Flash Backs

Gleaned from the Howard County News
We were only able to use a portion of this in the printed edition.  Enjoy and look for names you know.
August 1951

State Bank of Greentown Gets the “New Look”

   Another community landmark started undergoing a transformation this week when the State Bank of Greentown began to shed its familiar grey cement blocks and lost its “leaning” second floor.
   The redecoration—in the offing for some time—is expected to be completed within the next few months.
   The building was originally constructed in 1905-6 by Billy Manring and J.P. Kightlinger, who operated a furniture store there for three years.
   Blocks for construction were shipped from Bluffton by one of the earliest cement block companies in this section.
   Manring and Kightlinger traded the building to Turner and Robinson of Casey, Ill., who started the Farmers and Merchants Bank on Jan. 1, 1910.
   The State Bank of Greentown, so named in 1903, bought the building and took over in May of 1912, absorbing the Farmers and Merchants.  The State Bank, until that time, had offices in the building now occupied by the Cigar Store.
   New construction will drop the ceiling of the bank an estimated four feet.  An L-shaped counter will be installed, with a five-foot lobby on the side.  Four teller windows will be on the counter.  Officers will be in the rear.  Tentative plans call for a private meeting room and the addition of a safety deposit vault.
   Brick will start to be laid next week and the present glass window in the front removed.

Jr. Legion Ball Club See Double Header at Chicago Sunday

   Members of the Greentown Junior Legion Baseball team were treated to an all-day outing to Chicago Sunday by the American Legion and co-sponsors of the ball club, the Ford Home.
   The afternoon was spent at Wrigley Field watching the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburg Pirates split a doubleheader.  After the games they
ate dinner at the Phil Schmidt Restaurant in Whiting.
   Members enjoying the trip were Mark Garber, George Torre, Amos Kelly, Ray Lamb, Keith Slaughter, Larry Larowe, Dick Sanborn, Ronnie Wilson, Joe Wisler, Larry Harper, Johnnie Wilson, Charles Cogdell and Freddie Mast.
   Adults accompanying the boys were Lowell Lantz and Don Martin, coaches, Ross Wyrick and Frank Conway of the Ford Home, Oren Zook, Commander of the local Legion Post and Kenneth Shrock, Verl Schrock, Don Wright, Floyd Neyhart, Vic Harper and Eugene Larowe.

Around the Town Pump

   The obstacle course that drivers have had to run the past few weeks in getting from Greentown to Kokomo or back again sort of reminds one of those weeks, some two decades ago, when State Highway 22 was first coming into its own.
   The decision to pave the road through Greentown’s main thoroughfare meant then, and still means, a great deal to the Town Pump Community.
   There’s many an older young lady in town that will remember the influx of the road crew—one group in particular.  They were a young group, gay and in some cases, right nice looking, and when the day’s work was done, many of them returned to their rented temporary homes in Greentown for an evening of singing, laughing and general good fun.
   But the day came, of course, when the work on the road was completed and they left their new acquaintances and moved on to another job—and more new acquaintances.
   When this crew had removed themselves and all their heavy equipment, road signs and left-over bags of cement, they left behind them a long, white strip of paved highway of which citizens in this area were quite proud.
   It’s taken quite a beating in the past twenty years and surely needs the repair and resurfacing it is now undergoing.
   But when it was new, its dedication was a gala affair.

August 1971


Eastern Runners at Training Camp

   It’s not cross-country season yet, but some Eastern runners are getting an early start on working into shape.
   Wayne Frakes, cross-country coach at Eastern High School, has taken 11 members of his team to Warren Dunes State Park, Michigan, for some camping-out and a lot of exercise at his own cross-country camp.
   Frakes stated the boys will have work-outs twice a day; before breakfast at about 6:15 when they will run 10 miles, and around 4 p.m. for another five mile leg.  Most of the running, said Frakes, is done in sand.
   Frakes noted he does all the cooking, but the boys do most of the clean-up work.
   The group, which left Wednesday, Aug 18, will camp in a tent-trailer and another tent, and spend seven nights at the training camp, returning to Greentown on Aug. 25.

