Her passion is to preserve country church in Lima

By Janell Bradley

LIMA – Many hands make light work as the old saying goes, and nowhere is that more true than at the Lima Church's annual "Lima Leaf Day" the first Sunday in October of each year. It takes many donations of pies and cakes to serve as many as 600 hungry folks.

But even with many helping hands, leadership is key to success.

A long-time leader for the cause of maintaining the Lima Church as a community center, and the Lima Cemetery as a peaceful resting place – is Patricia Baumler.

Pat, who's been a member of the Lima Ladies Aid since 1971,  has always felt an obligation to work for the good of the church because it's where her ancestors once were members. Three generations of Baumler's family attended church services there. Her love for the country church in what was once a thriving town which boasted a rail line, dates back to when Pat was just a little girl. 

"It's just a special place for me and our family," she explains. "My mother and father were married in that church and I started Sunday School there when I was three." She explains further, "Almost all of my Dad's siblings are buried in the cemetery. I remember Grace Popenhagen was my Sunday School teacher. We sat around a table in the kitchen area in little round-backed chairs that were a replica of the wooden round-backed chairs that are still used in the church."

An every-third-year reunion of the Jones family ancestors is held at the church. She says it gives the East Coast families and others from farther away, "a chance to feel the way we do about the church." There are horse and wagon rides to former homesteads that now are part of the Volga River Recreation Area.

The last services at Lima Church were in 1949. Now, there are still occasional weddings, funerals and annually, Memorial Day services and Lima Leaf Day held there.

When there are services and burials in the church cemetery, the Lima Ladies Aid serve escalloped potatoes and ham or sandwiches, depending on the season. In preparation for weddings, the membership makes sure the church is clean and ready for use.

In an effort to preserve the structure, a couple of women's clubs, the cemetery association and neighbors to the church volunteer time and resources. When club membership dwindled, the ladies' aid and Volga Valley Club combined to become Volga Valley Lima Ladies Aid. Pat and other stalwart supporters of Lima's existence, also make up the Lima Cemetery Association.

And when Leaf Day rolls around each year, Baumler helps organize volunteers that cook 90 pounds of hamburger on Friday, that will become 'Lima Burgers" on Sunday.

The women wrap table service and the men carry some church pews outdoors for use in the cake walk. Sunday, Baumler and her entourage of other volunteers begin arriving about 7 a.m. to begin warming in roasters,  the Lima Burger and – pork loin prepared and donated by Marty Stanbrough the last several years.

Although Leaf Day is the church's biggest fundraiser, volunteers also gather annually to host either a pancake breakfast, soup supper or ice cream social. Particularly in years when numerous mowings of the church and cemetery grounds are needed, the second fundraiser helps meet those costs.

Donations and memorials are also important to the church and cemetery's livelihood, Baumler says.

In addition to her volunteerism to benefit the Lima Church and cemetery, Baumler has co-chaired the sewing circle at Bethel Presbyterian in West Union,  and has served on the Diaconate and has served on the worship committee and as a Lay leader. Last year, she traveled with the youth group from Bethel, to a warehouse in Minneapolis to sort, pack and ship packages as part of the Shoebox program. It was so much fun, she participated again this year. 

With other sewing circle members, she's made diapers, and pillowcase dresses for children in Africa. This winter, the ladies intend to make quilts.

As a member of Fayette County Tourism, she's volunteered hours at the Little Red House in Fayette. She was a member of the Palmer Hospital Auxiliary - Fayette unit until it disbanded. She's also served on the hospital foundation, donating theme baskets for the annual auction and a quilt for the annual raffle.

As a Master Gardener, she maintains a garden at Maple Crest Manor in Fayette. She's also part of the rotation serving coffee and treats Sunday afternoons at Maple Crest. Over the years, she's helped with American Legion dinners in Wadena.

Although retired from a career as a rural postal delivery worker, Baumler hasn't let any grass grow under her feet. Her family – husband Charles and daughters Elaine Grimm, Leann Popenhagen and Stacie Gorkow and their families and children, would be the first to admit, their wife and mother is always putting others first and welcomes the opportunity to help out whenever she can.

Beating the Odds

By Janell Bradley

Weighing little more than a pound of butter, and no larger than a doll, Chase Peyton has survived the odds after being born at just 23 weeks. 

Chase is among the less than one percent of babies in the U.S., born earlier than 28 weeks when he came into the world on March 24, 2011. The chance of survival for babies born at 23 weeks, as Chase was, is just 17%, according to the March of Dimes.

Born at University of Iowa Hospital, Iowa City, Chase's skin was so thin, his parents could see his blood vessels underneath. And because he wasn't fully developed, he was covered in soft hair called lanugo. Later, as he developed, Chase was given a sponge bath by a nurse and the lanugo came off his body in clumps – enough so that when Meagan came to the hospital that day to spend time with her baby, she thought Chase had been given a haircut.

Unlike many other young people their age who can live for the moment, Meagan (Swenka) Peyton, 28, and her husband, Chad, 30, have already faced plenty of adversity.

