Post Celina Ohio Trip Contacts

I had mentioned that my only known contact in Celina was Karl Allmandinger before the trip. I made a new friend in Norman “Whitey” Klosterman who I met on Saturday June 13th because of his 1946 Buick 4 Door Sedan. You can read that story here.

I never knew Whitey before but after meeting him he seemed like an old friend that I had known all my life. Whitey called me on Friday June 19th to tell me the article about Brenda and me was in the local paper, The Daily Standard, along with a picture of the two of us.

I had sent Whitey a cassette tape of me singing sacred and secular songs. He is active in the Celina area but grew up in a town five miles away called Coldwater. There is a group of people who get together on occasion for lunch and he was sharing the tape and newspaper article with a person he was giving a ride to the luncheon. She said “I know this fellow! He was in my 9th grade class and lived a block and a half from me! His grandfather used to come to our garage and talk to my dad who repaired lawnmowers.” (Grandpa ended up repairing lawnmowers).

In a few days I received a letter from Marcieta Edmiston Brookhart along with pages out of the 1949 Celina High yearbook which was called ANILEC (Celina spelled backwards). On the Freshman (9th grade) page was my last class I attended in Celina. She marked her picture and mine along with a fellow I had mentioned in the newspaper article named Paul Shiverdecker. Paul was a newspaper boy like me and I sold my Whizzer Motor Bike to Paul when I left Celina. She also sent the Junior (11th Grade) page which had my brother Ben and our mutual friend Helen Howell (Ben’s former girlfriend). Ben also left Celina in 1949 which broke the relationship. Helen married Karl Allmandinger. See the connection?

Her letter prompted me to call her and get some information on my classmates. She seemed to know a lot about this group and I asked her if she was on the reunion committee. YES! I sent her my autobiography and a couple of music items I recorded. She will have them on display along with the newspaper article at the October 11th reunion of the class of 1952.

Marcieta went picture by picture giving me what she knows of each person. It is surprising to me that many have already passed away. Some by accident. I asked about Jim Wagner. She told me that he is a retired Methodist pastor. Jim was a friend of those years and we haven’t had any contact in 60 years since I moved. She gave me his phone number and I called him. He is living in Galloway, Ohio. Dr. James Wagner was home and came to the phone. I mentioned who I was and he couldn’t recall by name our connection. I told him I didn’t call him ’Jim’ but ‘Red’. He laughed and said he did have red hair then. I also told him I took a picture of him and his very good friend Jackson Cole in 1948 next to Grand Lake with my box camera. He hasn’t thought of Jackson since those days as Jackson had moved away as I did. I sent a copy of the picture to him along with some music cassettes and CDs that I had made. Also sent the autobiography that I wrote on my life just to bring him up to date on me.

Dr. James K. Wagner has written a number of books on The Healing Ministry Of The Church published by Upper Room Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee. He was on staff there from 1984 to 1993. Something he specialized in doing in his churches. He sent me a couple of his books. Something I will treasure. He sent me a summary of his personal and work life that was prepared for the 50th Anniversary Reunion of his college graduation in 2006 (same year I celebrated my 50th Anniversary College Reunion). Jim has had an interesting life. It was nice to reconnect with him. We will keep in touch.

We met Whitey who knew Marcieta who remembered me and gave me Jim’s phone number and the beat goes on. Interesting how “Divine Appointments” happen, isn’t it? I am interested in whether or not there will be more contacts from the October 11, 2009 reunion where some of my things will be displayed. I’ll keep you posted.

My brother Ben - his Junior Class picture in 1949.

Helen Howell - Her Junior Class picture in 1949.

Marcieta Edmiston - Her Freshman Class picure in 1949.

Marcieta Edmiston Brookhart church picture taken in 2008.

Jim Wagner and Jackson Cole by Grand Lake taken in 1948.

Dr. James K. Wagner - picture taken off one of his books.

This is my Freshman Class picture taken in 1949 - my last class in Celina.

Back To My Roots - The Daily Standard - Part 7

This is the last of a multi part story of our quick trip to Ohio in June. If you haven’t read the other parts, do so now before this one. That way you will read in order. Thanks.

When I was 9 years old I moved to Celina and soon was offered a paper route with The Daily Standard. I kept that job for 6 years leaving it 60 years ago in September of this year. I was 15 years of age then and moved to Kansas City to live with my Uncle Ray and Aunt Edith Moore. As mentioned earlier, Grandmother was failing in health and I needed another place to live for my last three years of high school.

Since I lived at my uncles and aunts parents home, they came back to see their parents as often as they could. Ray and Edith were there in August of 1949 along with their 18 month old daughter, Kathy, and wrote me a letter after they got home asking me to consider coming to their home to live. I still have that letter in my memory box. That was a big decision and one that had to be made quickly. Grandpa said the decision was mine. Whatever I decide was fine with him.

