News compiled by Ginny Leap from past issues of
Switzerland County newspapers
10 YEARS AGO
After several weeks of rain, Switzerland County tobacco farmers are entering a critical time as they struggle to get this year’s crop in the ground. Only about 25 percent of this year’s tobacco crop has been set. Normally by the middle of June, farmers would have 65 percent planted.
Switzerland County homeowners whose homes were flooded in March may be able to participate in a voluntary buy-out program that will enable them to move out of the floodway if they want to. The federal money can be used to purchase property from those who want to move out of the floodway but can find no market for their current home.
For the 21st consecutive year, Switzerland County will host a horse pull this Saturday evening. The pull is an historic as well as an entertaining event. The competition dates back to the days before tractors worked family farms, when plowing and harvesting were done by men and horses, not machines.
Vincent O. Valenzuela, son of Dr. Diego C. and Dr. Fidelia O. Valenzuela of Vevay, graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Saturday, May 31st. He earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering.
Kristin L. Sigmon, daughter of Jerry and Diane Sigmon of near Lamb, was among 1,500 students who participated in commencement exercises at Indiana State University Saturday, May 10th. She earned a bachelor of science degree in management information systems.
15 YEARS AGO
Switzerland County High School has a new boys basketball coach. Steve Goddard, 34, was unanimously approved as the coach of the Pacers at Tuesday’s meeting of the Switzerland County school board. He succeeds Bernie Burk, whose coaching contract was not renewed by the school board after the end of last season. The school board also unanimously voted to rehire Wayne Ellegood as girls basketball coach.
Melissa K. Hughes of Vevay was among 107 students receiving a Juris Doctor in Law degree on May 16th from the Salmon P. Chase School of Law, located on the campus of Northern Kentucky University at Highland Heights, Kentucky. She is the daughter of Ralph and Betty Hughes of Florence. Melissa and her husband, Mark McNair, celebrated their first wedding anniversary May 14th. Despite being on crutches from a broken foot and totaling her car the last day of school, it was a happy occasion with family and friends honoring her with a graduation party at the Vevay Red Brick Inn.
20 YEARS AGO
Ruth Lohide of Indianapolis will be installed as the Grand Guardian of the Grand Guardian Council of Indiana, International Order of Job’s Daughters, Saturday, June 27th. The ceremonies will take place at DePauw University in Greencastle.
Carl and Hazel Brown of Vevay will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary with an open house at their home on June 21st.
Eslie and Gladys Alford of Fairview announce the engagement of their daughter Dena to Robert Pope of Newburgh, Indiana. An August 1st wedding is being planned.
An early morning fire destroyed the home of Mark and Nellie Hewitt on Searcy Ridge. Fire broke out around 2 a.m. Thursday morning and was apparently traced to faulty wiring. Firemen said the family barely escaped the blaze. The Hewitts had moved into the house on Monday from their previous home in Carrollton. They have a one-week-old baby boy.
According to the Farmers Home Administration, a water loan for the Town of Patriot was closed June 9th. The $968,000 FmHA loan enabled the town of expand its water supply, add a distribution system, and construct water storage tanks. The loan will be repaid over a period of 40 years.
30 YEARS AGO
Doris Eads has been appointed acting principal at Pleasant School, and Jay Cason has decided to resign as assistant principal at Switzerland County High School.
The Switzerland County school board is proceeding with plans to build two tennis courts, a $15,000 project made possible by a grant of $10,000 from a local industry. To the $10,000 will be added $5,000 of school corporation funds. The tennis courts will be located behind the high school.
Martha Rowland recently graduated from Indiana University School of Nursing, receiving her bachelor of science degree in nursing at commencement exercises on May 14th. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jay C. Rowland of Cross Plains.
40 YEARS AGO
Mrs. Norma Ake of Fairview, a short-wave radio operator for the Civil Air Patrol, Auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Lt. Col. Ake and her husband, Charles Ake, are the parents of Major Charles W. Ake, Jr., of Cincinnati, who is commander of Group One, Ohio Wing, Cincinnati Area, with 11 squadrons under his command. Major Ake, a graduate of Vevay High School, is the youngest major in the Civil Air Patrol in the United States.
