10-3 pm. I belong to 2 clubs and also play with others as a sub. We play party bridge and everyone puts up a dollar. High score gets $4, second high gets $3, and low score gets her dollar back. We laugh a lot and have great food – cards are a great excuse for friends to enjoy each other’s company!!
I have also been in a book club for years. I’ve been president for several years. We meet once a month and have guest speakers. We also have two luncheons, a summer party with spouses, and big gift exchange at Christmas.
Our motto is: Until we eat again!
We made a club cookbook with all of our great recipes (it was easier than always asking for the recipe from lunch!) The genre focus is Local authors. The last author was my godchild and her cousin.
Al Phillips, husband of Dianna (Lehr) Phillips, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
Golf
Al’s golf hobby. It all started in the 8th grade when my friend, Johnny, who lived across from a City Park golf course, invited me to spend the night Fri. and give golf a try Sat. AM.
After dark Fri., we were walking on the golf course when a car stopped and shined a spotlight on us. We instinctively ran and then we heard gunshots. It ended up being the police that were looking for someone that was responsible for two golf shop robberies. Not us and they did shoot in the air.
FYI for golfers. I have developed into a tournament player. You know, someone who gives money to a charity and takes off a day of work. I remember the good shots and forget the bad shots, which makes it an enjoyable, lifelong hobby.
Dianna wanted me to tell about my two hole in one’s. One was the luckiest shot ever and the other was nothing but SKILL. Ha. One month ago I retired and accomplished one of my lifelong goals, living on a golf course (the 16th green at Copper Mill.)
“If you’re ever close to Zachary, LA, call me for a tee time!!”
Chris Eaton, great grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
Deer Hunting
Tae Kwon Do
Mary (Lehr) Eaton, daughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
By Marcia Eaton
Avon Cosmetics
Mary Lehr Eaton had many various hobbies. She sold Avon in Enid, Oklahoma. This was a joy to her because she liked to visit with friends. Her goal was to organize the bags and items neatly arranging them before setting out door to door. Her daughters-in-law enjoyed purchasing from her and receiving these items as gifts. I still have some of the Avon items she sold.
Ceramics
Ceramics was a relaxing hobby for Mary. She painted with precision each item. This was a pastime that she shared with her friend, Thelma Smith in Enid, Oklahoma. Thelma had a kiln in her home. Mary made many things. Some of the items are a rooster, Christmas decorations (mouse choir), and a ceramic moon that she made for Aubry Eaton’s (A.J.) [her grandson] nursery. Her husband, Jim Eaton, collected decorative plates. Mary made a ceramic plate for him.
Sewing
Mary was an excellent sewist. She made clothing for her family including her siblings. Joan Lehr Lewis said that the dresses that Mary made were her favorite. At Christmas time when her children were young, she made holiday pajamas as gifts. I have a Christmas tree skirt, curtains that she sewed and an Aikido Gi she made for A.J.
In her later years at El Dorado, Kansas. Mary sewed with the ladies’ group at St. John’s Church and the Sewing Saints at Susan B. Allen Hospital. The ladies wore pink smocks to be easily identified and made products for the gift shop with the purpose of fundraising to purchase hospital equipment. The ladies enjoyed having dinners together and visiting while sewing.
When A.J. needed a costume for a school play, Grandma Mary replied she would sew it. It became a joint effort with Grandma Rita DeWitt Hurlburt. Rita cut the material and Mary did the sewing.
Knitting
Knitting was one of Mary’s favorite pastimes. She enjoyed watching sports while she knitted. Mary made a knitted sweater for A.J. when he was a toddler. She is known in the Eaton family for her Christmas stockings.
Jim Eaton, Jr., grandson*
*Relation to Andy and//or Flora Lehr
Adventures in Boating
I became exposed to boating in my early teens. My uncle Wayne Lewis had an 18’ open bow with a 35 HP motor. Initially, he would take us to Lake El Dorado and drive around the lake. Later, he entrusted me with it alone or with some siblings or cousins. It was not only great fun but also a sense of pride that he would entrust me with it. The areas of the lake we frequented had many unmarked low areas. That didn’t bode well for the outboard motor’s prop. Frequently, we would hit an underwater obstacle and sever the shear pin in the prop. Wayne learned early to take a supply of shear pins and I learned how to replace them on the prop.
