Rivers are a symbol of life for many Ozarks families

Does your family have its own river? For my family, Roaring River has always been the family stream.

Roaring River is one of the reasons why my mother’s family moved to the Ozarks.

My grandparents, Dorothy and Marvin Yocum, decided to stop farming the ancestral lands in Northern Iowa and purchased Rock Village Court just outside of Roaring River State Park south of Cassville.

They ran Rock Village for just over a decade, until my grandmother sold it after my grandfather’s death and moved to town.

I barely remember Rock Village, but Roaring River remained our family’s destination for reunions, summer vacations and other special events.

Here is Jenn Wilkinson’s grandfather’s johnboat that he used to guide on the Current. Her father, also named Tommy Voyles, is on the right, sitting on the bow, and her aunt Charlene is on the left. Not sure when it was taken.

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