Saturday, February 25, 2023

LOCAL HISTORY IN PHOTOS

The above uncaptioned photograph from the files of Doug Linne shows the Methodist Building under construction.

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NOTEBOOK:

• Shelbyville High School senior basketball player Ollie Sandman scored his 1,000th career point on Thursday. He also broke the program record for most career three-pointers made. The three-point record was previously held by Zach Kuhn.

• Shelbyville High School senior Bella Bradburn has advanced to Finalist standing in the National Merit Scholarship program. The last time SHS had finalists was in 2016.

• “Matilda Jr.” is on at Shelbyville Middle School next weekend, March 3 and 4, 7:30 p.m.

• HOOSIER NEWS: Sales of existing homes continued to slump in central Indiana in January, falling 31.3% from the same month of 2022, according to the latest monthly data from the MIBOR Realtor Association. Closed sales in the 16-county area sank from 2,210 in January 2022 to 1,519 in January 2023. Despite the decline, median prices for homes sold in the area rose 11% on a year-over-year basis, from $245,000 to $272,000. Sales have now fallen on a year-over-year basis for the past 12 months and have seen double-digit percentage decreases for seven straight months. Sales fell 37.3% from December to January. In one sign of possible market improvement, buyers are seeing more choices. The active inventory of homes was up 92.5%, from 1,760 in January 2022 to 3,388 in January 2023. (Indianapolis Business Journal)

• NATIONAL NEWS: This year’s flu shot provided better protection than in previous years. One flu surveillance network found that adults who got a flu shot were 44 percent less likely to visit an emergency room or urgent care center and were 39 percent less likely to be hospitalized due to the flu or complications. In the 2021-22 flu season a year ago, that effectiveness was 25 percent. Overall, the 2022-23 flu shot cut the risk of hospitalization by three quarters among children. This year’s flu peaked earlier than typical, with November seeing hospitalization rates that usually aren’t seen until January. (CNN)

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SHELBY COUNTY PEOPLE & PLACES: GEORGE SMALL

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.

Most folks who had worked steady and hard for well over half a century and had reared 13 children would be fully prepared to "call it quits" and retire to a more leisurely type of life. But not George Small.

The widely known Shelbyville interior decorator still keeps busy every day hanging wallpaper and performing related interior decoration work. In fact, in order to interview him for this "personality" piece, the newspaper reporter given the task was obliged to drive several miles to find George - on the job - just as he has been for some 55 years. 

George Small is not a bragging sort by any measure, but one feels the natural pride of the man when his children are mentioned. And he has every right to be proud. He is the father of 13 children -12 of them living. A daughter, Norma, died during the tragic influenza epidemic in 1919. She was just 16 years old. And the mother of this wonderful family of eight sons and five daughters died February 13, 1943, but not before she had been honored by Shelbyville educational leaders at the high school graduation of her youngest child, Lothair.

George doesn't particularly like to talk about the rearing of his big family in terms of the vast amount of money involved in such a tremendous undertaking. George says you just don't think of children in such terms. But he did mention, with a little smile, that he once paid $117 for school books at the beginning of a semester when 10 of his brood were enrolled at the same time. With such a family, he admits things were "pretty tough" during the depression years.

But he quickly adds that he kept them all well fed without any kind of "outside help." "We rented three acres of ground and put it all in garden," George says. "My wife amazed everyone by canning 1,017 quarts of food one year. It all came from our garden and a few fruit trees at home."

George was born in Shelbyville and will be 72 years old on October 30. Despite the fact that he has led an extremely active life, he just doesn't "have any idea of quitting. I'm on the job every day, and I don't know what sickness is."

After attending school, he became associated in business with his father while still in his teens. He helped operate a combination confectionary store and interior decoration business with his father and in July 1896, when he was 20 years old, he was married to Miss Mary Fagle. He started "on his own" as a wallpaper hanger and interior decorator in 1907. He has done steady contracting work of this kind up to the present, and even found time to serve eight years on the city council - from 1916 to 1924.

