Sunday, May 15, 2022
Columnae Maximus
Denny Harrold is the proud owner of a 1957 Schwinn Phantom. Will he be riding it in any parades this summer? We will just have to wait and see.
Dear readers,
It was great seeing so many of you at the St. Joe Festival this weekend. I’ve been going to the festival since the Kennedy administration. It was pretty much the same back then, with rides, games, and food. The big difference in those days was that the Ferris Wheel was called the Ferris Rotae and all the carnies spoke Latin.
This week I will answer questions concerning my former law partner, Denny Harrold, and pass along an Indy 500 entertaining tip from a woman I met in line at the Speedway gas station.
Denny Harrold was recently spotted with a new shiny Schwinn bicycle, and it has caused the rumor mill to work overtime. Here are my three favorites:
Did you hear:
Denny Harrold traded in his Porsche for a Schwinn.
Kris and Denny are going to be law partners again and everyone in the firm will be riding a Schwinn and wearing a bow tie.
Skeeter, tired of fact-checking Meltzer every week, has finally given him the boot and Denny Harrold will be writing the weekly column.
Let’s tackle these rumors one by one.
Denny does have a Schwinn that is very shiny and looks like new. He didn’t trade in his Porsche. The bicycle is a 1950s Schwinn Phantom identical to the one he received new for his tenth birthday in 1957. Denny purchased it in 2009 but only recently had it meticulously restored by Joe Baird.
I do think a law firm where all the lawyers rode Schwinns and wore bow ties would be pretty cool, but I doubt that will happen.
Skeeter loves fact checking me. Besides, if Denny wrote a column, it would probably be called “A View from my Porsche.” While Denny is now the proud owner of a vintage Schwinn Phantom, he will always be a “car guy.”
I am going to try to get the View From My Schwinn Precision Drill Team parade ready for Waldron this July 4th. Maybe I can get Denny to join the team along with Susan Weaver and Randy Montgomery.
Susan had her 45-year-old Schwinn Breeze restored and Randy is in the process of restoring his Schwinn Apple Krate.
Several readers thanked me for last week’s suggestion of Spegal’s Prime Cuts, including a lady in the checkout line at the Speedway gas station. I was telling her about how the candy bars were only a nickel there when it was Totten’s Pure. I told her the only improvement was that Totten’s didn’t have a “need a penny, save a penny” dish by the cash register.
The lady told me that she was a loyal reader. She said that among her friends she is known as the Martha Stewart of the Family Dollar store. She gave me her favorite dessert recipe for Indy 500 parties.
Ingredients: Little Debbie Fancy Cakes and Little Debbie Devil Squares.
Instructions: The Fancy Cakes are white, and the Devil Squares are black. Arrange them on a plate in a checkered flag configuration. Voilà, the perfect dessert for Indy 500 entertaining.
Her name has been withheld upon request. She doesn’t want people asking for her help with their summer entertaining.
WARNING: Use only as directed. Intentional misuse of this column voids all warranties.
NOTEBOOK:
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrested 45-year-old Jeremy Jones of Shelbyville for the murder of Tommy Casey Jr. on March 28. Casey, 54, died after being shot in the 100 block of S. Catherwood Ave. Jones was arrested on Thursday by IMPD with the help of the Batesville Police Department. The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Jones on May 6.
HOOSIER NEWS: With just over two weeks until ‘Taps’, ‘(Back Home Again in) Indiana’ and ‘The Command’, ticket demand for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 has not been surpassed since the historic 100th running in 2016. But barring a significant change in daily sales over the next 16 days, IMS president Doug Boles said the track doesn’t expect to sell out its roughly 240,000 reserved grandstand seats for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. For central Indiana race fans whose plans May 29 involve anything other than watching the 500 in-person at IMS, it all but certainly means another year of a local blackout of the race’s live broadcast. As has been the case for years, folks within a sizable radius of IMS will have to wait for the tape-delayed broadcast of the race that will air on NBC later Sunday evening, rather than being able to watch the race live when the green flag drops around 12:30 p.m. (IndyStar)
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.
REMEMBERING RUBY HOLZHAUSEN
Editor’s note: The funeral for Ruby Holzhausen was held yesterday. She and her husband, Dale, were featured in a 2016 Saturday Shelby article marking their 65th wedding anniversary. They were married 69 years before Dale passed in 2020. Below is the 2016 article.
by KRISTIAAN RAWLINGS
“We wanted to get married on Valentine’s Day, but that was on a Wednesday,” Ruby (Williamson) Holzhausen said, recalling her 1951 engagement to Dale Holzhausen.
