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October 29th, 2014

10/29/2014

About 10 years ago while I was a bus driver for Beech Grove Schools, I drove students to and from Hornet Park Elementary. I learned quickly that during certain times I needed assistance on that route with my riders.
My first helpers were Rachael and Myranda Tyron. When I needed assistance I could pick them up before starting the route. They were a big help. As a reward for their wonderful assistance, we would occasionally go to Starbucks for brunch.

A couple of years later, Amy Storms began driving a bus for the district. Her twins, Abby and Chelsea, rode in to the transportation building with her each morning. I soon had talked Chelsea into riding with me. Abby helped her mom, who transported kindergartners and first-graders. The girls rode with us for several years; it was wonderful.
Sometime later, Chelsea, Abby, their good friend Kelsey Conaway and I started a club, The NO Adults Club. I was the only licensed driver in the organization, and we would go out to breakfast. We laughed and teased one another the entire time we were out. It was a great way to tell the girls how much I appreciated their help and friendship.

Our club met regularly for years. But now the gals have jobs and are going to college. I seldom see them, and when I do, it is usually just one of them at a time. Kelsey works on the Southside and on occasion we find time to go to lunch. Abby and Chelsea are working at Riley Hospital for Children. I’m hoping their schedules will soon be the same so we can get together.

Last Saturday I added a new member to the club. Briana Markland, daughter of Beech Grove bus driver Angie Markland, met me at Lincoln Square Pancake House for breakfast. Bri and I had a great time. We feel that a reunion breakfast should be considered.

Alicia Taylor also provided me with morning help for several years. She and her mom, Sara, now live in Ohio. They get back here several times a year. We got together for one of our O’Charley’s lunches a couple of weeks ago. I really look forward to those.

I am going to nominate Rachael, Myranda and Alicia to become members. It would be an amazing morning to have breakfast with all of them. I can see a couple of younger sisters getting close to joining our club ... Madison Markland and Emma Storms.

I was also part of a breakfast club that featured a few members who were parents or friends of some of the above club members. We met a couple of times on Saturday mornings at my house, where I cooked breakfast. My specialty was Tennessee toast. It is similar to french toast but features an added ingredient that’s produced by a Tennessee company ... the one that was started long ago by a man named Jack. We might have to consider a reunion with this group also.

My wife, Lyn, and I have some wonderful friends. They make every day special.

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October 22nd, 2014

10/22/2014

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Some days are really a lot of fun.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to have breakfast with some really good friends. My great high school buddy Richard Smith and his wife, Marsha, were on the first leg of their yearly return from Indiana to Texas. A breakfast at Lincoln Square Pancake House on Madison Avenue was planned to include them, former high school classmates Judy Tout-Snyder and Randi Bertram-West and myself.

Our waitress was Jenny, and she and I enjoyed some banter as I placed my order. (Example: Jenny: “Hash browns or home fries?” Fred: “Yes.”)

We had a wonderful visit and meal. Richard had the usual. He asked for an order of white toast, consumed half of one slice and asked for a carryout box for the remainder. Jenny took great care of us and seemed to find subtle ways to pick on me.

We arrived at 9 a.m. and but didn’t leave until after 10:30 a.m. Our good friend and restaurant manager, Pat “Mama,” was working the register. Her daughter, Niki, was working the room as usual and giving out hugs.
My next stop was The Southsider Voice, where I met Sherri Coner, a good friend of mine who writes a column for the paper. She has written blogs, novels and all kinds of other stuff for years. A little more than a year ago she moved to Florida. Then she found out that she had breast cancer. She has gone through several surgeries and is doing great.

She was back in Indiana to visit family and friends, and we were going to have lunch at Lincoln Square. Her good friend Kenny Norman was coming with us.

Niki was seating folks and did a quick double take as she noticed my quick return. She then smiled and showed us to the same table as earlier. I was aware of an exaggerated eye roll from Jenny as she arrived to take our orders. Round two of our banter was about to start.

I really enjoyed our lunch and liked listening to Sherri and Kenny telling stories and remembering events from their newspaper experiences. Sherri is working on plans to maybe return to Indiana. She misses her son and wants be closer to him and his family.

Jenny took great care of us ... well, she did keep that eye rolling as I tried to tell her things. We would probably have the same experience had Maggie, Elizabeth, Britney, Alina or Kim been our waitress.

