(Carter Gazley is a continuing story in my attempt to identify different people who are buried in the Patriot Town Cemetery)
Carter Gazley was born in Patriot in 1828. He trained to be a land surveyor under his uncle, Asaph Buck. He later studied law for three years under his uncle, Judge Theodore Gazley in Lawrenceburg. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Gazley helped raise the 37th Indiana Volunteers, and he was appointed Colonel of the unit. He and his regiment were assigned under the Union Army in South Carolina, participating in the capture of Huntsville, and the Memphis and Charleston Railroads.
After the war, Gazley returned to the practice of law in Cincinnati, where he was President of the Cincinnati Bar, and also represented several railroad corporations.
Carter and his wife, Elizabeth Emerson Gazely, are buried in the Patriot Town Cemetery.
More on growing up in the 60’s-70’s on Meades Ridge:
There was always a steady stream of visitors at my Grandparents, Marshall and Thelma Cook’s house. One visitor I always looked forward to was Tom Emery. Tom would come by every year and stay a couple weeks working for my grandfather in tobacco. My grandfather liked to have Tom come by to help because he knew how to handle a team of draft horses. I looked forward to Tom coming because he always kept us entertained! Tom could tell the funniest stories, dance the “jig”, call out like an auctioneer and also preach the best sermons! He would without a notice, stop and dance, and mesmerize us with the sound of an auctioneer taking bids at an auction! Sometimes he would come and bring his wife, Dixie, and we always had fun sitting around and talking. I always loved to hear their stories! A bonus day was when Tom Emery was there, and Everett (Snip) Wiley showed up. Now, those two together were quite a duo
I mentioned last week that my grandparents milked cows and sold Grade “B” milk. They usually had a small herd of milk cows, and grandma had a name for every cow. One I remember well was, Monkey. Monkey was a small cow, and my grandmother’s favorite. She was a Jersey/Guernsey cross and was always in the first stanchion, every cow knew their place! One time Monkey was not eating and was feeling poorly. My grandmother called Dr. Beckett, and he operated and found the problem, Monkey had swallowed a piece of wire!
Our job in the evenings was to go get the cows if they did not come in. We usually knew where they hung out, and we would also listen for the bells, as they had collars with bells around their necks! We would drive them to the barn and sometimes have to deal with Jack, the mule, who would throw his ears back and try to keep the cattle out of the barnyard!
Well, Copper, my dog, continued his job of keeping moles off of Front Street! We were walking up Front Street on Monday, and he stopped suddenly, put his nose to the ground, and came out with a mole in his mouth, which he quickly killed. That is two that he has found in almost the same exact spot, the corner of Front and Second Streets!
My mother had a call this week from her Aunt, Corrine Webster, of Dry Ridge, Kentucky. Corrine still lives on the farm that she and my Great Uncle, Harvey Webster farmed near Dry Ridge. Harvey was a brother to my Grandmother, Thelma Webster Cook.
Mom also had a phone conversation with her sister-in-law, Janice Cook, of Cross Plains. Janice was married to my uncle, Charles Cook, who passed away in 2013.
Melissa and Mason Jones traveled to Batesville on Monday evening to listen to Rosa Jones and the Honors band, which performed that night.
March is here, and the Cincinnati Reds will play the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 30th in their Opening Day Game at Great American Ballpark! Spring Training is underway in Goodyear, Arizona. Let’s hope that 2023 is a better year for the Reds than 2022!
Story on Melvin Belew, former teacher at Patriot Elementary School:
If you attended Patriot Elementary School in the 60’s through the 70’s, you will remember Mr. Belew. Mr. Melvin Belew was born in 1936, and graduated from Moores Hill High School in 1954, going to Carnegie Hall there for all 12 grades. He attended Capitol University in Columbus, Ohio and received his B.A. He received his Masters of Divinity in 1962. He did his first student pastorate at St. Mark in Metairie, Louisiana, where he met his soon to be wife, Noel. He and Noel married 15 months later.
Mr. Belew was ordained in his home church in Sunman in 1962, and by that time the couple had a two and a half old daughter, Ruth. He was assigned to Trinity in Mission, Texas where their daughter Leah was born in 1964. He was later called to St. John’s in Westhoff, Texas where Mark was born in 1965. After three years there, the family moved to Los Angeles for a year. The family then moved back to Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Belew had served as a minister in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio when he left Columbus to come back to his home area.
When they returned to Indiana, he met with his teacher, friend and mentor, Elmer Heller, who told Mr. Belew that he thought he would make a great teacher. Mr. Belew was interested in teaching and Melvin Heller gave his name to Delbert Wright, then Superintendent at Switzerland County Schools. He had to take some courses at Ball State University to be able to receive his teaching certificate. Mr. Belew was hired to teach at Patriot Elementary in 1969, taking some of Mrs. Craig’s third grade class. He also coached at Patriot. He taught in every Switzerland County Elementary School except Pleasant.
Mr. Belew retired from teaching in 1998. Mr. Belew enjoyed teaching , wanted his students to enjoy learning, and tried to set a good example for them as well.
I never had Mr. Belew as a teacher, but my brother, Mark, had him in class and also played on his basketball team. Mark always talked about how much he enjoyed having Mr. Belew in class. I actually had some of Mr. Belew’s children in school. When they were in Patriot, they lived neighbors to Ivan and Dollie Green and family. The Belews were very involved in the Patriot community. Thank you Mr. Belew for all you did for children in our community!
Mason Jones, of Meades Ridge, finished third in the backstroke competition in the swim meet at the YMCA in Vevay on Tuesday. Mason is a member of the Rising Sun Middle School Swim team.
