By Mark Belz, Cono Class of 1961
I was one of the few who were able to attend the Cono reunion this past summer. I’ve made the trip up from St. Louis more than 100 times, but this was different from most, because I didn’t do the driving. Upon my request, my granddaughter Amelia (she wanted to see the campus) drove me up to Cono from our home, exactly 299 miles according to the odometer.
Ridge Haven, as you know, now runs Cono. Our reunion was on a Friday and Saturday, July 5 and 6. On Saturday we were treated to a thorough tour of the campus, and I must say that it has never been more beautiful. Wallace Anderson, Director of Ridge Haven, has done wonders. The buildings are in tip top condition—new sprinkler system and all. And of course everyone knows about the new swimming pool, still under construction in early July.
And then there’s the lawn. Wow. It looks like the greens at the US Open. There was not a weed in sight from my vantage point, beautifully mowed and trimmed. I was standing next to Wallace, and complimented him: “Wallace, you’ve done a terrific job on the lawns.” “Don’t thank me,” Wallace responded. “Thank Dan Gardner. Dan takes care of our lawns.”
So what else is new? Since 1962, when he graduated Cono at the age of seventeen, Dan has been doing such. He and his wife Liz own a farm less than 3 miles from the school, and for sixty-two years(!) Dan Gardner has labored at Cono to keep the place in shape. Can you imagine? And he’s done it pretty much thanklessly, on his own time.
When Cono first opened in 1951, Dan entered as a second grader; I was in third. There were just seven students: three Gardners (Grant, Dan and Gwen) and four Belzes (Julie, Joel, Mark and Mary). Dan and I were born in 1943, less than two months apart, but my birthday was in July and his on September 8. Iowa law required that you had to be no less than 5 years old to start kindergarten (September 1 was the cut-off date), so Dan was always a year behind me in school. He missed the cut by just 8 days.
But we did everything together. I often called him “Dan’l.” We had no sports program at Cono, but Dan was superior to me in everything we tried: baseball (when he connected he could hit the ball a mile), basketball, track and such. He’s physically powerful and I was no match, although we were pretty even in ping pong! Once he invited me to wrestle him, but I didn’t want to die at such an early age, so I declined.
Dan has used his brain and that powerful body to serve his Lord and Savior at Cono. He’s done a whole lot more than mow the yard, as he’s doing nowadays. He’s built buildings; he’s a professional carpenter. He’s installed and repaired plumbing, electric lines, poured concrete, unplugged sewers—you name it; he did it. He also served on the Cono school board for decades. And all of this while laboring on the farm, where he has prospered and gained a superior reputation in the agricultural community.
Dan’s commitment to the Lord’s work didn’t come just out of the blue. His paternal grandparents, Will and Katie Gardner, were stalwarts at Cono Presbyterian Church, which was in the liberal USA Presbyterian denomination. But a majority of the members at the tiny church were Bible believers, and voted to leave the “old church” in the late 1940’s. They lost the property. But Will and Katie stood strong, as did Dan’s parents, LeRoy and Marian. With my father, Max Belz, as pastor, they “joyfully accepted the confiscation of [their] property, because [they] knew that [they] had better and lasting possessions” (Heb 10:34), and built a new church building for the faithful, the iconic Quonset, which old Conoites remember so well.
Dan and Liz’s home sits right next to Will and Katie’s old house. That’s appropriate, because they continue to serve the Lord at Cono with little thanks and no remuneration, just like his grandparents. It’s also appropriate that our reunion in July started with a picnic in their yard. The Belz and Gardner families got together every summer for a “radish picnic,” featuring summer radishes from our gardens. Thankfully, there was a whole lot of other food as well! I don’t recall if we had radishes at the reunion in July, but the food and fellowship were every bit as great. We called Dan "Dan'l" back then, short for Daniel.
Dan’l, we all owe you a big thank you. Well done, thou good and faithful servant.
(The photo below was taken next to the “old church” building, showing constituents of the church who were kicked out. Dan is sitting in older brother Grant’s lap, third from right, first row.)
