News compiled by Ginny Leap from past issues of
Switzerland County newspapers
10 YEARS AGO
This year’s Swiss Wine Festival drew huge crowds over the first three days, and even Sunday’s rainstorms failed to dampen the spirits of most visitors. Thursday’s crowd witnessed a bit of Swiss Wine Festival history in the making, as Natasha Schroeder was crowned the first-ever Miss Edelweiss Teen Princess. First runnerup in the pageant was Misty Wegman, followed by second runnerup Anne Donnellon and third runnerup Natasha Duke.
Two separate traffic accidents at opposite ends of Switzerland County’s River Road resulted in four deaths in two days, Monday and Tuesday of this week. Three persons, all of them well known in the local community, were killed at about 11 o’clock Monday morning in an accident on River Road six miles west of Vevay, near Patton Hollow Road. Angela Banta, 22, of Big Doe Run near Moorefield, was traveling west on Highway 56 when her 1996 Ford Thunderbird went off the right side of the roadway. Investigators believe she over compensated in trying to steer the car back onto the road and lost control, sliding sideways down the highway. A 1995 Pontiac Transport van driven by Lloyd Harris, 81, of Madison, accompanied by his wife, Burnetta, 80, was traveling east on Highway 56. The Harrises’ van topped a hill in the road when it met Angela Banta’s vehicle. The two cars collided, sending the Angela Banta vehicle off the south side of the road. Randall Campbell, 42, of Union, Kentucky, died in a one-vehlcle accident Tuesday night on River Road two miles west of Patriot, near North Bend Farm.
15 YEARS AGO
Christy Covington, daughter of Jerry and Linda Bolden, Florence, and Darren Swanson, son of Carroll and Daisy Swanson, Bennington, will be married September 5th at Caledonia Presbyterian Church near Moorefield.
Evelyn Griffin of Vevay and Daniel Griffin of Carrollton announce the engagement of their daughter, Wendy Lee Griffin, to Mark May, son of Mr. and Mrs. Larry May of Madison. An October wedding is planned.
Diane Pitstick, second grade teacher at St. Mary, Help of Christians Catholic School in Fairborn, Ohio, recently was presented with an “Excellence” in Teaching Award.” Mrs. Pitstick is the daughter of Raymond P. and Pat Osborn of Madison, formerly of Vevay. She is the granddaughter of Raymond A. Osborn of Vevay.
Mr. and Mrs. Jim Alexander, East Enterprise, announce the coming marriage of their daughter Christy Elaine to David Paul Hewitt, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Hewitt, Rising Sun. The wedding will take place at the Rising Sun Church of Christ Saturday, September 5th.
20 YEARS AGO
Dale Hastings of Vevay celebrated his 90th birthday August 19th. Mr. Hastings was honored with a small celebration at his home by his niece Lauretta Borgman and Roberta Britton and received many cards from friends and neighbors.
Sandra Jo and Eddie Konkle of route 2, Vevay, will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary Sunday, August 30th, with an open house. The reception will be held at the home of their eldest son, Steven Konkle, 512 East Main Street in Vevay.
Wayne Edwards of Vevay says there is a secret to growing potatoes — you have to plant them by the Farmer’s Almanac. It must work, because his crop yielded about five bushels per row, and that included some heavyweights. The five potatoes he brought to Vevay Newspapers weighed a total of eight pounds.
30 YEARS AGO
Construction crews are busily at work trying to complete the improvements on the Indian Creek bridge that has kept a portion of S.R. 56 closed to all traffic between Vevay and Madison. Scheduled to have been completed about one week ago, the project foreman predicts the bridge will be open to traffic early in September.
Mrs. Mabel May of Lake Geneva Road brought two of her prized cantaloupes by the newspaper office. The largest one weighed 13.4 pounds. She grows the fruit in her backyard garden.
Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Truitt will celebrate their 50-year golden wedding anniversary August 21st.
Mrs. Hazel Hankins of Vevay announces the engagement and approaching marriage of her daughter, Hazel Margaret, to Ernest Leslie Rilki, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Rilki, Elmhurst, Illinois.
40 YEARS AGO
Cadet Michael M. Simmons, 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Simmons of route 1, Vevay, is undergoing bayonet training while attending Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps summer at Fort Riley, Kansas.