New Phone Service Begins Today for Indiana Bell Patrons

   Indiana Bell begins Thursday providing a new service to Greentown that permits one and two party line telephone callers to dial station to station calls without the operator’s aid.
   The new system – automatic number identification (ANI) – will be completely in effect by the weekend of Sept 3, said R.P. Ross, manager.
   He said the system automatically records the calling number and reduces billing errors.

Brothers Realty Opens Office

   Greentown has a new business.  Located in the downtown area at 107 N. Meridian St., Brothers Realty of Greentown is now in operation. 
   Housed in the former office of Bob’s Real Estate, Brothers Realty of Greentown is owned by Brothers Construction and Realty, Inc., Kokomo.  However, the Greentown office will be operated independently of the parent company.
   Brothers Realty will be managed by Mrs. Gene (Vera) Hanaway, 921 U.S. 35 East, Greentown.
   Mrs. Hanaway’s husband, Gene, and Bob Elliott, 700 E. and 50 N., Greentown, former owner of Bob’s Real Estate both hold brokers licenses and will be associated with the new business.

Residents Organize Committee to Search for Doctor

   A committee has been formed in Greentown to begin the search for a new doctor to take care of the area’s health needs when Dr. L.D. Denton retires, Sept. 1.
   The group has elected officers and issued a call this week for help from all citizens in this area.
   Robert Hill, immediate past president of the Greentown Lions Club and active in bringing a dentist to Greentown, is chairman of the doctor committee.  Dr. William Begeman, the new dentist here, is vice chairman.  James Bannon, publisher of the Howard County News, is secretary and Donald Wright, president of the State Bank of Greentown, is treasurer.
   Other members of the committee are Donald Maple and Worth Rudy, both retired Greentown businessmen; Robert Hutto, local druggist; Gene Pickett, owner of Pickett Funeral Home; Dr. B.J. Matchett, local veterinarian; Richard Zirkle, president of the Greentown Glass Museum, and Dr. Denton.
   “We think bringing a new doctor to Greentown will be a difficult task and will take the co-operation of all in the community,” Hill said this week.  “If anyone knows of a doctor who might be willing to relocate in Greentown, please contact the Howard County News.”

Ala Cart Lunch Line Added at Eastern

   Starting with the beginning of school Eastern students will have a choice of the regular Grade A lunch or going through a newly added Ala Cart Line, according to Cedric Wise, principal.
   The new line will offer the following choices and prices:  sandwiches, 35 cents; French fries, 20 cents; choice of salads, 20 cents; choice of desserts, 20 cents; milk-ice tea-lemonade, 10 cents; a salad and crackers, 35 cents.
   The regular school lunch price is 45 cents.
   All extras must be purchased from Ala Cart line, said Wise.

August 1981


Boy Prevents Death

   As a result of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation training at Eastern Middle School, 14-year-old Brain Nelson of Greentown Estates recently saved the life of John Scott, 6, of Kokomo.
   Nelson and his parents, Ralph and Loraine Nelson, were at the Skyland Motel in Gatlinburg, Tenn., June 27 when Scott, the son of Cam and Shari Lynn Scott of the Country Rebels Band, fell in the motel’s pool.
   Nelson, who was swimming nearby, saw the incident and administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, reviving the youngster.
   Scott was taken by ambulance to Knoxville Hospital where doctors told his parents Nelson had saved his life.
   The Scotts and the Nelsons were in Gatlinburg for the Top Twenty National Jamboree, a CB radio event.
   Nelson received a large ceramic piggy bank filled with money from the jamboree participants for saving the younger boy’s life, and the Scotts received $300 from another jamboree participant for medical expenses for their son.