When I decided to take them up on the offer I had to resign from my paper route and turn it over to my substitute Bob Stein. Bob had subbed for me a number of times over the years and was familiar with the route. I don’t know how long he kept it. I also had to resign from my janitor job at the newspaper office. I asked Parker Snyder for a letter of recommendation and he gave me a nice one. I still have it in my memories. Leaving Celina and the newspaper was very hard for me. Practically all my memories were tied up in both of these places.

My paper route was 150 customers and I delivered six days a week. We didn’t have a Sunday paper then. To my surprise, they still do not issue a Sunday paper. I remember collecting each Saturday morning 20 cents for the week from each customer. Sometimes I would be paid $1 for 5 weeks and had to budget my money paying the bill each week. I took good care of my customers delivering their paper to the porch or behind the screen door in bad weather. Rarely got a missed paper call. In fact, I don’t recall one. Christmas was very good to me as many customers would give me extra money or a gift that a boy would enjoy having as a gift.

When this trip came up I knew I wanted to visit the newspaper office as they have built on twice to the original building. I wrote an email to the paper telling them who I was and that I was taking a trip back to my roots. I worked for Parker Snyder who was the owner publisher at that time. The newspaper was family owned. I didn’t know who would be in charge now but I asked them for a tour of the buildings for Brenda and myself and an interview with a reporter. I felt there was a story in our trip back there that they might want to publish. I received an email response from Frank Snyder who is Parker’s son and the current publisher. Frank has a sister and a brother also working at the office. I got to meet his sister but not his brother. Frank said his family would meet us with someone from the news staff. I made arrangements with them to come over around 8:00 a.m. on Monday June 15th which was our last day in Celina.

We arrive at the office at 8:15 a.m. and were graciously met by Frank Snyder and his sister. I brought my autobiography which had a picture of the The Daily Standard newsboys taken behind the original building. Also an article from Reminisce magazine that I submitted concerning the April 12, 1945 issue of The Daily Standard which was the only paper I kept during my 6 years as a carrier. This was the day that President Roosevelt died and Harry Truman became president. Someone in Celina read the magazine article and took it down to the paper in 2002. On the front page of February 8, 2002 issue of the paper there is a story about me and the article in Reminisce.

I also gave them a couple of music solo recordings that I made in recent years as a gift for their time.

Frank then took Brenda and me for a tour of the buildings. When we got to the old original part I was telling him what were in certain rooms at the time I was there. I could see them in my mind and he was impressed that I could remember so well. I told him about his dad’s office and the collection counter and the line-o-type machines on the next floor up. This was the area that I kept clean during my last year with the company. I earned 50 cents an hour doing that! The old press room is storage now and the line-o-type room holds the archives of the papers issued each year going back many years. We toured the new press room and a picture of that is below. I mentioned that the newspaper boys had a room where we prepared the papers for delivery and he showed us the room. On the outside wall I had taken a picture of four of my fellow carriers with my Ansco Box Camera.

I told Mr. Snyder that I was about to learn how to drive on the 1948 Studebaker pick up truck so I could deliver papers to nearby towns to carriers that would home deliver them. He said that is a job he did when he got started with the company. I moved before I could have that opportunity but his dad really wanted me to do it.

Frank turned me over to Betty Lawrence who is a reporter and has been with the newspaper for 41 years. She knew Parker very well and we talked about him. Parker liked me and kept giving me jobs. Betty spent a lot of time talking to me and taking notes. We went outside for pictures by their staff photographer. The article and picture appeared in the June 19, 2009 issue of the paper on page 3. If you would like a copy, just ask. I don’t have room here to write it out for you. Betty did a nice professional job with the story.

Brenda and I left after doing a video of remembrances outside the building. That was included in my DVD that Brenda and Scott did for me of the entire trip. We left about 10:15 a.m. and headed West to Indianapolis. We allowed plenty of time for the trip to the airport and found that we would be able to meet my brother Bob for lunch around Muncie. I called him and arranged for lunch at the Cracker Barrel in a town near Muncie. Bob, Mary Lou and their son, Bobby had lunch with Brenda and myself. One more time to get together. Since we didn’t do a video remembrance when we were with them on Friday evening and Saturday morning we took the time to do it after lunch. So they are included in the DVD as well.

After lunch it was on the road again for the airport. Turn in the rental car and check in for the flight to Dallas and on to Santa Ana. We had smooth flights coming and going. One reason on the way back was the pilot went between two large storms altering his normal route.

This concludes the stories of the trip. We had a wonderful time and something I will never forget. Thank you Brenda for the idea and flight plans. I made up the itinerary as to where we would go. We worked together very well.

Hope you enjoyed the trip. I did.

