Posted July 06, 2022in Your Neighbors
When Penny Thomas arrived in Des Moines to study at Drake University, she thought she’d return home to India after earning her pharmacy degree. Sixty-six years later, she is still here. Even the capital of Iowa couldn’t hold a candle to the bustling streets of her hometown. “At the time,
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Posted June 01, 2022in Your Neighbors
In 1999, a dog named Louie was severely hacked by a machete. How did radio host Lou Sipolt respond? He locked himself in a casket, entombed for three days. “We went and had a radio promotion, and we buried ourself in concrete,” Sipolt said. He may have used the plural
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Posted May 04, 2022in Your Neighbors
Sarah Borzo’s life trajectory changed because of one impactful teacher. Growing up, Borzo loved being around children. Until the age of 22, she hoped to have her own elementary school classroom. Then, during her last semester of college before student teaching, she took a science methods class with Dr. Jerrid
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Posted April 06, 2022in Your Neighbors
For nearly 50 years, Tom Milligan has immersed himself in the theater industry in and around the Des Moines area. His roles have included actor, director, scene designer, producer and writer, among other things. Today, he works as a special education classroom associate, but his theater career continues. Milligan performs
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Posted March 02, 2022in Your Neighbors
“I’ve always liked reading,” says Hunter Gillum, which is an obvious understatement. Almost every room in his house has books in it. Some of those rooms have multiple shelves of books. How many books has Gillum read? “Thousands?” he shakes his head, making it clear it’s too many to count.
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Posted February 02, 2022in Your Neighbors
Once upon a time, toward the beginning of Des Moines’ timeline and very near what is now the city’s heart, a cluster of churches once stood around the space still occupied by St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral at 815 High St. The 45-story skyscraper known as 801 Grand and the Principal
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Posted January 05, 2022in Your Neighbors
From a rural village to Kabul to Johnston Once upon a time and a half a world away, there was a little boy in rural Afghanistan named Nabi Mohammadi. It was the early 1990s, and Taliban forces were gaining momentum. But that didn’t yet matter to the youngster. Each day,
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Posted December 01, 2021in Your Neighbors
Mary Jo Ragaller, 85, sifts through the seasonal donations at St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store. Deep within a forest of fake Douglas fir Christmas trees, and somewhere within the massive mounds of decorative ornaments that are piled high around heaps of wreaths surrounding boxes upon boxes of holiday mugs
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Posted November 03, 2021in Your Neighbors
Mondays the women take the ice at Urbandale’s Metro Ice Sports Facility. Des Moines Women’s Novice Hockey Club is a group of “amazing women” who want to learn more about hockey. But they aren’t interested in only accruing knowledge by being hockey moms or hockey wives or by simply watching
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Posted October 06, 2021in Your Neighbors
“Warning! Zombie parking only. Violators will be eaten.” Some kind of crazy crime scene grabs the attention of the October passersby in front of the brick home in Beaverdale. Hacked-off body parts are strewn alongside many other signs of spookiness. A casket is situated near a coffin, and both are
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