The house where Larry was born

By REGINA SMITH

CNA staff reporter rsmith@crestonnews.com

A trip to find his birthplace led Larry and Judy Munday of Milan, Illinois, straight into the 2019 Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Days.

Larry was born in Creston in 1941, but his parents moved away while he was still a baby. He had always wanted to find the house where he was born. Larry and Judy decided to come to Creston one more time to see if they could figure out where.

A trip to the courthouse led them to Larry’s birth record, but it did not list an address. However, when they looked up his sister’s birth in 1934, the address was listed as 500 S. Poplar St. For the Mundays, that was close enough. They believed that must be the house where Larry was born.

They set off across Creston to find the house. At first Larry wasn’t sure he wanted to knock on the door, but Judy encouraged him.

“I said, ‘You came all this way; go on,’” Judy said.

Unfortunately, no one was home. The Mundays persisted. When they came back later, they found a garage sale in full swing. Larry said they did not go inside the house, but they did go in the garage and speak to the people who live there now. They told the Mundays that the house was built in 1896, so it seemed that Larry had found his birthplace.

The Munday’s road to this house had a few surprises along the way. The first surprise of the trip was before they even got started. Judy volunteers at St. Mary Monastery in Rock Island, Illinois, near their home. One day, she spoke of the upcoming trip to Sister Mary Jane, who turned out to be from Creston.

Sister Mary Jane had a copy of the Chamber of Commerce’s book published for the sesquicentennial celebration and gave it to Judy to take home and share with Larry.

The Mundays had planned their trip to Creston without knowing about the balloon festival and were interested to see all of the activities going on that Saturday.

As they sat near the Creston Restored Depot waiting on the parade, they struck up a conversation with a some folks from Creston. Cathy Scadden and her husband listened to their story about coming to Creston to find Larry’s former home and told them she lived about a block away from that house.

She then pointed to a man nearby saying that Roger Saxton renovated the house some time ago. Larry and Judy spoke to Saxton about the renovations learning that the house had been completely remodeled.

Larry and Judy were charmed by Creston.

“We were amazed that the lady ... the friendliest people, lived only a block away from that house,” Judy said. “It was so exciting to see all the events going on.”