We woke up to this scene of sunrise over Grand Lake. This was taken from our room.

Dick standing in front of the new office of The Daily Standard.

This is the original part of the building. The bricked in part behind my head was the original door to the building. The window is the original office where Parker Snyder worked.

Dick with Frank Snyder and his sister. Looking at my book and recordings.

The current press room. Quite different from what I remember.

Dick being interviewed by Betty Lawrence, reporter.

Dick and Brenda in front of the newspaper office. This is the picture that they used in the paper with my story.

Back To My Roots - Sunday Afternoon Tour - Part 6

Once again - this is a many part posting of the trip to Celina taken June 12, 2009 through June 15, 2009. If you haven’t read the other parts, do so now and be caught up to date. OK?

When I emailed Karl Allmandinger that I was coming to Celina with my daughter, Brenda, he responded that he would be happy to be the driver for a tour of the city and allow us to take pictures of the various places we visited. So after church Sunday morning, we met with Karl and had lunch with him first at a place he likes to visit. Karl picked up the tab on this one. It was a buffet and had everything you’d want to try. Of course, we tried a lot of entries and was ready for an afternoon nap but had many places to visit first.

When I originally planned this trip I knew I wanted to have the family at home see us on the Celina Web Cam at the corner of Market and Main Streets. We did that when we arrived on Saturday afternoon but I had scheduled on my BLOG a 2:00 p.m. Ohio time Sunday appearance for family and friends. So first off would be the web cam appearance. Carl drove us there and people told me that they saw the car drive up and three people get out. Of course we were pretty small on the screen at home but Brenda, Karl and I waved to the camera while talking on the phone to home. Then someone on the phone at home suggested we cross the street and get closer to the camera to allow those watching a better view of the three of us. So we did. Both pictures taken off the internet by our son Rick are below.

Two of the three schools I attended from 1943 to 1949 were torn down and the land was used for other purposes. The schools were replaced and we were amazed at the beautiful schools that replaced all the buildings I once knew. A new K-4 Elementary School replaced The West Building which had 1-4 grades when I lived there. I attended 4th grade only at the West Building. It was a few blocks from the parsonage where I lived. The Celina Mutual Group Insurance Company now occupies the entire one block square where the West Building once occupied.

We drove to the location where East Building was located which had grades 5 and 6. That is now a church location. A new Intermediate School for 5-6 has been built at a different location. The Junior High (7,8,9) was located in the High School (10,11,12) building. We were two different schools located within the same building. A different principal for each school. I attended all three grades of Junior High before moving to Kansas City to finish high school. That building has been replace with a Middle School (7-8) and a new High School (9-12). The former High School building still exists but is used for school offices and a Head Start School. A picture of the old high school is below.
　　
We next located the first house that I lived in which was the parsonage since grandpa was the pastor of the Nazarene Church. This was at the corner of Warren and Sugar. A brick building that was old when we lived there 1943 to 1946. I don’t believe that anyone lived there for many years as it appears to be in pretty bad shape outside. A closer look through the windows showed us that the building was being remodeled inside with walls being moved, new electrical unit on the back to supply the building, a small section of the original building taken out and a new part being built. Quite a remodel and I expect the wood on the outside of the house will be replaced in time. I think maybe a lawyer’s office will be there some day soon.

The second home was at 630 Brandon Avenue. I lived there from 1946 until I left in 1949. Grandpa had to buy another home since he retired from active preaching and was living in the parsonage that belonged to the church. This was another old house. Had only cold water to the kitchen, no bathroom (used a little house out back) but a large home on a large lot. One of the first things he did was to install a bathroom where the pantry was off the kitchen and get hot water. Our heating stove was in the dining/front room and used coal which had to be brought in from the garage a half city block away from the house. Good thing he had two grandsons to do that job! Before hot water and a bathroom with shower, the Saturday Night Bath ritual was done in the kitchen using hot water off the stove.

This home had a large upstairs section which was turned into a bedroom for Ben and I and a guest room. The rest of the upstairs was remodeled as an apartment that was rented out to help with expenses. Before that could be done a kitchen, bathroom, outside entrance with stairs had to be built. Grandpa was very handy in doing anything like that and did the work himself. In the pictures below of this house as we saw it in June shows the outside door on the second level but no stairs! They apparently rotted away and were removed. The door remains. Someone was living there at the time and I wanted to see if we could get in to see the house but nobody answered the door.

Both houses I lived in had a “front room or parlor” that wasn’t used in the winter. That room was closed off and the heat turned off in those rooms during the cold months to conserve heat and keep costs down. Of course, no homes at that time had air conditioning so all rooms were open for air ventilation during the summer.

