Wednesday, December 20, 2023
School Crochet Club Unites Veterans, Novices for Good Cause
ABOVE: Wendy Castro, Fatima Novoa, Giselle Vargas Garcia, Karina Calderon and Jose Mejia participate in club Christmas activities at Shelbyville High School.
SHS junior Abby Bradburn only meant to fill her downtime at school. Instead, she inspired Mrs. Kemple to form the Crochet Club, which is now bursting at the seams.
“I saw Abby crocheting in (homeroom). It never occurred to me that students crocheted,” Mrs. Kemple, a long-time crocheter herself, said.
She checked with Principal Dawson, and soon had the okay for a call-out meeting. “My room was full, so we held the second meeting in the Golden Bear Room. Some kids couldn’t even get in.”
Although most members are novices at the craft, Bradburn started years ago when an aunt gave her some yarn and taught her the slip stitch. Since, Abby has made countless items for friends and family. She couldn’t help but bring the calming activity to school.
“Crochet was at first only a nice way to pass time, but I learned that being able to keep my hands busy also helped me pay attention and focus in class more than before,” Bradburn said.
Sofia Sipes, a fellow SHS junior, also enjoys bringing her hooks and yarn to club meetings, including last week’s club Christmas party. She said she learned by watching patterns on YouTube, and donates her finished pieces to others.
The new members of the SHS Crochet Club are inspired to do the same, and they recently formalized matters by electing officers: Wendy Castro, president; Jose Mejia, vice president; Karina Calderon, secretary; and Giselle Vargas Garcia, treasurer.
Castro plans to have the club-created projects given to a local charity. The group is off to a strong start with numerous hooks, needles and yarn donations. Someone even provided a cabinet to make the yarn easier to organize.
The vast display left this reporter wondering whether the club still needed donations.
“You can never have too much yard,” Mrs. Kemple replied. “What a silly question.”
BELOW: Sofia Sipes decorates a Christmas tree cookie at the Crochet Club holiday party.
BELOW: Mrs. Rita Kemple and SHS senior Dayanara Aguirre-Mulato sort donated yarn in Mrs. Kemple’s classroom.
NOTEBOOK:
Outgoing Mayor Tom DeBaun yesterday presented appreciation awards to his fellow Board of Public Works members for their service to the community. “It’s been a wonderful ride the past 12 years,” DeBaun said during his second-to-last board of works meeting. “I’ve appreciated your support and your wisdom over the years. Not just here, but personally, as well, for a number of years.” Finkel was DeBaun’s Republican appointee. Williams, a former Democrat mayor himself, hired DeBaun as city planning director in November 1993. “When I hired him, it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life,” Williams said.
Speaking of the Board of Public Works, Mayor-elect Scott Furgeson has appointed Tom Reaves and Val Phares, both life-long residents of Shelbyville, to serve alongside him on the Board of Works and Public Utility Board, effective Jan. 1, 2024. Reaves has owned the mail-order Ballcards and More since 1989, and he and his wife, Bonnie, own 42 East Washington Street, which they renovated in 2010 and now rent the formerly vacant building to four other tenants. “Reaves is a proponent of downtown revitalization as well as historic building preservation,” Mayor-elect Furgeson said in a statement. Phares retired this year from a supervisor position at Eli Lilly and has also been a small business owner in Shelbyville. He served on the city’s common council from 2008 to 2012. “Tom and Val have worked hard through the years as members of our community to contribute and make things better. Both really care about Shelbyville, and I’m confident they’ll do all they can to bring improvements to the city,” Furgeson said. The Board of Works and Public Safety is responsible for enforcing city ordinances, reviewing and approving the payment of claims, entering into contracts on behalf of the city, and handling any personnel issues for city’s safety employees. The Public Utilities Board oversees the MS4 office and the Water Resource Recovery Facility.
Current Public Utility Board member David Finkel yesterday asked Kevin Kredit, Shelbyville Water Resource Recovery Facility superintendent, if additional public relations work should be done to discourage residents from flushing nonflushable items, such as wipes, down toilets. Kredit said he wasn’t sure what else to do. “It’s like, everyone knows about it, but no one wants to stop doing it,” Kredit said. Mayor Tom DeBaun suggested Kredit reach out to the Shelby County Recycling District to potentially include the issue in their school recycling curriculum.
