I have lived all my life in the southern part of Iowa. Most of my roots are in Sully and Pella. My brother, two sisters, and I were country kids raised on the farm. I didn't go to high school. As I became an adult, I was married and my wife and I had two children, Travis, who married Kris Hammett. They live in Ankeny. She is a high school music teacher and they have two boys. My daughter, Julie, is single. She lives in Des Moines, where she has been a social worker in the downtown area for several years.

My first work away from home was down by Centerville employed by a gas company, Peister Derby. I was with them five years before I quit, and for 30-some years I worked for Old Home Bread until I retired in 2003. I started working at HyVee in January 2004, in their bakery. Presently I go in about 2:30 a.m. and bake bread and buns. So my days start at 2:00 a.m. and I work until about 10:00. That leaves a lot of daytime but I keep busy. In the wintertime I push snow for ourselves and our neighbors; in the summertime I take care of our lawn, and in our business, there is a continual need for maintenance work of some kind to be done.

I met Barb McNeal Selsor through my son and her daughter who both worked at McDonald's in Osceola. My children and her Heather and Travis were the same ages, went to school together, and all knew each other. It was kind of natural that Barb and I met through our kids. We were married in October 19, 1996, so we've been mauled almost 14 years.

After we were married we acquired B and B Guest Home at 221 W. Cass in Osceola in 1998, and that has been our venture ever since. When we first bought it, Barb's sister Bonnie was included. We were going to run it together and soon discovered it wasn't profitable enough to split two ways, so we parted but still use the original name, B & B.

An important part of my life centers in music. I have always loved music and thought it would be neat some day to be a singer, but I saw that wasn't going to happen. My dreams became more realistic, but I still thought of vocal music, and that it would be great to have a group to go around to sing, which is what we do now. Our group began in 1996, with an Easter performance. At that time it was just Mamie, Barb's mother, and me, and we started growing from there. A lot of other people have joined the group and we have a nice mixture. We have five men — one from Prairie City, one from Des Moines, one from Indianola, Mamie and myself. She's not going to quit unless there comes a time when she can't pick up the bass guitar.

We go all over to different parts of the country, and that is the fun part. We get to meet a lot of different people, and a lot of different singers. Last year we went to Pella to the Gospel Sing where many quartets and groups come in. We got to be a part of that. This year we are going to Guthrie Center for the same thing, and again a lot of groups of singers will come, then we'll be back at Pella. These are not competitive. We just perform so that people will get to know who we are so if they have such events at their church, they may possibly invite us to come. For the last eight years we have been at the Iowa State Fair. When we first started singing there, if we had 100 people, we thought we had a good crowd. The last few years we've had over 300 who come to listen to us sing. That is truly a high point!

A lot of things have changed over the years. Back in the old days, we had to be really reverent in the church for fear of being disrespectful if we weren't. In the early days there weren't so many choices of places to go and church was one of the popular gathering places. As it is now, we hardly know our next door neighbors or very much about them, but I believe gospel music has had an effect of bringing people closer together. I sense that 9/11 did that also.

Church music used to be s-l-o-w, but we make ours peppy. We keep it meaningful but not draggy. We even pep up the old songs, and the older people love them sung that way. I think we have to be reverent in the church but that doesn't rule out fun. For quite a spell, even with gospel music you had to be careful about offending people. Or people would stay away because they were afraid we would preach at them while we sang. We let the music do the preaching.

People now are more receptive to gospel music than they used to be. There are a lot of different groups. Some of the new style songs I don't enjoy but each person has their own opinion. However they want to do it is fine. I suppose my father's Baptist messages had an effect on me. In spite of all the different religions, they have many beliefs in common. Baptists believe there is one way to get to heaven and that is by asking the Lord to come into your heart. I believe our music says that in a variety of ways.

Barb

My mother, Mamie McNeal, told a lot about our family in her story in this same book. So you know I was born, raised and educated in Osceola. In 1969, I married Dwight Selsor, and I traveled with him while he was in the Navy. We were in California for his training. Then he was assigned to the USS Thomasen that carried supplies. He was later transferred to USS Defiance gun boat, which upgraded his rank. He was a radarman, so he was the one to determine if there was danger in the area. He was off the coast of Vietnam for a short period of time. He was on Guam, and the Philippines, ending up in Japan. They were on shore patrol up and down the Mediterranean watching for the Russians. They had to watch lest they were too close to the boundaries. If that happened, they had boat races. The gunboat could go 60 miles per hour in the water. He went to lots of areas but the last was Naples, Italy, where his four year commitment ended. We came home from there, lived and raised our family in Osceola. He worked for Jimmy Dean Company for awhile and I remained a housewife all the years until Dwight passed. He died at too young an age of colon cancer.