On the same property grandpa built a small house for himself after I had left Celina. Grandmother had passed away the following year and he didn’t want to live in the big house much longer. That new home is sitting on ground that I used to mow. Right next to it at the alley is the original garage that I used to put my bike, motorbike and motor scooter. Ben also had a motor bike and his was kept there too. We didn’t use the garage for the car then. Grandpa had machine equipment in there. I was surprised to find the garage had survived all the years. Probably not for much longer.

After the tour of Celina, Karl took us back to his home and served us the biggest bowl of ice cream I’ve ever had! After that, we said our goodbyes as we were leaving Celina in the morning after our visit to The Daily Standard where I used to work as a news boy and janitor. That story coming up.

We went back to the West Bank Inn to get some rest and then over to an Italian place on the grounds for dinner. It was right across the highway from the Spillway which was new since I lived there. This keeps the water level and avoids floods. It was interesting to see the birds sitting on top of the spillway looking for fish that fell over. I thought they were fake but they flew away after a while. The birds were evenly spaced around the semi circle of the top of the spillway.

On our way back to the Inn I saw a cream colored old Buick convertible coming our way. It was Whitey! He wanted to show us his other Buick and knew we would be leaving in the morning. So we got another ride and some time to chat with Whitey.

We had a full and interesting day. One more day on this trip as tomorrow it is a quick stop with the newspaper office and then off to Indianapolis for our trip home.


Karl Allmandinger at home. I regret that I got only one picture of Karl. He was our tour guide for Sunday afternoon. I've known Karl since school days there.

Celina Web Cam at the corner of Market and Main. The three people you see in the lower right corner is Dick, Karl and Brenda.

This is a close up of the three of us taken off the internet. Dick, Karl and Brenda.

Brenda talking to home during the web cam appearance.

The old Celina High School building. I attended 7, 8, and 9 grades there.

The Celina Bulldogs football stadium behind the old high school. Saw many football games there.

Dick next to the parsonage at Warner and Sugar Streets. The upstairs corner was Ben and my room.

Back of parsonage. Note the new construction with new electrical unit. I used to mow that yard.

This is a winter picture of the Brandon house as I remember it. Grandpa's new house was built on the yard that I used to mow!

Brandon house as it appears today. Needs a lot of work. I would expect it to be torn down and replaced with a modern home sometime soon.

Side view of the Brandon house. Note the upstairs door with no stairs! Also stone steps going nowhere.

Grandpa's new home he built on the property. I've never seen it before.

The original garage that I used 61 years ago. We had a half city block lot. The garage is on the alley.

Cousins Norman Reynolds and Dave Ummel on my Whizzer Motor Bike in 1948. Note the garage behind them and Ben's motor bike.

Back To My Roots - Norman "Whitey" Klosterman - Part 4

This is a many part story of my recent trip back to my home town of Celina, Ohio. If you haven’t read the other parts, please do so now. Then you will be caught up with the rest of us!

Have you ever met someone that you were immediately friends with and felt that you have known them a long time? That is what happened when Brenda and I met “Whitey”.

On Saturday afternoon June 13, 2009, we were walking on Market Street heading for the corner of Market and Main. I noticed an old car going our direction and waved to the driver. He waved back. I caught up with him at the corner and asked him what year was this Buick? He said “it’s a 1946 and I am going to park around the corner. I want to talk to you”. So Brenda and I turn the corner and find Whitey in the alley with his 1946 Buick 4 door sedan. It is a stick shift straight 8 beauty. We met and instantly felt that we had known each other in the past. We hadn’t but felt like it. Both of us were born in 1934 - graduated high school 1952 and are now 75 years old. Whitey graduated from Coldwater High School which was about 5 miles from Celina. I would have been in the 1952 Celina High School graduation if I had stayed there but moved in 1949 to Kansas City where I graduated from Southeast High School.

After a while of admiring his car he asked if we would like a ride in it. YES! And off we went to take a tour of the area. I asked him if he knows where the West Bank Inn is as we were to check in there for the next two days. He did and proceeded to take us there so we will know how to get there later. Great tour and conversation. We told him why we were there in Celina and that our stay would end on Monday morning. I told him we would be visiting the Celina Church of the Nazarene on Sunday morning and he said he lived right next door to the church. He has another old Buick he wanted to show us and we could stop by after church. We didn’t have his address and didn’t see signs of the cars so we thought that we would not have a chance to see his second car.

On Sunday evening Brenda and I had dinner in a restaurant that uses the same parking lot as our motel. After dinner, we walked across the highway to see the Spillway which controls the water level in the lake. Interesting watching the birds catch fish there. Then we started back to our room and here comes a cream convertible towards our motel. It was Whitey! He had to show us the car. It was a 1948 Buick Convertible also with a straight 8 engine. This one was an automatic. I told Whitey he can’t get by just showing me this car -- we needed a ride in it too. So we got a ride in his convertible.