U.S. Marine Corporal Paul Hizer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry G. Hizer of route 2, Vevay is supporting the National Rifle and Pistol Matches at Camp Perry as a member of the Marine Range Support Detachment.
Terry Lee Ellis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Ellis of route 1, Patriot, and a graduate of Patriot High School, has enlisted in the U.S. Navy. Upon completion of recruit training he will receive 14 days leave, afterwhich he will be assigned to a service school, or to a ship or station.
Kenneth J. LaVelle, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon H. LaVelle of route 1, Patriot, enlisted August 8th in the U.S. Navy and has reported to Great Lakes, (Illinois) Naval Station.
U.S. Army privates William B. Frazier and Dennis E. Briggs, both Switzerland County natives, are assigned to Company C, 17th Battalion, Fifth Brigade, at the U.S. Army Training Center, Armor, Fort Knox, Kentucky.
U.S. Army Private Raymond E. Spencer, 25, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Spencer and wife Cheryl live in Vevay, was high scorer on the proficiency test held at the end of his company’s basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
The planning and struggling of 6 1/2} years at last began to bear fruit this week as excavations and earth-moving began on the purchased site of a new consolidated Switzerland County high school.
50 YEARS AGO
Mrs. Adrian Deming of Vevay has as her interesting house guest Miss Younghee Rhee of Seoul, Korea, who is a student in Kent State (Ohio) University. The friendship between Mrs. Deming and the Rhee family (distant relatives of Korean President Syngman Rhee) dates from the time that Miss Rhee’s father, William J. Rhee, was a student in Jefferson High School in West Lafayette where Mrs. Deming, then Miss Bernice Young, was a teacher.
Mr. and Mrs. John W. Land of Rockford, Michigan, formerly of Florence, observed their 50th wedding anniversary on August 15th. The date also marked the 25th anniversary of their residence in Rockford.
Mr. Eugene Spencer, cashier of the First National Bank of Vevay, was elected as a Lieutenant Governor of the Indiana District of Kiwanis International, at the group’s state convention Tuesday at French Lick.
The 95th birthday of Mrs. Abbie Danglade was observed Sunday at the home of Mrs. J. K. Danglade with a family dinner.
Four local men were initiated into membership in the Vevay Lions Club Tuesday night. The new Lions are Lee Nally, Russell Coy, Paul White and Ira Ashcraft. Accordian music for the program was provided by Carol Ann Hardin and Marcella Boulton.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Boggs and their three children, Jerry, Dawn and Larry of Craig Township, represent one of the eighteen families in Indiana with outstanding records in 4-H club work, who were selected to explain 4-H activities during the Indiana state fair.
A major change in rural mail delivery in this area is to go into effect September 1st, when the present Brooksburg post office is closed. Rural deliveries will actually be affected on September 3rd (first working day of the month), and Brooksburg office proper will not close its doors until September 30th.
In an all white wedding performed August 178th in the Camden Avenue Christian Church, Louisville, Kentucky, at 3:30 p.m. Miss Joann Buck, daughter of Reverend and Mrs. Frank Buck of that city became the bride of Jerry McKay, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde McKay of Braytown.
60 YEARS AGO
Dr. Robert C. Briggs, minister of Switzerland Baptist Church since October 15th, 1944, resigned his pastorate Sunday morning and will accept a position to teach Greek and the New Testament at Union University in Jackson, Mississippi.
The marriage of Miss Helen Tilley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Tilley and Dr. J. Robert McKay, son of Mr. and Mrs. James J. McKay of Valparaiso, was solemnized Wednesday, August 20th, at Vevay Presbyterian Church.
Miss Edith Mitchell of Cincinnati and Joseph E. Sexton of Dayton, Ohio, were united in marriage at the residence of the Reverend K. O. Potts of Carrollton, Kentucky August 16th.
The home of George Madary, an aged resident of this town, was broken into last week by thieves who stole a total of $38 from a pair of pants that were hanging on a door in the old gentleman’s bedroom.
George M. Morris, Jr., of Bennington and K. Wood Bowling of Fairview, who are stationed at Camp Dan in Pampange, Philippines, had the pleasure of meeting each other recently and enjoying talks of old times in Switzerland County.
70 YEARS AGO
Relatives have been notified of the marriage of Miss Anna Katherine Peters and John Greenfield Saturday evening, August 21st, in Los Angeles, California.
