I always enjoy Thanksgiving Day because it gives me the opportunity to reflect on Turkey Days of yore.
I remember when my dad had a daily milk route, which required him to pick up milk cans from the Acton area and deliver them to a local dairy. Cows didn’t take weekends or holidays off from providing milk.

Our family worked around these obstacles when dealing with holidays. Thanksgiving was fairly easy as Dad was finished and home by early afternoon. Our dinners were served about 2 p.m. and then we got in the car and went to visit family members. 

After he opened the Sunoco station on Madison Avenue, things got a bit more complicated. Our station was open on Thanksgiving, but my family and our employees tried to make time to enjoy the holiday.  

I remember when a good friend and classmate of mine came to our house on Thanksgiving. Her family had several things going on, including her mom working that day. I felt honored that she accepted our invitation and joined us that day. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and shortly after we finished, I noticed that she had taken a seat in Dad’s recliner chair and was fast asleep. I thought that was neat that she was comfortable enough visiting with us that she could enjoy a nap.

The years that I lived in Southern California, I was invited to have Thanksgiving with families of folks who I worked with. The first year out there I had to fly home to Indianapolis to be discharged from the Indiana National Guard. I had completed my six-year obligation.  

Looking back on that, I was supposed to sign up for the Guard on a certain day six years earlier. But the day before I was scheduled to enlist, President Kennedy was assassinated. That moved back my enlistment about a week and closer to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Flying back to California after that Thanksgiving, I met Art Linkletter and Mary Tyler Moore on the flight. A good friend of mine was a TWA employee at the time and had stamped my return ticket first class.

During the years that I lived in Michigan, we always enjoyed returning to Indianapolis to enjoy this holiday with family and friends. The four-hour drive could be frustrating, but getting back to see friends and family was always special.

I’ve been back in Indianapolis since 1987. I think of the holiday season as starting on Halloween and lasting until Valentine’s Day. 

Stuart, my therapy dog, and I enjoy celebrating the holidays with our friends at the nursing facilities and schools that we visit weekly. 

One of my favorite things to do around Thanksgiving and during the early shopping days of Christmas is to listen to Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant,” a classic that is part song and part story. The 18-minute recording from 1967 can be heard on YouTube. 
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I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I’d like to give you something to think about and then maybe act upon. I’m sure you know that the basketball season has started. We can attend games from the grade school level to the professional ranks. 
If you had the opportunity to attend a college game that the home team has won two consecutive NAIA Division II national championships, has a head coach and two starters from the Southside and is only about a 20-minute drive, would you go? I do.

Marian University is located on the Northwestside, and its women’s team is coached by Katie Gearlds, who led Beech Grove to the 3A basketball championship in 2003 and was named Miss Basketball in doing so. 
She attended Purdue and was the Big Ten tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in 2007. She played in the WNBA and overseas.

Gearlds is 118-32 in her five years with the Knights, including a 7-1 start this year. 

Two of her starters, senior and leading scorer Kellie Kirkhoff and sophomore Rachel Titzer, played at Roncalli. Kellie and Rachel are averaging 17.5 and 4.5 points a game, respectively.   

I attended Marian’s game against Indiana University East on Nov. 14, and the Knights won 81-58 behind Kellie’s 19 points.  

I enjoy sitting behind the Marian bench, ... and sometimes I even understand what is going on. Coach Gearlds had an exciting discussion with one of the referees during the first half. I think she got her point across. After the technical shots were taken, things seemed to get better.

I enjoy watching the coaches and players when they are laughing and enjoying themselves. It’s apparent that this is a close-knit team. That even seems to apply to former players, including Laken Hasser-Smith, who graduated in 2016 and now serves as an assistant to Gearlds. I also spotted Jenna Sullivan, a 2017 graduate, taking pictures.

It’s fun to see so many friends, family members of coach Gearlds and former Roncalli players at the games. 
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I missed the team’s contest the following night, but I don’t think the ladies needed me to cheer them on to victory. They defeated Simmons College of Kentucky 107-22, yes, that’s correct. 