It seems that everyone in the town knows Whitey and are calling out to him as we were driving along. Brenda and I felt like celebrities and started waving back when someone waved and called “Whitey”. Another fun ride! What makes this even more interesting is that cars that were new in 1946 and 1948 were new cars when I lived in Celina!

We chatted for a while and shook hands telling each other that we were glad that we had the chance to meet. Whitey and I exchanged addresses and phone numbers for later contact. All three of us had a tear in our eyes when we parted.

That was on Sunday night. On Friday I got a call at home on my answering machine and it was Whitey. He opened the local paper The Daily Standard and there on page 3 was his two new friends. I called him back and talked for a while. The story about the article will be coming in a later posting.

Whitey is one in a million. You know you like him the moment you meet him. I had only one friend in Celina that I knew of and that was Karl Allmandinger. Now I have two!

Whitey's 1946 Buick when we first saw it at Market and Main Streets.

Dick and Whitey with his 1946 Buick in the alley.

Dick in the 1946 Buick ready for a ride and a tour of Celina and Grand Lake.

Whitey and Dick with his 1948 Buick Convertible by Grand Lake.

Whitey's 1948 Buick Convertible at West Bank Inn on Sunday 6-14-09.

Brenda sitting in the back of the 1948 Buick Convertible. After our ride by Grand Lake.

Back To My Roots - Return To Celina Ohio - Part 3

This is a many part series that I am writing about a quick trip to Ohio to return to my roots. If you haven’t read the other items, please do so now before you get into this story.

June 13th started in Muncie, Indiana with breakfast with my brother Bob and his wife Mary Lou. Then off to Troy, Ohio to visit Riverside Cemetery and pay respects to my dad and my grandparents.

Then came the short trip to Celina, Ohio where I spent my youth from age 9 to 15 years of age. On our way from Troy we drove through Piqua which is where I was born. Celina has always been considered my home town. I left there in September 1949 to move to Kansas City, Missouri to live with my Uncle Ray and Aunt Edith Moore for my last three years of high school. I returned to Celina a couple times - once for a family reunion while grandma was still alive in 1950 and then later that year for her funeral service.

The last time I visited Celina was just after high school graduation in 1952. I have made many plans to come back to Celina but none ever matured. Then with a diagnosis of Ideopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, my daughter said “enough dreaming about going back -- let’s go now!” So this quick trip to this area was hurriedly planned and we packed a lot into four days.

With Brenda driving, we came upon the sign welcoming us to Celina (see below). We were entering Celina from the East on Market Street. We drove by The Daily Standard where I was a newspaper carrier and came to the corner of Market and Main -- downtown Celina. We parked and started taking picture of the area. Downtown hasn’t changed -- just got older.

The corner of Main and Market is where the City Web Cam is located. There is a tall tower southeast corner which has the camera that is on 24-7. I look it up every day to see the activity of that corner. I told my wife, Ann, that we would be on that corner Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. Ohio time and will be waving to her. I had mentioned it on my BLOG and have been told by several people that they also had tuned in to see us. Well - here we are on Saturday afternoon and decided to give her a call anyway to see us. She did and we talked and waved. Just a warm up for Sunday appearance.

We walked down to The Daily Standard building which was closed and took a couple of pictures. On our way back to the corner of Main and Market I saw an old Buick driving toward the corner going our way. I waved and the driver waved. I caught up to him and asked what year this car was -- he responded “1946 and I’m going to park around the corner and want to talk to you”. That was our introduction to a very interesting person named “Whitey”. He deserves his own story on this trip so I won’t say anymore about him now. Stay tuned.

After walking down Main street to see the downtown area, we got into our car and found our motel (thanks to Whitey) and checked in. We stayed there for two days and nights. It is the West Bank Inn located across the highway from Grand Lake. The Inn has 5 rooms up and 5 rooms down. Each has a view of the lake. We were down in 105. After unpacking and resting for a while, I called Karl Allmandinger who was the only person I knew living in Celina.

Karl and I knew each other in Junior High. He was one year ahead of me. He married Helen Howell who at one time was my brother Ben’s girlfriend. She attended the same church that my grandpa was the pastor. Actually lived a block from the church. Helen and I were friends for the 6 years I lived there.

My cousin, Eileen Nixon, went back to Ohio in 1999 for a family reunion on her dad’s side. Her mother Doris was my dad’s sister. I asked Eileen when she stopped in Celina to visit our Uncle Carlan to take some pictures for me. She did and those pictures appeared in my autobiography as “current” pictures of places I knew. I asked her to find Helen who had married Karl. She called the home and found that Helen spends time volunteering at the city library. So she met Helen there and we got re-connected through the email system. A couple of years ago, Helen died ending their 56 year marriage. Karl kept the emails coming and a connection with Celina. During my last visit to Celina in 1952, Helen and I sang a duet in the church. You can read about that here.

