Sunday, January 5, 2025
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: STEPHENSON RIFE ATTORNEYS
FRIENDS & FELLOWSHIP
Current and former area residents gathered for lunch at the Long Acres home of Susan Blanner yesterday morning. L to R: Martha Wetnight, Kathy Nolting, Susan Blanner, Jean Boyce, Mary Ann Staker, Judy Passwater and Sandy Staker. | photo by JACK BOYCE
Shelby County Sunset
Western Shelby County, Friday evening. | photo by JACK BOYCE
NOTEBOOK:
The following building permits were approved in Shelbyville last month: construction of 66-unit and 72-unit apartment buildings and a new clubhouse/leasing office at 873 Webster St., deck replacement at 564 E. Broadway St., basement wall fixed at 1119 Meridian St., addition of a wall and moving a door at the Blue River Career Center on St. Joseph St., room addition at 1109 Fallway Court, install foundation for addition to Hubler Chevrolet on East State Road 44, remodel existing tenant space for The Beauty Lab beauty salon at 2535 East State Road 44, and construction of 11 new homes, including two with four-foot garage bump-outs on Bluebonnet Place and a new home at 1548 Culbertson Road, at the southeast corner of the intersection of Culbertson and S. Harrison St./S. Riley Highway.
The Indiana Department of Education reported a record percentage of Indiana students earning high school diplomas in 2024, at 90.2%. Shelby County high schools reported the following graduation rates: Morristown High School, 100%; Shelbyville High School, 95.6%; Waldron High School, 90.7%; Southwestern High School, 89.4%; and Triton Central High School, 88.2%.
The Indiana Arts Commission awarded grant funding in each of Indiana’s 92 counties during 2024, including $14,458 to Shelby County Players and $4,000 to the Blue River Foundation.
Anniversary Announcement: Dan and Peggy (Adkins) Theobald, Greenfield, celebrated 56 years of marriage last week. They were married Jan. 3, 1969, in Shelbyville. They have four children, Travis, Trent, Elizabeth and Emily; 11 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Mrs. Theobald worked with special needs children at Shelbyville Middle School and at Rhodes Elementary in Wayne Township. Mr. Theobald was mayor of Shelbyville and oversaw economic development initiatives for Plainfield, Johnson County and Shelby County.
Thank you so Mark & Susan Fischer for your generous $500+ donation, and thank you to every donor for your continued support of The Addison Times. Donors of $100 or more receive a quarterly print publication in the mail. Please consider a one-time or monthly donation to The Addison Times, either online or via a check to The Addison Times, 54 W. Broadway, #13, Shelbyville, Ind., 46176. Thank you for your continued support of daily local news and history. I appreciate each of you. - Kristiaan Rawlings, Editor
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The Addison Times is offering a sponsorship opportunity for the 2025 quarterly print editions, mailed directly to our loyal supporters. Contact Kristiaan Rawlings by replying to this email (k@addisontimes.com) for details. Thank you for your consideration!
INTERNATIONAL NEWS: The Japanese convenience store Lawson is hiring employees on the other side of the world to serve as digital shop clerks. The first such clerk will be a Japanese expatriate living in Sweden who will run several Lawson locations in Tokyo and Osaka during the overnight hours. Lawson’s already used remote workers to staff registers — about 70 employees work as avatar operators as of November, serving 29 shops — but this is the first time Lawson is looking abroad for staff for the graveyard shift. The program is effective at freeing up in-person workers to do non-register tasks, and expects a 1.5-hour reduction in register duty time on average. (Nikkei Asai/Numlock)
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Tindall Had Assisted Stork 4,517 Times
Editor’s note: The following undated manuscript, saved in the late David Craig’s files, was written by Joan Rehme. It likely was written in the mid-1970s, given the references. Furniture from Dr. Tindall’s office, donated by his wife Julia, is on display in the Streets of Old Shelby Exhibit at the Grover Museum.
