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The J.S. Schramm department store was a favorite shopping spot for citizens of Burlington, Iowa and surrounding communities. 'Three floors of fashion' in the heart of our quaint downtown, it boasted an elevator with a fashionably dressed operator as well as a state-of-the-art pneumatic tube transport that sent payments zipping to the main floor accounting department. I have fond memories of going shopping there with my mother and sisters when I was a young girl. Sadly, the store has long since been converted to condos, but the memories of Christmas shopping live on.

Rebecca Matthews Vorkapich was five when she picked up her first paint brush and fell in love. Her artistic pursuits were set aside for several years when she moved to the Phoenix desert to design and program systems for the airline industry. Now back in the shade of her hometown on the banks of the Mississippi, she is happy to be pursuing her creative dreams. She paints in oils, watercolors, soft pastels and enjoys expanding her collection of one-of-a-kind mugs and soup bowls on the potter's wheel. Her newest passion is writing and illustrating children's books. Her debut novel, THE CHILDREN OF HORSESHOE HIDEOUT, appeared in bookstores and on Amazon November 2020. Rebecca is mother to sons Matthew and Bryan, and grandmother to Brittany,...