Karl, Brenda and I went out to one of the towns better eating establishments called “CJ’s HighMarks” and enjoyed the evening talking and enjoying too much good food. In fact, Karl and I had pork chops and he got to take two home for later. Karl is a good representative of people who live in Celina. He was born in the farmlands surrounding Celina and has lived there all his life. I read the obits on The Daily Standard web site daily and a good many of them were born in the area and lived their entire lives there whether it would be 60 years or 95 years.

After dinner, we got a tour of Karl’s home and looked through a photo album of their 50th wedding celebration. That ended our Saturday - second day of our trip.


Dick standing by the Celina Welcoming Sign.


Downtown Celina from the corner of Market and Main.

Mercer County Court House. Celina is the county seat of Mercer County.

Dick standing by The Daily Standard office building.

Celina City Web Cam Tower at Market and Main.

Dick waving to the web cam Saturday afternoon June 13, 2009.

Dick Moore and Karl Allmandinger - old school friends.

WOW! What A Quick Trip To Ohio!

My daughter, Brenda, and I took a very quick and very active trip to Ohio last weekend. This will take a number of postings to tell you everything about the trip and how special it was. I will list some of the topics that I will write about over the next two weeks. I have many pictures to help tell the stories.

We flew from Santa Ana, CA to Chicago, IL to Indianapolis, IN. Rented a Lincoln Town Car. Brenda and I shared the driving.

1. Saw my younger brother Bob and his family after 25 years. The last time was in 1984 at our mother’s funeral here in Covina. Bob lives in Muncie, Indiana. We stayed with him Friday night and also had lunch with him on Monday on our return trip.

2. Trip to Troy, Ohio Saturday morning to visit Riverside Cemetery where my dad was buried in June 1940 when he was 31 years old and I was 6. Bob was one. Bob has never been to the cemetery but plans to go soon. Our grandparents are buried there about 30 feet from our dad. Interesting story coming up in a posting.

3. Celina on Saturday afternoon:
A. Web Cam at Market and Main. (Unplanned) We called my wife Ann and Brenda’s family so they could see us waving to them on the internet.
B. Meeting “Whitey” Klosterman and riding in his 1946 Buick.
C. My friend, Karl Allmandinger, who I knew in Junior High and who married a friend of mine. Complete story later.
D. Dinner out Saturday night with Karl.

4. Celina Church of the Nazarene visit
A. Different building than when I attended in 1949. In fact, this is the second location since the one I remember.
B. I got to address the congregation concerning my background with this congregation and what I have done with my life.
C. Met some people who knew my grandfather who was pastor of this church from 1943 to 1946. He retired from active preaching and had to buy his own home since he was living in the parsonage. He continued to attend this church and became the janitor -- yes, my brother Ben and I cleaned the church, kept the lawn mowed, and the snow off the sidewalks.

5. Sunday afternoon tour of Celina with Karl:
A. Visited both houses I lived in from 1943 to 1949.
B. Two of the three schools I attended were torn down and the land has new occupants.
C. My Junior High School (7,8,9) was also the Senior High School (10,11,12) building. It now has school offices and a Head Start school. New Elementary K-4 school, new Intermediate School
5-6, new Middle School 7-8 and new High School 9-12.
D. The planned Web Cam appearance at 2:00 p.m. Ohio time which was mentioned to others so they could look in and see us wave! My son, Rick took pictures off the internet of us and wrote an article for his BLOG (HolyCoast.com).
E. Dinner near the West Bank Inn and Spillway Sunday Night. Here comes Whitey Klosterman to see us in his 1948 Buick Convertible. Another ride.

6. Monday morning at The Daily Standard newspaper offices meeting the publisher and staff. Two hour tour and interview for story with pictures. They will send me copies. The photo and story was in Friday June 19th edition. Whitey called me from Celina and Karl emailed me about the newspaper article and picture.

7. Lunch with brother Bob, his wife Mary Lou, and their son Bobby at The Cracker Barrel in Muncie.

8. Indianapolis Terminal, return rental car and flight home to Santa Ana, CA Monday afternoon via Dallas.

So you can see there are many stories here and I want to split them up to make them more interesting to you.

Stay tuned!

Taking Your Dad To His Home Town - Priceless!

I have written about my home town of Celina, Ohio several times on this BLOG so you know where I spent my youth from ages 9 to 15 years. I left Celina in September 1949 which will be 60 years ago this September. My last visit there was in 1952 just before I left for California to begin my college days at Pasadena Nazarene College in Pasadena.

I have planned, with my wife Ann, to make the trip back there so many times but things just didn’t go right for us to visit my home area. She wanted to see where I grew up and I wanted desperately to show her. We planned trips by car and during my working years, vacations were used up quickly for other family needs. So I never got the chance to go back. Now it is difficult for her to travel.