Dale explained: “You didn’t miss work.”
Instead, they were married by Rev. Robert C. Cavaness at 905 S. Pike St. after Friday night youth service. “I wanted to be sure there was somebody at my wedding,” Ruby said, laughing. Despite the lack of pomp or circumstance, the ceremony meant much to both of them.
“I just cried and cried (through the wedding),” Ruby said. “I thought (while taking the vows), ‘How am I going to live up to this?’”
They didn’t think to capture the moment on film. Instead, the newlyweds dashed away to Middletown, Ohio for a short honeymoon and were back in time for work on Monday.
Sixty-five years later, they still have over a decade more to catch Ruby’s parents, Henry and Telphus Williamson, Shelbyville residents who were married 76 years before Henry passed.
Two years after the wedding, Dale and Ruby endured a challenging time as he trained at an Army base in Va. while the Korean conflict escalated.
One weekend in early March, with only a 150-mile radius pass, Dale flew home to whisk Ruby back to the East coast. Rather than rush to avoid detection, they instead headed to Apostolic Tabernacle for Sunday School.
“We wanted to see everybody,” Ruby explained.
Dale’s father advised taking chains in case of inclement weather on the drive back to base. Although Dale figured he wouldn’t need them, his dad slipped them in the trunk. As they traversed Ohio, the snow started to fall, causing traffic delays. Racing to reach camp, they were pulled over for speeding and later had to stop to install the chains.
“I had everything packed into that car, including my ironing board,” Ruby recalled.
While putting on chains, another car slid off the road, hitting their vehicle. The parties exchanged information and the Holzhausens plodded through further delays and even a flat tire as they neared Washington, D.C.
With no place to stay, Dale hastily dropped Ruby off at a hotel and rushed back to base.
“I got to camp 15 minutes before reveille,” Dale said.
Later that evening, he left to pick her up, but there was one problem: “I had no clue where I left her,” Dale said. He drove to Washington, D.C., backtracked, and finally found the right hotel.
They rented an upstairs attic while Dale continued training before “good duty” deployment to Salzburg, Austria.
“I hated that he had to go overseas, but I was glad to get back home (to Shelbyville),” Ruby said.
After Dale returned, they lived in a couple of local places, including one of the tiny log houses behind the old Porter Pool.
“I’d set my end tables and my coffee table out on the stoop so I could mop, because there wasn’t room,” Ruby said.
They then rented a room above the old Rec on S. Harrison St. before buying a house on Walker St. for $7,500. They lived there five years before purchasing a house and 25 acres in the county. The Holzhausens have spent the past 26 years in Brentwood.
“We haven’t done much moving,” Ruby said.
They aren’t looking for change these days either, as the past 65 years have featured stability in marriage, family, and church attendance.
“I’m going for 100 (years),” Dale said. “At 60 (years old), I said I was just half through.”
While the couple has endured the usual challenges of marriages, they credit one reason for their long-standing relationship: “The Lord’s been good to us,” Ruby said.
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: 2002
Shelbyville Board of Works members Jim Horner and Leroy Whitcher joined Mayor Frank Zerr in attempting to remedy a dangerous intersection. “In the near future, drivers who wish to turn onto Jefferson Street from Evans Avenue, or vice versa, may not have to crane their necks until they are sore to see if anyone is coming,” The Shelbyville News reported. The Board of Works decided to offer $12,000 to purchase a piece of run-down property that would eliminate the curved portion of Evans Street that intersected with Jefferson Ave. The condemned home provided the only obstacle to making the road follow a straight path connecting the two roads.
30 YEARS AGO: 1992
Lisa Applegate and Brady Ramsey were named Morristown High School Junior-Senior Prom queen and king at Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria.
Recipients of major awards during the annual Girls Inc. ceremonies at the Shelbyville Knights of Columbus hall were Beth Cowen, Kim Reinbold and Michelle Harness. Cowen received the Shelbyville Optimist Club’s Golden Girl Award, Reinbold was named volunteer of the year, and Harness was honored as the club’s outstanding girl of the year.