U.S. Army Pvt. Charles L. Purnell’s unit, the 541st Transportation Company, was recently presented a meritorious unit commendation at An Khe, Vietnam. Pvt. Purnell, son of Mrs. Charlotte I. Walker of route 1, Vevay, is a truck driver in the company.
Pvt. Roger D. Brindley, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse M. Brindley of Vevay, has completed eight weeks of military police training at the Army Training Center, Ft. Gordon.
Army Pvt. Terry L. McAlister is assigned to Company D, 11th Battalion, 3d Brigade at Fort Knox, Kentucky in the U.S. Army Training Center Armor. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William McAlister of route 2, Vevay.
Congressman Lee H. Hamilton and Senators Vance Hartke and Birch Bayh today urged that the proposed interstate bridge over the Ohio River at the Markland Dam be constructed as quickly as possible. In a letter to Governor Roger Branigin expressing their full support for the project, the Indiana lawmakers pointed out that $100,000 was authorized by Indiana General Assembly for a feasibility study on the proposed bridge.
50 YEARS AGO
The restaurant on Main Street recently known as the VVL&M, has been purchased by Mrs. Martha Sloan and her son Paul and will be operated under the name of “Paul’s Place.”
Recent reports that high school students in York Township will come to Vevay next fall were confirmed this week by an announcement from the office of County Superintendent of Schools Charles B. Noble. The announcement said that York Township Trustee Walter D. Ricketts, acting on request “from a large majority of the citizens of York Township,” has completed arrangements for the transfer. The Vevay school board accepted the transfer proposal at a recent meeting.
The 30th wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Cole was celebrated Saturday with a dinner which was given by Mr. and Mrs. William Cole at their home in Mount Sterling.
A special Switzerland County caravan of blood donors will travel to Madison Thursday, June 20th, to give blood for the Red Cross blood bank ow in the midst of a crisis that threatens to end the program. Sponsored by the Vevay Jaycees, with the full cooperation of the local Red Cross chapter, the caravan will depart from the courthouse in Vevay at 5 p.m. Thursday.
60 YEARS AGO
The Reverend Betty Phillips, pastor of the Christian Apostolic Tabernacle on lower Pike Street here, was united in marriage to Floyd Thompson of this county Thursday evening, May 29th, by Elder George Carlyle of the church in Indianapolis.
The residents of Switzerland County who like a good hillbilly show will get the opportunity to see and hear one next week when the Renfro Valley folk come to town.
Miss Barbara Pickett, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tilley Pickett of near Long Run, and Robert M. Cole, son of Mr. and Mrs. Milton S. Cole of Indian Creek, were united in marriage in Madison June 4th by Reverend Frederick Daubenbis.
Miss Doris Ann McNary, daughter of County Agent and Mrs. O. H. McNary of Vevay, a junior in the school of science, was one of 1,436 students to attain a place on the Distinguished Rating scholastic list at Purdue University for the first semester of the current school year.
Elijah P. Fitzgerald, 51, a resident of Posey Township, lost his life by drowning sometime Sun day in Bryants Creek near Huston Chapel while on a fishing trip.
One of the worst tragedies ever to strike Switzerland County occurred at noon Sunday when two brothers, Dale and Basil Buchanan, met their death in an airplane which crashed on the lawn of their sister’s home in Mount Sterling as they flew low to salute her.
Miss Helen Tilley graduated from Butler University in Indianapolis Monday from which she received her BA degree in the school of liberal arts, in exercises held at butler Field House.
Frank Bittle has sent to this office a giant rhubarb stalk grown at his home in Florence. The stalk-leaf measures 38 inches across and is one of the largest ever seen in this section of the country.
70 YEARS AGO
Switzerland County students at Indiana University who are scheduled to receive degrees in commencement exercises are Alice Brameier and George DuPlan, both of Florence; John W. Jones of Patriot; and Carl S. Culbertson of Vevay.