I don’t remember skiing behind that boat. However, several years later when I was in high school, I went out with Rob Henry in their boat. It was an inboard with a Pontiac engine with 2-four-barrel carburetors. It had a little more sip than Wayne’s and made it better capable of pulling skiers. I learned basic water skiing, but not tricks.
Several decades ago, Dianna and Alwyn Phillips took me to the Red River (Dianna can correct me if I have the wrong body of water) to go boating and skiing. We stopped at a restaurant near the water for lunch with a wall of glass overlooking the water. The facility had a café on one side and a bar separated by a wall on the other side. There was a door that connected the two. The service was extremely slow. Before we could order, there was a commotion in the bar. People started to run out of the bar. Then we heard someone shout:” shot him, shoot him.” We decided to skip lunch and left the building. As we left the building, a person emerged from the bar bleeding from the head. Apparently, the bar tender didn’t agree with something the customer had said or done and hit the customer in the head with a ballbat. However, the blow to the head only aggravated the situation. The man with the head injury then picked up a hand full of rocks and proceeded to break all the windows in the restaurant. A storm was coming in (later we learned it was the front of a hurricane) so we just jumped in the car and headed home without ever launching the boat.
There was not much more involvement with boats until I met Pam. Her brother-in-law had a boat on Grand Lake of the Cherokees in Oklahoma. It was great fun as long as we stayed out of the deep water where the larger boats agitated the water. Later, he bought a larger pontoon boat that held more passengers. It generally managed the waves in the deeper water much better than his smaller outboard. An exception was when some of my siblings were with us; Kirk was at the helm. An exceptionally large cruiser cut in front of us creating a huge wake. The front of the pontoon was swamped, the bow dove deep under the water to the point we thought we might sink. People, pets and coolers forcefully slid to front of the boat. Pam grabbed Snoopy and squeezed him tightly. The bow popped up and we all survived, a little wet but safe.
When my parents moved to Meghan Coves, their unit included a covered boat slip. At that point I was inundated at work and needed a diversion. So, Pam and I bought a boat in April of 1985, but not after taking over a year to find the one that met my father’s specifications. Unfortunately, he died before he could ride in it. We spent more money than was reasonable at the time. My justification was that if we made that large of an invested, we would be foolish not to use it—I don’t like to be foolish.
The first day we received delivery of the boat, the owner of the company gave us an on-the-water demonstration. I thought it was complicated until we bought our current Ford Explorer! Anyway, after he left, we loaded up my mother and took it out for a cruise. As luck would have it, a gravel bar had shifted by an island, and we ran aground. Unlike the events I had with Wayne’s boat shear pin, we sucked up substantial materials into the engine. There we were, stranded in the middle of the lake (no cell phones then), no water and no one else in sight. Finally, the lake patrol came by and, instead of towing us, offered to call someone else to come to our aid. It seemed like hours waiting in the hot sun before a boat from Tera Miranda came to our rescue. It was weeks before the boat was repaired! We learned quickly to keep water in the boat and, when they became available, a well charged cell phone with us.
We tried to get to the lake about every other weekend in the summers and did so for many years. I didn’t get Jamie and Cami out as much as I would have liked, but we did get Addie and Ava down frequently.
Many great memories were created boating as reflected in the photos.
As with all boaters, I have a story to tell about encountering a storm on the “high sea”. It wasn’t actually the high sea, but the deep-water area of the lake. As did Gilligan, we started out on a bright summer’s day for a three-hour tour of the lake. My mother, Pam, Jamie and a couple of others were on the boat. We passed Monkey Island headed towards the dam. The water is the deepest in that area. Suddenly, an unexpected storm hit us—again, this was before cell phones and radar GPS. The wind blew, the waves started breaking over the bow, and everyone secured their life jackets. We turned for home looking for any port in the storm but could not find anything open that we could see. We stayed close enough to the shore to see it but far enough that, hopefully, we would not encounter underwater objects. The bilge pump was working overtime. Everyone was huddling in the front of the cockpit with to door connecting the cockpit to the bow tightly closed. Although we had canvass to enclose the cockpit, we were unable to get it installed. As we neared Honey Creek Cove that led to our slip, the waves subsided somewhat.