The Triton Trickster Jump Rope Team at Triton Elementary performed. Members of the team were Tiffany Barkman, Chrissie King, Jacklyn Blackford, Katie Evans, Brooke Phelps, Mark Smith, Lauren Bevers, Brooke Kesterman, Amanda Carlton, Cody Burns, Jessica Farmer, Andrea Tucker, Rachel Ratterman, Sarah Steele, Erin Hester, Justin Watson, Deanne Morgan, Tamryn Glaze, Joline Nuckols, Jennifer Blodgett, Jennfer Markins, Suzanne Sanders, Christa Carson, Tim Ceil, Melissa Ogles, Michael Tucker, Lindsey Lough, Alisha Tresslar, Megan Hampton, Rachel Prather, Chad Tunison, Julie Pardue, Jeremy Garrison, Angie Miller, Nora McClanahan, Matt Mohr, Annalee Brown and Jordan Tandy. Jan Jones was coach and her assistants were Sandi Cecil and Lisa Poynter. Student assistants are Karl Tresslar, Jill Carson, Erika Hester, and Karen Warnecke.
40 YEARS AGO: 1982
Bev Collins, a nursing assistant at Major Hospital, turned 42, and because of her prankish co-workers, just about everyone knew it. Co-workers took a large piece of blue paper and white medical tape and made a large sign to attach to the rear of the truck that read, “Honk, I’m over 40.” As she drove home, she was overwhelmed by the number of honks. Her co-workers confided to The Shelbyville News that when other workers on the hospital’s surgery floor had a birthday, Collins would get on the intercom and sing happy birthday to the honoree. The sign was an act of retaliation.
Several residents were upset that the city had yet to pave the circular drive which connected E. Washington Street, Frances Street and East Lane Drive. Two nearby alleys had been paved, but not the drive. One resident threatened to block the drive so that it could not be used by city vehicles since the city “would not accept responsibility for the drive.”
50 YEARS AGO: 1972
Three teenage girls were shot at by a BB gun, south of the Public Square on Harrison Street. The mother of 17-year-old Karen Martin, 138 W. Broadway, reported that her daughter had felt something pass through her hair while walking about a block south of the square, and suspected a pellet gun. Penny Weaver, 14, of the Waldron area, reported she had been struck in the back, and 17-year-old Sara Payne said she was struck twice in the legs and saw what appeared to be a BB gun muzzle sticking out of a second-story apartment window. The apartment was searched but no pellet weapon was found.
PPG Industries advertised summer positions for students, paying $2.68 an hour (approximately $18.54 in today’s money). The jobs would be physical in nature and require working rotating shifts.
60 YEARS AGO: 1962
The Marietta Volunteer Fire Department acquired an old boat which formerly had been used by city and county law enforcement for emergency purposes.
Wabash College students Lee McNeely and John Spiegel, both of Shelbyville, appeared in a production of “The Fantasticks” on campus.
70 YEARS AGO: 1952
Three downtown business locations were under renovation. Elmer Armstrong was making two offices out of a ground-floor room at 219 S. Harrison St. The Armstrong and Pierce Real Estate Company would occupy one office and the other would be rented. P.G. Sanders and Son, 12 E. Broadway, had recently purchased the former C.F. Fix Mortuary building at 26 E. Broadway and planned to move into the new quarters. The building would have a new structural glass front and the first floor would be used for the display of floor coverings and drapery materials. The second floor would be made into an apartment to be occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sanders. The Hub Shoe Store, 101 S. Harrison St., would have a completely new interior and exterior as a result of an expansion and modernization program. The store was expanding into the space formerly occupied by the Sigler Jewelry Store, which had moved to 16 S. Harrison St. A wall would be removed to make one large room, owner Frank Schoelch said. The outside would be structural glass with forest green trim and limestone bulkheads.
The cornerstone for one of the two new classroom wings being added to the Addison Township school was laid. Leona Leap, Addison Township Trustee, and advisory board members Otto Holbrook, Arthur Thralls and Otto Hauk oversaw the process.
80 YEARS AGO: 1942
County schools Supt. Thomas Fogarty said he was not concerned about the federal government ban on purchasing new school buses. Most of the 68 school buses in Shelby County were newer than three years old, he said.
Members of the Shelbyville voiture of Forty and Eight announced plans to supply a 12-flask blood bank at Major Hospital. Russell Parker, chairman in charge of the blood bank project, said that 14 members of the voiture had already arranged to give a pint of blood apiece for the bank. Dr. Fred Inlow and Dr. Paul Tindall would draw the blood.
