Fascinating life journey leads me to ANR

When people ask me how I, a South Dakota native and one-time resident of Illinois, ended up in Central Nebraska at an age when most people are seriously thinking of retiring, I generally tell them simply “It’s a long story.”
That’s because it is and I don’t always know if they have the patience to hear all the details. So, as I use this space to introduce myself to the folks of Hamilton County, I will simply tell you a bit of my life experience, describing the various hats I’ve worn and the circuitous route I’ve taken to get here, as a way to give my readers a flavor of who I am and where I’m coming from.
Growing up on my family’s farm along the White River 30 miles northwest of Winner, S.D., my life was incredibly stable and even, one could say, idyllic. Unlike some of my friends, my address never changed until after I graduated high school. My parents were married 51 years and lived in the same house through most of them. As a result, for the first two-thirds of my life I always knew where home was and had few concerns that would ever change.
After high school my education and various career paths would take me first to Texas to work for a summer, then to two schools in Minnesota, to Rapid City, S.D. for the next eight years (where I met and married my wife, Tammy) and it was then back to Winner where our two sons were born (in the very same hospital where I came into the world). In 1991 we uprooted and moved to central Illinois where we lived for the next 16 years and where our daughter was born to complete our family of five.
I don’t want to offend anyone who has Land of Lincoln roots, but we jokingly tell people were were in “exile” from our home state during those years and were finally allowed to return home “after the statute of limitations ran out.” (Only kidding!)
The truth is, however, we were excited in 2007 to return to our home state where we lived near the South Dakota Badlands in Wall (Home of the world famous Wall Drug Store) for the next decade. Then, in 2017 Tammy and I got to realize our lifelong dream of actually living in the Black Hills when we moved to Custer which is just outside the beautiful Custer State Park with its herd of tourist-tossing buffalo.
A move to Nebraska was never really on our radar, but our oldest son, Matt, married a Central City girl several years ago and moved down here to take a job in 2020. Without going into all the details of our decision to move here, I’ll just say, never underestimate the powerful draw that grandchildren can be...especially really cute and precious ones like our two are!
As to my work history, I’ll spare you the boring details of a resume, but will instead tell you some of the jobs I’ve been paid to do over the years. In over 40 years in the work world I have engineered a narrow gauge railroad giving a tour of the Palo Duro Canyon in Texas, written for newspapers and magazines, directed high school plays, conducted funerals and weddings, worked as an assistant for a funeral home, shot video at fatality accident and homicide scenes for a police department, stocked shelves for a grocery store, worked as a convenience store clerk, given tours of a Minuteman nuclear missile site, delivered hundreds of radio newscasts, played backup harmonica for a cowboy music album, sung in a live stage show, directed a high school Bible camp and drawn weekly cartoons for a newspaper.
The many titles I’ve held over the years include Pastor (or “Reverend,” although I’ve never been comfortable with that one), preacher, teacher, news reporter/director, radio morning man, park ranger, paraprofessional, video editor, church board chair, ministerial association president, husband, dad and grandpa. (I’m still getting used to that last one, but of all of them those last three titles are the most important!)
Yet another snapshot of the range of experiences I’ve had is to be found in the various modes of transportation I’ve been on in the last six decades. I’ve ridden a steam train, several horses, an elephant, a camel (“sat on” might be more accurate), Amtrak trains, subways, a Chicago taxicab (Now there’s a thrill ride for you!), a cable car to the top of Masada in Israel, a boat on the Sea of Galilee and numerous roller coasters. In addition, I have driven a Model-T Ford, tractors and other farm equipment, a houseboat, a hearse, a vintage highway patrol car, a horse-drawn buggy and I’ve even briefly piloted a single-engine airplane before gratefully turning the controls back to my pilot son.
All in all, it has been a fascinating life and now I get to add news editor to my list of job titles. I’m grateful for this opportunity and I look forward to seeing where God leads as I travel this new path He has laid out for me.
I thank you in advance for forgiving my rookie mistakes and ask you to extend me some grace if I forget your name or even the fact that I have met you. I look forward to meeting our readers and I invite you to stop into the office and introduce yourself.
 RON BURTZ can be reached at newsregister@hamilton.net