Memories Alive was live

We are getting some late summer or early fall weather, with night-time temperatures recently dropping into the 30s. The equinox is Tuesday. My purple asters are not yet blooming, so there is still a bit of summer left.

The 3rd annual Memories Alive in Weston Cemetery had fewer people attending this year than last despite exceptionally nice weather and the addition of an alternative way of presenting the event. About 30 people attended the morning presentation that was held in the Hall Shelter in Brookside Park and roughly 90 people attended the afternoon presentation that involved a walk through part of the Cemetery.

Who was featured this year? One person was Faith Shedd Watson, the great niece of John Shedd who endowed the Shedd aquarium in Chicago. Faith was in her thirties when she married widower Henry Watson, who was in his seventies. A year or two later they had a daughter.

John Hudson was killed in Germany in the waning days of World War II. John Alter wrote a historical novel about life in the early days of Jasper and Newton County. Nello Lunghi came to Rensselaer fairly late in life. As a young man he had several interactions with the young Benito Musslini and as an older man he managed the Rensselaer airport.

Before planning for this year's Walk began, I did not know who Ted Knorr was. He led a fascinating life. His mother died when he was five and he went to live with an uncle when his new stepmother did not want him around. When his uncle died, he became a hobo. He seemed to jump from job to job, living in Rensselaer, Florida, Lafayette, and Indianapolis as a adult. In the 1950s he organized the Rensselaer Speedway and it operated for twenty or thirty years.

Sarah Chilcote Sigler lived her married life in Mount Ayr where her husband was a banker. Who knew that Mount Ayr once had a very successful bank? I suspect Nellie Donegan Reynolds is the only person buried in Weston Cemetery who was born in Australia. In her day she and her husband were famous for their skating act that toured the world. Even excellent skaters need a gimmick to attract an audience and Nellie's was elaborate and expensive hats.

Moses Leopold was a local judge for several decades. I thought it might be hard to find good stories about him because past issues of the local newspapers are not digitized and searchable, but the researchers found enough for an interesting presentation. Moses played football for a very early Indiana University team even though he did not play in high school.

The program for this year is available here. (It is formatted to be ready for the printer, so pages may seem out of order.) Programs for the previous two years can be reached from this page.

The demolition of the building behind Fenwick Farms Brewing is complete. Below are three pictures showing changes since the last post.

The cement blocks and cones are protecting a natural gas pipe.

It looks ready for new construction.