Shelby County contributions to the China Relief Fund soared to $579.84 (approximately $10,300 in today’s money). Mrs. E.K. Montgomery was county chairman for the campaign. “Everyone in Shelby County of course realizes the tremendously important part China is playing in our war for survival. Without China’s assistance our boys in the Pacific would be facing almost insurmountable odds, and it is our problem to do everything in our power to keep China actively engaged against Japan,” she said.
90 YEARS AGO: 1932
Nearly 500 people were present in the St. Paul High School gym to see a community program in observance of the George Washington bicentennial. Music was provided by James Walters of Flat Rock, xylophonist.
Sandman Bros. (phone 847) offered half-off used cars for two days.
100 YEARS AGO: 1922
Local Boy Scouts announced plans for a five-day bike ride that would include a visit to Turkey Run. “This trip, although covering more days, will not be so hard on the boys as was the Brown County hike of last year,” The Republican said. Two vehicles would carry the boys’ supplies. Only “regular attendees at Scout meetings” would be allowed on the trip.
OBITUARIES
Kenneth Dale Barlow, 85, died peacefully on March 31, 2022. Mr. Barlow was born July 28, 1936, on a farm just outside of Shelbyville, Ind., to Dale and Inez (Kendall). He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Harold Eugene, who died at birth.
Mr. Barlow graduated from Boggstown High School in 1954 and attended Franklin College for one year. He married Sharlene Ryle on July 2, 1955. She and their four daughters, Debbie (Mike) Cameron, Dianne McNew, Donna (Glenn) Knox and Darlene Janis survive. He was also the proud grandfather of nine, Kelly (Jim) Coan, Michael Cameron, Reghan Richmond, Kerri (Troy) Jacobson, Ashley Cleary, Jadd Knox, Tiya Knox, John Janis, and Daylon Janis; great-grandfather of 14, Alex Coan, Rory Coan, Aria Cameron, Caydon Richmond, Celsey Richmond, Troy (NJ) Jacobson, Tylar Jacobson, Tristian Jacobson, Braelyn Cleary, McKenna Cleary, Nora Knox, Maya Knox, Zayden Knox, and Kingston Izaguirre; and great-great-grandfather of one, Luca Jacobson, with another on the way.
On May 13, 1960, he became a Standardbred driver. He drove his first race with Lucky Jim and won his first race with a horse named Tommy Goose. In 1964 and 1965 he won the Indiana Driver of the Year award. In 1964 he ranked sixth in the nation among all drivers. In 1965, he was the leading driver for the Anderson, Ind., meet. In 1966, his Virgne’s Lady Plaid tied for the national lead in wins by a trotter and she was voted Indiana Horse of the Year. On Sept. 16, 1967, at the Rochester Fair in Rochester, N.H., Virgne’s Lady Plaid set a world record of 2:25.1 for a mile and an eighth on a half-mile track. In 1970, he was the leading driver at Jackson Raceway in Michigan. His fastest mile was with Racy Mark on June 14, 1985, as they went in 1:57.4. His last race was in 1989, at the age of 53, at the Shelby County Fair. On Feb. 6, 2016, he was inducted into the Indiana Standardbred Hall of Fame. At the time of his death, Mr. Barlow owned a half interest in Virgne’s Lady Plaid’s great-great-grandson, Virgne’s Kenny B. In July 2021 he went one last time to Shelbyville, Ind., to watch Virgne’s Kenny B race. At the time of his retirement, Mr. Barlow was living in Pompano Beach, Fla. For several years, he mowed yards in the retirement community where he lived. In 1997, Ken and Sharlene formed Dance For Less. They traveled the country square dancing and selling square dance clothes. Their travels took them to Nevada, Alaska, Alabama, Texas, Florida and North Carolina. They traveled with Dance For Less until 2008. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma pretty much destroyed their home in Florida. They were spending a lot of time in Maggie Valley and had fallen in love with North Carolina. In 2006, they purchased a farm on Cutshall Town Road and that is where Mr. Barlow spent the remainder of his days. He raised Registered Angus cattle until 2018. Even though they decided it was time to get out of the cattle business, they kept their miniature donkeys and, of course, their horses. Mr. Barlow attended Middle Laurel Church of God. He was a member of the Indiana Standardbred Association and the United States Trotting Association.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Indiana Standardbred Association, 311 American Legion Place, Greenfield, IN 46140.