Remember the “good old days” when there seemed to be no such thing as a shortage of physicians in the community? When your family doctor was a trusted friend and could be relied upon to come to your home at your urgent request when you were ill? When physicians in small towns were called “country doctors”?
Remember, however, in those “good old days”, doctors were only called in the direst of emergencies, including that of being in attendance at the arrival of the family heir AT HOME!
So much for nostalgia! Times have changed. Today, the old-time “country doctor” has progressed through “general practitioner” to the modern “family physician.”
An increasing awareness of the importance of good health, preventative medicine and health insurance have made incredible demands upon the time of today’s “G.P.” In addition, the high standards required for the practice of medicine have greatly reduced the number of those in the profession. (Many years ago almost all that was required was a “shingle” and lots of confidence in one’s own ability to help those who were ailing.
An up-to-date counterpart of the old-fashioned “country doctor” is alive and well and practicing in Shelbyville today. And, although no record books have been consulted, it would seem he has to have set some sort of record for the number of babies he has delivered.
Shelbyville’s modern version of a Dr. Allen Defoe is Dr. William R. Tindall, who practices in offices at 505 S. Harrison St.; and “Dr. Bill”, as he is affectionately known by his patients and friends alike, has delivered 4,517 babies into this world as of Dec. 30! This figure only includes infants delivered in his 41½ years of practice in Shelbyville. It does not take into account babies delivered while Dr. Tindall was an intern at Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis.
In 1933 when Dr. Bill went into practice with his father, Dr. W.W. Tindall, there were already three Tindalls practicing medicine in Shelbyville, with the young physician making the fourth. The other two were Drs. C.A. Tindall and his son, Dr. Paul Tindall (Dr. C.A. Tindall was an uncle of Dr. W.W. Tindall). Moreover, there was Dr. Henry Phares, an uncle of Dr. Bill.
The young man had never seriously considered entering the field of medicine until his graduation from DePauw University, at which time he decided “it might be a good thing to do.” Naturally, his father was delighted and gave him space in his office at 505 S. Harrison St., where Dr. Bill is still practicing today.
Dr. Tindall says that at first he rode about town in his Hudson Terraplane, trying to look busy. Occasionally he would be called to the home of an expectant mother by mistake, with the patient thinking he was one of the other Drs. Tindall.
Until 1938, he said, most infants were born at home, and, under the circumstances, many humorous and unusual occurrences transpired. It’s difficult to visualize delivering a baby by kerosene lamp, when one thinks of the sterile conditions of the modern hospital.
While an intern, Dr. Tindall had engaged in “outdoor OB,” whereby the young physicians delivered babies in the homes and then followed up their “cases” for a period of time. Perhaps it was then he really got “hooked” on obstetrics.
Dr. Bill returned to Shelbyville after a three-year stint in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His father having died in the war years, he was now on his own in private practice. He also had taken a graduate course in obstetrics at Tulane University, New Orleans, La.
His ever-increasing esteem and popularity with his patients can be verified by a tour of his office, which houses many mementos presented to him by grateful patients as well as friends. He prizes his elephant collection and a large blow-up photo of himself in a cart hitched to “Dandy”, a pony he won at the Shelby County Fair. For many years “Dandy” entertained 12 youngsters on his farms on South State Road 9.
Although he celebrated his 70th birthday in October, “Dr. Bill” keeps up a pace that would make many a younger man pale at the thought, seeing approximately 40 to 50 patients per day, plus hospital rounds and house calls. He has been ably assisted through the years by his former and current office assistants, Mrs. Helen Cramer, Mrs. Ruth Ewick, Mrs. Evelyn Montgomery and Mrs. Sarah Keesling.
In the 1940s, Dr. Tindall was appointed to the Shelby County Board of Health, which also at that time operated Major Hospital and he has been a member of the Major Hospital board of directors since its inception.
Dr. Bill is a past president of the Shelby County Medical Society; he was a charter member and third state president of the Indiana Chapter of the American Academy of General Practice and its first delegate to a national convention. He also served as a delegate from Indiana to an international AGP event in Sydney, Australia.