My daughter, Brenda, wrote me an email and said -- Dad - it’s time for you to take that long awaited trip to your roots - your home town of Celina. She said we could go on Friday June 12th and return home Monday June 15th. She had American Airline miles that could be used and both of us would pay a small fee for the trip.

My first thought was about Ann who is handicapped and needs someone here with her and provide a lunch out daily. Our son, Rick, will help there along with our son-in-law Scott. A granddaughter will come and stay with Nana so the home front is taken care of by family.

I am required by my pulmonologist to take an oxygen compressor for the “in flight” use only. Do you have any idea what a hassle this has been to get that approved by the airlines? I think we finally have it worked out.

We will fly from Santa Ana to Chicago and change planes for Indianapolis arriving there about 5:30 p.m. Indiana time. A car rental is waiting and we will drive to Muncie, Indiana to see my younger brother who I haven’t seen since 1984 at our mother’s funeral. He is arranging dinner plans for us and we will stay the night there with Bob. In the morning we will leave for Troy, Ohio to visit a cemetery that has my dad (died in 1940) and my grandparents. I want Brenda to “meet” them.

Then it’s off to Celina, Ohio where I spent my youth. We have reservations at a lakeside hotel. A friend from my school days there married a friend of mine named Helen Howell. She was my brother, Ben’s, girlfriend when we lived there. I knew Karl Allmandinger from my time in Celina schools. He was a year ahead of me. We will be with Karl who will “show” us the sights around Celina. I expect to take a lot of pictures.

On Sunday morning Brenda and I will visit the Celina Church of the Nazarene where I used to attend -- new building and a different location. Grandpa was the pastor of this church for a number of years. You can read about my last visit to this church in 1952 by clicking here. The afternoon will be spent seeing the sights and locating any people that I might know. At 2:00 p.m. Celina time (11:00 a.m. California time) Brenda and I will be standing in front of the Mercer County Court House talking to Ann on the phone while she sees us wave on the Web Cam the city has set up. You can read about the web cam and how to access that by clicking here.

Monday morning I hope to be able to visit The Daily Standard office where I used to work as a paper boy and janitor. Then it is off to Indianapolis for our return trip home. A hurried trip but will be worth the effort.

Thanks, Brenda, for making this trip possible. Something that was on my “Bucket List” can now be scratched off!

We will have the story and pictures on our return.

Celina, Ohio -- My Home Town - Part 1

As mentioned before, my grandfather was the pastor of the Nazarene church in Celina, Ohio, in 1943 when we moved there. The church provided a house (parsonage) for the pastor and the first one I can remember was on Sugar Street near the church. We could walk to the church from that home. I was nine years old at the time.

The church bought another parsonage at 230 West Warren Street which was on the corner of Warren and Sugar about a mile from the church. This house I remember very well. Ben and I shared a corner room on the second floor. Grandpa had a printing press in the back of the house where he printed the church bulletin each week.

I had 4 uncles in the army serving the United States of America during World War Two. I can remember a flag that was placed in the window with four stars on it representing each of the four uncles. Uncle Carlan served in Peru. Cecil made a career of the Army serving 20 years. He was in Europe and was involved in secret work for our government. Cecil met his wife, Francis, who was also in the service of our country. Dale served in Patten’s 3rd Army in Europe and related to me how he came upon an airfield where planes without propellers were there. Germany had the first jet aircraft but fortunately ran out of fuel for them keeping the jets on the ground. Dale met his wife, Leyla, in Paris, France. Uncle Gerald (Gary) served in Okinawa in communications.

During the war rubber was hard to come by for bike tires and Grandpa wanted us to have a bike. So he bought one (1) and Ben and I shared it. You can imagine how successful that was. It wasn’t long before I bought my own bike from money I earned on the paper route. I bought a Schwinn bike from my Uncle Carlan.

From 1943 to 1949, I had a paper route with The Daily Standard. This was a 6 day a week job as they didn’t publish a Sunday paper. I had about 150 customers and collected every Saturday for the week. I think it was 20 cents a week for the paper then. Sometimes people would give me a dollar and I would punch their card for 5 weeks. But I had to budget the money and pay for the papers every week even though they were paid up on my books. The paper route taught me a lot concerning finances. Christmastime was great as many would give me a tip or a gift for my service throughout the year. Because of the job, I was able to save money and buy things that I wanted without needing to ask for help.

Besides the bicycle, I bought a used Whizzer Motor Bike. I rode this motor bike all over Celina and the surrounding area getting 35 miles per hour and about 125 miles to the gallon. Pretty cheap transportation. When I left Celina, I sold the Whizzer to another news boy for $100. A reconditioned one in 2000 sold for about $5,000. Whizzer is back in business again and you can read about it here.

