I really enjoy looking back on many Thanksgivings that I have shared with many members of my family and friends.

During my preteen years, my father owned a country pick-up milk route. This was a seven day a week job.

None of the farmers could train their cows to not produce milk on weekends and holidays. The milk route started very early each morning. The only good thing about it was that he was finished and home by 1 p.m.
I remember having Thanksgiving at my maternal grandparents house, who lived a couple of blocks North of Raymond, near Shelby Street. As soon as my father got home from his route, we would jump into the car and drive to their house. 

It was a fairly large house with a big dining room with a big dining table that sat 10 people. Mom had three brothers. So, mom and dad, her three brothers and their wives and grandpa at one end and grandma at the other really filled out that table.

All of the children that were old enough to eat by themselves shared a couple of card tables in another room. We all really enjoyed getting together and celebrating Thanksgiving. The entire house had that special roasted turkey aroma and there were lots of different desserts for everyone to share.

As the grand kids grew older, sometimes one of the families had to do something else on Thanksgiving and could not come to the family gathering. I remember the first time that I was invited to sit in the dining room with the adults. I really felt honored. We had meals at our grandparents several times a year, but that was the first time for me to sit at the big table.

Almost every time that I watch an episode of “Blue Bloods” and they have a family Sunday Dinner, I remember my grandparents and their home.

When I got a bit older, I accepted a job with a company in California. I was about to complete my 6-year Indiana National Guard tour. My bosses in the guard worked out a plan so that I could move to Southern California and when my time in the guard was completed, I would have to return to Indianapolis to be discharged. They were covering about eight months for me.

My discharge date was about three days before Thanksgiving. I flew home and attended to my discharge requirements and also got to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family.

I was scheduled to return to California early the next week. When I arrived at the airport and presented my ticket to the airline employee, I was shocked because I knew him very well. We had been neighbors as teenagers. We talked a minute and then he grabbed my ticket and stamped it “First Class”. There were no computers or other ways to challenge my ticket being first class. I thanked him and I was off to the plane. (My only time ever traveling first class.)

I had to change planes in St. Louis. There was a lot going on at the boarding station. When they finally called for the First Class passengers to board the plane, I was ready. There were only two other people in the first class area of this plane. I was very surprised.

The first person that I walked past in the plane was Art Linkletter. He had been a television show host for many years. It looked like he had already gone to sleep. Going to sleep sounded very good to me. It was about 1:30 in the morning.

When I sat down and looked across the aisle, I saw Mary Tyler Moore. She was not asleep. Once the airplane was in the air, the fun started. She got Art Linkletter awake and we started trying to guess what cities we were flying over. We would guess and the pilots would tell us if we were correct.

At some point Mary told me she was returning from Minneapolis/St. Paul where they filmed her tossing her hat in the air. She explained that she was putting together a new television show based in Minneapolis/St. Paul and the hat tossing would be in the beginning of each show.
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We had neighbors over for pizza last week and I remember telling them about the special Thanksgiving weekend. I also saw on television that a gentleman that was very involved in Mary’s new show had just passed away. During that part of the news telecast, they showed Mary tossing her hat in the air.
We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving...

The last couple of weeks, I have recalled many memories of my years driving a school bus in Beech Grove. One of my friends that also drove a school bus for Beech Grove City Schools was Karla Richardson.

We both drove there for several years. It was fun to get to know her kids. Karla is on Facebook and it is always nice when I read something posted by a friend. I was shocked when I received a post from her explaining the death of her long time boyfriend and later husband, Brian.

I was amazed when I began reading the special responses from all her friends and family. I’m not sure if I ever met Brian, but after reading many of the responses that included stories, I believe I got to know Brian pretty well.

I changed a couple of things around so that I had the opportunity to attend the visitation for Brian Orange at the funeral home. Shortly after I entered the funeral home, I ran across Karla’s daughter, Kelsie. It was nice to see her.

The room was very busy. I had an opportunity to visit with Karla for a short time. She seemed to be doing pretty good. She told me a couple of of Brian stories. I also saw her son Jake, but didn’t get a chance to talk with him. I spoke with a few other folks and we exchanged several great memories.

I found out later that Karla’s niece, Lori Danielle Middleton, provided a very nice stuffed bear to all of the grandkids. The bear had a note attached that read, “When you’re missing me and feeling blue, hug this bear and know I’m there for you.” “In loving memory of Papa Brian.” That was very special. I remember seeing some kids with bears, but I didn’t know the story at that time.

Last week I was informed that another friend and former employee of Beech Grove City Schools had also passed away. Julie Raker Page had been the receptionist. During about my third year of driving for Beech grove Schools, I was assigned a new route driving for Hornet Park School.

This school provides education for the kindergarten and first grade students. When I had any questions or problems, I would go into the office and Julie would help me out.

The Hornet Park staff was always very handy if I needed assistance. Julie took great care of the students, the parents and the entire staff during her years at Hornet Park.

At some point, Julie opened a home day care that was mostly for kids that had parents working at Beech Grove City Schools. Julie also had a bout of cancer. After it had been gone for several years, it returned. I think she had a tough battle for a couple of years.

Her family held a private ceremony to honor Julie last week. I’m certain that like myself, many of her former friends from BGCS, that would include staff, students, student’s parents and many other Beech Grove residents and good friends of Julie have been holding their own private ceremony remembering this special lady.

Last Saturday, Lyn and I celebrated our anniversary. Because we are both recovering from some physical problems and the weather was yucky, we stayed home, sat in our favorite chairs and on occasion said to one another, Happy Anniversary!”

We usually make a special trip to Brown County each year on November 12.

Maybe when she gets to feeling better and a nice beautiful day shows up and we are not busy, maybe we will sneak down to Nashville for the day.
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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.