I briefly considered taking my wife, Lyn, to dinner there, but I remembered that they close at 4 p.m.
Niki and her mom gave me the list of waitresses. I told them that I would try to get them all in the article, but I ran out of room before I listed Olivia, Danielle, Nichole and Cierra. Some of these gals have worked there for several years.

I had two great meals with some wonderful friends that day, and Jenny can take partial credit. Plus, I got two Niki hugs.

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.

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October 15th, 2014

10/15/2014

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The Polk Sanitary Milk Co. on East 15th St.

My father operated a milk route when I attended Edgewood Grade School. He got up early every morning and drove out into the country around Acton to pick up 8- and 10-gallon steel containers of milk from dairy farmers.

He then delivered that milk for processing to the Polk Sanitary Milk Co. on East 15th St. in Indianapolis. My dad’s truck had an insulated body but was not mechanically cooled. This wasn’t a problem during the winters.
But the hot summers were a different story. The farmers would milk their cows much earlier, and dad would start his route earlier. He employed young men from families on his route to assist during those hot days. Many of the farms had fenced-in barnyards. His helper opened and closed the gates and also loaded the full cans and unloaded the empty ones.

Sometimes as a third- or fourth-grader, I went on the route during the summer. On days when older help was needed, I sat in the middle of the cab and watched my father and his helper work as a well-tuned team. I climbed out of the truck at each stop to help carry empty cans.

I remember my dad complementing a couple of his helpers on their speed and strength, which seemed to always bring a smile to their faces. It also seemed to have an effect on their speed as they seemed to move much faster. I learned a lot from my father.

Before we left the house each morning, mom fixed us a sack lunch, which I recall was always the same. Dad would stop and get something cold for himself and I to drink with our lunch, which was usually consumed on the way to the milk plant.

The trucks formed a line to unload their milk cans. The unwritten rule was that you assisted the driver in front of you.

When our last bunch of empty cans was loaded onto the truck around 2 or 3 p.m., it was time to call it a day. Getting home early was a good thing because it allowed Dad to make any repairs needed on his truck before the next morning.

I remember those milk cans being heavy when they were full. Dad struggled with a lot of back pain in his later years. We moved on to operating the Sunoco station on Madison Avenue before I was able to lift those 10-gallon cans up into the truck.

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.

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October 08th, 2014

10/8/2014

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A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with some friends about the growth of government agencies on the Southside over the years. Two that came to mind were the U.S. post office and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
During my years at Edgewood Grade School our class took a field trip to the Southport post office, which was in a small building at the corner of Main and Union streets. At that time Southport Road was known as Union Street in the Southport city limits. The building is still there and sits across the street from Long’s Bakery.

Our school bus stopped in front of the post office, and we entered the building. Our bus then made a sharp right turn and stopped to retrieve us at the back door. The post office was so small that we almost arrived at the back door before the bus.

A new facility was soon built on Madison Avenue, just north of Epler Avenue. It was much larger but had little customer parking. It now houses Indiana Affordable Wholesale.

The rapid growth of the Southside, the lack of parking and the plans to convert Madison to a four-lane highway made it necessary for the post office to construct another building in Southport. But once again, it wasn’t big enough.

When we need to visit a nearby post office, we find it on Edgewood Avenue, just east of Madison.
The next time you are driving through Southport, take a look at that tiny building at Southport Road and Main Street. That was the post office.

In the 1950s and ’60s, our local license branch was in the Edgewood area in the small building that also housed Harold Burnett’s Insurance. Many branches at that time were contracted out. Everyone who needed anything from a branch needed to visit Burnett’s.

One of my memories of that time was the day that I visited Burnett’s to obtain my public passenger driver’s license so I could start driving a school bus. I had completed all the requirements and was waiting in line to take my eye exam before finishing the paperwork to get my temporary license.

I was about to complete all of those requirements and pay my bill when Marybelle Johnson came walking out from behind the counter. She was the mother of a couple of my best friends. Larrie “Bud” and Mickey Johnson who were our neighbors.

When Marybelle noticed me standing in line to get my license, she shouted out to me, “You don’t still have those bad fits, do you?” The entire building came to a screeching halt.

She then smiled and mumbled something about that she was just messing with me and walked on into a different room. Somehow, I did receive my license that day.

The next time you are at Madison and Dudley avenues, look for the tiny tan building that is attached to Quinlin Automotive. That was our license branch. It is now Madison Auto Sales.
Wow! How we have grown.

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 is married to Lyn Shonk.

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Fred Shonk

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