Thursday, May 9, 2024
HITCH A RIDE
The St. Joseph Spring Festival starts today, 5 to 9 p.m., and continues through Saturday. Details here… | photo by JACK BOYCE
NOTEBOOK:
Bambi Garrison, Shelbyville Central Schools teacher and Waldron High School alumnus, has been named principal of Waldron Elementary School. The Shelby Eastern Schools board officially approved the hire at last night’s meeting.
The Shelbyville Board of Public Works and Safety yesterday issued orders to appear to the owners of 217 Colescott and 233 East Mechanic regarding nuisance issues.
Mayor Scott Furgeson asked the Street Department to remove approximately 20 feet of phone line on the ground near East Jackson Street, behind Doc’s (Dawson Oil Co.). A nearby resident had called him to express concern, and Furgeson confirmed it was just telephone line. “I went down and picked it up yesterday, and I didn’t get shocked,” he said.
The downtown Shelbyville Farmers Market season begins this Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon, and continues every Saturday through September on West Washington St.
The third annual Dep Ewing Memorial Golf Outing is set for Saturday, Sept. 14, at Blue Bear Golf Course, and organizers are looking for golfers and sponsors. Proceeds benefit The Salvation Army. Foursome entrants are $400 with lunch provided and sponsorships are $100 for hole sponsor and $400 for outing sponsor. Contact Debbie Ewing, 317-604-9321, or Nate Wells, 317-364-2815, for details.
The National Association of Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger food drive is this Saturday, May 11. Place a bag of non-perishable items next to your mailbox. Your letter carrier will handle the rest.
The Shelbyville Central Teachers Association and Shelbyville Central Schools Administration is honoring retirees and those with 25 years of service on Wednesday, May 22, 6 p.m. in the SMS cafetorium. Retirees are Paul Ashbrook, Scott Harper, Michelle Karmire, Pat Parks, Diane Seals, Debby McLeod, Becky Sipes and Trudi Wolfe. Those with 25 years of service are Paul Ashbrook, Cathy Brown, Teresa Meredith, Scott Fitzgerald, Micka Kincaid, Rita Kemple and Tina Sherwood. Tickets, which are $11 for the grilled chicken parmesan meal, can be obtained by contacting lmkiefer@shelbycs.org.
The Shelby County Recycle Center and Transfer Station will reopen today, Thursday, at 7:30 a.m. The paving job is completed. Hours at the facility are Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saturday, 7:30 a.m. - 11 a.m. It is closed during Shelby County recognized holidays.
NATIONAL NEWS: The United States is decades behind other countries when it comes to sunscreen, with nearly all European and Asian sunscreens containing the basic ingredient bemotrizinol. It’s one of the most vetted and safest sunscreens on the market, but it’s not FDA approved for over-the-counter use in the U.S. owing to a 1938 law that classifies sunscreens as drugs and requires them to be tested on animals, rather than the cosmetics they’re treated as in most of the rest of the world. Despite 1 in 5 Americans developing skin cancer by age 70, there is not a whole lot of haste from the feds on the issue, and that’s prompted bipartisan action in Congress to urge the approval. DSM-Firmenich is a Swiss company that makes sunscreen chemicals, and has spent the past 20 years trying to get bemotrizinol approved, spending $18 million in the process. The latest efforts have brought many hope, and the FDA could approve it as soon as 2025. (KFF Health/Numlock)
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Shelby County Mothers: Laura Morrison
ABOVE: Jerri Callahan-Turner portrays Laura Morrison at the 2018 Tour de Art in Forest Hill Cemetery. | photo by ANNA TUNGATE
Editor’s note: With Mother’s Day coming up, The Addison Times will feature a few articles on local notable mothers in the city’s history. Below is an article from the 1990s written by the late David Craig.
Strong-willed and pledged to community service best describes Laura Morrison. Mrs. Morrison inherited these qualities from her father, Martin Ray. The Ray House that used to occupy the northeast corner of the Public Square was built by Martin Ray in 1857. Another grandfather, Ebenezer Cross, built one of the first taverns in Shelbyville.
Mrs. Morrison was born August 20, 1859 in Shelbyville. She became the bride of Harry Clifford Morrison, May 16, 1878. As the couple exchanged vows, they could not have foreseen they would raise 13 children.
Today, only four grandchildren are still living. One of the surviving grandchildren is John Banawitz of Shelbyville. Mr. Banawitz lived his younger years in Rock Island, Illinois. Speaking of his father, Mr. Banawitz recalls, "My father (Joseph Banawitz) was an excellent woodcarver and he worked in the factories there." In the Banawitz's home can be found artistic creations done in wood by John's father.
