Friday, February 10, 2023
24 Hours in Addison Township: 8:50 p.m.
Wrestler TJ Kemp trades barbs with the crowd prior to a New Era Wrestling event last fall hosted at the Shelbyville Boys and Girls Club facility. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
NOTEBOOK:
The local real estate market experienced a lull last month. Closed sales were down to 23 in January 2023 from 38 in December 2022 and 45 last January. The average number of days on the market increased from 44 in December to 69 last month. The median price for last month’s sales was $208,750, down from $237,488 in December but still up from $191,000 in January 2022. New listings remained virtually flat, 33 in January from 32 in December.
The following couples applied for marriage licenses last week at the Shelby County Courthouse: Eddie W. Adkins II, 27, and Patricia M. Hernandez, 28; Deborah L. Hart, 74, and Michael R. Feighner, 70.
HOOSIER NEWS: Comcast has signed contracts with the Indiana Office of Community & Rural Affairs (OCRA) to bring gigabit-capable broadband service to unserved parts of Indiana. The initial finalized agreements will enable Comcast to build to rural, unserved portions of Allen, Bartholomew, Carroll, Cass, Delaware, Fayette, Hendricks, Jennings, Johnson, Hamilton, Huntington, LaPorte, Madison, Marshall, Montgomery, Morgan, Porter, Starke and Wayne counties. Under Indiana’s Next Level Connections Broadband Grant Program, Comcast is partnering with the state and local governments to build and deliver fast, reliable broadband service to more than 10,000 homes and businesses across 19 counties. The projects will deploy 1,200 miles of fiber to unserved rural portions of Indiana. Under this latest phase of Next Level Connections grants, Comcast is investing $36 million in conjunction with the state’s $13.6 million to expand its network. This partnership builds upon Comcast’s ongoing commitment to bridging Indiana’s rural digital divide. Over the past three years, Comcast expanded and enhanced its network and product offering to reach more residents and businesses across the state, connecting communities like Darlington, Tell City, and Thorntown with gigabit-capable speeds. In that time, Comcast has also invested more than $500 million to strengthen and expand its Indiana network. (Indiana Capital Chronicle)
NATIONAL NEWS: In-N-Out Burger has announced plans to expand east of Texas beyond its 385-restaurant footprint throughout the Southwest. The burger joint is off the charts when it comes to foot traffic: The average fast-casual and quick-service restaurant chain averaged 121,000 visits per store in 2022, while In-N-Out locations averaged 700,000 visits per store that year, vastly more than other high-traffic shops like Shake Shack, Whataburger, Chick-Fil-A and Portillo’s. Usually, one reason that number drops is when companies expand beyond their home markets. That has not happened so far with In-N-Out; when it entered Denver in 2020, average visits per store were near 900,000. (QSR/Numlock)
SHELBY COUNTY PEOPLE & PLACES: ROY HENDRICKSON
Editor’s note: In the mid- to late 1940s, The Shelbyville Republican published a series of articles by Ave Lewis and Hortense Montgomery covering community people and places. Below is one of those features.
A gift of deft fingers and a talent for making intricate objects from metal, which earned his father the nickname "Tinker," also has provided a "pretty good living" for Roy Hendrickson, whose shop at 140 East Jackson Street carries a sign reading, "Welding, Lawn Mower Sharpening, Locksmith and Gunsmith."
Surrounded by blank key forms - there must be enough of them to open every lock of every kind in town! - Mr. Hendrickson, who isn't given much to talking, leans back in his office chair and says that what he knows about the whole business he taught himself, through experience. But the inherent instinct to work with metal was nurtured in him by his Shelby County father, Robert, who primarily was a jewelerman.
Since opening up his Jackson Street shop 24 years ago, Mr. Hendrickson has done about everything from repairing unmatchable buttons on a local woman's favorite dress to rescuing youngsters who have locked themselves in bathrooms. But, nope, he hasn't ever had to unlock a vault just as a victim was gasping for his last breath or anything as dramatic as that.