By Fred Shonk
November 9, 2022

Back in March, we adopted a dog from Southside Animal Shelter. He seems to be a Jack Russell Terrier mix and we named him Simon. He has many of the same traits as our previous dog, Stuart.

Simon and I bonded quickly. He became a lap dog on his first day at our house. He only sat on my lap. We became very close within a few days. He enjoyed playing with Lyn and her providing him with tasty treats. He became a member of our family very quickly.

During the first few days of September, I took a very bad fall outside and was loaded up for several weeks. Simon leaped into action as a professional canine nurse. He was at my side as I tried to slowly move about. He was either on my lap or sitting beside me most of the day. It was so special to see how much he stayed with me.

Simon and I are working to become a therapy team. My fall and recovery has put us a bit behind. I hope that we might be able to get started again soon. Hopefully we can begin stopping into the nursing homes and schools in the next couple of weeks. We really miss our friends in those facilities.

A couple of weeks ago, Lyn started having lower back and and hip pain that was hurting very bad. I asked her and a couple of her friends what might have caused these back and hip problems. One of her friends explained to me that she must have taken a bad fall while running track and jumping over high hurdles. 

I was told a couple of other crazy stories about her back and hip, but I have a feeling that it is probably a result of too much lifting and carrying heavy boxes at the facility where she volunteers each week. 

After her visit to the doctor, she was given some medicine and told to stay off of her feet. As soon as that happened and she started sitting in her favorite chair in our sunroom, Simon started sitting in that chair with her. I have never seen him in that chair with her. Canine nursing duty was once again happening in our house.

Lyn has been having good days and some not so good days. I’m still dealing with those types of days also. Simon is spending quality time with both of us. He might sit with me for awhile and then on his own move over and spend some time with Lyn. It has been amazing to watch him.

 He also has an internal clock. He enjoys going into the bedroom when I do at night. I am still operating on the go to sleep and wake up schedule that I used during my days driving a school bus for Beech Grove City Schools. Simon adopted that schedule.
 
During my recovery time, I have sometimes moved to my recliner chair in the middle of the night. The lower back pain wasn’t so bad using the chair. Simon always follows me into the sunroom and burrows under his blanket in his favorite couch. On his own, he jumps down off of the couch as our exact getting up in the morning time. He just knows.

Last Sunday morning was the first morning of no Daylight Saving Time. We had moved into the sunroom in the middle of the night. I was very curious as to what time Simon would want to get things going. He jumped down and we got up and started our day exactly one hour later on the clock than the day before. We had gone to bed using the new time also. I was very impressed with his internal clock.

Hopefully we will become a therapy team soon.  He has also been practicing his writing skills. He has been reading several of Stuart’s newspaper columns. He really has enjoyed them and I see him practicing quite often. He is getting ready.

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.

By Fred Shonk
November 2, 2022

​On several occasions, I have shared stories about my Southport High School graduating class of 1960. I’m thinking that we were a very normal group of students and friends at that time.
We all had very good friends. We also had neighborhood friends. As we grew into junior high and high school, our number of friends grew quite a bit as we connected with classmates that had attended different grade schools.
During my 6 years of junior high and high school, I had lots of good friends and we had a great amount of fun during those years. If my number of good friends numbered 25 to 30, there would have been about 300 classmates that I might have known a little. Maybe we had classes together or lockers were close. We mostly had our little clicks and the years passed quickly.
Several years after our graduation, we began having class reunions. I believe our first one (No.10) really slipped up fast and we really didn’t get together for a couple of years (No.12).
We have turned 180 degrees now and we celebrate a reunion every year. We just completed this years reunion a couple of weeks ago (No. 62). It is so special to reconnect with classmates that I maybe haven’t seen for many years.
Our class also holds a monthly breakfast for a group and a different group has a monthly lunch. The breakfast is mostly guys and is held in the same location each month. That way, we don’t have that “YIKES” moment that morning while trying to remember where the breakfast will be in about 45 minutes.
The lunch group enjoys a different location each month. I have been a member of both groups for several years. I have been in charge of the November lunch location for most of that time. I always choose Shapiro’s Deli. We will be having lunch at Shapiro’s today (Nov. 2nd) and this addition of The Southsider Voice came out this morning. (I will bring a few copies for everyone).
I always check with Shapiro’s a few days before our lunch to let them know about how many will be attending and also have lunch. I did that last Friday.
A really good friend of mine that is also a 1960 classmate accompanied me last Friday. Sharon David is a member of the lunch bunch and is also a member of The Southport / Perry Township Historical Society. I knew Sharon in high school but not very well. We were in different groups and I don’t even remember if we had any classes together.
Sharon’s family owned and operated a drycleaning business on the Southside. Darko & Son’s Drycleaners was located on Shelby Street near Garfield Park. I remember our family stopping by and doing business with Darko Cleaners during my grade school years. We traveled Shelby Street quite often during those days. My grandparents lived just North of Raymond Street.
Sharon has assisted me during my pre-lunch visits to Shapiro’s for a few years. It is so important that I get everything lined up properly so that the lunch will be enjoyed by everyone. Sharon has been a big help each time.
After we got everything all arranged for the upcoming lunch and we had finished our lunch, we decided to drive on to the downtown area and see how many FFA members we could spot while here for their convention. It wasn’t hard. We saw hundreds of them. It was very interesting.
We had encountered a few road construction detours on our way to Shapiro’s. After we drove through downtown, I decided to drive out toward Fountain Square and take Shelby Street back to the Southside.
We also found construction on Shelby Street and had to drive through some neighborhoods. It was Sharon Darko and family’s early neighborhood. She showed me the first Dry Cleaning shop and her grandparent’s house. It was amazing.
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.