Miss Jessiebell Bennett, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Bennett of East Enterprise, was united in marriage to Gerald Coy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Coy of Bethel Ridge.
Louis Workman, son of Mr. and Mrs. William Workman of Aurora, and Miss Ardella Whitham, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charley Whitham of Allensville were united in marriage August 14th at the M. E. parsonage at Hartsville by the Reverend Royal Canfield.
Ross Jackson, of near Bennington, has brought us a pair of giant cucumbers, joined together on one side their entire length. The “Siamese Twins” weigh a total of three pounds.
Ben Lamson leads all others so far for large tomatoes. This last week he brought us one weighing one pound and 15 ounces from his garden on Tell Street.
Miss Mabel Rix and Carlyle Branham were united in marriage Monday, August 23rd, at Fairmount with the bride’s father, the Reverend W. E. Rix, officiating.
80 YEARS AGO
Despondent because of domestic trouble, Hubert Tyler, 26, committed suicide last Thursday morning at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Willard S. Tyler, at Aberdeen.
Riley Land, retired businessman of Vevay, is one man in a million, according to physicians. He has the distinction of having his heart on the right side of his body.
Wilbur McKay, 35, formerly of Vevay, but now a resident of Greenville, Ohio, was seriously injured Sunday afternoon while working on his automobile.
90 YEARS AGO
John C. Heady has been a business visitor in Louisville this week. While there he purchased the gasoline towboat, “Caroline”, which he will use to carry freight to and from Louisville.
William O. Protsman and Arlington O’Neal, trading under the firm name of Protsman & O’Neal, have dissolved partnership.
100 YEARS AGO
A large barn belonging to Lincoln Means, who lives a short distance north of Vevay, was burned to the ground last Sunday night and the deed is supposed to have been that of an incendiary.
Tracy Adams, formerly of this city, and Miss Jessie Wolf, daughter of Frank Wolf and wife of Jefferson County were quietly married in Indianapolis August 29th. They will reside in Connersville where Mr. Adams has a splendid position.
John Licking and Miss Alice McLain of Cross Plains were married August 28th by the Reverend S. D. Ward.
120 YEARS AGO
Captain Isaac Turner, wharfmaster for the past four years, has sold his wharfboat to Captain J. E. Williams and has retired from the business.
Nat M. Fallis is walking with crutches, the result of a severely sprained ankle.
Ernest Danglade, who has been a student in Butchel College, Akron, Ohio, has been appointed assistant in the chemical laboratory. He will return to college next Sunday.
Last night a good horse belonging to Elisha Brown was stolen from a hitching post in front of Dr. Van Pelt’s office.
130 YEARS AGO
The Reveille office is being removed to Shaw’s building at the corner of Ferry and Market square, second story over the post office.
Jerome B. Franklin and Alice McCallum were married August 22nd by the Reverend Samuel Adkinson.
Dr. J. H. Shadday has removed his office into the LeClerc House.
Downey Woods and Miss Tella Moore of Ohio County were married last week.
A son was born last week to Fred Huffman and wife of Quercus Grove.
Bessie Noble and Arlington Scudder, both of York Township, were issued a marriage license last week.
Amanda H. Thode of Denver, Colorado, and Miss Lottie Francis Wallick were married last week at the home of the bride’s parents, W. H. Wallick and wife at Edgewater, Colorado. The bride has many friends in this community.
A daughter was born to Charles Pavy and wife of Allensville August 23rd.
140 YEARS AGO
Next Monday the Vevay public schools will commence in Vevay. Our schools are yearly growing better and attracting scholars from all the surrounding counties.
Those wishing to subscribe for their share of the $10,000 for the building of the C & N.A. railroad through this county should call upon U.P. Schenck who is in possession of the subscription paper.
Vevay markets: Onions, 45 cents to 50 cents per bushel; corn 60 cents per bushel; hay $10 per ton; wheat $1.75 per bushel; potatoes 60 cents per bushel; eggs 10 cents per dozen; butter 25 cents per pound.
150 YEARS AGO
Married August 15th, John Winteyer and Phoebe Kibby. On the 8th, Robert See and Nancy J. Keith.
There will be a Sabbath School celebration held near Antioch church on the second day of September.