In the "old days," he says, there was only enough of this kind of work to keep a man really busy for about three months out of the year. That was back at the time when he still was in business with his father. For one thing, he explains, there weren't nearly so many houses to provide decoration work. In addition, he points out that "people don't keep their places up as well as they do now, and besides that, they did much of the work themselves." With a rapidly growing family, George sought additional means to supplement the family income after beginning his own business in 1907. After working a full day every day at his regular profession, he operated a popcorn machine in the evening and also had the agency for the Indianapolis News and some Chicago newspapers. He kept these activities going until the death of his daughter in 1919.

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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.

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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.

20 YEARS AGO: 2003
There were 539 fire hydrants in Shelbyville, local officials said.

30 YEARS AGO: 1993
Six inches of snow fell in Shelby County. With snowfall beginning at 11:30 a.m., county schools dismissed early. Patrick Scott, manager at Mr. T’s Fairland Food Mart, said a rush began shortly after the snow started.

40 YEARS AGO: 1983
Kenneth Knight, 55, retired after over 32 years as a mailman. For his last 14 years, he had carried the outskirts route on Shelbyville’s southside. He had some 720 stops. Knight’s late uncles Carl Riser and Harold Baker had been longtime Shelbyville post office workers, and his two children and son-in-law all worked for the post office. Son Kimball Knight was a Shelbyville mail carrier and daughter Judy Hendry and her husband, Doug, worked at the Columbus post office. Knight’s brother-in-law, Ray Reed, worked at the Sanibel Island, Fla. post office. Knight had been in the U.S. Navy for two years in the 1940s. His wife, Joan, worked at Loper Elementary.

50 YEARS AGO: 1973
Larry Hall, 18, a Fountaintown area motorcyclist, became Shelby County’s first traffic fatality of the year when his cycle crashed into a freight train in Fountaintown.

60 YEARS AGO: 1963
Police confiscated a .22 caliber rifle from a five-year old boy after he was found carrying it and after police found a bullet had entered a home near the boy’s residence. A resident in the 600 block of W. Franklin St. had called to report the matter. The boy said his father had given him permission to carry the gun on a trip to a nearby grocery store. Mrs. Charles Victor, 616 Victor Place, later reported someone had shot a hole in a window at her home with a .22 caliber bullet. The slug was found on the floor. The boy denied firing the shot, but officers found an empty .22 caliber rifle cartridge on a TV set in the boy’s home.

70 YEARS AGO: 1953
Smith’s Upholstering, 15 S. Noble St., which offered “rebuilt and restyled furniture,” opened for business.

80 YEARS AGO: 1943
Several men from Shelby County were inducted into the U.S. Army. They were Curtis Brown, Willard Hewitt, Willis Sweet, Joseph McKenney, Floyd Oliver, Leonard DeBaun, Richard Kramer, Logan Chappelow, Dwain Small, James Nolley, Delbert McGrew, Harold Scott, Howard Sterrett (acting corporal), Clyde “Bud” Wilson, Carl Mohr, David Shelton Taylor and Ted Letteilier.

90 YEARS AGO: 1933
The Shelbyville Republican reported that nightly meetings “of a certain local church” had led to threats from others to burn it down. Some people had even thrown bricks through the windows and broken church lights, the paper said. A week later, the paper reported the church was Pilgrim Holiness on East Pennsylvania. “The police from time to time have received complaints from people living near the church to the effect that the Pilgrims have grown over-enthusiastic in some of their meetings and have continued their shouting far into the night, disturbing the sleep of residents in the vicinity,” the paper said. A petition to have the church declared a nuisance was circulating through the neighborhood.

