Doug, Dan eat last round of dinners before winter’s lenten fare

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A charming place for a church supper, the Penn Center United Methodist Church near Earlham is the stereotype of a rural church. It is old, isolated and surrounded by graves.

The beloved dinner season is finally running out of steam after over its two-month run. We ate a lot of good meals and, more importantly, saw a lot of good places and people. In spite of our best efforts, there were still more than 25 dinners that Dan and I could not even get to.

We often missed dinners because of distance and sometimes because of competing venues or not knowing about them until they were passed. These dinners are not well advertised outside their local areas. The best place to find out about many of these is to stop at the local Casey’s Store. Who knows how many dinners we did not even know about?

I try to give a donation to every church dinner that I know about even if I do not attend it. This adds up by the end of the season and sometimes takes a while to get enough funds to gradually give to all of these places.

Now the beloved dinner season has run out of options. There is one more dinner this coming Sunday, and after that there will not be the regular dinners that we have eaten since September. Even the Bouton breakfasts will take a hiatus after this Saturday until Spring. I love Bouton breakfasts. Santa Claus should be there this Saturday.

There will be sporadic dinners throughout the winter, and we will get to as many of these as possible, so keep reading ThePerryNews.com.

On Saturday, Nov. 18 Dan and I headed to the annual soup dinner at the Penn Center United Methodist Church located west of Earlham. This church is a stereotype of the rural prairie church. There is nothing around this church, and it hosts its own cemetery. There is even an old caretaker’s house on the property. Maybe it was the parsonage.

I had Dan drive and told him that I would drive to Adel the next day. We left at 4:30 pm. This was a long, dark ride of about 45 minutes on County Road P58. On the way to Penn Center, we came upon a female deer standing in the road and looking at us. It finally took off into the ditch and jumped a fence. If it had stood still a little longer, I could have gotten out and had Dan take a picture of me standing next to it.

After many twists and turns, we headed into Earlham and then westward. There was some road construction along the way.

We finally got to the dinner. The weather was very nice, and this is an old brick building constructed in 1918, which replaced a previous church built in 1885. There is an old picture of the old church, and it looks very much like the Fairview United Methodist Church outside of Perry.

There is an old cemetery on the site and what looks to be a caretaker’s house, which is in good condition. I cannot imagine that it was a parsonage, but it could have been.

We got inside and headed down another one of those narrow staircases in which you have no idea where it is leading you. I once hit my head going up this staircase and felt the effects for a month. Our friend Duane Griffin used to go to this dinner with us, and I think that he hit his head every time.

We got to the basement. It was full of people just like it is every year. We were greeted at the start of the dinner by a man and saw a sign listing 11 different homemade soups. Dan knows a lady named Lila, and she also greeted us. Dan seems to know a lot of people at this dinner each year.

Dan was in heaven because of all the choices. I think he only tried five of the soups. I ended up trying three, which were great. I wish I could have tried more, but you can only eat so much.

I started out with chicken noodle and potato soup. There was also cornbread, deviled eggs and relish along with a long line of pies.

I took half-bowls so I could try more of the soups. I did end up also trying the chili. I wish that I could have tried the squash soup, but I did not have any more room. I took my pie home and do not even remember what type it was. The man across from me had mince meat pie. I need to try this sometime.

During the course of the dinner, they kept running out of bowls. When we were done, the servers were there to pick up our empty bowls so they could wash them.

Then I looked over their bazaar. I bought two loaves of pumpkin bread for Jeff Webster. This was an honors-system bazaar. They had a cash box sitting there. You put your money in the box and make your own change. I love small churches.

On the way back to the interstate, we ran across another deer. It was a small female and came up out of the ditch, and we saw it in time. We took the interstate because we hoped to see fewer deer on the way home.

We got into Perry and went to see “Daddy’s Back, Part 2.” I liked it. Dan did not.

The next morning was church. Around 11:30 a.m. we headed to the United Methodist Church in Adel to attend their annual hamball dinner. I drove.

We got to the church, and there you have to enter the church by the rear door. In the basement is where they have their dinner. It is a very well designed and modern venue for events such as this.

This church building has been built on to, but the current church building was started in 1923. The congregation started in 1886.

They served hamballs, mashed potatoes and green beans and a choice of desserts. For their church service, they had a missionary speak, and I believe that this dinner helped to raise funds for this mission work.

Then we headed home.

Of course, next came the Before the Turkey soup dinner last Wednesday. This was hosted by the First Christian Church EDGE Youth Group. There were several soup selections and desserts. Monies were raised in support of the Shop for a Cop program.

I remember when I was a kid, my mom did not like us to say the word “cop.” She thought that this was a bad word. In old James Cagney films, you hear the gangsters call the police “coppers.”

Now you hear it all the time, and it is not considered bad.

I used to watch a lot movies about World War II and read the comic books “At War with the Army” or “At War with the Marines.” My mom was even worse if you referred to the Japanese by the derogatory names they used in the movies or comic books.

She never seemed to mind what the Germans were called in these movies or comic books, but then we had a lot of ancestors who immigrated from Germany.

The basement of the First Christian Church in Perry was packed for dinner, and I am sure that a lot of money was raised for Shop with a Cop. Several local police officers worked at the event.

After this soup dinner, the Perry Ministerial Association hosted their annual Community Thanksgiving Service in the sanctuary of the church. I counted 45 people in attendance. I have recorded this event for Pegasus for 21 consecutive years.

For a long time, it was held on the Sunday afternoon before Thanksgiving. For a few years after the Hotel Pattee opened, they used to bake a variety of hard breads and give the loaves away after this service. For quite some time, it has been held on the evening before Thanksgiving.

As I have stated once and here repeat, the beloved dinner season is nearly finished except for one dinner this coming Sunday.

If you know of dinners coming up, please let Dan or me know.

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