I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Holiday! Now the countdown begins to Christmas!
The Patriot Community lost a wonderful person this past week with the death of Janet Bond. Janet was 101 years old, and had been at the Ripley Crossing Nursing Home for a few years. She moved to Egypt Bottom near Concord Church in 1938. She and her husband Harry had three children: Craigie, Bobbie and Wayne. She was a member of the Concord Community Church for many years, and was also a member of the Vevay American Legion Post # 185 Ladies Auxiliary. She worked at the Patriot School Cafeteria, and the Switzerland County High School Cafeteria for many years. Janet was also a Gold Star Mother, after her son Marine Captain and fighter pilot Wayne Bond was killed in an aircraft accident in 1971, during the Vietnam War. I had known Janet and her family all of my life and she was an exemplary person and role model for everyone who knew her.
Another former Patriot resident, Lois Houston Stutzman of Rising Sun passed away this week. Lois attended Patriot High School in the late 1950s when her father, Reverend Leonard Houston was Pastor of the Patriot Baptist Church. Lois married Bob Stutzman, PHS Class of 1957, and had four daughters: Donna, Barbara, Diane and Janie. I attended church several years ago with the Stutzman Family at First Baptist and Bethel Unity Baptist in Rising Sun.
Mike Jones (me), and David Peelman, (‘Hollywood’) attended the Indiana University vs Miami of Ohio Basketball game in Indianapolis this past week. It was Hollywood’s first IU Basketball game.
It was great to see Jalee Rider at the Patriot General Store this week. Jalee graduated from Jac-Cen-Del High School in 2022, and is a student at Cincinnati State. I was able to present her Bible to her from the Patriot Baptist Church as a gift for her high school graduation!
Rosa Jones and Aruzhan attended a Friendsgiving Dinner on Tuesday at the Baker residence on Tague Road near Vevay.
Mike and Marlene Jones, Ian Van Winkle, Evan Van Winkle and Brandon Moore traveled to the home of Jim and Sharlene Batts (Marlene’s twin sister) in Richmond, Kentucky for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Betty Lucas, PHS Class of 1949, is now at Swiss Villa for rehabilitation.
Pam Hutchinson was able to come to Thanksgiving Dinner with son Will and Danielle and family and Richie. They had a great time!
I have fond memories of attending basketball games at Patriot High School when I was a student there! As soon as you walked in the gym you could smell the popcorn! The gym and a few rows of bleachers on the floor, the stage at one end and the kitchen area in the back. There was a banister around the second floor of the gym where you could watch games. The gym was usually packed for games, with almost everyone in town there to watch. The band played at halftime, and the cheerleaders were always great! I remember in the movie “Hoosiers”, they played a game in a gym built like the Patriot High School Gym.
Former Patriot resident, and County Prosecutor, Doug Leatherbury and his son Clarence, recently returned from a trip to Maryland and Virginia. Doug still practices law in Salem, Indiana, and Clarence works as an attorney with the Attorney General’s Office in Indianapolis.
Leah Jones, my mother, had a call this week from her cousin Fay White Boone who lives in Greenwood. Fay’s mother, Libby Trinkle was from Vevay, and the daughter of Hazel Cook Trinkle, the sister of my Grandfather, Marshall Cook. Fay has worked in the Center Grove School District for many years.
Melissa Jones took Rosa, Aruzhan and Mason for a quick trip to Chicago. Aruzhan had been wanting to see Chicago. They stayed at the Springhill Suites River North, and visited several sites including: Wrigley Field, Millennium Park, Macy’s, Wrigleyville and Willis Tower.
In our column last week, we highlighted the Koons family from Patriot. We inadvertently omitted Robert, who married Mary Florence Patterson.
Rural mail service has always been an important part of our lives. Mail carriers I remember were Frank Silvers, Harry (Turk) Gregory, Don Robinson and Duane Scudder. Frank Silvers and his wife Ruth, lived on Goose Creek where the Meadors now live. Silver Hill was named for their family. Frank taught school at Cross Plains and Patriot before becoming a mail carrier. Frank and Ruth had a daughter named Gayle who was close to my age. We all rode the school bus together. One day Gayle told us that she had a disease called Cystic Fibrosis. We had never heard of this disease. She told us that she could not live much past her 20’s. The family moved to Greensburg after Frank retired. I heard later that Gayle had passed away. Cystic Fibrosis can be treated today. The Silvers also had a stepdaughter, Bonita Froman who rode our bus.
November 22nd brought back memories for me. I was a student in Mrs. Bosaw’s first grade class at Patriot Elementary School. I remember hearing at school that President Kennedy had been shot. I didn’t find out that he had died until we got off the school bus that afternoon. My grandmother, Thelma Cook was standing at the fence talking to our neighbor Anna Oatman. They were both crying. I walked to the house and remembered it was my brother Mark’s 4th birthday. He was on the floor playing with a toy that my grandfather had bought him at Hobb’s Store in Quercus Grove. There wasn’t much joy on that birthday. News didn’t travel as fast back then, but we watched the news that evening. A few days later, President Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed by a man named Jack Ruby. It was hard to understand as a child in 1963, but those memories have stayed with me for all of my life. A sad day in our nation’s history.
That’s all for this week. Please send me news at (812) 290-3088 or mike1405@earthlink.net or Barrie Watters at (828) 335-8270.
Until next week, remember to try a little kindness, and shine your light for everyone you meet.