Saturday, August 3, 2024

New Mural Resonates with Music Lovers

Artist Jane Duffy stands next to a mural she completed this week at the intersection of S. Harrison and W. Mechanic streets. | photo by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS

A new mural in downtown Shelbyville is attracting attention, especially from local Deadheads.

“One person came up to me two days ago and said, ‘My brother just died, and he was like the biggest Grateful Dead fan, and this is a sign,” Jane Duffy, who sketched and completed the Grateful Dead-themed mural this week, said.

The artwork was funded by Wade Lewis, who owns the adjacent Stanley Jones Insurance Agency on West Mechanic Street, but the mural is most visible from South Harrison Street at its intersection with W. Mechanic, next to the Conoco station. Numerous passersby, at least 20, Duffy estimated, stopped to tell the artist a favorite Grateful Dead song or about their connection to the band. The art concept was Lewis’s idea, the artist said, and Duffy added several touches, such as flowers, color choices and design.

Duffy’s artwork is increasingly visible downtown. The 2022 Shelbyville High School graduate is double majoring in English writing and Studio Art at DePauw University in Greencastle, but she is home for the summer and returns frequently to paint local business windows. Her first public artwork was at Greek’s Pizzeria on South Harrison Street, where she also started waitressing at 16 years old, as an original employee when the location opened. That work was posted on Facebook, and business boomed. She’s remained busy in both jobs ever since.

“I’ve done more windows this year than last year,” she said, “and some now have me do them on a rotating basis, where I update them every couple of months.” Many of her designs are displayed on Instagram at Jane Duffy Art.

Duffy said she has enjoyed generating conversation around art, including her latest piece.

“The mural has been so fun to do,” she said. “Many of the Deadheads were like, ‘This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.’”

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NOTEBOOK:

• Although we’re still a month away from seeing the onslaught of election year political yard signs, the campaigns are in full swing. Shelby County Democrat Party Chair Denny Ramsey issued the following media release this week: “Soon we Shelby Countians will have the privilege of exercising our right to vote. Will we choose the candidates who are the most prepared and knowledgeable, hard-working, and sincere, or will be make a personal decision to vote for our political party instead of a person who would best serve the needs of Shelby County? I encourage everyone to take a hard look at the platforms of the political candidates. Information is available on candidate and party websites and candidates’ Facebook pages.”

• NATIONAL NEWS: The overall American shrink rate — the retail industry statistic describing inventory lost before sale as a percentage of total sales — has pretty steadily been 1.5 percent for years. However, major drugstore and retail chains have goaded each other into installing miles of plexiglass theft-prevention equipment that makes it time-consuming and frustrating for shoppers. That said, it turns out the real problem isn’t actually happening inside the stores from shoplifters; it’s happening on the road. According to CargoNet, tractor trailer and warehouse theft incidents were up 46 percent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter of 2023, as thieves realized it’s far easier to boost a truckload of deodorant than it is to operate a fanciful, Fagin-esque intricate network of small-time thieves. (Bloomberg/Numlock)

• The Addison Times publishes essential news and historical content to build our Shelby County community, and is free thanks to the generosity of supporters. Those who donate a minimum of $5 a month (or $45 one-time) receive the three remaining quarterly Addison Times magazines for 2024 as an appreciation gift.

• Want the daily edition read to you? Struggling with your email provider filtering out your local news? The Addison Times Substack app will solve those challenges!

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580 West Taylor St.

Editor’s Note: The following is the next installment in a serialized version of “580 West Taylor Street,” by Joseph E. “Joed” Landwerlen. This chapter is entitled, “The House.”

by JOSEPH E. LANDWERLEN

Arriving at 580 West Taylor Street for the first time, as a small child, my first memory was walking up on the porch and seeing one of those "over the couch" paintings that everyone had at that time. It was leaning against the house and was just among what few things were being moved into our new home. It was a summer morning and a lot has transpired since I was born and the move to 580.

When I was born, Mom and Dad lived in an apartment at 722 W. Locust Street, just around the corner from Grandma and Grandpa Wiley and their three girls at 516 Montgomery Street. Grandma Wiley still took in white laundry and ironing to supplement the household income. Dad still worked at George Tucker's Grocery as a jack-of-all-trades under the supervision of George Tucker. It was a small grocery at 606 Montgomery Street, just a stone's throw away from the Wiley home. Mom still worked with her mother, Grandma Lettie Bassett. Grandma Bassett had established quite the business in hanging and cleaning wallpaper.