But now we were faced with the issue of steering the boat into the narrow slip while battling the wind, waves and rain. Somehow we were able to safely, and without any damage to the boat, dock it in the slip.
We also encounter another event one cold stormy day. The heavy snow and wind caused the roof of our dock to collapse. The boat lift we had, and one other did not sink into the water. That was good in the sense that the motor was never submerged and therefore not damaged. However, our windshield and part of the cockpit were smashed. The initial bids were astronomical.
The insurance company offered to “total” it. Our policy provided for full value of the boat based on the purchase price; I declined because a comparable replacement would cost over twice what we originally paid for it. I tracked down the original designer of the boat and had a new windshield custom made for a fraction of the original bids. It was a year before it was back in service.
We have had a long break from 2020-2024 in its use due to COVID and other issues. During COVID, Jamie took the time and effort to revitalize the exterior of our weather-worn boat. He invested many hours of sweat equity and made it looks like new.
Now we are ready to weigh anchor, push off from the dock, and cruise over the waves.
PS The frame picture at the top was a gift this year from Jamie and family for Father’s Day. They had a photograph of the boat sent to The Custom Captain to create the high-resolution artwork. I love it!
Roger Eaton, grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
Aikido
When the Chief Information Officer of American Century formed the IT Architecture and Research team, I was selected to join the team with Mark Roselli and James Osbourn. One day James described to us a martial art with no kicks or punches. Mark and I were intrigued. We both researched aikido in the Kansas City area. Websites were just beginning to appear in 1993. Our research involved checking the Yellow Pages phone book.
Mark selected a dojo that practiced a style based on the Ki Society philosophy. I selected a more traditional style; Aikikai.
Aikido is a Japanese martial art that was founded in 1948 by Morihei Ueshiba. It is based on the founder’s expertise in kendo – sword techniques. He sought to resolve physical conflict without damaging an attacker. The headquarters Aikikai Hombu Dojo is in located in Tokyo, Japan. In the 1970s, Ueshiba wanted to spread his art worldwide. He posted four teaching openings for the United States.
Akira Tohei, 8th dan (black belt), was an instructor at Hombu. He met an American woman who was attending college in Tokyo, Japan. She was practicing aikido at the Hombu dojo. Romance sprang and that led to Tohei applying for the Chicago teaching position. The couple moved to Chicago and formed the Midwest Aikido Federation. He conducted all advancement testing for the Kansas City Aikido School – where I practiced.
When Shihan (professor) Tohei passed away, in 1999, I attended a memorial service at the Midwest Aikido Federation summer camp.
Practicing aikido was similar to wrestling practice in junior high and high school. The instructor demonstrated a technique, then you selected someone to practice the technique. At the Kansas City Aikido School, evening practice was offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There was also a practice session on Saturday mornings. Each practice was two one-hour sessions. The first 20-30 minutes of the first session was spent stretching.
After a few months, a few of us began practicing on Monday evenings. We were preparing for rank tests. There wasn’t an instructor. We focused on the techniques that were on each test. I practiced four times per week. They also offered early morning classes, but that was for the advanced aikido practitioners. I only attend a couple of those classes. Their warmup was the brown belt test.
Roy Graham was the evening and Saturday morning instructor. His brother Larry was the morning instructor. The Graham brothers were well known in the Aikikai aikido community. They attended aikido seminars throughout the Midwest (USA). Roy left his wife for a younger woman whom he met through aikido. Larry didn’t want him to practice at the Kansas City Aikido School, after that indiscretion. Larry became the evening and Saturday morning instructor, along with the morning sessions. We had compatible people in the dojo and had a great time.
After Saturday practices, a couple of us would stay and mop the mats. We finished in time to get lunch. One Saturday we went to Hooters for lunch. Some sailors were in uniform at a nearby table. One of the guys in our aikido group was a Navy veteran. He said that the sailors were from a SEAL team.
There are no aikido tournaments. It’s a defensive martial art. Dojos around the Midwest hosted seminars. I attended several seminars. The USA is divided into three regions under the United States Aikido Federation. Akira Tohei was the head of the Midwest Aikido Federation. He would teach at the seminars which were usually on Saturday and Sunday. He would conduct advancement tests on Sunday afternoons.
