Welcome to Kansas......

This morning we went to visit Boys Town in Omaha. I remember watching the movie as a child and loving Father Flanagan. It was neat to see it but very different now. It rained the whole time we were there but not real hard. We rented the driving CD and drove around and got out at the museum and Father Flanagan's house. I loved the "he ain't heavy Father, He's m' brother" statue. They have the original one in the museum, it was made with sandstone. This is the information I found about the statues....

The title came from the motto for Boys Town, a community formed in 1917 by a Catholic priest named Father Edward Flanagan. Located in Omaha, Nebraska, it was a place where troubled or homeless boys could come for help. In 1941, Father Flanagan was looking at a magazine called The Messenger when he came across a drawing of a boy carrying a younger boy on his back, with the caption, "He ain't heavy Mr., he's my brother." Father Flanagan thought the image and phrase captured the spirit of Boys Town, so he got permission and commissioned a statue of the drawing with the inscription, "He ain't heavy Father, he's my brother." The statue and phrase became the logo for Boys Town. In 1979, girls were allowed and the name was eventually changed to Girls And Boys Town. The logo was updated with a drawing of a girl carrying a younger girl added.

The Two Brothers concept precedes the magazine illustration that Father Flanagan saw. In 1921, there was a resident at Boys Town who had difficulty walking. He wore leg braces and the other boys would often take turns giving him a ride on their backs. There is a famous photograph of this boy and one of the other youth giving him a ride. Now there are several statues of the Two Brothers on the Home Campus in Omaha; one is the sandstone of the two brothers from the illustration, another is a bronze version by an Italian artist that was commissioned in 1977. There is also a version done directly from the 1921 photograph in the Hall of History.

After we left boys town we drove down to Kansas City. We drove out of Omaha, down along the edge of Iowa, over into Missouri and then into Kansas. It should have only taken about three hours but it rained hard most of the way. And we had to stop for a while to make sure we didn't drive into a tornado! We have a friend "robo Jose" who lives in KC, he called us to ask were we were. We told him and he said to find a place to stop because where we were there was a tornado warning. We didn't see anything but threatening clouds thank goodness. We went to Jose and Val's house were Jacob and Michael had a great time giving their dogs treats and having them sit and lay down. Our dog doesn't do tricks or play, he is to old.