Summer visits with his grandparents in Shelbyville are fondly remembered by Mr. Banawitz. Especially fun were the stays at the Morrison's country retreat named Marchester. Mr. Banawitz, in remembering his grandmother related, "My Grandmother was very volunteer-oriented and that passed down to my mother (Clarine Morrison Banawitz)."
One of Laura Morrison's favorite volunteer groups was the War Mothers of Indiana. The War Mothers of Indiana was formed during World War I. It was only natural for Mrs. Morrison to support this group since she had a son serving in France. As she always did, Mrs. Morrison put her heart into her work for the War Mothers. Laura was appointed the Vice War Mother of the southeast district of Indiana. The Indianapolis Times ran a feature article on Laura Morrison on October 4, 1922. In the article, Laura was described as a typical war mother.
In 1909, a group of businessmen began to develop what was known as the industrial addition to Shelbyville. The industrial club donated the site that would become the Shelby High School in 1912. They also gave to the city 11 acres, the location of present-day Morrison Park. There was little interest among the city council members to develop a city park. Cows could be seen grazing on the park grounds. The voices of children playing on a sunny summer's afternoon were absent.
Finally, a Park Board was appointed in 1914. This created new interest in making the site suitable for community use. As progress was being made in securing landscaping and equipment, the city council dismissed the Park Board members and appointed a new board that supported a "do nothing" attitude.
Being the mother of 13 children, Laura Morrison felt deeply a park was a must for the community. All of Mrs. Morrison's enthusiasm was directed towards creating a place for families to spend time together.
Laura Morrison brought together a group of women to "take over the park." They went on a campaign to create interest and raise funds to beautify and equip the park. Enough money was raised to buy trees and shrubs. The husbands were persuaded to do the heavy work of digging and generally cleaning the area. Mrs. Morrison let the city administrators know they would have a park "if they wanted it or not."
The city council finally recognized the effort Laura Morrison gave in creating a beautiful recreation area for the Shelbyville community. On June 19, 1928, the city park was officially named the Laura Morrison Park.
In "The Indianian" the magazine of Indiana War Mothers, Laura Morrison expressed her philosophy on what makes a good person. Mrs. Morrison wrote, "The grandest charm string one could possess would be one made of only kind, beautiful, noble deeds, and cheerful loving words and actions."
Mrs. Laura Morrison's life of "noble deeds and cheerful loving words" ended on April 10, 1932.
This Day in Shelby County History
2014: The Morristown Town Council awarded Runnebohm Construction the bid to build a new fire station at 422 W. Main Street.
2004: Oil hit $40 a barrel for the first time since 1990. Prices in Shelby County had climbed from about $1.45 in December to reaching $2 a gallon.
1994: Indianapolis Police Patrolman Jack “Rusty” Tindall, a Shelbyville native, appeared on the Fox television show “COPS.”
Mickey Rodriguez, a Howard St. resident who won $7,000 on the “Hoosier Millionaire” game show, reported she spent the money on a new roof.
1984: Incumbent Judge Jonathan Palmer defeated County Court Judge Byron Wells for the superior court judge nomination. Palmer had been appointed to the position after receiving the endorsements of the local bar association and the Republican Party when Democrat George Tolen retired. Palmer would face former two-term prosecutor Jerry Lux in the general election.
1974: A little over 22 percent of Shelby County registered voters participated in the primary, with more Democrats voting than Republicans, who had no locally contested races.
Harold Boring, 61, widely known local horse trainer and harness race driver for 45 years, died. He had been in failing health for 10 years. A resident of Shelby County all his life, Boring drove his first race at 15, at the county fairgrounds, and was regarded as one of the best colt trainers in the state. He had graduated from Morristown in 1932.
A Democrat Sheriff in Decatur County who won the primary immediately fired a deputy after the polls closed on the grounds the deputy had been engaged in political activities while on duty and had used his patrol car for campaigning purposes.
1964: Gladys McKenney, 38, was named Shelby County’s Mother of the Year. She had been nominated by the 20-Year Club of the KCL Corporation. The four runners-up were Mildred Bowman, Leona Sharp, Mildred Wagoner and Mae Rose Yarling. Grace Cole, the 1963 winner, crowned McKenney and presented the $500 in awards. McKenney’s children were Teresa, 16, Patrick, 15, Molly, 14, Cynthia, 12, Timothy, 11, Dennis, 9, Kevin, 8, Erin, 6, Brian, 4, Barry, 3 and Sally, 1.
1954: Traffic Safety Officer Earl Trees installed “Wait for Pedestrian” signs at Broadway and Harrison and on Public Square. He emphasized that the city had an ordinance prohibiting jaywalking, or crossing in the middle of a block, and said the ordinance would soon be enforced.
