Macel Hawkins, 105, of Oxford, Ohio, passed away Saturday, March 27, 2021, at the Knolls of Oxford, Ohio, where she had been a resident since 2011.
She was born December 24, 1915, in Irvine, Kentucky.
She married Beedie Hawkins, and together they moved to Oxford, Ohio, for residence.
Macel worked for Capitol Dry Cleaning for many years, and then went on to work at Miami University. After retirement, she moved to Winchester, Kentucky for 15 or 16 years until moving back to Oxford in 2011.
Survivors include four grandchildren, Donald Randy (Sandy) Buttery of West College Corner, Dani Buttery of Connersville, Scotty Buttery of Liberty, and Kandy Hutchins of Hamilton, Ohio; nine great grandchildren; 13 great-great grandchildren; and a number of nieces and nephews.
She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Beedie Hawkins; a daughter, Winnette Hawkins; a great-grandson, Eric Buttery; and a number of brothers and sisters.
Friends may visit from 12 p.m. until 1 p.m., Wednesday, March 31, 2021 at Trinity Holiness Church in West College Corner. A funeral service will be conducted the same day at 1:00 p.m. at the church. Miller, Moster, Robbins Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. Burial will be in Beechwood Cemetery, Morning Sun, Ohio.
Online condolences may be made anytime at millermosterrobbins@hotmail.com.
Tammy Renee Van Duyn, 50, of Connersville, passed away Sunday, March 28, 2021, at Reid Health, Richmond.
She was born May 20, 1970, in Rushville, to David Mounce and Janet Smallwood Mounce Littleton.
Tammy worked at Roberta’s Unique Garden in Waldron, for more than 20 years as a supervisor. Later, she was employed with Zenith Healthcare as a home health assistant in Indianapolis for a number of years. Later in life, she spent her time as a devoted homemaker.
In her leisure, she enjoyed mushroom hunting, shopping, and being involved and spending time with her children. She also enjoyed collecting Longaberger baskets and bears.
Survivors include three children, Alicia (Arnie Banawa) Van Duyn of Indianapolis, Cody Van Duyn of Connersville, and Dustin Van Duyn of Shelbyville; her mother, Janet Littleton of Olive Hill, Kentucky; three brothers, David Mounce of Olive Hill, Kentucky, Shelby Lee (Pauline) Mounce of Clarksburg, and Eldon Littleton of Olive Hill, Kentucky; an aunt, Kathy (Daniel) Roberts of Oldenburg; a fiancé, Garry Phares of Connersville; and a number of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.
She is preceded in death by her father, David Mounce, her step-father, Eldon Littleton, and an uncle, Ernie Smallwood.
Friends may visit from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., Thursday, April 1, 2021 at Miller, Moster, Robbins Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m., the same day at the funeral home with Pastor Rob Edwards officiating. Burial will be in Hopewell Cemetery.
Online condolences may be made anytime at millermosterrobins.com.
Indiana Department of Transportation press release
Indiana Department of Transportation contractor Dave O’Mara Contractor Inc. plans to begin work in early April on a $5.6 million resurface contract along Indiana 1 in Dearborn County. Patching, milling and paving will take place between Ind. 46 near St. Leon and U.S. 50 near Greendale.
Crews will start with preliminary construction operations, followed by patching later in the month. Work will take place under daytime lane closures with flagging and is expected to be complete by October 30.
Motorists are reminded to slow down, use extra caution, and drive distraction-free through all work zones. All work is weather-dependent and schedules are subject to change.
There are two portable speed bumps along Church Street/Alley in Brookville.
According to Brookville Town Manager Tim Ripperger, the speed bumps are between Fifth and Sixth streets and Sixth and Seventh streets along the alley.
This move came after a request from a town resident. She first stated the need on social media, saying vehicles were speeding down the alley near where her children played. She was concerned about their safety. Her comment was answered by BTC President Curtis Ward on the social media platform. She then came to a meeting with the same request and the same comment.
