Not many correspondents continue to contribute to The Record, collecting the day-to-day or unique news of the county’s rural families.One of those exceptions is Helen Kobusch, of the Smith Creek-Pinckney area.Kobusch, 82, began writing her column many years ago when the prior author, Lillian Begemann, retired. Several of the area’s readers, living away from home in faraway states, asked her to continue the column.“It was like a letter from home for them to hear from folks they knew,” said Kobusch.Kobusch writes her column from her multi-generational family farm. She has a computer, but prefers to type her words on an “old-fashioned” typewriter. She gleans her information from her lifelong church family at Smith Creek United Methodist Church.She is careful about what she prints in her column and is sensitive to the comments she receives from friends who admonish her at times, saying, “now you don’t have to put that in the paper, Helen.”In 1935, Kobusch was born to Robert and Elda Ottensmeyer. She was a “daddy’s girl,” the only child of the couple. She attended the one-room Bethlehem School with Irene Boothy as her teacher.“We had a 2-mile walk to school,” she said. “We often stopped to try the persimmons to see if they were ripe along the way. It had outside restrooms and a woodstove — the teacher went early to start the fire. There was a cistern so we had a bucket of water with one dipper used by all.”Kobusch said she was reluctant to go to school and would rather stay with her dad on the farm. The five Mische children who lived up the road practically drug her there. Other teachers included Eunice Dothage Ploeger and Lillian Begemann. When Bethlehem School closed, she was moved to the Holstein School.Later Kobusch attended Marthasville High School, catching the bus at the intersection of Highway 94 and Highway U. The high school was located at the current elementary school location.“I made a lot of friends at Marthasville but I always worried about the change,” she said. “What a treat it was to spend a night at the home of Delmont and Pearl Lichtenberg and they took us down to Andy’s tavern for a hamburger and sundae.”After graduation from Warrenton R-III, she worked at the Banner Maid Garment Factory in Warrenton, sewing dusters and nightgowns.She met Bernie Kobusch, who was employed by Binkley in Warrenton. They would have dates at the drive-in theater or one of Warrenton’s restaurants. They were married in 1959 and lived in Warrenton until his retirement in 1989. At that time they returned to her family’s 148-acre farm. Her father had passed and Bernie did not want her mother living alone.“Bernie was from a large family,” she said. “Bernie never wanted me to work. He thought it was a man’s place to work. He finally gave in and I went to work for the dentist as a receptionist.”Helen and Bernie never had children of their own, but she baby-sat for a lot of Warrenton children who still stop her at Walmart and say, “Hello.”“I’m never forgotten on holidays,” she said. “I usually have invitations from three to four different homes.”Kobusch said she enjoys her view from the Ottensmeyer farm. Some of her neighbors rent the pasture and grow crops, keeping the farm busy. She feels like she is providing a good service by reporting the births, deaths, and important Smith Creek happenings from her news desk on the farm.

Helen Kobusch regularly gleans news from the Smith Creek - Pinckney area and types it for The Record. She has been a loyal correspondent for many years. Kobusch said folks who have moved away from the area like to read the news from home. She prefers her typewriter over her computer and hand-delivers her column to The Record.

Record Photo/Cindy Gladden