Kellie and Sarah Corbin each scored 20 points. Marian’s reserve players saw more time than the starters.
The ladies have a trip to Florida for a couple of games and then a game at St. Francis (Ind.) before their next home tilt against Spring Arbor (Mich.) at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2.

Plan to attend a game. I hope to see you there. 

NFL player Colin Kaepernick made a decision to not stand for the national anthem about 18 months ago. Since then, many other professional athletes have taken a knee.

I’m sure that these players have thought about their decisions. There have been many responses to these actions by the players. Now our national anthem and the teams entering the field are not being shown during most NFL games.

What I noticed last week was the much larger celebration of Veterans Day. I think that we have heard so much arguing from so many people who feel that they are right and that everyone else is wrong that a lot of people are looking for more ways to say good things to fellow Americans more often.

I was so impressed by my Facebook friends who posted pictures and/or short stories of themselves or close family members in military uniforms. Most of us know people who have been injured or lost their lives while serving our country. I will always remember and honor Stuart Ernhart, a former Southport High School classmate of mine who died in January 1966 while serving in Vietnam. I didn’t know him well, but I remember him as an accomplished chess player.

For several years I have remembered to wear my military-issued dog tag on Veterans Day. I want to thank everyone who has served our country; I hope they all had a wonderful day.

On Veterans Day evening, my wife, Lyn, and our neighbor Alice Ragsdale went to the Greenwood Stacked Pickle to listen to Carly Brooke sing before an energetic crowd. Carly and her family were back in Indianapolis to celebrate Carly’s 16th birthday. We sang happy birthday to her and enjoyed a slice of cake. 

My good friend and high school classmate Robert “Bob” Rosebrock has been trying to help homeless veterans in Los Angeles for a long time. He has been involved in more than 500 consecutive rallies on Sundays. They are working to improve housing accommodations for homeless veterans. It’s sad that he needs to position himself against the Veterans Administration to support local veterans. Because of his involvement in this cause, he hasn’t been able to get back to Indianapolis for a visit or to attend a class reunion.

The Southsider Voice published a special Veterans Day edition last week. I felt honored that I was asked to answer some questions about my time in the military and to provide a photo. I received several nice complements about the edition.

After I saw that many of my Facebook friends posted their military photos, I posted my photo, which showed me standing in our driveway in my dress uniform. I was home on a short leave before reporting for training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. I felt so honored that almost 100 of my friends commented or liked my photo.
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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. 

Carly Brooke is probably the neatest person I have met at The Southsider Voice’s cruise-ins, which are held are the first Friday of each month from May through October.

I first heard her sing – and what a voice she has – at one of the car shows four years ago. I was very impressed and totally hooked by the end of her second song.

Carly was already an awarding-winning performer at that time, having won the junior vocal solo contest for girls at the Marion County Fair four times. She also competed at placed at the Indiana State Fair.  

A few years ago she performed the national anthem before the Indianapolis Colts’ game at Lucas Oil Stadium and received many wonderful reviews. I remember my cold chills as I watched her on television. We recorded it and watched it several times. It can be seen on Facebook or YouTube.

Carly and her family moved to Nashville, Tenn., over the summer so that Carly will have the opportunity to grow her music talents. Stuart, my therapy dog, and I stopped at her family home in Beech Grove to see them off and wish them well.

I am Facebook friends with Carly and her mother, and it’s nice to know that things are going well for them. Carly and her family will be back in Indianapolis to celebrate her 16th birthday this weekend. It sure seems like she should be older than 16 with everything she has accomplished.

For those who haven’t heard her sing, she will celebrate her birthday by performing from 6-8 p.m. Saturday at the Greenwood Stacked Pickle, 172 Melody Ave. Carly’s mom told me that Carly has started writing songs ... maybe we will hear a couple of them.

Stuart and I went over to Beech Grove High School Saturday to help send off the band as it was on its way to Lucas Oil Fieldhouse for the state band competition. The Hornets finished fifth.

While waiting for the police escort for the buses, I chatted with Mayor Dennis Buckley for a few minutes. I told him about Carly performing at the Stacked Pickle for her birthday, and he told me to tell the family hello.

I hope to see lots of friends Saturday evening; it should be a special time. 
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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.