Sunday, March 31, 2024
EASTER SUNDAY
A scene from St. Joseph Cemetery on Good Friday is captured by local photographer Jack Boyce.
Locals Profiles in Old Articles
Editor’s note: The following undated and uncredited typed profiles were included in files left to me by the late David Craig. These were possibly published in the late 1940s in one of the then-local newspapers.
Firefighter Ed Hirschauer Recalls Major Fires
“I didn’t know until it was all over that I was hurt. Then they took me to the hospital where they found I had three smashed ribs and a severe laceration of my left foot.”
That might sound somewhat strange to most of us, but it fits in perfectly with the characteristics of Ed Hirschauer, the oldest veteran in years of service on the Shelbyville Fire Department.
Ed suffered the injuries mentioned above while fighting the famed blaze which destroyed Shelbyville’s city hall on the sub-zero New Year’s Day of 1928 with a loss estimated at the time at $74,000. One can only imagine what the loss would have amounted to in this day of soaring costs.
Ed recalls that the alarm on the city hall fire came into the fire station at 6 a.m., right after the men had tumbled out of bed - only half-dressed - to give the trucks their customary early-morning warm-up. “The trucks were running when the alarm came in,” the veteran firefighter says, “and we weren’t even fully dressed yet. You should have seen us scrambling into our clothes.”
The residence next door west to the city hall was also afire and Ed and another fireman were carrying a hose line up the stairway when it slipped out of the hands of his partner. Ed held onto the line, but it threw him against the stair railing with tremendous force. He didn’t know it at the time, but that’s what smashed his ribs. He still doesn’t know how he lacerated his foot.
He’s suffered a lot of other injuries during the years he has been in the department. He joined the force on Nov. 8, 1921, and since then he was suffered sprains to both ankles, his hands have been cut many times, he once fell from a roof while fighting a fire and, of all things, he suffered facial burns in a blaze just before he was scheduled to be married. Result? The wedding was postponed for a while.
Ed lists some major Shelbyville fires which he helped to fight during the years he has been with the department. Here are some of the worst ones:
The blaze which destroyed the Kennedy Car Liner and Bag Co. on Jan. 23, 1923, was apparently the most costly in the city’s history. The loss was set at half a million dollars. The department had only two pieces of equipment back in those days - one was a Gramm-Bernstein ladderwagon, which was replaced a few years ago by the modern Buffalo ladder and pump truck now in use, and the other was a Gramm-Bernstein hose wagon which was replaced by the small white truck in 1935.
Then there was the Fame Canning Co. fire which occurred on Feb. 25, 1928, with a loss of $235,000. The old canning factory was a big one and was located at the east end of Washington St.
Many local residents also will remember the Cutsinger elevator blaze on March 2, 1930. The elevator was located on N. Harrison St. in the area now occupied by the Porter swimming pool and the Coca-Cola plant. The loss was $22,000.
Another rough fire in Ed’s memory was that at the Farmers elevator on E. Washington St. (at the Big Four railroad) on Jan. 7, 1935, with a loss set at $10,350.
Ed drives the old Ahrens-Fox pumper truck which the city purchased in 1928, and it’s his favorite. “It’s a pumping son-of-a-gun,” he’ll tell you. And it is, too, as has been demonstrated on many occasions when plenty of water pressure was needed to bring a particularly mean blaze under control.
The veteran fireman, whose home is at 330 Shelby St., has had rough times and good times during his long period of service, he says.
Grover McDonald Cleans the Courthouse
How would you like to arise at 3 a.m. in the morning and report for your day’s work before 4 a.m.?
Grover H. McDonald does just that. What is more, he seldom leaves his work before 5 p.m.; he almost always works on Sunday, and often for a while at night, too. That sounds as if he’s busy? Well, he is. But it takes a lot of hours for Grover and his partner-custodian at the Shelby County Courthouse, Robert Inman, to keep things in tip-top order.
Grover was born in Addison Township nearly 68 years ago, and he has kept mighty busy during most of those years. He has been a custodian at the courthouse for the last seven years, and they’ve really been busy ones.
