Aruzhan enjoyed a trip to Florida this week. This is her first time on the beach on the Gulf Coast. She had a great time, tried lots of new food and enjoyed visiting with her friends. She visited the Homosassa State Park, she saw pink flamingos for the first time, went on a boat tour where she saw the dolphins, and she said the best part was the free ice cream on the boat! She said she saw the most beautiful sunsets she had ever seen and sang on the Clearwater Beach with a microphone. Aruzhan is sure getting the total American experience while visiting here as an exchange student!
Dollie Green shared a lot of news and history with me this week! She and her sister Mary Lynn Reese were supper guests of cousin, Sally Kinghorn in Rising Sun on Wednesday evening. They enjoyed reminiscing about old times they shared growing up. They are proud to recognize their uncle, Leary Seymour, a WWII veteran with a flag that will be hung in Patriot by Memorial Day 2023. Their uncle, Leary was a very accomplished veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart and many other medals during his time of service to our nation. Sally Kinghorn is a Nurse Practitioner , the first to practice in Switzerland County, with the County Nurse Managed Clinic. Sally was highly respected in Switzerland County for her service to the community.
Dolly also shared her memory of businesses in Patriot during her lifetime:
• Smith Brothers’ Grocery, owned and operated by Hobe and Roy Smith. Roy was also known as “Rabbit” Smith, and was an uncle to Dollie and Mary Lynn. This grocery was located in the Allen Building.
• Hobe and Ada Smith also owned a store where the post office is now located. Dollie remembered Ada always being so good at making dipped ice cream cones!
• Julia Wickman’s Drug Store, which was located where the parking lot of the Patriot General Store is now located. Ms. Julia (as she was known), lived in the house where Mike and Marlene Jones formerly lived, and where Jack Leonard now lives. School books were purchased at Wickman’s Drug Store.
• Burner Foster’s Appliance Store, which was located where the Sheriff’s Annex Office is now located. Burner lived on the corner of 2nd and Columbia Streets where the Smith family once lived.
•Town Library, which was located in a large building on the corner of 2nd and Main Streets. This building also had several apartments.
• The Telephone Exchange Office was also on Main Street, and all telephone calls had to be made through the office.
• Dollie and Mary Lynn’s mother, Lena Reese worked at the post office, and owned a couple of the handmade willow baskets that were made by Cap Rea. Dollie and Mary Lynn still have these baskets.
Thanks to Dollie for sharing this information!
Leah Jones enjoyed a phone call from her cousin, Fay White Boone who lives in Greenwood, Indiana. Fay is the granddaughter of the late Hazel Cook Trinkle who grew up in the Patriot community. Fay’s mother, the late Libby Trinkle White, was a graduate of Vevay High School.
Sympathy to the family of Clarence Hunt. Clarence attended Patriot High School. We always enjoyed seeing his horses in the Patriot July 4th Parade!
A reminder that the Patriot Baptist Church will host the second Lenten Service of the Long Run Association this Sunday, March 5th, at 6:30 p.m. Food will be served at 5:30 p.m. at the church. Reverend Denny French, retired pastor of the Paint Lick Baptist Church in Gallatin County, Kentucky, will be the guest speaker. There will be special music provided by Ricky Crawford of Warsaw as well as others. The community is invited!
Prayers for former President Jimmy Carter and his family as he has begun hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia. Former President Carter has been a servant-leader for most of his life. He graduated from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and served as an officer in the United States Navy. He served as a member of his local school board, the Georgia State Senate, Governor of Georgia and as the 39th President of the United States. He founded the Carter Center in Atlanta after losing to Ronald Reagan in 1980. The Carter Center has worked all around the world in disease eradication, the pursuit of peace, and election integrity, and other human rights endeavors. Former President Carter and his wife Rosalynn, have also been very active with Habitat for Humanity. Marlene and I traveled to Plains in 2003, and attended President Carter’s Sunday School Class at the Maranatha Baptist Church. The night before the church service we were blessed to visit with Jimmy and Rosalynn at the Plains Community Center. A great experience that we will always cherish!