The Switzerland County Boys Basketball team lost in the sectional on Tuesday night to Milan. The sectional was played at South Ripley High School in Versailles. The boys were down by 12 points in the second half and came back within a point. They lost by three points. I am probably sounding like an “old timer” here, but I don’t think sectionals have the same “feel” that they used to have. The players and cheerleaders still play and cheer hard, but the environment is not quite the same. I am sure that there are lots of reasons for that, one being that back “in the day”, there wasn’t as much going on and everyone went to the sectional. If you didn’t go to the game, you probably were listening on the radio. Small communities would organize caravans of vehicles heading to the game, similar to what you saw in the movie, ‘Hoosiers’. Many schools organized fan buses to make sure that the cheering bloc was large and loud! The bands were there to play the school songs, and cheer the team and cheerleaders on!
Every small school had that dream of winning the sectional and advancing to the regional. I can remember going to the regionals in Connersville. Just walking into the Spartan Bowl was an awesome experience! It was an all day experience, with two games in the morning and then the championship game that evening. I remember going to the Semi State at Hinkle Fieldhouse on the Butler campus. The classic game that year was Connersville vs. New Castle. The ‘Good Ole Days’ weren’t always so good, but the memories of basketball tournaments in days gone by, are times that I sure cherish!
The storm that blew through town on Wednesday night had a little bit of everything, thunder, lightning, heavy rain and hail. Luckily, Bible Study had ended at Patriot Baptist Church and everyone had time to get home. And, if Wednesday was not enough, Friday was a day of rain and gusting winds. Many limbs were blown down, and Temple Baptist Church lost their steeple.
Several young people from Patriot/Posey Township are involved in sports and other school activities and I will try to mention them as they compete in their respective sports/clubs. Please send me information so I can mention them in my columns:
— FFA District XII Leadership:
• Lainie McAlister- 1st Place in Freshman Extemporaneous Speaking, 3rd Place in Multimedia Scrapbooks.
• Landon McAlister- 1st Place in Discovery Degree Food Science.
• Gracie White- 3rd Place on Prepared Public Speaking.
• Ellie Keith- 1st Place in Discovery Degree Plant and Soil Science Demonstration.
— Wrestling:
• Leo Oatman- 1st Place in MS Conference in Corydon.
• Jachoby McKay- 5th Place in weight class in MS Conference in Corydon.
I know there are several students from our community who are involved in school activities. Please send me information so I can list their names in my column. We are proud of all of our young people!
Patrick and Melissa Jones, Rosa, Aruzhan and Mason went to Cincinnati to watch the Cyclone Hockey team on Saturday. Afterwards they celebrated with a birthday supper for Patrick at the Texas Roadhouse. Patrick’s birthday is Tuesday, March 7th.
Marlene Jones went to Crestwood, Kentucky to visit her father on Saturday. Her friend Trish Bowling went with her.
The Patriot Baptist Church hosted the Long Run Lenten Service on Sunday. A large crowd was in attendance. Food and drinks were served at 5:30, and the service started at 6:30. Reverend Denny French, former Pastor of the Paint Lick Baptist Church in Gallatin County, Kentucky was the guest speaker, special music was provided by Aruzhan, singing and playing the guitar, and Ricky Crawford, bluegrass musician from Warsaw, Kentucky also performed.
The Family Destinations Guide recently polled 3,000 families across the country to find the 150 best small towns to visit, and Patriot was one of three Indiana towns to make the list! We are proud of our hometown, and look for more exciting things to start happening here in Patriot, Indiana!
Barrie’s Tidbits
March is such a Spectacular Month : The Sun is furiously heading North in time for the Summer Solstice; with it comes the March winds which is pushing the large hot planet forward!
What is more spectacular? Hey, the NCAA Conference Tournaments resulting in “March Madness” the 2023 NCAA Basketball Championship Playoffs. What a fun and wild close to the ‘23 Season. Pick your team and watch them GO !
March, The Motion Picture Academy Awards. That is truly spectacular. In my opinion the most deserving Oscars of all time (so far) were that of Gregory Peck in “To Kill A Mockingbird; Shirley Booth for “Come Back, Little Sheba’. All time film award “Judgment at Nuremberg.”
Spring break ! I know of three locals who are enjoying this time in Florida, Craigie Bond, Bobbie Bond Patrick and Carol Ann Hutcherson Armstrong. Have fun you guys! And all of you Spring Breakers out there. Be safe.
I recently read the article about Brian Craig. Randy’s son. It promotes the idea about becoming an organ donor. How important that act is. Do it folks!
Spoke with members of the Fisk family this week; David, Connie, and Pamela (Hutchinson). David had some dental work done and is fine at home right now. Connie of course is taking good care of him. What a fortunate individual you are David. We spoke of his granddaughter Natalie Fisk (Joey’s daughter), who is a varsity cheerleader at Rising Sun High School. Congrats Natalie! I saw your picture in last week’s paper,
Pam is doing very well and gives a shout out to all of you in Patriot!
I also spoke with Joyce Ann Bailey, she is doing well. I hope she will join us all at the Patriot High School Reunion this spring. What a family that was in the Patriot Community. Loved going over there and playing cards. During that time there half the town came in for Minnie’s coffee and usually a piece of pie or cake!
Cheerio until next week ! Send me some news!
Mike’s Closing
That’s all until next week. Please send me information for future columns to mike1405@earthlink.net, or (812) 290-3088; or Barry at (828) 335-8270, or Barryleewatters@charter.net.
Until next week, in the words of Glen Campbell, remember to “Try a little kindness and shine your light for everyone you meet.”