The friendly custodian doesn’t admit to all or the same kind of chores performed by the average housewife, but he often wonders how one of them - with a partner - would handle the job of caring for approximately 50 rooms! That’s right, the local courthouse has that many, and there has to be some sort of cleaning in every one of them every day. And that doesn’t include the big marble-trimmed lobbies on the first and second floors, nor the hallways on all four floors of the building.
And windows! No one seems to know just how many windows there are at the courthouse. When asked the number, Grover just shakes his head from side to side, indicating what a job it is to try to keep them clean.
Although he appears on the scene for work before 4 a.m. year round, he says he can get more accomplished on Sundays than any other time - that’s when there’s no one else around to interrupt him in his chores.
Grover sees a lot of people and a lot of life in his job. “Most people are nice,” he says. “Only once in a long while do you find an exception.”
Many indications of both joy and sorrow pass before his eyes. He sees the happy faces of couples of all ages as they climb the stairway to the office of the county clerk on the second floor to apply for marriage licenses. And he sees the worried - sometimes - tragic - expressions on the faces of those entering the building as principals in a divorce or other court proceedings.
Since 1924, he has lived at 335 E. Franklin St, where, with his wife, he spends most of his small amount of spare time quietly.
“After all,” he smilingly tells you, “in my job there just isn’t much time for anything else.”
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: Walmart is buying Vizio, the television maker, for $2.3 billion, and it’s got people skittish because Vizio is one of the only companies in the connected television business that actually shares some of the data that it collects through its automatic content recognition system. To be clear, all of them — Samsung, Roku, LG, Vizio — collect information on what a given television is watching, but Vizio at least licenses out that data to third parties and ad measurement firms like iSpot, Nielsen and VideoAmp. The concern is that once rolled up into Walmart, the data from their 23 million connected televisions in the U.S. could potentially see limitations, which could send a shock wave through the ad business and the businesses that rely on it. (Wall Street Journal/Numlock)
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This Day in Shelby County History
2014: The Kuntz family of Waldron was recognized by state officials with a Hoosier Homestead Award. Their farm had been in the same family since 1912.
The ground-breaking ceremony was set for the new fairgrounds grandstand project. The plan was to have the grandstand completed by the summer county fair.
2004: City officials mulled purchasing four acres for $600,000, giving them permanent rights of way to construct phase two of the Progress Parkway project. The purchases would affect several properties, including a building housing two Elston Sleeping Rooms units that were close to Clark Road.
1994: Shelbyville High School announced prom queen and king candidates and May Fest queen candidates. Prom queen candidates were Corinne Back, Heather Bartlett, Jessice Ivie, Erica Kendall and Dana Tillison. Prom king candidates were Russell Cox, Collin Hassebroek, Jay Steele, Brad Fischer and Chad Adkins. May queen candidates and their escorts would be Heather Adams, escorted by Justin Noel; Chasity England, escorted by Byron Wheeler; Kyle Gruesser, escorted by Kyle Linville; Jenifer Kuhn, escorted by Michael Hancock; Tara McFarland, escorted by Andy Michel; Tracy McNulty, escorted by David Barrett; and Jennifer Wagner, escorted by Vance McQueen. Sara Peters was the Lady Mayor and Roger Owens was Lord Mayor.
1984: Dr. Roger Whitcomb, 76, retired from his medical practice after delivering 3,299 Shelby County babies. Dr. Whitcomb began his practice in the Methodist Building in 1946 and 10 years later moved across from Major Hospital on W. Washington St. He had stopped delivering babies in 1982, but continued office calls. His wife, Pauline Whitcomb, was a retired elementary teacher. Dr. Whitcomb was first a high school science teacher and basketball coach at Flat Rock and Edinburgh high schools in the 1920s and ‘30s. He received his medical degree in 1942.
Shelby County’s unemployment rate reached 10.5 percent, the highest since it was 12.2 percent in April 1983.
1974: Danners announced Sundays-only sales. They would be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each Sunday.
1964: Dr. Stephan Van Cleve opened an optometry office at 21 W. Washington St., Shelbyville.
Members of the Patch Club of the Booker T. Washington Rec entertained their mothers at a mother-daughter banquet. Those who created homemade hats for the occasion were Jeannie Huggins, Diane Carter, Phyllis Palmer, Rosnell Roberson, Paralee Giden, Lois Sanders, Nellie Sanders and Libby Brown. Mrs. Earlene Smith was the group’s sponsor.
