Published 5/31/2023 edition

Most weeks, I put together my weekly article on either Saturday or Sunday. I am doing this one on Sunday morning. It is also Indy 500 race day. About 70 years ago, I was attending my very first Indianapolis 500 race.

My mom’s brother, Wayne would drive up from his home in Tennessee. Her brother, George, would also go with him to the race.  They started taking their boys and cousins with them. I remember going a few times with them because my father had a country pick-up milk route, and it was a seven day per week business. I have great memories of attending the race with my uncles and cousins.

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for something on our bookshelves. I don’t believe I ever located exactly what I was looking for, but I came across a couple of other treasures. I pulled out a small book titled, Over the Hill.

I sat down and started looking at that book. The very first page got me. The words on that first page said, “The Star of this book is Fred Shonk. With Love from Ron Lowe 1995”.  During the years around 1995, I had a part-time job driving a charter bus. I worked with a couple of guys that were also part-time drivers for the charter bus company.

Ron Lowe was one of those guys. His full-time job was a fire fighter for the Indianapolis Fire Department. The other fellow was Carl Cambridge. He was a deputy sheriff with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department. All three of us are characters in this little book. But it was mostly about me.

Each page showed a drawing of something and a few sentences about me that connected with the drawing. Page 5 showed a guy (me) watching television and showing a commercial for a computer. It said that I thought that I was probably “over the hill” because I was satisfied to remain “computer ignorant” for the remainder of my days.

There are pages that describe how I might forget what I was doing while making my breakfast. A page that showed me wearing a robe and slippers while waiting at a bus stop. It said that as I understood the “over the hill” time of life that I always dressed casual.

There are a couple of pages that explained how quickly I can forget things. It showed drawings of notes, memos and calendars. I am totally connected with these personal helpers. My June calendar is ready to be pinned to the bulletin board. I have a check list that helps me to remember all the things I need to take with me when I am leaving the house.

A page explained that I was going to attend a reunion and decided to wear a 20-year-old blue suit. I didn’t think anyone at the reunion had ever seen it. Carl and Ron always said it looked very good on me.

A page commented about me thinking about my school days as I drove to the reunion. It said that I was very content to be driving about 35 miles per hour as I thought that was a very reasonable speed. 

A page showed me at the reunion and said that friends that I had not seen in many years said that I looked better not older. It also said that I believed them.

Carl and Ron both have passed now. I really miss them. We had many special, wonderful times. Ron even came down to Beech Grove and drove a school bus with me for a few years.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.
​
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.

Published in the 5/24/2023 edition

​I remember in my much younger years that I would often see folks asking sports players and entertainment industry people for autographs. I always wondered what they might do with it. I also couldn’t imagine how someone would have time to visit or work if I had to pause to sign my autograph every few minutes.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet with several players and coaches in the sports field and also a few in the motor racing community. I’ve never asked for an autograph from any of these folks, but I do have some very memorable stories.

Sometimes as I am visiting with friends or checking my Facebook, a name will pop up and one of those great stories will slide back into my memory. I had three different occasions where that happened to me last week.

I’ve written a couple of times about the years that I drove a charter bus and worked with several NBA players when they were here to play against the Indiana Pacers. I drove The Chicago Bulls for several years. Michael Jordan was a member of the team at that time.

I quickly learned that Michael Jordan called some people a nickname if he didn’t know that person’s proper name. I heard him use the nickname, “Partner” a few times when he spoke to me. One time, I spoke first and said to him, “Have a good game, Partner”.

He quickly accepted the challenge, and he figured out ways to sneak up behind me and be the first to shout the word, “Partner”. This continued for a few seasons.

Many years ago, I had a job that involved assisting new sales agents in their new positions. I was working with a very nice gentleman in Houston, Texas. We were calling on automobile dealerships. He was a new sales agent, but we were working with established customers.

We stopped at a local Chevrolet dealership. We always dealt with the parts managers in these businesses. We were talking with the manager and a couple of assistant managers. The agent I was with introduced me to them and explained that I was working with him for that week and that I lived in Indianapolis.

I noticed that the parts manager nodded his head to one of his guys. I figured he was sending him back to work. After a few minutes, someone tapped me on the shoulder and when I turned around, I was facing A.J. Foyt. He owned that business. He came to the parts room to meet someone from Indianapolis. We had a nice visit and exchanged several stories. A couple of them involved former race car chief mechanic and Southsider, Joe Langley. We didn’t visit very long but it was memorable.

A few years ago, while I was driving a school bus for Beech Grove City Schools, I made plans, and several friends were going to a boys’ basketball game. When I arrived at the game, I saw my friends and started walking down the side of the court to sit with them. As I was walking along, I saw the boy’s coach, Matt English talk with a couple of other guys. I stepped past them and didn’t make eye contact with any of them.
I was a few steps past them when I heard my name being called. I turned and saw Coach English waving me back to him. He had spotted me and he wanted to say hello. We didn’t know each other very well but I felt very honored that he wanted to share a handshake and a big smile.

As many know, we lost Coach English to cancer a few years ago. He is physically missing but the memories and his “WE B4 ME” motto are as strong as ever. His wife, Angela English works for the school system. She has done such a wonderful job keeping Matt’s memories strong.

I have a special “WE B4 ME picture hanging in my office.   Thanks, Coach…

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.

A few years ago, my wife, Lyn came to me with a question. She explained that our youngest grandson, Trey had a girlfriend, who was a student at IUPUI and needed a place to reside for a while. I asked for a bit more information and I sat down to listen to quite a story.