Dr. Tindall has also served the community in many ways: on the Salvation Army Board, of which his wife, Julia, is now a member; Shelby County Heart Association; and as physician for the former Girl Scout Camp Flat Rock and former Shelbyville High School basketball team physician. He also has been active in his church, the First United Methodist Church.
Dr. Bill is well-known for his interest in Republican party affairs, having once been named delegate to the state GOP convention. He was elected for two terms as Shelby County Coroner, the first time during the Roosevelt administration, and was appointed by three Indiana governors to the Knightstown Children’s Home board.
Mrs. Tindall reports that his avocation and hobby, along with travel, is farming, which he does with great zest.
SHS Courier Archive Highlights:
Dec. 5, 1951, Part II
Students in Miss McDonald’s Biology class were concerned when the class lizard, Elmer, disappeared. He was found a few days later hibernating in a pile of dirt in the classroom.
Teachers were asked about their hobbies. Miss Bodem collected phonograph records, Miss Chenoweth raised cats, Mr. Davis operated a Ham radio and collected pictures of wooden bridges, Miss Durrenburger made rugs, Mr. Kuhn bowled and Mrs. Simpson had dogs and cats.
Mrs. Moore in the library reported that over 25 books were missing, including several on the study of radio. Library assistants for the year were Geraldine Yarling, Delphia Meadows, Nancy Yanzer, Lois Hill, Sam Hawn, Mary Lee Barricklow, Peggy Graham, Pat Underwood and Pat Kirkham.
What is a Squib, other than the name of the SHS yearbook? “Originally, it meant a paperwad filled with gunpowder which exploded when lighted. Later it came to mean a brief witty writing, or lampoon, particularly a political writing, which contained explosive words.”
Big Jim Arbuckle was named to the All-Conference football team.
Very superstitious: “On the day of a game, no SHS athlete shaves or gets his hair cut. This custom has been observed for several years. Mr. Barnes always appears at the game in his famous red tie and gray sweater, the ones he wore in 1947 when his team went all the way to capture the Indiana High School Basketball Championship.”
Jackie Hawkins was the winner of the DAR Good Citizenship Pilgrimage Award.
Seeing Double? Don’t Worry!
Have you ever been walking down the hall and thought you were seeing double? You probably weren't, after all. You were more than likely just meeting one or more sets of the twins that roam SHS halls between classes and at noon.
When you see Dick you usually also see Bob Weakley, 10B’s. Can you tell Dick from Bob? Here's the clue: Bob wears glasses.
Kay and Fay Ferleman, 9B’s, are also twins, but it's hardly known since they do not resemble each other as most twins do. Most of the teachers cannot tell Martha and Mary Hale, another set of 9B twins, apart. When a teacher calls on Mary and looks at Martha, it’s somewhat of a shock to hear an answer coming from the other side of the room.
Hal and Harry Wilkins, 9A’s, are another pair of hard-to-tell-apart twins. One has more hair than the other - and that’s Hal - or is it Harry?
The Schneider twins, Kathryn and Tom, and the Tungates, Linda and Billy, are easily distinguishable, being mixed sets. The Schneiders are 10B’s and the Tungates are 9B’s.
Going over on the junior high school side will not clear up your double vision, for there are four sets of twins over there. Since you usually see them together, just say “Hello, Yon and Jon,” to the Carrs, and “Hi, Jackie and Jimmie,” to the Tindalls.
The Collins sisters, like the Hales, are named Martha and Mary. Since one is a 9B and one an 8A, you won't see them together in the classroom. If you meet one on the senior side, it's probably Mary.
The other set of JHS twins is John and Joyce Nedderman.
Oh, yes. A recent graduate of JHS just learned that Mr. Stuart is a twin. He was reported to have stared open-mouthed, and then he said, “You mean there are really two like him?”
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 by The Addison Times from Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department materials.
2005: Robert Bowen, Donald Baumgartner and Angela Gill were appointed to serve on the Shelbyville Fire Station Building Corp., which would oversee construction of a new station on W. Broadway.