100 YEARS AGO: 1923
The Indiana state legislature upheld laws to recognize Memorial Day without sports, notable the Indianapolis 500. “This does not infer that people must wrap themselves in sackcloth and ashes; that they must place their faces against a wall and wail,” The Shelbyville Republican said. “Neither does it mean that no automobile shall be taken out of the garage, that trains must stop running; that necessary business must be suspended or that people will be forced to go to church or to sit in holy places throughout the day. It simply means that the 30th of May is set apart for the proper observance of remembering the dead and that the day shall not be commercialized or that the day shall be used as a drawing card to make money for any combination of men.” Shelby County’s representative had voted against the bill. The Republican urged the governor to sign the bill. (As previously noted, the governor vetoed the bill.)

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INCIDENTS

• Theft was reported in the 900 block of N. Hampton Blvd., Shelbyville.

• JAIL BOOK-INS: Tre A. Baker, 24, writ of attachment; Daniel A. Boucher, 51, false identity statement, operating a vehicle while license suspended, hold for another jurisdiction (2 counts); Steven B.T. Burton, 33, failure to appear; Edward D. Clouse, 53, public intoxication; Raymond L. Gragg, 38, possession of syringe, criminal confinement, intimidation, possession of meth; Laura A. Hutchens, 59, battery on public safety official; Jacob R. Juncker, 25, invasion of privacy; Abigail R. Quick, 19, hold for another jurisdiction (2 counts); Nichole L. Schoolcraft, 28, possession of meth, narcotic drug; Zachary S. Sexton, 25, possession of meth, narcotic drug, operating without a license, probation hold, unauthorized control motor vehicle; Chelsea E.M. Lyles-James, 26, possession of meth; Shaun M. Tolan, 31, failure to appear.

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OBITUARIES

Odean Delores (Baugh) Sweet, age 88, of Morristown, passed away Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at Morristown Manor. She was born in Science Hill, Kentucky on August 7, 1934 to Myrtle (Anderson) Baugh Brown and Thomas Baugh. On March 14, 1952, Odean married Roy Lee Sweet in Somerset, Kentucky.

She worked at Keihin (IPT) in Greenfield for many years and retired in 2006. Odean attended Little Blue River Friends Church in Shelby County. She was known as a wonderful cook and always prepared a meal for visitors. She enjoyed gardening, tending to her flowers and going fishing. Odean loved watching her grandchildren's sporting events and seeing all the accomplishments her family achieved. Her faith and family meant the most to her.

Odean is survived by her children, Sharon McFatridge (Alvin) of Morristown, Wayne Sweet of Colorado Springs, CO, Randy Sweet of Pittsboro, IN and Lisa Davis (Greg) of Morristown; 20 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; 4 great-great grandchildren; and several nieces and a nephew. She was preceded in death by her mother, Myrtle Baugh Brown; father, Thomas Baugh; husband, Roy Sweet; infant daughter, Marcia Gayle Sweet; daughters, Debra Marlene (Sweet) Marcum and Connie Mae (Sweet) Marcum; sisters, Magdaline Slack and Lillie Williams; and nephew, Greg Williams.

Visitation and funeral service will be held on Monday, February 27, 2023 at Erlewein Mortuary & Crematory, 1484 W. US Hwy. 40, Greenfield, IN 46140. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. with the funeral service beginning at 1 p.m. Burial will follow at Little Blue River Friends Cemetery in Shelby County. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made by mail to the Alzheimer's Association, 50 91st St #100, Indianapolis, IN 46240, or envelopes will be available at the mortuary. Friends may share a memory or condolence at www.erleweinmortuary.com.

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Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow!

It was a bittersweet feeling I had when I sat down to write this final column for the Addison Times. These past couple of years have been so fulfilling personally as I reprised this column for the Addison Times from its original of many years ago when I wrote for The Shelbyville News. I have my dear childhood friend, Anna Tungate, to thank for introducing me to the editor, Kristiaan Rawlings, and for initially suggesting I write a column for this online periodical. I happily accepted because, even though I have lived away from Shelbyville for over 40 years, it is and always will be “home” to me. I have now spent more time in Japan than I ever have lived in the United States, but I am a Hoosier at heart, tried and true, and this fact will never change. I want to thank Kristiaan Rawlings for being such a hands-on and adroit editor for this newspaper.