Florin Muller and Miss Helen Teeter, both of Okeana, Ohio, were united in marriage by the Reverend J. Elmer Knotts at his residence last Thursday morning.
Kiesel Cole has been named director of the Recreation Center here this summer and has already entered upon his duties.
Charles Danner, a prominent farmer of Craig Township, underwent a major operation for acute appendicitis at King’s Daughters’ Hospital in Madison Tuesday afternoon.
Deep wells, source of Vevay’s future water supply, are now being driven on the site of the new power plant.
Mrs. Raymond Roberts narrowly escaped fatal injury near Five Points Sunday afternoon when the car in which she was riding collided with an auto driven by Jackie Lorch of that community.
Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Conner quietly celebrated her 93rd birthday last Sunday at her home at Enterprise.
80 YEARS AGO
The body of Luther Barnhill, 16-year-old boy who was drowned at Lamb Saturday night, June 4th, was found floating in the Ohio River one mile west of Brooksburg Thursday afternoon.
The Farmers Telephone Exchange in Vevay, recently purchased by J. V. Richart of Seymour, will be rebuilt immediately and lines will be placed in operation in the shortest possible time.
Harry Stow, Forrest Brown, and Everett Scudder, Switzerland County bank guards, went to Indianapolis Monday and competed in a state shooting match.
Automobiles driven by Gaylord Reed and W. L. Mennett collided on the narrow strip of road at the Danglade farm near Vevay Sunday night.
The Leander Scudder home near Patriot and Fuller’s camp nearby, were each burglarized last Monday afternoon.
Sixty relatives of Mrs. Mary E. Conner met at the park at East Enterprise Sunday, June 121th, to celebrate her 82nd birthday.
Miss Abbie Coleman, well known Vevay woman, was attacked by a lizard in the yard of her home last week but was not injured.
A one-story dwelling house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Herman McKenzie on Dry Fork was destroyed by fire last Saturday morning at 11 o’clock.
90 YEARS AGO
The contracts for the improvements and additions to the Vevay School plant were let last Thursday to Jasper N. Good of Columbus for the round sum of $6,000.
Mr. and Mrs. Jordan R Houze of East Enterprise announce the engagement of their daughter, Alma, to Robert Jamieson Emerson of Louisville, Kentucky.
100 YEARS AGO
George N. Reeves, Jr., of Markland has just finished his second year in the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and is home for his vacation. Mr. Reeves is making a record of which the county may well be proud. He stands 23rd in a class of 193.
Al Landrum of Long Run was badly hurt Friday by a horse rearing and striking him on the head with both forefeet, cutting two deep gashes in his head and bruising his shoulder.
Knox Jamison has returned home from Lexington where he was employed the past year as instructor in the academic department of the Kentucky State College.
A son was born June 9th to Sam Reed and wife of Lamb.
E.S. Couch and Eugene Broadwell of Patriot were injured by the breaking of a scaffold while roofing a barn on the Cofield farm in Steeles Bottom, Kentucky.
120 YEARS AGO
Oliver D. Cunningham and Miss Mamie C. Craig were married Sunday evening at the residence of Thomas Armstrong, Esquire, at Florence.
Joe Gilbert has a large, handsome new express and passenger wagon, nicely cushioned, easy springs, and is ready to deliver packages and carry passengers to and from boats or any part of the city.
Vevay Post Office, situated in the store of C. O. Thiebaud, was entered last Thursday night and about $4 in change taken. No arrests have been made.
130 YEARS AGO
A horse which J. H. Netherland was driving in a buggy last Monday morning became frightened and finally unmanageable, throwing Mr. Netherland out and running away, smashing the buggy to pieces. Mr. Netherland was only slightly bruised.
S. B. Miller has purchased the tin shop of George McAdams and he and Charles McAdams have formed a partnership and will continue the business.
140 YEARS AGO
Meetings were held at Siebenthal’s Mill and Moorefield last Friday for the purpose of raising money to build a road to Moorefield.
At a special meeting of Trustees of this place last Thursday night, a tax of 25 cents on each $1100 real and personal property in Vevay School District was levied for school purposes.