Ward asked for a committee to be formed from town council members and for the members to meet with town officials to see what would be needed to help the situation. BTC members Catherine Pelsor and Eric Johnson were joined in a meeting by park and street department supervisor Brent Riehle and Brookville Police Department Chief Terry Mitchum.
Ripperger said the speed bumps are being placed in those two locations on a trial basis. Ripperger said he is waiting on comments about the speed bumps and to the date of the March 23 meeting, he had received no comments.
The same task force looked at how to do parking for a new daycare center in the old Elsie Dreyer Nursing Home buildings located at Third and Main streets.
Ripperger said the proposal was to have the alley, which runs north and south behind the daycare, be a one-way alley. Entry would be from the north, head south and then unload and load behind the daycare off the alley.
Vehicles would then exit onto St. Michael’s Boulevard on the east, and St. Michael Boulevard would also be one-way there heading east, Ripperger said.
This was the proposal to keep from having a traffic backup on Third Street and then back up to Main Street.
Also, there had been a proposal to have two places beside the daycare center along Third Street reserved just for daycare parking. However, Ripperger said Mitchum was against this option, and it was because of the same fear the traffic would back up on Third Street and onto Main waiting for those two parking places to be vacant. Instead, Mitchum would like to see a no-parking zone there with the curb painted yellow.
Ward said there is also the fear if parking is allowed beside the daycare, the permanent residents in the area would take up the parking spaces.
Having St. Michaels Boulevard one-way east would allow residents in that area to get out even when the daycare is busy with drop offs and pickups, Ripperger said.
A stop sign will be placed at the alley’s exit onto St. Michael’s Boulevard, Ripperger said.
Ward and BTC member Brooke Leffingwell said council could revisit the yellow curb area in the future if needed.
Ward asked Ripperger to write a letter to Franklin County Area Plan Director Cindy Orschell as the Franklin County Board of Zoning Appeals asked that traffic changes be made. The BZA gave an approval for a variance sought by the daycare owners at the BZA’s March meeting with the condition there is a change in the traffic patterns to facilitate safe drop offs and pickups and to have no traffic backups on Main Street.
Brookville Town Council members talked at length at their meeting, Tuesday, March 23, about what the pool rates and hours will be at Brookville’s new aquatic center.
BTC members Catherine Pelsor and Brooke Leffingwell met as council’s pool committee to work out rates, hours and employee pay scale for the pool. After the committee meeting, Leffingwell made a spread sheet with 18 different scenarios based on the different possible pool hours, days open, pay schedule and possible pool rates.
Leffingwell said she did not expect the pool to make money, but wanted to get as close as possible to a break even. However, she warned her cost figures were for possible personnel wages only and did not address ancillary costs such as utilities and equipment.
When previous town councils decided to go through with the building of the new aquatic center after the failing of the original Heap Memorial Pool, the fact the pool lost money annually and would need to be subsidized by the town government was taken into consideration.
Leffingwell’s spread sheet was based on different factors. These included the pool’s overall opening and closing schedule: Memorial Day to Labor Day, Memorial Day to August 4 (start of school) and Memorial Day to August 4 and then weekends through Labor Day.
Also there were options for daily hours for each scheduling option: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and noon to 7 p.m. And, after school starts, the daily hours could be 4-7 p.m.
Another factor was possible pay scales.
When it came to rates, Leffingwell figured in different scenarios which included different rates for residents and non residents.
Pelsor said she thought the opening time for the pool should be noon. BTC President Curtis Ward said Beth Foster, school board member, Brookville Redevelopment Commission member, and one of the driving forces behind the pool committee which came up with the donation drive and the aquatic center’s design, said the summer school day ends at noon so noon would also be a good time to open the pool daily.
BTC member Chuck Campbell said Leffingwell did a wonderful job on the spread sheets and thanked her numerous times for her efforts, but said town council members would also have to consider FICA payments the town must make for each employee.