Meagan and Chad's first child, a daughter, Remie Bliss, was stillborn at 21 weeks. When Meagan learned she was pregnant again, she began seeing an OB-GYN specialist in Waterloo. Then, one day in March as she went about her work as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Maple Crest Manor in Fayette, Meagan didn't feel right, but she tried to shrug it off.

It was a co-worker, Penny Lane, a mom herself, who insisted Meagan call her physician. Later, at University Hospitals in Iowa City, Chase Michael Peyton was born Thursday, March 24. He weighed a mere 1 lb., 3 oz. and was 11.6 inches in length.

Delivered by C-section, Chase's legs were quite bruised as he had entered the birth canal legs first before doctors were able to get Meagan prepped for the Caesarean delivery. His skin wasn't fully developed and was sticky to the touch. 

Although Meagan was released from the hospital three days later, baby Chase called the neonatal intensive care unit at UIHC his home for a total of 125 days. Meagan stayed at the nearby Ronald McDonald House.

"It was the same routine every day," she says, remembering. "It's sad, but after awhile it becomes home." With some of the other families living there, Meagan participated in a parent group for an hour on Tuesdays and did some of the crafts, including a memory box that now holds memorabilia from Chase's very long hospital stay.

Back home in Fayette County, Chad continued to work, making the drive to Iowa City Saturday mornings to spend the weekends with Meagan and Chase before driving back Monday morning. For four months, Chad packed his own lunches, did his laundry and kept up the house while longing for the time when the trio would become a family living under the same roof.

"The last six weeks was the worst for me," he says of returning from the weekends in Iowa City to an empty house.

Because premature babies are too immature to suck, swallow and breathe at the same time, they are fed by IV until they develop such skills, and given supplemental oxygen. They often can't yet cry and they sleep most of the day.

Born 17 weeks ahead of his due date, Chase was so tiny, the preemie diapers used in the hospital were still too big. Nurses found a cotton ball sufficed in place of a diaper.

In the days following his birth, doctors determined there was a small hole in a valve near Chase's heart which was later repaired in surgery. The infant had some trouble with his bowel that required he be fitted with an ostomy bag for about a month. Meagan says their little boy is considered to have a 'short gut' as two centimeters of his intestine were removed. But, she says the issues with his bowel and intestine resolved themselves as Chase grew and continued to develop.

Before Chase could be released to his parents' care, he had to maintain his body temperature while being outside his isolette. He also had to be able to take a bottle without his oxygen saturation rate dropping and prove his bowels would function properly once he began taking formula.

Meagan remember that first bottle of just 5ccs of milk that she fed a then, six-pound Chase.

"He'd had a feeding tube for most of his life," she says, "and hadn't had hardly any milk." She laughs and explains, "He slammed it down and wanted more!"

As the time neared for Chase to go home, Meagan left Iowa City for a weekend. With her cousin, Shelby Schultz lending a hand, the two painted Baby Chase's room. Because she'd purchased baby items after learning of her first pregnancy, Meagan says Chase's early birth hadn't left her totally unprepared. 

But what Meagan didn't anticipate, was the adjustment she'd have to make once Mom, Dad and Baby were all at home again together. For the first four months of Chase's life, he had constant nursing care. "I wasn't used to having to get up with him. While he was in the hospital, the doctors and nurses were always analyzing what his needs were," she explains.

So the couple made the decision that Chad would quit his job and stay home with Chase, who still required close care, and supplemental oxygen for the first year of his life.

It was during "Daddy's Day Care," that Chase rolled over for the first time, began to crawl and started to walk. He also said his first word, which was, 'Da-da.'

Meagan admits missing some of those milestones was difficult, but after spending more than four months in Iowa City with Chase and away from Chad, she recognized the importance of father and son needing time to bond.

On Aug. 28, 2011, friends and family hosted a baby shower for Meagan and Chase, who by that time, was five months old and weighed seven pounds. Although his parents can say the 'Build-a-Bear' outfit they bought him was once a little too big, he has outgrown that and wears mostly 12-month clothing now. He's a short little guy, "but he was never going to be tall anyway, unless he takes after my Dad," says Meagan, referring to the Swenka and Schultz family bloodlines.

Now, as the year 2012 draws to a close, both Chad and Meagan have returned to work and Chase goes to daycare. The couple says their son is a good eater: "if it's on Daddy's plate, he'll eat it, including sardines in mustard sauce and oysters," says Meagan. Apple Jacks cereal is another favorite.

Although Chase has battled anemia (another characteristic of preemies) and they've discovered he's lactose intolerant, overall "he's pretty much a normal kid," Meagan says.

This Christmas, the couple anticipates a relaxed atmosphere in which they can watch their 21-month-old son, Chase, tear through the gift wrap as he revels in the joy and happiness of the holiday.

"It was a long road, but we wouldn't change a thing," says Meagan.

(Look for a second story on Chase Peyton's story being born as a preemie in the Fayette County Union's Health Issue to be published in January.)