Reardan 'Village Elders' give back to community daily

REARDAN — Before dawn, a dollar drops into a jar at the fire station.

Then another.

By the time most of the town is awake, the self-proclaimed 'Village Elders' have gathered around the coffee pot — not to answer emergency calls, but to keep an old community connected and help care for its children.

Ed Brommer, Clay Soliday, Ken Morrison, Fred Fleming, Stan Schwartz, Jerry Schulz, Richard Rinker and Steve Hauenstein are among the regulars. Other names could easily be added to the list.

Some grew up together, sat in the same classrooms and played on the same fields.

Over the years, they fixed ma...