Sgt. Jeremy Wright, 31, was killed when an improved roadside bomb blew up the vehicle he was riding in. Sgt. Wright was on a mission with his A-team in Afghanistan when the explosion occurred. He had been assigned to 1st Special forces Group.
1995: Kody Boring, newborn son of Patricia and Brad Boring, had been the first local baby born in 1995.
1985: Southwestern won the Shelby County Tourney with a 70-68 victory over Morristown. Jim Emerick hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds.
1975: A former local man was arrested following two burglaries, one at Chaperral Cafe and the other at Walt’s Bar. Nearly $800 in coins had been stolen after the burglar used a prying instrument on pool tables, a pinball machine, juke box, cigarette machine and cash register at Walt’s. Police arrested the man at the Holiday Inn and found a considerable amount of change - possibly much or all of the $800 - hidden in the weeds along I-74.
1965: Shelbyville High School and other schools throughout the state received teakwood plaques from the Governor’s office, made from deck planks of the former battleship USS Indiana. After service in the Pacific during World War II, the battleship was finally dismantled for scrap in October 1964. Certificates accompanying the plaque told the history of the two battleships bearing the state’s name and details of their construction.
1955: Nate Kaufman, of Shelbyville, had been the Indianapolis Life Insurance Company’s leading producer in 1954, the 12th time in 15 years he had achieved the recognition.
Mrs. Wilbur Higgins, 523 Montgomery St., was a winner in a four-state recipe contest sponsored by the makers of Milnot. She won a movie camera.
1945: The Shelbyville Fire Department had made 135 runs in 1944. Chemicals had been used 15 times to extinguish vehicle fires. The county fire truck had made 87 runs.
1935: A Kentucky man died after his vehicle was sandwiched between two trucks on U.S. 52 near Gwynneville. The man had attempted to pass one of the trucks, but his car struck another truck coming the opposite direction.
1925: The Conrey-Davis Furniture Company, under the new name Indiana Furniture Manufacturing, was set to open Jan. 19 on Webster Street.
E. Dustan Vangordon filed a motion in Circuit Court asking that a decree prohibiting him from remarrying for a period of two years be vacated. That order had been part of his previous divorce. Mr. Vangordon argued that his ex-wife was already remarried and living out-of-state, so there was no reason he couldn’t also remarry.
1915: George Morrison, of the Morrison & Dryden Garage, announced plans for an upcoming auto show to be held on Public Square.
The Bronson Orchestra gave a free two-and-a-half-hour performance at the Gordon Orphans’ Home.
ADDISON TIMES MAJOR SPONSOR: Freeman Family Funeral Homes & Crematory
OBITUARIES
Loita Ann Hession, 85, Shelbyville, IN passed away on Friday, January 3, 2025. She was born on July 15, 1939 in Indianapolis, Ind., to the late William E. and Lola (Starnes) Chamness. She married Tom Hession on August 22, 1959. Loita graduated from Plainfield HS in 1957 and attended Ball State University.
Loita was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Shelbyville. She was very involved in a number of organizations in the community including PEO, Women’s Club and Tri Kappa. Over her lifetime, Loita worked many different and unique part-time jobs - including at the local Mary Lou Shoppe and the Major Hospital Gift Shop. Loita’s hobbies and interests included playing and teaching tennis, woodworking, walking on the beach and looking for shells, riding her convertible all over town and participating in area politics.
Above all things, Loita was a loving wife, and the best mother and grammy. Survivors include her daughters Jennie Hession of Bloomington and Ann Hession Alexander of Carmel, granddaughters Madeline and Bridget Alexander, and a brother, William B. (Katie) Chamness of Martinsville.
Visitation will be 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Wednesday, January 8 at the First United Methodist Church in Shelbyville, with the funeral service to follow. Burial will be at Forest Hill Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the Tom Hession Memorial Fund or the Tom Hession Baseball Scholarship Fund through the Blue River Community Foundation. Services have been entrusted to Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, 819 S. Harrison Street, Shelbyville, Ind. Online condolences may be shared at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.