Lyn explained to me that this young lady was originally from Honduras. She and her mother relocated to Indianapolis several years ago. Her mother is now living in Georgia with other family members.

Lyn explained more about the young lady and asked if I would be up to meeting her and maybe getting to know her better before making a housing commitment. I agreed to that, and a plan was made.

She seemed like a very nice young girl. We learned a bit about her family and her relationship with our grandson. She also told us quite a bit about her studies at IUPUI. We agreed to provide her with our spare bedroom. It wasn’t long before she was part of our house and family.

I sometimes enjoy giving nicknames to family members and friends. Our grandson, Trey’s mother (our daughter) is mostly known to me as “Trouble.” As I continued to get to know our new house member, a nickname quickly popped into my mind.

She became known to me as “Little Trouble.”  After a few days, I adjusted it down to “Little T.” We really enjoyed the time that “Little T” lived with us. Time flew by very quickly and before we knew it, she graduated, and a marriage was in the works.

“Little T” and Trey are now married and reside in the Whiteland area. She has a really good job and Trey is finishing college and is also working.

A couple of weeks ago, we heard that “Little T’s” mother was coming up from Georgia for a visit. We later heard that she was having some car trouble and needed to postpone that visit until the car was repaired. I also learned that her mother’s birthday was coming up hopefully during her visit.

Last week, her mom leased a car and drove up here from Georgia. The kids met her in Columbus, Indiana and turned in the car. I believe we missed her birthday by two days. Lyn and I were invited down to visit last Friday evening.

We were told that Trey was working late that evening. We figured with Trey not going to be home that we would have our supper at home before driving down for our visit. After we arrived, we visited and had fun. Later, “Little T” asked about eating and we explained that we had our evening meal at home.
She then brought out a big partially eaten birthday cake. She offered us a slice. Lyn turned it down, but I was ready for dessert.

I was presented with a large slice of chocolate birthday cake. It had very thick icing and a different icing between the layers of cake. I started devouring my cake. It was very good. I was happy and I even attempted to sing, Happy Birthday.

All of a sudden, I slid a bit between layers of icing that was located between the cake layers and a strange taste caught my attention. I also felt some rather hard little strips in that icing. I quickly asked what I was tasting in that icing and several loud laughs started.

It was COCONUT. I hate coconut. There were small little strips in that icing. Everyone knew except “Little T’s” mom, the birthday girl, of my dislike for coconut. I maneuvered that coconut icing to the side of the plate and finished that good part of the birthday cake.

Just as we were about to head home, Trey arrived and as we were saying goodbye someone told him about my encounter with coconut. I think he was still laughing as we drove down the driveway.

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

​A couple of weeks ago, I was enjoying my morning coffee and watching The Today Show. I was about to move on to my next assignment when I heard someone on the TV say that there was going to be a segment about the returning of an aircraft carrier to it’s base after a long deployment.

I poured myself more coffee and settled back to watch. Soon, Jenna Bush-Hager, began explaining that she had been to the port when the crew of the USS George H.W. Bush (Aircraft carrier) were welcomed ashore to reconnect with their families. This aircraft carrier is named after Jenna’s grandfather and former President, George H.W. Bush.

I really enjoyed watching families reunite after the deployment of a family member. This one was really fun and special. I saw one crew member meet his newborn daughter for the very first time. I also enjoy when a returning military member surprises their son or daughter by dressing up and showing up at school.

Sometimes something like this reminds me of a double family surprise that I was involved in as a member of the Indiana National Guard. After my basic training at Ft. Knox, I was sent to an advanced training course at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. Because I was returning home after this training assignment, I was allowed to drive my personal car to the training.

The training was very intense, and we spent the weekends studying and trying to keep up. Weekend studying allowed me to get better acquainted with a few classmates. After the third week, our instructor gave us a weekend pass without any weekend assignments.

I quickly connected with three of my classmates and suggested we should go to Baltimore for the weekend. A couple of them didn’t even know that I had my car with me. We got our passes, grabbed some clothes, and we were out of there.
 
Soon, we were on the highway heading to Baltimore. It was a Friday evening and traffic was very intense. We were making our weekend plans while we were slowly moving in the traffic.

We were traveling on a four-lane highway. I was in the outside lane heading north. We were listening to music on the radio and enjoying ourselves. As we were driving, I noticed a car pulling a small travel trailer in the left lane. It was several vehicles ahead of us. I smiled because it reminded me of home, because it looked like my parents’ car and sort of like their travel trailer.

A few minutes later, the left lane slowed, and we got quite a bit closer to the car and travel trailer. I began to smile and slowed down, so I stayed behind the trailer. I pulled closer a couple of more times, just to be sure. I then explained to my buddies that the car and travel trailer in the lane beside us belonged to my parents.
I made a quick plan and pulled alongside of them, and we yelled and waved. It was my mother, father, sister and her college roommate.

They were shocked and surprised. Dad and I did some fancy maneuvering and finally got both vehicles into a parking area. We laughed and hugged for a long time. They explained that this was supposed to be a surprise visit from them and not the other way around.

I told them that I was totally surprised when I saw their car and trailer. They really did surprise me, but I got to return the surprise in about 10 minutes.

My buddies caught a bus to Baltimore, and I followed my parents to the camping ground where they had a spot reserved for the trailer. It was a wonderful weekend and I believe we laughed the whole time. I had to tell the entire story in class on Monday.

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.