By BRANDON HURLEY
b.hurley@beeherald.com
GRAND JUNCTION — A green chicken once signified the commencement of one of the county’s fiercest rivalries.
Before Rippey joined Grand Junction to become East Greene, students in the 1960s would cage a local farm animal and paint it green to mock the Grand Junction Hawk mascot.
It was all in good fun.
These stories and more are what one lifelong local resident is hoping to preserve with an ambitious archival project.
Jan Scharingson, who taught English in the East Greene school district for more than 30 years, has acquired one of the more impressive, locally centered memorabilia collections over the past 10 years.
Taking on the unofficial role of local archivist, she hopes to soon expand her assortment of artifacts into an exhibit showcasing East Greene and Grand Junction history at the library.
When the East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school districts consolidated at the start of the decade, the Grand Junction-lifer jumped in to save the day.
The two schools had no plan for more than 400 items of memorabilia from the now-defunct East Greene and Grand Junction high school before Scharingson proposed to rescue the quickly fading memories.
Over the years, her collection has grown, and with the recent closure of the Grand Junction school building this past summer, her assortment of trophies, uniforms and miscellaneous items expanded once more.
One of the oldest trophies Scharingson has is a Greene County basketball tournament championship cup from 1932. Despite a few dings and scratches, it’s fairly distinguishable 85 years later.
She also has music trophies, in addition to band and cheerleading uniforms.
Dozens of totes contain uniforms dating back to the 1960s.
The avid historian — who owns perhaps the largest yearbook collection in the region, dating back to 1940 — stores her more than 100 trophies and 300 uniforms in a Morton building on her property north of Grand Junction.
The most significant trophies from the now-deserted school building, which was home to Greene County Intermediate School until the end of the 2016-17 school year, include several state qualifying awards across baseball, basketball and softball, and are now housed at Greene County High School in Jefferson.
The remaining awards — from junior high achievements to various tournament placements — remain at the building in Grand Junction. Scharingson plans to add those to her collection as well, holding out for the potential Grand Junction exhibit.
Either that, or she envisions a massive auction with proceeds going to the Greene County Community School District.
To her, the items she’s accumulated are much more than random pieces no longer in need. They tell the story of a once-bustling community.
Grand Junction in the 1940s was home to four restaurants, several banks and a car dealership. She balks at the thought of that history falling by the wayside.
“I was born and raised here, my history goes back a long way,” Scharingson said. “It’s the history. I’d hate to have this stuff thrown away.”
The artifacts help Scharingson reflect on an important era in Greene County history, the consolidation into East Greene more than 50 years ago. The artifacts mean more to her, as her parents graduated from Grand Junction as well.
Scharingson attended East Greene High School in the ’60s and was a member of the first softball team. Though they struggled to attain victories — she’s not even sure they won a single game — it was her most fond memory of her high school days.
“We do go back a long way,” she said. “It does make a difference if your ties are here.”
The semi-retired teacher remembers the surprisingly smooth conversion of the Rippey, Grand Junction and Dana communities as they became the Hawks in the ’60s.
“For some reason, we all just clicked,” Scharingson said. “It was an amazing thing, as I look back on it. We were a class that liked each other, we didn’t care where you were from. And not every class is like that. I don’t remember it as traumatic. For some adults, I’m sure it was.”
Scharingson was also a pioneer following graduation, as she helped form and coach the inaugural East Greene volleyball team in the early 1970s, though she knew little about the sport.
“We had 40 girls go out because they thought it would be easy,” Scharingson said. “It wasn’t.”
She continued, “Athletics are a part of our lives, not just because of me but because my kids did it. I’m just as passionate about the music, too. Everything is important.”
If Scharingson can get her dream of an East Greene and Grand Junction exhibit off the ground, it will, in her eyes, help reconnect rural west-central Iowa communities.
Seeing is believing, in the case of the longtime teacher’s collection.
“A lot of people don’t read, but they will look at pictures, a lot of the trophies have pictures,” she said. “It will jog memories, and they may say, ‘Oh, I remember, this.’
“Something visual helps a lot.”