It was the consensus of the town council members to table the matter until the next council meeting on Tuesday, April 13. Ward asked Pelsor and Leffingwell to meet as a committee prior to the next meeting and offer the full council their recommendations for all the factors.
I heard there are many spiritual events intersecting Palm Sunday this year. Does this mean anything?
A:
Yes, I believe it does. Palm Sunday 2021, which marks the triumphal Sunday right before Easter (for those who may need a refresher on Christian holidays), occurs in the middle of two significant events on God’s calendar this year. What do I mean by “God’s calendar”? Let’s take a look at calendars of the Judeo-Christian heritage before we begin:
The human race, at least from the Judeo-Christian worldview, was given a lunisolar (moon and sun) calendar by God. He dictated this calendar…its feasts and holidays; weekly rests and days of the week…to Moses. While Abraham is considered the father of all nations, as well as the founding member of the Jewish and Christian religions, it was Moses who experienced God face to face and who wrote down the Books of the Law (and the Hebrew calendar) as they were dictated directly to him. These books became the Hebrew religion, which then became the foundation of Christianity through Jesus Christ.
The world functioned on this ancient, Hebrew calendar until the Romans, namely Julius Caesar, came along and re-configured it for Gentile use in 708 A.D. Christianity, quickly becoming the world’s most-practiced religion then tweaked the Julian calendar under Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. It is believed this was done to make the Julian calendar more accurate. This Pope-authored calendar is still in use today and is called “The Gregorian.” Our Jewish brothers and sisters continue to follow their ancient, God-given calendar through their religious worship. While both calendars are current and important—as a believer in Christ, I keep my eye on God’s calendar first. He crafted it, and he honors it above all.
Palm Sunday, which is this Sunday, March 28, coincides with not one, but two, overlapping, significant items on the Jewish calendar. Both calendars reveal that our Palm Sunday occurs on Passover (Pesach); the high, holy-feast in celebration of the death angel “passing over” the Hebrew slave-dwellings on the night before their emancipation from Egypt. Passover 2021 also happens to fall on the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat), the holy day of worship and rest for Judeo people.
Why is this overlap of three holy days important? Many reasons: First, it’s a type of trifecta; three significant events which all point to God since they were all authored by him. The number three is used 467 times in the Bible. It is also used to emphasize and proclaim God’s presence or action (Think, “Holy, holy, holy!” as the angels proclaim, ongoing, in heaven.) Judeo-Christian faiths are rooted in three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Three significant gifts were brought to Jesus at his birth (gold, frankincense and myrrh.) And of course, our triune God is made up of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When things happen in threes, look heavenward.
Passover begins at sundown this Saturday night, March 27. Sundown also launches the Jewish Shabbat; their holy Sabbath day of rest and worship. Then, at dawn on Sunday, March 28, Christians celebrate Christ’s kingly entry into Jerusalem on what we call “Palm Sunday.” It is my spiritual, gut-instinct that God is up to something and will make himself known, during or around these three significant events. We may see signs in the heavens, shakings in the earth; strange weather. You may dream spiritual dreams at night (Joel 2) or feel uneasy, elated or unusually quiet and worshipful. Pay attention. God will be speaking to the world.
Be vigilant to stay in prayer whenever possible. And if you are yet maintaining your Lenten fast, you will be particularly susceptible to hearing from God in some way (he always honors the fast.)
These are fascinating times indeed. God is speaking and moving upon the earth. During this opportune time of prayer, let us call his attention to our nation of the United States. We need God’s help right now.
Do you have a question or comment for Pastor Adrienne? Send your inquiries to: info@adriennewgreene.com or write to P.O. Box 214, Harrison, OH 45030. For more information and resources, please visit www.askpastoradrienne.com or the “Ask Pastor Adrienne” YouTube channel for sermons and insights.
