Archive - 2012

Sharon Ann Meskimen, 62, of Swisher, died Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, at home. Services were held Dec. 27 at St. Patrick’s Church, Fairfax, by Father Dustin Vu. Burial was at Blaine Cemetery, Swisher.
Survivors include her husband, Dave; her children, Brett (Shonda), Scott (Amy) and Craig (Ashley); her mother, Adelaide Burger of Fairfax; six grandchildren, Cayden, Connor, Charley, Owen, Olivia and Claire; three sisters, Marcia (Ken) Caldbeck of Alabama, Nancy Finney of Cedar Rapids and Pam Burger of Texas and a brother, Dennis Burger of Cedar Rapids.

Ralph C. Karlan, 85, of Cedar Rapids, died Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011, at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha after a short illness. Funeral Mass was held Jan. 3 at St. Pius X Catholic Church, where there were also military rites. The Rev. Phil Thompson officiated. Inurnment was at Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery.
Ralph was born Oct. 10, 1926, in Cedar Rapids, the son of Ralph and Juanita (Beatty) Karlan. He married Mary Ellen Reindl on Oct. 16, 1948, in Manly. Ralph worked in quality control at Rockwell and retired from there in 1991 after 38 years of service.

Aside from the obvious and noble such as world peace and food for the hungry, what would you wish for if a genii were to grant you a wish? Assume, for the moment, that there is only one limit on this wish. Cost is no concern, your genii obtains things by magic and money doesn’t enter into it. Neither does the impossible. You can have time travel if you want it, or everlasting beauty. You don’t have to consider the rest of the world either; you can own Switzerland and banish anybody you don’t want there, or you can have Disneyland all for yourself and your friends for the entire summer.