We had three children — Selena, Heather, and Eric. Selena is the Administrator of Southern Hills Specialty Care Center in Osceola. She has a son, whom Larry and I baby-sit. She and Eric Humphrey were married in June 2010. They wanted to be married on the beach, so their wedding was in Florida. She has returned and resumed her position.

Heather is a radiology technologist in Newton, Iowa. She married Clark Burroughs and they have two daughters. Eric lives north of Osceola and he has three children. He has a fiance, and she has two children, so they have a ready-made family. He works for Sara Lee.

My first work outside the home was for Robinsons. At the present time I fill in as needed. My "steady" job is our business, B and B Guest Home at 221 W. Cass Street in Osceola.

According to state regulations for a Guest Home, we can only have five guests, but don't always have five because they come and go. It is very challenging but also very rewarding. It is a good number because we can get to know those who live in our home, and it is interesting to visit with the older people. There are lots of memories about the things they have done and said.

Our regulations are pretty stiff. We are only allowed to have people who can take care of themselves but still need some assistance. We are allowed to help them if they need assistance getting up and dressed. They can come to the breakfast table whether walking naturally or by cane or walker.

Initially, clients see a doctor before they come to us, and we are informed something about their nature, particularly their medical history. That is part of the guidelines for coming into the home. Each Guest Home has its own guidelines of what patients can and cannot do. That is what we have to go by. They can come in as a patient when they are 18 or over, if they are mobile. They can feed themselves, do their own medication if they wish, or if they want help, we can provide that. It depends on the guests, and what they want. When they come in, we tell them their rights, and try to have all their rights available to them. We want them to be as independent as possible. The main thing is, they must be able to get themselves out of the house in an emergency. We have fire drills monthly, but for safety sake, they have to be able to exit themselves.

We must have a registered nurse, who represents the guest home, acquaints her- or himself to deteiinine the level of care they need. (Customarily it is "she.") She doesn't have to be on duty 24/7 but she makes an initial visit, then comes back in 30 days to reassess the situation to learn if there is anything that needs to be changed. We report to her any changes we observe or any changes in medication. She keeps track of her own time frame, but we can also call her if we feel the need. She is required to report monthly, quarterly, and annually.

There are housing requirements. We have different areas that are handicapped accessible. The regulations require us to have two bathrooms. The bathroom downstairs is totally handicapped accessible. In the other area we have chair risers, grab bars and that type of thing. We have three rooms downstairs and two upstairs. The stairs are only four steps.

The regulations change constantly. We never know. There is a state inspector, who keeps us up-to-date. Our licensing for operating the home is every two years. We have a food license as well and that is every year. It requires temperature control of the foods — to make sure our refrigerators are cold enough, our stoves are hot enough, and sanitation is rigidly observed. The elderly are more susceptible to infections and we must be careful. It is all good.

There are guidelines for hired help in elder group homes. They must be certified at least as a Home Health Aide. I actually prefer a CMA (Certified Med Aide). We have Certified Nurses' Aides. The RN does their training and Oks them, making sure medications are passed out correctly in addition to doing the routine daily work — cooking, bathing, cleaning — 24 hour duty. They are constantly cleaning.

We write policies and procedures for our people regarding health, how they function, how to run the washing machine, know how to take care of the kitchen, on and on. There is a right way for making a bed, and handling medications. Everything that is done has to be double checked. We have these in a book and we have training on different things. If someone has been here a couple years, we have them look over the policies and procedures again to make sure they are being followed and everything is done accordingly.

It surely goes without saying that I am completely in favor of and excited about what Larry and my mom are doing with their music. I grew up in the Christian Church. Additionally I have attended various other churches — Baptist, Assembly of God, and have listened to many different people — pastors and lay people — speak about their faith. I am not condemning anyone. If they have convictions, they should live by them. I think it is so important to express this to the children and grandchildren. It is all healing and good principles to live by. At our guest home we want everyone to have their own beliefs. We want them to live as independently and naturally as possible, having their own faith and living accordingly, keeping a positive outlook. My parents taught and exemplified this.

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Last Revised December 31, 2014