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Beck purchased their 29th car in 30 years from Sandman Bros. Of the 29 cars, 15 had been Buicks and 14 Pontiacs. The latest was a 1964 Pontiac Star Chief.
After 29 years in the men’s clothing business in Shelbyville, Bob Ewing’s Store for Men announced it would close at 112 S. Harrison St. Robert Ewing started the business, then known as The Esquire Shop, in 1935 with H.L. Thomasson. After closing, Ewing would be employed by the Ewing Mortuary, which had been founded by his father, Charles Ewing, and was owned by his brother, Richard Ewing.
1954: Larry Glasco, son of Mr. and Mrs. Merle Glasco, 316 W. Franklin, was the Chafee Studio Baby of the Week. He received gifts from several local merchants.
1944: Boy Scouts performed one final sweep through the city collecting salvage in advance of the Red Cross deadline of April 1.
1934: Shelbyville High School history teacher Wilma Wheatcraft, 44, and her sister, a teacher in Illinois, were killed when their car was struck by an interurban car on the Johnson-Marion county line.
All labor to be used in the construction of a new bridge on State Road 29 to replace the narrow Brandywine bridge five miles northwest of Shelbyville would come from the National Re-employment Service, government officials announced.
1924: A storm left streets, sidewalks, cellars and sewer lines flooded throughout town. The interurban was stopped for several hours because a number of poles had been blown down east of Shelbyville. “The operating room of the local exchange of the Indiana Bell Telephone Company was a brilliant place during the storm,” The Republican said. “The lightning protectors crackled and sizzled and spit balls of brilliant blue flames, as the lightning danced and jigged its way through the heavens. The girls stuck to their posts.…”
1914: Several dogs throughout the city had been killed by poison. The Republican asked whoever was responsible to stop. “Some dogs are probably a bother to some persons, but usually if the request is made, the dogs are kept at home by their owners,” the paper said.
William Thayer, of Norristown, was jailed after being found drunk in an alley. Mayor Schoelch promised to release him if he immediately left town, and Thayer agreed, provided he could have his half pint of alcohol back. “The mayor refused to let him have it, saying that he would be drunk before he could get out of town,” The Republican said.
OBITUARIES
Glenda K. Willey, 60, of Morristown, passed away, Friday, March 29, 2024, at Community Hospital South in Indianapolis. She was born September 9, 1963, in Marion County, the daughter of Glen and Wilma (Berry) Hollenbaugh. On December 18, 1982, she married William O. Willey Jr., and he survives. In addition to Bill, Glenda is survived by her mother, of North Vernon; children, William Willey III and wife, Jessica, of Morristown, Eric J. Willey and wife, Shannon, of Gwynneville, Jennifer Carpenter and husband, John, of Morristown, Maryah Willey and Landon Willey, both of Connersville; brothers, Edwin Hollenbaugh and wife, Linda, of Noblesville, and Mark Hollenbaugh of Tennessee; sisters, Ruth Hollenbaugh of North Vernon, Julia Oliger and husband, John, of Cumberland, and Kathy Thompson and husband, Dale, of Elizabethtown; grandchildren, Dakota, Kaylynn, Dillon, Cheyenne, Alec, Caden, Brie, Quinton, Kain, Braxton, Bayley and William; sisters-in-law, Pam Hollenbaugh of Carthage, and Linda Hollenbaugh of Thorntown; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Glenda was preceded in death by her father; brothers, Gene Hollenbaugh and John Hollenbaugh; and father-in-law and mother-in-law, William and Sandra Willey.
She was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Glenda was formerly employed at Klosterman Bakery. She enjoyed crafting. Glenda loved her grandchildren and enjoyed spending time with them.
She was preceded in death by her cat, Shadow and leaves behind her dogs, Dexter and Willow.
Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m., Thursday, April 4, 2024, at Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Frazier Chapel, 124 E. North St. in Morristown. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m., Friday, April 5, 2024, at the funeral home, with Rick Hutson officiating. Interment will be at Asbury Cemetery in Morristown. Online condolences may be shared with Glenda’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.