My great-great-great grandfather, John Landwerlen, a native of Alsace-Lorraine, was a soldier in the French Army and was a bodyguard of Napoleon. The family emigrated to this country in 1850 and became American citizens in 1854.

My grandfather, Otto Landwerlen, was a very devout Catholic man. His death, from tuberculosis, occurred only six months after my dad's birth. My dad and his sister were raised in the Catholic religion until my dad was 10 years old.

My grandmother remained a widow, with two small children, until 1924. She then fell in love and married a fellow worker at KCL, a Baptist, Ephriam J. Wiley. Together, they had three girls, Carol, Phyllis, and Shirley. Both Grandma Wiley and E.J., as he was known, worked at the Kennedy Car Liner.

The factory was located just a short walk from their home on Montgomery Street. As a result of my grandmother marrying a Baptist, my dad, who was in fifth grade, and his older sister, were expelled from Catholic school, and thrust into public classrooms.

Sometime in 1939, Walter Tucker got Dad a job in the plating department at Allison's Division of General Motors in Indianapolis. Mom, Dad, and I moved to a trailer park on the southeast side of Indianapolis. My brother, George Richard, was born May 28, 1941, making us a family of four.

Dad hated that job, but it paid well. Neither he nor Mom liked living in Indianapolis and looked to return to Shelbyville. Both of my parents worked hard and saved enough for a down payment on a house. Grandma Wiley heard about this house on 580 W. Taylor Street that was to be available in a few weeks. They bought that house for $1,450 with $100 down, and it remained their home for the rest of their lives.

Dad was a people person and wanted to find a way to work around people. He applied and got a job with the Runnebohm and Gehrling Dairy Company, which necessitated the move back to Shelbyville. He began by delivering milk to other retail outlets. Runnebohm and Gehrling was bought out by Spear's Dairy Sales. Eventually, Spear's became the distributor for Borden Ice Cream's frozen products, in Southeastern Indiana. Dad wanted to leave the milk truck. The early hours and heavy metal cases, along with the glass bottles, were exhausting. In 1946 or 47, Dad transferred to a position as an employee with Borden Ice Cream. His assigned route covered Shelbyville, and a route that ended up in Madison on the Ohio River and a North route that was up around Greenfield and the Southeastern tip of Marion County.

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SHS Courier Archive Highlights:

January 1975 (Part I)

• SHS started offering a few nine-week mini-courses. Mrs. Pursell taught creative Writing, Mr. Pitts taught folklore and Mr. Phillips taught a mythology course.

• Three SHS students had qualified for the Latin Honors Abroad program: Anne Bogeman, Cheryl McCormick and Michelle Peduto. Mrs. Joan Kelley was the Latin teacher.

• A memorial fund for Roger A. Shaw, who had died in a fire in his home earlier in the month, was started. Roger had graduated from SHS in 1967 and was in the Show Group and Rising Suns.

• Several SHS vocal students qualified for the State Music Contest at Butler. Jean Cooper won first on the piano, and Rhonda Peck, Anita Ryhal, Susan Kuhn and Jean Cooper earned first place honors as soloists. Other winners were Jon Farnsley, Ann Hart, Maury Hart, David Splitler, Angie Kendall, Beth Nolley and Mike Cheatham.

• Tamara Chipman, a student at Butler who had been a substitute teacher for years, was doing her student teaching at SHS under the supervision of Donna Pursell.

• A feature article noted that Louis Kuhn, who had retired in 1973, was staying busy. Kuhn, who had graduated from SHS in 1926, had taught illiterate soldiers during World War II. As an SHS faculty member, he had acted as Courier and Squib sponsor for 10 years and helped organize the Scourier, a comical newsletter published the first of April. Mr. Kuhn’s wife was still teaching, at Loper, and the couple lived in Beechbrook addition.

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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.

2014: The Shelbyville News asked police and fire officials about “the fire challenge” game, which had picked up steam on social media websites and YouTube. The game featured participants pouring accelerants onto their hands or bodies and lighting themselves on fire. “It’s not a recommended practice to set yourself on fire,” Fire Chief Tony Logan responded. “We highly advise against it.” Police Lt. Michael Turner said there had been no local reports of anyone participating, but also warned against it. Turner also said the “pass-out game” had also made a comeback, in which a person had someone strangle them until they passed out.

