Over the last couple of years, Whiteland, Indiana has offered me more of a connection. A couple of our grandsons and their wives live in the area. My friend Kellie Kirkhoff is now the girls basketball head coach at Whiteland. I met her during her college years at Marion University. Katie Gearlds was the head coach at Marion during that time. Recently, the tornadoes have placed Whiteland on the front page of many newspapers. I was very impressed how they came together to honor Fallen State Trooper, Aaron N. Smith.
On June 28th, as soon as I heard about the death of Trooper Smith, my mind carried me back to the mid 50’s. I was a student at Edgewood Grade School. I also had an afternoon newspaper route. My route ended at Madison Avenue and Thompson Road.
On a cold afternoon as I finished my paper route and headed north on Madison Avenue to our house, I observed a couple of state police cars driving south with the revolving red flashing light on the roof of their cars. The siren was silent, and the cars were not exceeding the speed limit. I had never seen a police officer operating their patrol car in that manner.
I later found out that Indiana State Police Sgt. Hubert C. Roush had died in a traffic accident at Epler and Madison Avenues. I found out later that a truck had turned left into his path. I even learned later that the truck belonged to a local business that was located on McFarland Road.
While there were radio, television and newspaper accounts of this terrible incident, there was no coverage of any arrangement. So, my memories are of those slow, quiet red light flashing State Police cars.
In memory of State Trooper Aaron Smith
I quickly planned to watch the televised funeral ceremony on Friday. I sat with Simon (our dog) on my lap. I’m glad that I had a box of tissues on the table beside us. They came in handy a few times. I believe that Gov. Eric Holcomb was the first speaker that got to me. State Police Superintendent Doug Carter had a tough time sharing his memories. Aaron’s cousin, Christopher Marlin shared some family stories.
Aaron Smith was also a member of the Indiana National Guard. He was also a licensed pilot. That gave him and I a small connection. I was also in the Indiana National Guard and my unit provided maintenance for the aircraft. I believe we both held the same rank.
I was very surprised when I noticed that the ceremony was closing, and a couple hours had passed. I watched as everyone moved out of the service and the funeral procession began to Crown Hill cemetery in Indianapolis. I heard them say that it was going to be a 31 miles journey. They were going to Whiteland High School and later to his childhood neighborhood.
My wife, Lyn and I made a plan to find a place to honor Aaron Smith as the procession drove past us. We finally settled in at Thompson Road and Meridian Street. There were several folks already there when we arrived.
It was so special to watch the vehicles drive past us. I’m thinking their speed was around 35 mph. There were so many police vehicles leading the funeral hearse. It took over 12 minutes for the procession to pass us.
As we watched the vehicles drive past our standing location, I noticed a large helicopter hovering over our location. I had a feeling the Indiana National Guard was in the air above us.
I was also informed that Trooper Smith’s wife, Megan, is a teacher and also an assistant softball coach at Whiteland High School.
It was a beautiful service. RIP Aaron Smith.
Shonk is a 1960 graduate of Southport High School, a ’63 grad of Indiana Central College (now the University of Indianapolis) and a retired bus driver from Beech Grove Schools. He can be reached through email at fdshonk@aol.com.