Nearly immediately after my first column ran in the Addison Times, I started getting e-mails from readers who remembered my former column or who knew me as a kid running around town. Writing this column has allowed me to reconnect with numerous people, many old friends and some new friends, and for this I am forever grateful and appreciative. I will always cherish the wonderful and positive feedback from readers who took the time to write to me with questions or just to say hello. Intending to do something is quite different from actually taking the time to sit down, write a letter, then type in the e-mail address and press send. So, to all of you who made the effort and took the time to reach out to me, and to those who read my column faithfully (and in the process hopefully learned something new about Japan), I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

So, for today’s column I thought it would be fitting to write about Japanese etiquette related to “farewells” which has evolved over the millennia to become a veritable artform when saying “goodbye”. In Japan, it is customary to wave goodbye until the other person is completely out of one’s sight. This custom can be summed up in the Japanese term “nagori oshii,” which basically refers to the feeling of sadness one feels when someone leaves, and the desire to prolong the goodbye as long as possible. This can make for an awkward and time-consuming parting of ways if the person who is departing must do so via a long corridor at an airport or at a train station. Turning around every so many meters to acknowledge those standing and waving goodbye to them. Don’t get me wrong, it is also quite sweet and polite, as well. Sometimes, though, people feel they must do this goodbye ritual out of obligation or respect because the other person is a superior or a teacher, and not solely out of a desire to do so from the heart.

Especially, if a person is leaving for a long period of time or on a long journey to a faraway destination, it is customary to see the person off in person at the airport or train station. When my mother came to visit me the first time, she was so touched when we arrived at the train station to catch our train, and waiting for us was a group of about a dozen of my coworkers and friends had come to wish her bon voyage. Not only did they come to the vestibule, but each purchased a platform ticket to go to the train itself to say goodbye and to see us off. This impressed her greatly. As we sat on the train as it pulled away, they all stood outside our compartment to wave to us until the train had left the station completely. I remember her getting quite teary eyed at this kind gesture and custom. In addition, many of them gave her a parting gift as we left. Some were food items to eat on our journey, others were small Japanese gifts for her to remember them by. She felt like a celebrity when she visited me here, because people wanted to take lots of photos, too, which they later sent copies to her. With digital photos on cell phones, it is so easy to airdrop copies to people nowadays… but back then, we had to have the film developed and then request duplicate copies to pass out to people featured in the photos. While it is much simpler today, there was something quite heartwarming about a person going to so much trouble to make sure you had a copy of photos to mark a special occasion.

Even casual meetings with people you see often, goodbyes can be a bit awkward. Taking leave from a situation, whether by phone or in person, is something Americans have no qualms about doing directly. I have a Hispanic friend who finds Americans to be too abrupt when saying goodbye in person or by phone. For example, “I hate to cut you off, but I’ve got to go now. Bye.” is a phrase he especially detests, but it is one that is quite common in the Midwest. Americans are very attuned to the signs of a conversation wrapping up and coming to a close and react accordingly.

In Japan, when a group of friends are gathered together, they will often arrive together and then leave together. Suddenly, as if a bell rang, there is seemingly some unspoken cue that occurs and everyone stands up and says “thank you,” and they take their leave together. When I first arrived to Japan, this custom was very odd to me, but now it seems normal and natural.

Saying goodbye in Japan, the nagori oshii custom, does have an important social construct in that it is necessary in building and maintaining important relationships, and an easy and polite way to show one’s appreciation and respect for the other person. The longer the goodbye the more it shows how important you are to the person because in Japan, time is money, and when someone takes the time and makes the effort to give you a proper farewell it shows how much you mean to them—even if it is done out of a feeling of obligation!

Ernie Harwell once said, “It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.” And “so mote it be” …off to my next writing adventure! Best wishes to you all and thank you for reading my column.