There will be no city trash collection on Monday, Christmas Day, Dec. 25. Monday’s trash and recycling will be collected Tuesday, Dec. 26. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s trash and recycling will be collected Wednesday, Dec. 27. Thursday and Friday next week will be regularly scheduled trash and recycling collections. There will also be no trash pick-up on Monday, Jan. 1. Monday’s trash will be collected Tuesday, Jan. 2, but not Monday’s recycling, which will be delayed until the following Monday, Jan. 8. Both Tuesday’s trash and recycling will be collected on Tuesday, Jan. 2. Regular trash and recycling collection routes will resume Wednesday, Jan. 3.
This Week in Shelby County History
2013: Dr. Daniel Duran marked 20 years as a chiropractor. He had spent all but the first three months of his career in Shelbyville. He had bought the old Rax building on State Road 44 in 2005 before eventually building a strip mall location across the street.
2003: Loper Elementary’s physical education classes attended the last day of three weeks of bowling at Blue River Lanes. The initiative had been organized by Loper PE teacher Jan Asher.
1993: Sisters Mildred and Violet Mae Hamilton, 770 Fourth St., would be marking their 70th consecutive Christmas Day with their brother, Max, who lived south of Lebanon, The Shelbyville News reported. “The closest we came to missing was one year (1961), when Max’s daughter was sick,” Mildred said in the feature, written by Dave Schultz. They had two living siblings out of state. They were all the children of Clarence and Grace Hamilton. Clarence had been a Methodist minister.
1983: Well over 100 attended an event to honor Myrtle Tolley at the Waldron United Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Doig had organized the reunion to honor Mrs. Tolley, who had taught music and art for 42 years. They invited members of Waldron’s show groups from 1966 to 1976, the year Tolley retired. Veterinarian Dr. Doig had told Mrs. Tolley they would go out for dinner. Instead they ended up at the church with Mrs. Tolley thinking maybe someone was getting married. Her former students treated her to about 15 Christmas songs, and Santa Claus stopped by for a visit. Tolley organized the first high school show group and first majorette group in Shelby County and also helped buy the first organ for the school. Her husband, Shelby, died in the late 1960s.
1973: The local General Electric Co. plant hosted local science students nominated by their school district. Attending the dinner were Charles Davies, Triton teacher; Robert Hoops, Waldron teacher; Roger Palmer, SHS teacher; Cheryl Manford, Triton senior; Darlene Meloy, Triton senior; Edmond Etchason, Morristown senior; Greg Durbin, Waldron senior; M.S. Richardson, GE manager; and Tom Wilkinson and Michael Conti, SHS seniors. Manford and Palmer were chosen as delegates to attend an international birthday party in New York to honor Edison’s birthday.
1963: Shelbyville High School students decorated the halls for Christmas. Steven Jenner, Richard Crim and Eric Watkins decorated the front entrance. The hall windows were painted by Charlene Davis, Tom Allen, Tom Howell and Mike Rodman. Mike Slaton and Beverly Barton arranged the display case. The library windows were decorated by Ann Webster, Linda Thurston, Rex Hillery, Jan Sanders, Sharon Harris, Bonnie Limpus and Danny Haley. Miss Lorena Williams was the instructor for the student artists.
1953: Local kids were treated to a free movie and Christmas party at the Ritz theater, sponsored by local service organizations. Kids marched to the movies in a short parade led by Santa and a Shelbyville fire truck. Treats were given out at the show.
1943: The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performed at Paul Cross Gymnasium. The local organizing committee for the event included Mrs. Spiegel, L.D. Kingsbury, Marion T. Ayers, W.F. Loper and Mrs. Zbinden. The orchestra included 85 musicians.
1933: Plans were completed for a Christmas party to be held at the Strand and Alhambra theatres. All local kids, 14 years of age and under, were invited to the free party. Children were to meet in front of the newspaper office at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. After tickets were distributed, the boys and girls would form a line and, headed by the SHS band, march to the theatres.
1923: George Parrish, county auditor-elect, named Anna Fagel as his chief deputy. Fagel had previously worked in the office when her brother, Frank Fagel, was auditor.
Merry Christmas…