Cinch Mfg. Corp. held a dance and party to celebrate the opening of their addition to 630 S. Noble St. The new 108 by 80-foot building would add an estimated 40 or more employees to the company.
1944: Plans were announced for the Memorial Day observance. W.F. Loper, superintendent of city schools, would make an address at City Cemetery, following a parade, which would form at the courthouse and go to the cemetery, headed by the Shelbyville High School and Shelby County 4-H bands.
Nearly 2,600 Shelby County rural school students began summer vacation. Shelbyville students would end the semester June 2.
1934: Chambers held a sale on ranges. The new Vogue model could be purchased for $99 ($2,300 in today’s money) along with trade-in of your old stove.
1924: “Clean Herds and Clean Hearts” was the subject of a motion picture shown throughout the community by agricultural agent H.D. Jackson. The film was about the work of testing cattle for tuberculosis.
A runaway youth from Cincinnati was apprehended in Shelbyville. He had been sleeping in a freight car in the local Big Four freight yard. The boy was placed at the sheriff’s residence for the night. He escaped before morning.
1914: The Shelbyville High School senior class secured the opera house to put on “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream.” The senior originally had arranged to use “the old auto factory” south of downtown. They took a day off school to clean the factory from ceiling to the floor and “never left a speck of dirt,” The Republican said. When city council members heard of their dedication, they offered the opera house for free.
OBITUARIES
Marilyn R. Hughes, 82, of Shelbyville, passed away Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at the Willows of Shelbyville. She was born September 23, 1941, in Shelbyville, the daughter of Edgar and Evelyn (Debaun) McClure. Marilyn is survived by her daughter, Jenny Sharpe and husband, Michael, of Rushville; grandson, Kyle Burton and partner, Kelly Flynn, of Westfield; very special partner, JR Hall of Shelbyville; and the child she helped raise, David Snyder of Shelbyville.
She loved her grandson dearly and he was very special to her. Some of her favorite times were spent traveling with Kyle.
She was preceded in death by her parents; infant son, David Wayne; and brothers, Michael McClure and Jack McClure.
In 1960, Marilyn graduated from Southwestern High School. She was a member of the Flat Rock Christian Church. Marilyn was formerly the co-owner of Flat Rock Auto Glass and Carpet. She was also formerly the bookkeeper at Siebert Oldsmobile.
She was very active in the community and donated her time to Habitat for Humanity, CASA and was a volunteer at Major Health Partners. Marilyn was a member of several card clubs and enjoyed playing bridge, euchre and hand and foot.
Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Friday, May 10, 2024, at Freeman Family Funeral Homes and Crematory, Carmony-Ewing Chapel, 819 S. Harrison St. in Shelbyville. Funeral services will follow at 1 p.m., Friday, at the funeral home, with Jason Davis officiating. Interment will be at Flat Rock Cemetery in Shelby County.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Flat Rock Christian Church, 2854 W. Pope St., Flat Rock, Indiana 47234. Online condolences may be shared with Marilyn’s family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.
Christopher S. Baldwin, 48, of St. Paul, passed away Thursday, May 2, 2024 at MHP Medical Center. Born January 27, 1976 in Shelbyville, he was the son of Bill Baldwin and Robin (McDonald) Baldwin. Bill then married Joyce "Joy" (Thompson) Baldwin, and together they raised him. Survivors include his father and stepmother of St. Paul; two daughters, Myeisha Baldwin of Rushville and Joey Wettrick of St. Paul; two brothers, Scott Baldwin (wife Amy) of Shelbyville and Ryan Stewart of Maxwell; two sisters, Stacey Coy (husband Tommy) of St. Paul, Anne Irwin (husband Jonathan) of St. Paul; lifelong friend Danny Sutton of St. Paul; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his biological mother.
Mr. Baldwin was a lifetime resident of this area and graduated from North Decatur High School in 1994. He was employed at Jupiter Coil Coating of Fairland for 12 years. He attended Cornerstone Christian Fellowship.
Chris loved the outdoors, fishing, & golfing. He enjoyed playing video games. operating remote controlled cars, and spending time with his family, his nieces and nephews. He was an avid Cincinnati Reds, Indiana Pacers, and Indianapolis Colts fan.
Funeral services will be 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 at Glenn E. George & Son Funeral Home, 437 Amos Road, with Pastor George Mitchell officiating. Friends may call on Tuesday evening, from 4 - 6 p.m. at the funeral home. Memorial contributions can be made to Make-A-Wish Foundation, in care of the funeral home. Online condolences may be shared at glennegeorgeandson.com.
People are starting to get it. 💡 Sunscreen