Donson Family Boasts ‘World’s Largest Hog’

   Not every family around Greentown can claim it owns the world’s largest hog, but William R. Donson and his family can.
   Apple Jack, a 1,085-pound hog owned by the Donsons, Kokomo RR 4, won that title at the Indiana State Fair last week.
   Last year the hog, which was born on the Donson farm, came in second place in the competition at the fair.
   Carolyn Donson said her son, Jeff, saw the largest hog competition on television in 1979 and requested that they keep the hog, even though he was past his reproduction years.
   “I haven’t decided what’s ahead for him.  He just lies around, eats, drinks and sleeps.  The only thing he can be used for is this show, which is a novelty,” Donson said.
   The hog was named by Jeff after it ate a large number of apples, although Mrs. Donson said Apple Jack has hardly touched apples since.
   Besides the prize winner, the Donsons usually have about 1,500 hogs on their farm, which is northwest of Greentown.

GBA Wants Festival Out of Downtown Area

   Eight Greentown Business Association members voted unanimously Monday evening to send a letter to the town board and museum board requesting that the Greentown Glass Festival be moved out of the downtown area.
   The move is being requested by the GBA because it sometimes interferes with the town businesses during the three days of the annual festival.
   During the festival, a two block area is taken up by rides and booths on Meridian Street, shutting the street off to local traffic.

Local Gymnastics Enthusiasts Form Club

   The sport of gymnastics has acquired a small but loyal following in Greentown and eastern Howard County, according to Jack Dewitt, coordinator of a six-week gymnastics program this summer, and Mike Hamilton, chairman of the newly formed Greentown Gymnastics Club.
   Some 25 girls, ages six through 15, were enrolled in the summer program, which featured instruction on the balance beam, floor exercises and tumbling.
   Hamilton said the girls worked out in the high school gymnasium two hours a day, three days a week.  Monday nights were labeled as “open nights,” giving the girls a chance to work out on their own.
   Because the program has been completed, interested parents are forming the club, an organization which will not be affiliated with Eastern High School, according to Hamilton.
   DeWitt and Hamilton agreed that the girls need a place in Greentown to practice their routines.
   “(They) have to go to Kokomo to work out now,” DeWitt said.  “A few are taking private lessons in Kokomo.”
   To use Eastern’s facilities, DeWitt and Hamilton said the club would have to request the permission of the Eastern School Board.
   “It’s expensive,” DeWitt said of the cost involved in gymnastics.  “There’s a lot of enthusiasm here, not only with the girls, but with the parents, too.  The club could enable the girls to be involved in gymnastics year-round.”

Drill Team Has Camp

   Eastern’s High School drill team has been busy the last two weeks preparing for fall activities with special camps at the school.
   Last week the 22 members of the drill team met for what sponsor Shelly Sager called “a week of intense training,” involving practices during the day and evening.
   Debbie Weiner, an instructor from Columbus, Ohio, taught the girls new routines she had developed and taught at several other camps in the Midwest.
   The girls will perform in four area competitions this fall as well as at home football games.  The drill team, comprised of a flag corps and rifle corps, also performed Aug. 14 at the school for parents and will practice during third period each day during the fall semester.
   Ms. Sager, assistant band director, said each area school now has a drill team.  “It’s become more popular with the professional corps influence,” she said.
   Officers for the flag corps are Laura Mueller, captain; Kris Martin, co-captain and Lynelle Crow, Lieutenant.
   Other members of the corps are Sabrina Aerne, Terri Bougher, Robin Dodrill, Lynn Griffith, Kris Jacobs, Heather Jenkins, Sherry Ledbetter, Debbie Miller, Ann Moor, Becky Retherford, Terri Shane, Annette Smith and Carmen Treber.
   Officers for the rifle corps are Gina Kommans, captain, and Susan Powell, co-captain.  Other members include Tracy Lawbon, Holly Perkins, Kim Shrock and Leslie Taylor.