A few years ago I found out that the Boy Scout troop that I belonged to for several years was still in existence and even met at the same location. 

Our troop served the small geographic area of Edgewood. We met each week at Edgewood Methodist Church on Epler Avenue, and Robert Clark was our scoutmaster. We had a large troop and there were always lots of things going on.

Troop 96, which is much smaller than when I was a member, is going to host a court of honor at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, when it recognizes its newest Eagle Scout. The Eagle designation is the highest honor that a Scout can achieve, and it’s only earned by about 4 percent of all Scouts.

Following the court of honor, the troop will host a reunion. I attended the group’s first reunion a couple of years ago. It was fun getting to tell the present members about how things were in our time as Scouts.

The troop has located and invited several members, and so have I. If you know of any former members, please invite them.  

Troop 96 was and still is an important part of the lives of its members and their families.

During the time that I was a member we attended meetings, went camping, raised money by selling things like donuts, helped people in our neighborhoods and much more.

I remember several of us going Downtown to a television station around election time. We each memorized a sentence and recited them during some local programming. Mine was, “I don’t care how you vote, but please vote.”

I also was photographed, and my picture in my Scout uniform was featured on the cover of the magazine published monthly by The Indiana State Teachers Association.

Let’s get the word out so Troop 96 will have a great reunion Jan. 28. 

A few years ago I noticed that The Indianapolis Star rarely posted basketball scores for the men’s and women’s teams from the University of Indianapolis or Marian University. That’s when I started providing The Southsider Voice with a recap of those games along with mentioning upcoming ones.

I have enjoyed giving the Southside players and coaches on those teams a little extra ink: UIndy sophomore Jimmy King, a Roncalli graduate; and Marian junior Curtis Green, a Perry Meridian grad. The women’s team at Marian has several local ties: Head coach Katie Geralds attended Beech Grove High; assistant coach Mark Parker formerly the girls team at BG; and junior Kellie Kirkhoff and freshman Rachel Titzer attended Roncalli.

On Friday, Roncalli’s boys and girls teams made the short trip to Beech Grove for games against the Hornets. And since Kellie and Titzer were going to be in attendance, coach Parker made arrangements for me to interview them.  

I had attended their 81-58 home victory over Bethel a couple of days earlier. I enjoy sitting a few rows up from the team’s bench. 

The girls talked about playing as a team and having fun. All the players are totally into the game, whether they are playing or sitting on the bench.

During the Bethel game, every player for Marian scored, and the Knights enjoyed a balanced scoring attack. Their leading scorer only had 12 points. The players and coaches smiled a lot during the game. As the players rotated in and out of the contest, it was delightful to watch and listen to them on the bench. There was a lot of cheering as points were poured in.

Kellie, whose brother used to play for Roncalli’s team, told me that she wanted to teach math and coach after graduation. Rachel hasn’t decided on a major. 

Sophomore Karen Jones from Pittsboro was also on hand for the interview. 

I enjoyed visiting with the ladies. They were nice and professional in dealing with a guy trying to conduct an interview. 

I told them about surprising coach Geralds during a game in Austin, Texas. At the time Katie was on Purdue’s team, and the Boilmakers were playing the University of Texas. My wife, Lyn, and I were visiting family and friends in Austin, so we went to the game, clad in our orange Beech Grove T-shirts.  

Friday was a special evening. In addition to both games, the eveing was billed as Coaches vs. Cancer night to raise money to support area families dealing with cancer.

Cameron Cardenas, a junior on Beech Grove’s girls team, was recognized surpassing the 1,000-point career mark. She had 27 points on the night.
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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. 

I always take some extra time at the beginning of each new year to reminisce. 

From before I started kindergarten to when I moved to Southern California, I lived with my parents in only two homes. Our first home was on Madison Avenue; it’s still there but now it is the Longacre Bar and Grill. When I moved to California we lived in the house that my folks built when I was in high school.

Many years later when single and returning to Indianapolis from a 14-year stint in Michigan, I moved back in with my parents. Dad’s health was really slowing him down, and I got a chance to help out around the house. A few years later I took over the house, and I’m still living in it with my wife Lyn.

We lost my parents years ago, but I’m still in the same house. We have the same telephone number that my folks had when I was young. It’s just not a party line now.

Whenever I walk into the Longacre my memories kick into high gear. I remember trying to figure out how Santa could get himself down our small chimney. 

I find it special to recall memories of long ago when walking into any room in our present home. I remember my mother eating her lunch while standing in front of the kitchen sink and looking out the window. Sometimes I stand in that same spot and enjoy my lunch ... and I can almost feel her standing beside me.

On the kitchen counter sits a toaster, which my parents received as a wedding gift. It still works perfectly. 

My dad always enjoyed bird hunting, and for years he had hunting dogs. The cement foundation for the long-gone doghouse is still in the backyard. Dad and a couple of his hunting buddies traveled north a few times to hunt pheasants. He had one of the pheasants stuffed and displayed above our fireplace. It is still there today.

When Dad retired as director of maintenance for the transportation department at Perry Township School, he brought his toolbox home and put it in the garage. Guess what? It’s still there. 

Dad had a special recliner chair, and once he was in it, my sister, Kathy, and I were the human remote controls.
Lyn and I have remodeled our kitchen and bathroom. Opening up a formal living room, a family room and one bedroom into one large living area was completed years ago. A few years back we added a nice sun room and a larger patio. 

I enjoy stopping by the building on Madison Avenue that housed Dad’s Sunoco station. The facility is now the Blue Flame Muffler Center. We operated our school bus business out of the building that is now home to Long’s Bakery.Telling employees of Long’s that I once worked on school buses in their building really produces some questioning looks from them.

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.