Mason Jones and the Rising Sun Middle School Swim Team traveled to Seymour, Indiana for a swim meet on Tuesday evening. Mason continued to improve his times in his competitions.
If you lived in the Patriot area in the 40’s-90’s, or attended Patriot schools, you no doubt remember the Reverend Dr. Edward (Eddie) Gray. Eddie lived most of his life on the family farm at the bottom of Patriot Hill (250), where the Lieland family lived for many years. He was born in 1907 in Patriot and was a 1924 graduate of Patriot High School. He attended Nelson Business College in Cincinnati and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Central Normal College in Danville, Indiana. He also received a Master of Science Degree and a Doctor of Divinity. He was an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church. He and his family operated a general store in Aberdeen, Indiana from 1929-1935. He taught at the Quercus Grove Elementary School, was a teacher and superintendent of the Patriot/Posey Schools, Assistant Superintendent of the Switzerland County Schools, teacher/principal at the Cass-Union Elementary School, taught at the Rising Sun/Ohio County Schools and taught in the Rising Sun Adult Education program.
He served for over 50 years as the Director of the Switzerland/Ohio County Hymn Sings and was a 70 year member of the Belle River Masonic Lodge in Patriot and also a member of the Rising Sun Methodist Church. Altogether, Dr. Gray was in public education for 55 years. Dr. Gray also farmed there on the family farm near Patriot. He later married Grace Bateman and moved to Rising Sun. Dr. Gray died in 1999, and is buried next to his parents in the Patriot Eastview Cemetery. Dr. Gray was definitely a leader in public education and religion in Southeast Indiana!
More on growing up in the 60’s on Meades Ridge:
Life seemed to center around, at least in this area, the tobacco crop. It was definitely a year around endeavor, with a little break in January and February. Back then most people put out their own “tobacco beds” to raise their tobacco plants. In earlier times, beds would be readied by piling brush and wood on them to burn the beds, to help keep weeds away, and also the embers would add nutrients to the soil. The seed would be sown and the beds would be covered by cotton or linen covers.
Later, in the 1970s and early 1980’s farmers used gas to prepare the beds instead of burning them. Once the seeds started growing, the tobacco beds would have to be weeded and when ready to set, the plants would be pulled and planted. Pulling tobacco plants was never one of my favorite parts of the job. The plants were tied in bundles in burlap bags. We pulled off a board or along the side, because getting your feet in the tobacco beds would bring a harsh warning to get out of the bed!
When we first started setting tobacco, my grandfather pulled the drag setter with a team of horses. Later, we bought a mechanical transplanter, or “wheel setter” as they were called.
Another important job when setting tobacco was the person who “followed” the setter, setting plants by hand if a plant was missed or any other task you were told to do! The tobacco would have to be cultivated until it was “laid by” and ready to top (breaking the blooms off) to get ready for cutting. Chopping weeds, hoeing and resetting were also part of the job. Cutting and housing the tobacco in the barn was a process that usually lasted from mid to late August through September. My grandfather wanted every leaf saved that could possibly be saved. The leaves would be spread out under the tobacco in the barn and tied when they cured. You were paid by the “pound”, so every leaf counted!
Almost every barn in the county was “tiered” for tobacco. The tobacco then was left to cure in the barn until it was ready to bulk or “boak” to prepare for stripping. Stripping involved tying “hands” of tobacco and putting them on tobacco sticks. Later farmers went to baling their tobacco to take to the tobacco warehouses to sell. Going to the tobacco warehouse meant you better dress warm, because it was always cold!
My grandfather was a solicitor for the Marshall and Harris warehouse in Carrollton. That meant being there when the tobacco was trucked to the warehouse, watching as it was “packed” in the baskets, graded and put on the floor to be sold. He would be there when it was sold, bringing their tobacco sticks home, as well as their check. I always enjoyed eating lunch when we went to the warehouse! There was a restaurant right by the warehouse that served “plate lunches”. My grandfather and his friend Raymond “Peano” Willett, always got a large glass of buttermilk to drink. I tried buttermilk, but could never understand how they could drink it!
