Suzanne Ratzlaff shares one of the many “Fun Facts & Stories” about Henderson on Saturday, June 28 at Heritage Park.
The Fun Facts & Stories of Henderson Salad Luncheon was held in the Ag Building at Henderson Mennonite Heritage Park on Saturday.
Written by Kerri Pankratz/Henderson News
HENDERSON – Have you ever met anyone famous? Well, Margaret Hiebner has. In fact, she’s met three famous people in her lifetime. If you attended the “Fun Facts & Stories Luncheon” at Heritage Park on Saturday, you know exactly who those three celebrities are. For the moment, I’m keeping those names to myself because there will be a quiz at the end of this article.
This year’s luncheon, which was being held for the third year, was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 21, but with the extreme heat and the prospect of holding the event in an un-air-conditioned building, the Henderson Mennonite Heritage Committee made the decision to postpone the event one week.
That decision was also prompted by the hope that the park’s long-awaited new Gathering Room would pass inspection during that extra week and be available for use. Unfortunately, even after multiple phone calls to the fire inspector on behalf of the park, it was not to be the case.
Instead, the event went on as planned in the Ag Building. Luckily, the park had a large selection of vintage hand-held church fans “on hand” to help keep attendees cool.
Following a luncheon featuring a delicious variety of salads, quiz sheets were handed out to all in attendance. Truthfully, the only questions I wanted answered were: What was in the delicious white fluff salad? And who brought it? Answers: We concluded it was a combination of Cool-Whip, pretzels and possibly walnuts? And I believe Cindy Quiring.
After some discussion with our table mates we filled out our quiz sheets compiled by the Heritage Committee Volunteers. After years of researching both items donated to the park and events from the past the committee had created quite the collection of fun facts which were the basis for the quiz. Soon the stories started.
Hostesses Suzanne Ratzlaff and Deana Schmidt went through the quiz, asking for answers, and if the subjects of the questions were in attendance, they were asked to share their stories.
Now I don’t want to give away any answers to the quiz at the end of this article, but there are a few stories I feel safe in sharing.
For example, one involved Calvin Ratzlaff’s father, Harry Ratzlaff, who served as a medic in WWII. Letters home from soldiers were heavily “redacted” so as not to give away their location but Harry figures out how to get a coded message home to his family.
“So Harry’s middle initial was D. That’s important to remember,” shared Suzanne Ratzlaff. “So his first letter home on the envelope where the return address went, he wrote Harry P. Ratzlaff. The next letter home it said Harry A. Ratzlaff. The next said Harry R. Ratzlaff. Do you see where this is going?” Ratzlaff asked the crowd.
Several shouted out, “Paris!”
“Yep,” said Ratzlaff, “He was stationed in Paris.”
A smattering of the facts learned included: the present day values of Indian head pennies, what a “Modern Woodman” was, the Henderson Hatchery moved to a multitude of locations but actually began in someone’s home, running the KOA meant watering what felt like a thousand trees on a daily basis, there was actually both a movie theater and a dance hall, yes I said dance hall, in Henderson at one point in time and the current rate for a round of treatment for a possible rabies infection is $10,000!
One of the questions brought out a round of debate from the crowd. Who knew there would ever be any question over which student was actually responsible for breaking the football coach’s leg?
As the storytelling heated up, so did the building. The fans were a fanning and soon enough we came to the end of our quiz sheet and as promised I’m including it here for you, dear reader, to puzzle over for the next week in the comfort of your air-conditioned home. The answers will be published in our Henderson Community Days “Throwback Edition” of The Henderson News next week.
2025 Fun Facts & Stories of Henderson
1. ENCOUNTERS WITH FAMOUS PEOPLE: Match the name with the famous person whom they met.
Harry Ratzlaff Bob Dole
Shannon Siebert Garrison Keeler
Janet Peters Mamie Eisenhower
Elvin Siebert Ida Stover Eisenhower
Elvin Siebert Christopher Botti
Melvah Emerson Rosalyn Carter
Harvey Smith Dwight D. Eisenhower
Margaret Hiebner Art Linkletter
Margaret Hiebner George W. and Laura Bush
Margaret Hiebner Eleanor Roosevelt
Suzanne Ratzlaff Pope Francis
2. Name the person in our community who was born in the same hospital as Tim Walz.
3. In 1963, there was a teacher by the name of David Lynch who was also the football coach for Henderson Community School. Once during practice, the athletes were hitting and pushing the sled along the grass. Encouraging the guys to hit harder, Coach Lynch stood on top of the sled and yelled to one of the athletes, “Come on Jim – hit it hard!” Well, Jim followed directions and hit the sled with all his might. Coach Lynch flew off the sled, landed on the ground and broke his leg. Who was the Jim who broke Coach Lynch’s leg?
4. A piggy bank labeled FARMERS STATE BANK OF HENDERSON, NEB. was donated to the park. While doing inventory, Margaret Hiebner shook it and could hear something rattling. After some difficulty, she was able to get it open. Inside were four Indian head pennies: 1864, 1904, 1907 and 1908. How much is the total value of the coins today?
a. $12.50
b. $20.10
c. $76.40
d. $3,148.60
5. What year was the KOA Campground, now Prairie Oasis, established? Who were the first managers?
6. What year did the first chicks hatch at the Henderson Hatchery? Where was this first Henderson Hatchery located?
7. What year did the town of Henderson get a…
a. Modern Woodmen of the World Lodge?
b. Dance Hall?
c. Amusement phonograph?
d. Movie theater?
e. Bowling alley?
f. Miniature golf?
8. Is it true that Henderson hosted the largest carnival that ever took place in York County?
a. Yes
b. No