The key end of the business intrigued your reporter - all those shiny forms give you a fiendish Halloween desire to go around opening anything and everything that has a keyhole. Which probably is why locksmiths and key makers are bonded! Mr. Hendrickson is safely bonded with the National Locksmith Association. He made his own first duplicate key machine and still uses it, but he now also has six other machines to stamp out the various combinations on the flat blanks. A machine he made for Bell keys now is pictured in an issue of the “Locksmith Ledger,” and soon will be featured and written up in the "National Locksmith Lodger."
That particular part of his business has grown by leaps and bounds since the days when he first ordered maybe half a dozen of each type blank. Now he orders them by the gross. But he can make a key either with or without a pattern. And there's hardly an establishment in town where he hasn't worked on a lock at some time or other. And too, he did most of the lock work at Camp Atterbury during the war. Then, too, there's a vast amount of such work sent in from Indianapolis and other surrounding cities. With locksmiths located in these places, he doesn't know how it's sent to him - but perhaps it could be because of his meticulous craftsmanship. I asked him about making keys for official locks, such as post office boxes, lock boxes and such. He makes them alright, but only with the proper authorization given.
Now as to the other angles of his business. He'll weld anything that needs welding and has racks of guns which he has repaired. He's somewhat of a gun collector and has quite a number of antique models in his cabinet. One, a Colt Cylinder made in 1850 and another an English flintlock which dates back to 1758. He also had a couple fancy dueling pistols. He's made several table and upright lamps for people who have a flair for the unusual. Both he and his wife, Ruth, who live in an apartment above the shop, like hunting and Mrs. Hendrickson, who helps with the key business, has her own shotgun kept carefully in a cloth bag.
Before going into his present business - he used to rent the building from Thomas Wilson but later bought the establishment - he worked for seven years in the former Vandegrift-Morris machine shop. From this and earlier periods he remembers working on some of the first automobiles in Shelby County. They were mostly of the one- and two-cylinder Cadillacs that he worked on. It was quite a pride in those days but a far cry from the underslung models of today. The car belonged to the late James Howe.
Summing up his life's work, Mr. Hendrickson says, “Guess it’s just natural for me to be handy with tools. I'll repair (or make) your keys, your watch, your lawn mower, your guns or almost anything else in that line - but just don't ask me to say much while I'm doing it.” Seems, he says, that some people get the idea he isn't a very "friendly" type, but it's just that he'd rather concentrate on what he's doing at the moment than to talk.
This Week in Shelby County" works by George L. Stubbs Sr. are owned by the Shelby County Historical Society (Grover Center) and used with permission.
THIS DAY IN SHELBY COUNTY HISTORY
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated from the Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department.
20 YEARS AGO: 2003
Electronic Intelligence Technician Bryan Toll, who had spent six months in Afghanistan, spoke to Coulston Elementary students about his experiences. Toll answered questions about his duties while working for the Combined Joint Task Force 180, including what kinds of animals he saw while there, military intelligence and camel spiders. Toll had been in the military 15 years. He graduated from Morristown High School in 1987 and was stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C. He talked about the changes in the country since the Taliban had been driven out, such as women being allowed to go to school and men no longer being forced to grow facial hair.
30 YEARS AGO: 1993
Volunteers came forward to raise funds and offer labor to renovate the abandoned Hendricks Township School on W. State Road 44 so that Dan and Kathy Blackburn and their 28 adopted children born in Haiti could move in. The asking price for the building was $40,000, officials with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said. The building had been used as a church for several years.
40 YEARS AGO: 1983
Mel Kenyon, a former Indianapolis 500 race car driver, spoke at First United Methodist Church. Kenyon had finished in the Top Five in four Indy 500 races between 1968 and 1973. He had nearly died from burns suffered in a race several years prior, at which time he lost part of his left hand. He had participated in Billy Graham’s Crusade in Indianapolis at Market Square Arena and had a book out called, “Burned to Life.”
