GROUPS TO RESUME MEETINGS
It seems very nice to see things starting to reopen. It is important that everyone of us remains diligent to the plans for everyone’s health and safety. Some Southside groups and organizations are beginning to have meetings or events.

This Saturday, May 15, the Friends of Edgewood Elementary is having the dedication of the Paul L. Bailey Memorial Basketball Court, located on the old school grounds on Epler Avenue about a block west of Madison Avenue. The dedication begins at noon with plenty of wonderful stories to be shared.

The Perry Township / Southport Historical Society is planning to have its first meeting of the year Tuesday, May 25 at 7 p.m. at Perry Senior Center, 6901 Derbyshire Road. The last program was held in October 2020. Wendy Barth-Servies will be the guest speaker. She and her mother, Diane Hunt-Barth, are the only mother/daughter 500 Festival Queens in the history of the festival. I’m sure she will have some great stories.
Hopefully later in the year, the historical society will be able to induct a few more honorees into the Edgewood-Epler-Kautsky Basketball Hall of fame. This was started in 2019 with seven inductees. There were no inductees in 2020 because of Covid-19.

My Southport High School class enjoys getting together. One group has a breakfast each month and a different group gathers for a lunch. The breakfast group is a bunch of guys and we always meet at the very same location each month which makes it easy for us to be only a few minutes late.

The lunch group consists of mostly gals from our class. Guys are invited and sometimes a husband or two shows up. We dine all around the city. I enjoy meeting and dining with both groups. It was nice at the last get together for both groups to see our attendance is beginning to return to the numbers prior to this pandemic.

Mother’s Day was Sunday. Lyn got some beautiful flowers and some framed family pictures from our daughter, Michelle. I took some time to sit quietly and remember some favorite “my mom” stories.
I remember that she started a neighborhood “happy hour” club. This involved several of the ladies that lived on mom’s corner of our housing addition. A couple of times a week, the club would get together in the early evening to enjoy Happy Hour. The group rotated from house to house and they enjoyed snacks, drinks and reviewing the last few days. I’m sure that there were some amazing stories.
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My wife Lyn, our dog Stuart and I live in that house now. Often when I look at one of those neighboring homes and remember the residents during those “Happy Hour” years, I almost break out into laughter.
Stuart and I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day.

For the next couple of weeks, hundreds of friends are expected to tell stories about everything connected with the former Edgewood Grade School and the sports fields close to the property.
Ted Lobdell and Barry Hix, have put together many Edgewood Grade School reunions over the past few years. I always have enjoyed reconnecting with lots of friends and former students. In this week’s edition of The Southsider Voice, Barry has an article about a tremendous home run that was hit by a young teenage boy named Doug Settles.
 
Barry and Ted have accomplished a lot recently that will lead up to a special ceremony Saturday, May 15 at noon.

They obtained permission from the property owners to install a basketball goal in one of the Edgewood areas that once had over a dozen goals. This new basketball goal and half-court are placed in honor of Paul L. (Pete) Bailey, the principal of Edgewood Grade School for many years, and former Edgewood school and Southport High School standout, Indiana All-Star Louie Dampier.

When the Edgewood building was demolished in 1980, many former students and staff were able to procure a couple of bricks from the building. I was living in Michigan at the time and missed that opportunity.

One former student went a giant step further. George Ellis a former Edgewood student and neighbor acquired the cornerstone of the Edgewood Grade School (pictured below). He took it to his farm and held it for safe-keeping. George kept in contact with Ted and Barry and after the basketball goal was in place, the historic cornerstone was moved back onto the property.

The cornerstone was delivered by truck and it took a lot of maneuvering to properly put the 1,500-pound cornerstone under the American flag.

The property where the dedication will take place is on Epler Avenue just a block west of Madison Avenue. Anyone interested in attending the ceremony is invited to join many past Edgewood students, particularly any adults who played on the courts as kids.
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Activities will start around noon and all those in attendance are expected to mingle for quite a while by swapping stories of the courts and the school. Make sure to bring your camera and your stories.
May 15 promises to be a wonderful afternoon.