There are specific techniques defined for each test. Testers are expected to demonstrate the techniques for the test level and any lower lever tests. Additionally, Sensei Tohei would throw in some additional techniques – especially techniques that were practiced during the seminar. That was intimidating for first-time testers.
Three of us planned to test in October 1994, at the Iowa City seminar. A week before Labor Day, I practiced on Saturday. During one technique, I was practicing with Larry Graham, our chief instructor. It’s useful to present a realistic attack – when you are the tackle dummy. I smacked Larry’s wrest with enough energy to break a bone in my wrest. I completed the practice session without revealing my pain to anyone.
Since I was planning to test a month later, I didn’t seek medical treatment. I really wanted to complete that first test. October arrived and I completed the test along with my buddies. In November, I contacted my cousin, Tim Badwey. He was an orthopedic surgeon in Kansas City. He examined my arm and discovered the broken bone. After scolding me for delaying treatment, he had his assistant put a cast on my wrest. I continued to practice with the cast. In November, I was notified that I had passed the test and advanced two levels.
Roy Graham asked me to take on the administrative duties for the Kansas City Aikido School. That involved managing membership and collecting annual dues. I did that for several years in addition to my normal practice. When we hosted a seminar, I was included on the planning team. I promoted the idea of hosting a seminar to avoid traveling for my next test. One of the Kansas City Aikido School students was a graphic artist. I asked him to design a design for tee shirts. Another member knew of a woman with a commercial embordering machine. We made and sold a lot of shirts at the seminar.
After our daughter, Muriel, was born, I felt the need to spend more time at home. Taking care of a baby can be exhausting for one person. During that time, I developed back problems, so my aikido practice declined. A few months after I passed the second kyu test and earned the brown belt, I discontinued practicing.
When I was promoted to second kyu, I was awarded a brown belt. It had been handed down by Larry Graham, Roy Graham, Gary Hebberd and Tim Sweeny. I still have the belt.
The Midwest Aikido Federation hosted a summer camp each year. It was held at a small college in Wisconsin. I attended a couple summer camps for of part of the camps. A couple of us drove up to watch Gary Hebberd test for Shodan, black belt 1st degree. When Larry tested for Yon Dan, fourth degree black belt, Gary and I drove up. The Kansas City Aikido School had a respected reputation. That was based on the Graham brothers capabilities and ethics. When I attended, I was instructed that the Kansas City folks were not allowed to mop the mats. That was because the (KC) people before me had always mopped the mats. While I was there, I skipped a couple of practice sessions to do the laundry for the other KC folks. They appreciated that.
At one camp, the head of the World Aikido Federation led a practice session. Moriteru Ueshiba was the grandson of Ueshiba, the founder of Aikido. He used an interpreter. To begin the session, he announced that this would be the hardest practice session that anyone had attended. He was right! The entire session, we sat in Seiza (on your knees) while he lectured. Sitting in that position was painful and several people passed out.
I attended a couple seminars in Manhattan, Kansas. They were conducted at the Kansas State University Recreation Center. They didn’t stamp my book, though. At the first seminar, I heard a voice say, “Uncle Roger.” It was my niece, Rachael (Eaton) Breidenthal. She was a student at K-State. When I explained that Rachael was my niece, the guys from the Kansas City Aikido School said, “Yeah, sure.”
My mother made gi, practice uniform, for A.J. he was three or four years old. I worked with him on some exercises and aikido techniques. We weren’t able to work aikido into our busy schedules. The Ki Society offered aikido training for young kids. We attended a couple practice sessions, but just had too many competing activities.
For several years, I had been treating back pain. I experienced a herniated (vertebrae) disk. In 1999, I had surgery to correct the disk and was advised to stop aikido training. I waited for eighteen months before practicing aikido. A few days later, my toes began to tingle. My medical advisor, Dr. Tim Badwey, also my cousin, prescribed Vioxx. I took the Vioxx from February through September. In September, Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market. A few days later, I could barely walk. My backyard neighbor was a neurosurgeon. He performed a second surgery on the L4-L5 disk a few days later.
About twenty-three years later, I practiced aikido at the Little Apple Dojo, in Manhattan, Kansas. After a couple practice sessions, I felt well, but decided to quit while I was healthy. In my retirement, I will practice some aikido kata movements.
Below is a video clip of my first aikido test.
Below is a video clip of my second aikido test.