50 YEARS AGO: 1973
Official groundbreaking was held for the new Salvation Army Citadel at 136 E. Washington St. The ceremony was purely symbolic because the ground was frozen so hard no shovel could dent it and because the contractor had already been excavating the basement for the new building. Robert Leming, Nick Cord, Harold Zeller, Edghill Moore, Robert Thomson, Kenneth Thomas, Omar Cord, Lt. John Wilkins and Jack Warble all participated.
The Shelbyville Board of Works approved the purchase of four new Ford Torino police vehicles from the Skip Karmire Ford agency.
60 YEARS AGO: 1963
Joseph Kinsley Mardis, 18 Colescott St., was awarded the designation of Knight of the York Cross of Honour, the highest in the York Rite of Freemasonry. Mardis had been master of the Shelby Lodge of Masons in 1951 and had held various other positions.
70 YEARS AGO: 1953
A women’s superstar bowling team from Indianapolis barely beat Shelbyville’s Admiral Corporation in a polio benefit match at Shelby Recreation Alleys. Locals Fred Wagner, Ermel Small and Max Campbell all had strong games. Edgar Leffler and Richard Ray were pinboys.
80 YEARS AGO: 1943
One local man was in the hospital and three soldiers spent most of the weekend in jail as the result of a near-riot at a drive-in restaurant on the city’s east side. Lawrence Kremer, proprietor of the establishment, was seriously injured while intervening. He needed six stitches and had four teeth knocked out.
90 YEARS AGO: 1933
The Indiana State Highway Department attempted to auction off 21 used Model T Fords, but there were no bidders.
A couple east of London in Moral Township reported they had been robbed by bandits for the second time in six months. Local law enforcement, though, said both incidents were a “hoax.” In one of the “robberies,” the couple’s granddaughter had tied her grandmother to a chair, with the grandmother’s permission, placed a chloroform-soaked cotton rag over her face and departed with cash. The purpose of the robbery was to keep the money from the grandfather, officials said.
100 YEARS AGO: 1923
The Charles Major grade school building on East Franklin Street would be opened Feb. 12, school officials said. The opening would relieve the congestion that had existed at the Departmental school building and Building No. 5, where students had attended while Major was under construction. Charles Major replaced No. 1 building, which was the oldest in the city and for several years had been the only school in Shelbyville.
A couple which had divorced in December were remarried. The Republican newspaper noted the couple had been living together anyway.
INCIDENTS
Theft was reported in the 2400 block of N. Little Blue Road, Shelbyville.
JAIL BOOK-INS: Dylan Johnson, 21, failure to appear
OBITUARIES
James “JC” Brown, age 79, of Morrristown, passed away on Monday, February 6, 2023. He was born on April 27, 1943, the son of the late James and Evelyn (Jessie) Brown in Metcalfe County, Ky.
JC had a good childhood and helped out on the family farm around Edmonton, Ky. He quickly learned how to drive the equipment and farm trucks. This would lead into a lifetime love; JC never stopped driving a truck, even hauling his last loads this past summer. His trucking lifestyle drove him past a restaurant in Indianapolis in the late 1970s, where he fell for a waitress. He eventually won Carol over, they married and spent the next 40 plus years together, until her death in May of last year. They loved every minute of it, from riding motorcycles to simply sitting on the back porch. They owned and operated semis in Indiana, and even spent seven years doing the same in Florida.
JC will be dearly missed by daughters Robin (Frank) Davis of Bloomington and Shannon (Mike) Carmen of Napoleon, and son Steve (Pamela) Powers of Napoleon, sister Rebecca (Ron) Sutton of New Marion, 12 grandchildren, and 23 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Sam (Debbie) Brown and Bobby Joe Brown, and sisters Suzette Brown and Betty Brown and grandson Mitchell Lee.
Visitation will be held on Friday February 10, 2023 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Neal's Funeral Home in Osgood. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. with Pastor Aaron Mitchell officiating. Burial will follow at New Marion Cemetery. Online condolences may be placed at Nealsfuenralhome.net.