Cast members include: Front (seated):Laura Edwards Row 1: L-R Jacoba Hensley, Lily Buerkle, Kalene Dean, Olivia McIntosh, Bethany Noah, Gwen Maddock, Kaylee Vestal, Alexa Gray Back row L-R: Joe Riffle, Avery Burns, Lauren Seibert, Jake Bulmer, Derek Brimhall, Allan Burns, Felicity Bohman, Brianna Bentley, Karly Bergin Crew (not pictured): Chloe Hoffman, Olivia Monroe, Rebecca Johnson, Madison Roberts, Kiya Rains, Faith Marshall, McKenzie Bradley, Ryan Johnson, Nick Harpring, Luke Rosemeyer, Paityn Freese, Dani Bulach, Dominique Adams, & Kierstynn Boyer.
A FCHS Drama Department press release from Adam Hofer, FCHS English teacher and FCHS drama director
Live theater is back at Franklin County High School this spring.
The FCHS drama department is excited to present the musical adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic story, Little Women. Audiences will be transported to the late 1860s as the four March sisters come to life as we join them in their family home alongside their strong mother, Marmee, as well as the formidable, Aunt March. Little Women will be performed on Friday, April 9 and Saturday, April 10, at 7 p.m., with a Sunday matinee on April 11 at 2:30 p.m., in the FCHS auditorium. Tickets will be available at the door for in-person viewing starting 45 minutes prior to the show opening. There will be limited seating capacity for in-person guests. In-person tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students in grades K-12.
In addition to in-person viewing, the drama department will be offering a live-stream option for those who may not be able to attend in person. Live streaming tickets can be purchased by visiting this link: https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/49524. FCHS has taken extra precautions this year to ensure a safe production and in-person guests will be asked to wear masks while in attendance and to be responsible for their own social distancing.
More information about the show can be found on the FCHS Drama Department Facebook page. The show is under the direction of Adam Hofer, Robert Williams, and Candice Murray. Special thanks to Karla Ariens, accompanist and choreographer Bailey Parkhurst, a senior at FCHS.
Little Women: The Broadway Show is written by Allan Knee, lyrics by Warren Casey and music by Jason Howland and is performed with permission through Music Theatre International.
Jerry D. Wall, 82, of Liberty Township, Ohio, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, with his beloved wife, Jan, at his side, after a 13-month stay at Doverwood Village. He was born on February 14, 1939, and is the son of Leo Wall and Orlena Breedlove Wall.
Jerry delivered newspapers at the age of 10, on his bicycle, before he went to school. He also mowed lawns after school, and was a Boy Scout and Eagle Scout. He graduated from Union High School in 1957, and went to work for Renco Drugs until he volunteered for the Army in 1958, where he served his country for five years as a Sergeant F5.
He then went to work for Lomark Drugs for 11 years as district manager. After leaving Lomark Drugs, he was district supervisor and vice president of Mi-Lo Drug chain located in Northern Kentucky. In 1988, he went to work for Carpetland as a salesman, eventually retiring after 32 years, in 2020.
Jerry and his wife, Jan, loved to travel and vacation with friends, and he also enjoyed night fishing with his Dad.
He is survived by his loving wife of 54.5 years, Jan Wall; many nieces and nephews, and special friends and special coworkers.
Jerry was preceded in death by his father, Leo, in 1978, and his mother, Orlena, in 2007.
Visitation for Jerry will be held on Monday, March 29, 2021, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., at Urban Winkler Liberty Funeral Home, 310 North Main St., Liberty, Indiana. The funeral service will begin at 1 p.m., at the funeral home, with Pastor Rob Judd officiating. Burial will follow in College Corner Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to College Corner Fire Department or the Union County Cancer Society.
Denham Bryon Payton, 81, of Connersville passed away late Thursday evening, March 25, 2021, at his residence.
Friends may visit from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at Miller, Moster, Robbins Funeral Home. A funeral service will be conducted at 1 p.m., the same day at the funeral home with Pastor John Reynolds officiating. Burial will be in Dayton National Cemetery with military honors.