2004: The Moral Township Fire Department purchased a new rescue vehicle. The new truck would carry equipment previously carried on three other trucks and would replace Squad 81, an 18-year-old ambulance, Chief David Riggins said.

1994: Anthony Shepherdson won the Morristown Derby Days coaster race. David Griffin finished second and Jacoby Coombs, third.

Teresa Wagner’s Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, Snuggles, was saved from eviction when the Shelbyville Board of Works voted 2-1 in her favor. Snuggles was potty-trained, but neighbors had complained about the odor coming from the Wagner’s back yard, with one neighbor saying the fragrance was particularly noticeable when they tried to eat dinner on their own back porch.

1984: The new Boggstown Inn and Cabaret, still without a storefront sign to mark its presence, was already seeing success. The business was located in what had once been a grocery store and barber shop. Carlos Gray and his wife Carolyn had purchased the Boggstown store in late 1983 with Tim and Deborah Shaw, Gray’s daughter and son-in-law. Entertainers from the area graced the stage, including John Hall, a Shelbyville native who tap danced, and Jennifer Carrier, a singer who had been a Triton Central graduate.

1974: Carol Pierson, 19, was crowned queen of the 1974 Shelby County Fair by Kim Williams, 1973 queen.

1964: The Montgomery Brothers Insurance softball team won the City League tourney title, defeating Laird Grain Co. for the championship. Team members were Dan Thurston, Cecil Rhoades, Don Kuhn, Georger Roser, Eddie Coers, Gary Coers, Max Branson, Dale Shipp, Raleigh Cox, George Larrison and Dave Wells. Kim Shipp was bat boy.

1954: Joe Woods Jr., W. Washington St., won the Griffey Bros. fishing contest for the week with a six-pound largemouth bass caught at Pitts Ford.

1944: The Apostolic Church held a tent revival at the corner of Hendricks and Pike streets. C.W. Shew, pastor of the church, had invited Rev. and Mrs. Fred Kinzie to provide music (upright bass and accordion) and ministry.

Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Cockerham of Shelbyville received word that their son, Second Lt. Edwin Cockerham, had been awarded the Air Medal for meritorious achievement in bombing missions over enemy-occupied Europe. Lt. Cockerham was co-pilot of a B-24 Liberator Bomber.

1934: Jesse Linville died after becoming overheated when he ran to seek an ice truck. Linville, who already suffered from an ailment, collapsed after running to Mechanic St. to search for the truck, which had apparently missed delivering to his house.

1924: “Cars propelled by gasoline are now being given a thorough test by officials of the Big Four Railroad Co. and will probably be placed into operation on several divisions of the company before winter,” The Republican reported. A gas-powered railcar had recently stopped in Shelbyville after traveling from Chicago. Several people went to inspect it.

1914: Booker T. Washington spoke at the third annual Shelbyville Chautauqua.

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OBITUARIES

Ruby Rebecca “Becky” Morris, 71, of Waldron, passed away on Thursday, August 1, 2024, at Waldron Rehabilitation and Healthcare in Waldron. She was born September 29, 1952, in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of Charles Robert Sr. and Marillyn (Rash) Bankston. Becky is survived by her son, John “Jack” DeMartino and wife, Carly, of Shelbyville; daughter, Mari-Beth Jimenez and husband, Miguel, of Cleveland, Tennessee; sisters, Patricia Lynn Bostic and husband, Mario, of Arlington, and Linda Ballman and husband, Jack, of Louisville, Kentucky; grandchildren, Yekarah, Paltiel, Jack DeMartino Jr., and Brooke Tobares and husband, Gonzalo; nephews, Bo Bankston and Scott Ballman; and niece, Bailey Bankston. She was preceded in death by her parents; grandson, Dalton Lee DeMartino; and brother, Charles Robert Bankston Jr.

Becky was a retail clerk at various convenience stores and helped manage car lots and service stations. She loved to spend time with her family and friends creating lasting memories and loved her dog, Tater.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, August 8, 2024, at Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Carmony-Ewing Chapel, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. Funeral services will follow at 7 p.m., Thursday, at the funeral home, with Miguel Jimenez officiating. Memorial contributions may be to the Cancer Association of Shelby County, PO Box 844, Shelbyville, Indiana 46176. Online condolences may be shared with Becky’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.