One day in 1949 I found a 1948 (P48) Powell motor scooter for sale -- one year old. They sold for $300 new and he wanted $50 for it. I told my grandpa and he thought it was a mistake but we went to see it. He asked the man what he wanted for it and he said $45. Grandpa said sold! I paid for this one myself as I had for the other modes of transportation. The P48 got about 50 miles to the gallon and could travel at 70 miles per hour. Had a 7 horsepower motor and was belt driven using a centrifugal clutch (no gears to shift). That motor scooter went with me to Kansas City in 1949 when I moved there.You can read about my teen modes of transportation here, here, and here.

While we are on the subject of transportation, I rode solo only once on a motorcycle - a 1937 Indian whose controls were opposite those of a Harley Davidson. This belonged to my Uncle Bob. We visited him at his home and he saw me admiring it. He asked if I wanted to ride the motorcycle. I had never been on one so he showed me the foot clutch, hand gear shift, speed control on the left handlebar and said have fun. Bob lived in the country so there was very little traffic. The Indian had a clutch that wouldn’t stay down when you came to a stop. That added a little excitement when you had to slow down and turn around. But I managed and found this to be a fun experience.

During my last year in Celina and at the newspaper, I served as janitor of the office after my paper route. The publisher and owner, Parker Snyder, paid me 50 cents an hour to do that job. Mr. Snyder was getting ready to have one of the employees teach me to drive the Studebaker pickup truck so I could take the papers to other cities. I moved before that could happen. Besides I was 15 at the time. Probably could get a license that limited me to the job.

In the six years I served as news boy I kept only one Daily Standard. That was April 12, 1945 Extra that we sold when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died and Harry S. Truman became president. Because of that paper, I was shown in one of the Reminisce magazines holding the paper with a short article about it. The story appeared on the front page of The Daily Standard as one of the subscribers to Reminisce lived in Celina and showed the article to the newspaper. So -- former Celina newspaper boy makes good!

In 1948 I decided to buy a box camera to record my adventures and friends. It was an Ansco Box Camera and my daughter currently has the original. I have one just like it that I found in an antique store in Oklahoma. The camera took eight (8) pictures to the roll and didn’t have a flash -- all pictures had to be taken in daylight outside. I took pictures of our home, my grandparents, brother who lived there and relatives who came to visit. I have a picture of Grandpa’s 1938 Hudson Terraplane, my Whizzer Motor Bike, Ben’s motor bike, a 1948 Tucker on tour that stopped in Celina, Uncle Gary’s 1937 Reo Coupe, and Uncle Cecil’s 1948 Frazer Sedan. I regret that I did not take a picture of my P48 Powell motor scooter.

I have pictures of a few friends, especially my best friend Tom Keifer. Tom and I were the same age and attended the same church. He lived a few blocks from me and we would go bike riding often together. We built a trailer that was attached to the back of my bike and there is a picture of that in my scrapbook. Tom was at the train station when I left Celina. After a few years, I lost track of Tom. He came to visit me in California in the early 1960’s and we lost contact after that. When my name appeared in the paper, his brother, Dick Keifer, called me to chat. He told me that Tom had passed away about 1989.

The church we attended was Celina Church of the Nazarene where my grandfather was the pastor. I took a picture of the church back then but the congregation has moved to another location which I have never seen. The building had a basement where all the Sunday School classes took place. Up stairs was the auditorium for services. There were approximately 125 who attended regularly. Some names that come to mind were Harlow Fetters (had the same birthday) and Bill Baer (led the music). Mr. Fetters bought a new 1946 Plymouth and I rode in it a few times. My first car was a 1947 Plymouth that I bought in 1954. The Keifer’s attended the church. Ralph Grapner was my age and attended.

Beside being the pastor, it fell to our family to mow the yard and remove the snow on Sundays when necessary. The church gave us a large plot of land surrounding the church building for farming. We grew a lot of our food there. Many hours were spent planting, hoeing, harvesting the food. You name it -- we grew it. Including sugar cane that was turned into molasses. We used to say we raised cane behind the church and got away with it!

When Grandpa retired as pastor, he continued to serve the church as janitor. So we spent a lot of time there taking care of the building and yard. They allowed us to continue to farm the grounds surrounding the church as well.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this story.

Celina has a webcam at the corner of Main and Market showing the Mercer County Court House. You can check it as I do daily to see what is going on there. Here is how you can access it: http://www.dailystandard.com/ , click on Community, then Celina, then webcam, and you can enlarge the picture for better viewing. With high speed internet, you can watch cars go by, people walking, see if it is raining, snowing, etc. Since it is my home town, I check it daily just to see what is going on. This corner is right down the street from The Daily Standard which is to the right of the picture. Check it out.