I tried to describe the hard work in raising tobacco, but I know I left out a lot, including getting the ground ready in the Spring, fertilizing, spraying for suckers, and many other tasks! Usually several generations of family would be working together. And, lots of good conversation in the stripping room!
Sympathy to the family of Lucille Green Phillips of Vevay. Lucille was a sister to Patriot/Posey residents, the late Ivan Green and Linda Poling. She was the last sibling of a large family that grew up on Plum Creek near Vevay.
Rosa Jones traveled to Batesville High School with the honor band members from Switzerland County High School to play with honor band members from other schools. Other Switzerland County honor band members are: John Sweeney, Joel Threadgill, Keegan Otter, Peyton Vann, Shyanne Rugg, Josiah Holiday, Eva Zanabria, Abby Burt, Ellie Burt, and Winter Brabant.
Last week, Barrie wrote about the Pohlkotte family, who lived in Patriot where Marlene and I live. Ruth Martin Lohide PHS Class of 1954, sent the following information about the Pohlkotte family to me:
“I have good memories of the Pohlkotte family, and spent time in their home as I cleaned for Mrs. Pohlkotte during evenings after school and would often spend the night there. I loved the lower level where the kitchen was, and there was always great bread and cheese available. Also, Mrs. Pohlkotte was my Girl Scout Leader.
“Mr. Pohlkotte worked in Indianapolis with the State of Indiana. Following graduation, in 1954, Patty Patterson and I went to Indianapolis as Mr. Pohlkotte had helped us obtain jobs at the P.R. Mallory and Company on East Washington Street. Mr. Pohlkotte always went home on the weekends, and we rode back home with him. For the free ride, we ironed Mr. Pohlkotte’s shirts for him. Patty and I had a sleeping room across from the Pohlkotte home.
“My husband to be, Charles Lohide, left the farm and began a job with Western Electric Company on Shadeland Avenue in Indianapolis in 1955. We then married on July 23rd, 1955, and lived on LaSalle Street in Mr. Pohlkotte’s father’s home.
“A few years ago, Bobby and Charlie Pohlkotte and their wives and their sister Carolyn stopped by the farm to visit me. Bobby lives in Missouri, Carolyn lives in Ohio and I am not sure about Charlie, but I believe he lives in a southern state”.
Thanks so much Ruth for sharing this information! Please pass on any other Patriot information you have!
Barrie’s Tidbits
Hi up there hope all is well with the family.
“It was one of those March Days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade”. — Charles Dickens.
Frances Stivers Miller passed away last week, she is the sister of John Stivers, husband to Nancy Bunger Stivers, PHS 63. Frances was a graduate of VHS 64, Condolences to the family.
Juanita Hysell Gil, VHS 64. Juanita and myself shared conversations over working in the family grocery during high school. Remember the Hysell grocery store in Markland? Back then 156 went right through “downtown” Markland. You had to go down a rather large bend and cross an old iron bridge and there you were!
Reminds me of two other friends, classmates who also worked at family grocery stores. Jim Hutton PHS 63, Hobbs Grocery in Quercus Grove and Evelyn Walcott Dick, PHS 63, Walcott’s East of Patriot on 156. We shared lots of moans over having to get home early on Mondays so we could stock the shelves!
Pamela Fisk Hutchinson PHS 67 is doing very well with the knee rehab therapy she is going through. Is walking much better and for a couple hundred feet without a walker. Pam says she will be finished with daily therapy at the end of March and looks forward to a near recovery. Hi Pam and keep up the great work! And a great big thanks to the Shady Nook Rehab Center for their diligence in working so hard with Pam.
Spoke with Saundra “Saunie” Graves Peters this week. She is doing really well but is still having minor dizzy spells. Of course, I had to remind her of how “dizzy” I have been all of my life. Her and Eddie’s Granddaughters, teenagers now, are visiting this weekend and she reports they are such a delight. I will look forward to seeing them in May.
Have a great week all and please help with some news bits of our wonderful Patriot Community!
Mike’s Closing
That’s all for this week. Please pass any news to me at (812) 290-3088, or mike1405@earthlink.net; or Barrie at (828) 335-8270 or barrieleewatters@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”.