Tiny Towns and Huge Coincidences

published September 23, 2010

in the Stockton Sentinel, 

Stockton, Kansas

     "I grew up in a tiny town, sidewalks rolled up when the sun went down..." These words, written by Keith Stegall, are the beginning of the song "Tiny Town," performed by Tracy Byrd on his album, Truth About Men. Even though I grew up on a small farm, I can relate to these words because my hometown of Goessel has a population of around 500, on a good day. There are over 300 towns in Kansas with populations of less than 500, so my hometown is in good company.
     My parents still live in Goessel, and I send them a Stockton Sentinel each week so they can keep up with us and the goings-on here in Stockton. Last week, my parents learned that, in addition to them, another lady in Goessel also receives the Sentinel. I don't know her, and my parents have not known her, but they met her last week because they delivered the Sentinel to her that had been mistakenly been placed in their mailbox together with their own paper. Instead of having the Post Office correct the delivery error, my parents made the small-town friendly gesture of locating her by using the phone book and then went to her house and delivered her paper.
     We thought it quite a strange coincidence that in the tiny town of Goessel, some 190 miles away from Stockton, there would be TWO people who receive the Sentinel. But what really got us chuckling is that their Post Office boxes are side-by-side -- one gets their mail in Box 405, the other in Box 406. What are the odds of that happening anywhere, let alone with my parents in my tiny hometown?
     Here at the Sentinel, my co-workers frequently say that "all roads lead through Stockton," meaning that wherever you go, chances are you'll bump into someone with ties to Stockton. The statement comes up frequently in conversation, and by now I'm becoming a believer.