April 13, 2020 - Trestle Park
April 13, 2020 - Trestle Park
April 20, 2020 - Trestle Park
April 20, 2020 - Trestle Park
April 20, 2020 - Trestle Park
April 22, 2020 - Trestle Park
April 22, 2020 - Power supply underground
April 23
June 8
June 8
The bike was designed and constructed by Mike Warner of Warner Welding. The metal wheels, iron tractor seat, old machinery parts and tools along with the landscaping rocks were donated by friends, alumni, and former students of the Robinson's.
Manning City employees helped with installation and landscaping of the Bike Art memorial.
Friends collaborated with the City of Manning to align the Bike project Manning Visioning Plan and beautification for parks and trails for alumni, friends, families, and visitors to enjoy for many years to come.
This is one of the many projects that the Beautification Committee collaborates their efforts with the City of Manning, Manning Main Street, and Manning Visioning Plan, to make Manning what it is today.
Manning City Administrator Dawn Meyer stated. "We are honored to be able to place this memorial at the Trestle Park. Art is one of the focuses of the park and trail projects like this not only serve as a memorial, they also help enhance the art offering of the community. We are thankful that the friends and family of Scott & Mitch chose to memorialize them in such a unique way."
Now some people will not know who the Robinsons are...unfortunately I don't have any scans from actual photos of Bonita but below is a sampling of the Robinson history.
From the 2009 Manning Schools history book:
Bonita "Mitch" (Buckhammer) Robinson grew
up in Bayard, Nebraska. She attended a country school until the middle of her
sixth grade year, and graduated from Bayard High School in 1961. She graduated
from Kearney State College in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education (Kearney
State is now the University of Nebraska-Kearney). Mitch graduated with a major
in business education and a minor in English. She taught shorthand and office practice at Kearney High School in 1965.
Mitch married Scott Robinson in August 1966 and they moved to Manning two weeks later. Mitch was hired by Robert Melick and Wayne Curlile to teach Junior High Language Arts. Her first year salary in Manning was $5100, which seemed like a lot at that time.
After teaching seventh and eighth grade Language Arts for three years, Mitch quit teaching to start their family. Tiffany was born in August, 1969. Mitch remained a stay-at-home mom until their son Matthew was born in January 1971. Paul Bjorkgren, superintendent, called and asked if Mitch was ready to take her former job back. After much thought, she decided to accept the position. Paul actually hired her while at the golf course.
Mitch continued teaching Junior High Language Arts and also Chapter I Reading and Junior High typing until retiring in May 1999. She was also assigned the task of Yearbook Advisor the last six years of her teaching career. Mitch admits that those were not some of her fondest memories of teaching.
Funny moments: "Wish I would have kept a daily journal throughout the years because something memorable happened most every day. I'll never forget Dave Irlmeier's famous comment. Every time I would hand out an assignment, he would ask if it was going to be graded. I said, David, what difference does it make if it is graded or not? His quick reply was, 'Would you be standing up there teaching if you didn't get paid?' What could I say to that?"
Daughter Tiffany graduated from Manning High School in 1987. She attended University of Nebraska-Kearney for two years and graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Elementary Education. She did substitute teaching for several years in the Des Moines area and also in Manning. Tiffany is married and living in Grundy Center, Iowa, where her husband Jeff Carson is manager of the city's municipal utilities. Tiffany works in the chiropractor's office and enjoys golfing, bicycling, and traveling.
Son Matthew died of leukemia in October 1972, at the age of 21 months. The Robinsons never forgot the comfort and support they received from the entire community and especially their community of fellow faculty members and the students. "This community is special and I'm sure that's why we are still living in Manning, Iowa, today."
Mitch taught in the Manning School system for 31 years and retired in May 1999. She then began working in Dr. Robert Vonnahme's chiropractic office in July of that year. She continues working part time at the present. Mitch enjoys walking, golfing, vacationing, watching sports, and keeping close contact with friends.
Scott Robinson was born in 1940 and grew up in Kearney, Nebraska. He attended school in Kearney School District and graduated from Kearney High School in 1959. Scott participated in football, basketball, and track in high school. He attended Kearney State College and graduated with a BA Degree in Education, majoring in geography and physical education.
After marrying Mitch and moving to Manning, Scott accepted a teaching position in geography and physical education. Coaching was always a strong desire for Scott. He coached as an assistant in football and basketball and became head golf coach for 27 years after Ross Norman left for another job. The most memorable challenges as a coach were attempting to teach Dan Kerkhoff how to shoot free throws and to keep Brad Kusel from "passing gas" during practices.
Scott retired from teaching in May 1999, and continued as head golf coach until retiring in the spring of 2009. Scott continued a career as a crop hail adjuster that began in 1981. A memorable comment from a member of the community was, "What does Scott know about farming?" Funny thing is Scott may have adjusted this farmer's crops.
Scott Robinson, Larry Rowedder, James Murphy
Basketball coaches: Scott Robinson & James Murphy in the old gym (now Rec Center)
Football coaches: Scott Robinson, Gary Taylor, James Murphy
November 2, 1972 at Manilla - scanned from the Wayne Saunders negative collection
Scott Robinson, Curt Stribe, Jim Murphy, Kevin Pfannkuch, John Opperman, Keith Stribe
Scott Robinson & Larry Miller 1974
Tiffany Robinson & Virginia Stoberl April 1987 - school cafeteria
1972
I remember the first day that Scott came back to school to continue teaching in his classroom after taking several days off for the funeral & burial of Matthew.
All of us students were very quiet and didn't know what to say or do, and Scott was also very quiet which was different from his usual telling the class a joke or two and clowning around
before we got to our Geography class.
Scott's Nickname was "Oscar" and he was the only teacher I recall that we could call by his/her first name and not "Mr. or Mrs."
He got his
nickname from Oscar Robertson - an all-star black NBA player during the 1960s and early 1970s. Scott would scrimmage with us players and he would show us his "fancy" moves and
ball handling...we also enjoyed playing 3-man cutthroat with Scott where one person had the ball and had to go against the other two to score a basket.
Dave Kusel