Shane A. Ellison, 47, of Hope passed away Tuesday February 7, 2023, surrounded by his family. Born September 1, 1975, in Columbus, Ind., he was the son of Arnold and Beth (Williamson) Ellison. He married Heather (Wilson) Ellison on Mother's Day 2004.
Shane graduated from Hauser High School in 1993 and attended IUPUC. He was employed at Pilkington NSG for 20 years and was a proud active member of USW Local 7703. He enjoyed motorcycle trips with his wife and family, firearms, and being a G-Pa (because he was much too young and cool to use the title grandpa). He loved his furry kids too. He was always the comedian and brought a smile to the face of everyone he ever met.
Survivors include his wife, Heather (Wilson) Ellison of Hope; his parents, Arnold and Beth (Williamson) Ellison of Hope: his daughter, Madilyn Ellison of Hope; three stepchildren, Linzi Bogle (fiance, Chasity Hessig) of Westport, Ashley Wilson of Greenwood, and Mercedes Hare of Columbus, OH; four granddaughters, Kyra Jacobs, Lyra, Rylee, and Klaire Hessig; his brother, Eric (wife Debbie) Ellison of Columbus; nephews, Riley and Thomas Ellison, and several aunts and uncles. Shane was preceded in death by, his grandparents, Burnell and Margaret Williamson, and Fern and Emerson Ellison.
A celebration of Shane's life will be held at the Hope Moravian Church in Hope on Saturday, February 11 with visitation from 1 to 3 p.m. followed by the service at 3 p.m. Graveside services will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions can be made to the Humane Society or the Riley Miracle Ride supporting Riley Hospital. Shane's funeral arrangements were entrusted to Norman Funeral Home in Hope. Online condolences may be expressed to Shane's family at www. normanfuneralhome.net.
Wallace "Dub" Shrader, of Shelbyville, passed away on Wednesday, February 8, 2023, at Waldron Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center. Dub was born on October 14 in Rosine, Kentucky to Fred and Susie Key Shrader. He married Cindy Ayers on September 23, 1969.
Before retirement, Dub worked at Cummins and he was a professional musician. He served in the National Guard. Dub was considered a music legend and had received a Shelbyville Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame award. He played in many bands locally and all over the country. Dub attended First Church of the Nazarene in Shelbyville. He was also an avid walker.
Survivors include his wife, Cindy of Shelbyville; children, Rick Shrader of Indianapolis, Gary Shrader of Shelbyville, Scott (Sarah Jones) Shrader of Shelbyville, Barry (Holly) Shrader of Shelbyville, and Rhonda Shrader of Morristown; 12 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; sister, Mattie Asher of Indianapolis; and sister-in-law, Sherry Shrader of Shelbyville. Dub was preceded in death by his parents; and siblings, L.C. Shrader, Darrel Shrader, and Fred Autry Shrader.
Cremation is planned. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions may be sent to First Church of the Nazarene in Shelbyville. Online condolences may be sent to the Shrader Family at www. normanfuneralhome.net.
Sharon "Kay" Thurston Tingle, 79, passed away February 6, 2023. She was born October 19, 1943, in Shelbyville, IN, to the late Kenneth Dale and Frances Catherine McComas Thurston.
Kay was a graduate of Shelbyville High School. She married Richard F. Tingle, February 24, 1978. Kay had a 40-year career in sales with Shelbyville Steel, O'Neal Steel and retiring from Action Steel. She enjoyed playing bingo, bowling and gambling.
Kay is survived by her loving husband of nearly 45 years, Richard F. Tingle; children, David L. Tingle (Susan), Dianne Harrison (Keith), Dana Deluca and R. Andrew Tingle (Arielle); brother, Daniel Thurston, Sr.; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. A daughter, Nicole Cazzell, preceded her in death. The family wishes to acknowledge the staff at Franciscan Health & Hospice for their care and compassion.
A Celebration of Life service will be held in the future at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Rise Learning Center, 5391 Shelby St., Indianapolis, IN 46227. Final care and arrangements are entrusted to Shirley Brothers Thompson Road Chapel. www. shirleybrothers.com.