812 Summer/Fall 2015 by 812 Magazine

TENDERLOINS: Hoosier born and breaded

S U M M E R / FA L L 2 0 1 5

ORCHARDS! :KHUH WR ÅµQG WKH IUHVKHVW :KHUH WR ÅµQG WKH IUHVKHVW MXLFLHVW IUXLWV DQG EHUULHV RI WKH VHDVRQ Gemini i i 3: Grissomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s i return to space

BIG TREES DAWN ADAMS: ADAMS: Painting to heal s ll +3storytellers

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2 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ON THE COVER:

22 Picks of the season

Explore Southern Indiana's orchards. Story by Devynn Barnes and Franceso Ferrara

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS GET OUT OF TOWN

Shelf life

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

10 Still waters

Eight years ago, a personal tragedy changed Bloomington artist Dawn Adams' life and her art. Story by Kelsey Roadruck and photos by Haley Ward

17 Gather ’round

Glenn Brown, yoga mentor

TASTE OF SOUTHERN INDIANA

Hoosier born and breaded

Storytelling has deep roots in the 812 region. Meet three very different raconteurs who bring this traditional art to life. Story by Krista Zozulia and Lexia Banks

29 Family trees

Nearly three-fourths of the trees in the state's Big Tree Register are in Southern Indiana. Learn how these giants have shaped our history and culture. Story by Christian Kemp and photos by Mary Shown

36Back to space

Gemini 3 set up Indiana's first astronaut, Gus Grissom, for a ticket to the moon. Sadly, it was a ride he would never take. Story by Hannah Fleace

THE 812 LIST

Seasonal stars

Cover: Juniper French with her apple. /Photo by Haley Ward. Special thanks to Steve Layton, Steve Raymer, Allen Major, Malinda Aston, Susan Elkins, Greg Menkedick, Laura Pence and Roger Hartwell for their help in producing this magazine.

3 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

812 MAGAZINE STAFF

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Southern Indiana has always been my home. I learned to drive on back country roads, I cheered at basketball games on Friday nights, and I stayed for college. I love living here. The friendly people, the Hoosier hospitality and the natural beauty make this HANNAH FLEACE my home. I thought I was Editor an expert on Southern Indiana, but this semester I’ve learned a thing or two, and I hope you will, too. We’ve hunted for the state’s biggest trees and listened to storytellers weave adventures. We scouted the best orchards in our region and were renewed by one artist’s story of loss and transformation. We’ve sampled tenderloins and explored independent bookstores. We’ve gazed at the stars and followed the journey of Indiana’s most famous astronaut. This issue was an adventure to put together, and I hope you’ll find another reason to love Southern Indiana as we do.

Seek the

812:

THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN INDIANA Summer/Fall 2015 Volume 5, Number 2 812 was conceived, reported, written, photographed, edited and designed by students in J481: Creating an Indiana Magazine in the Media School at Indiana University. Contents may not be reproduced without the written consent of the school. You can also find exclusive online stories at our website, 812magazine.com. If you’re interested in advertising in 812, or if you’d like copies to distribute at your place of business, please contact ads@idsnews.com. Lecturer Nancy Comiskey is the instructor of J481. FOLLOW US: @812Magazine

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DEVYNN BARNES

CHRISTIAN KEMP

HALEY WARD

MARY SHOWN

Managing Editor

Departments Editor

Art Director and Photo Editor

Art Director and Online Editor

Devynn, a sophomore, learned through her orchard research that the best fruit is the kind you pick yourself.

Christian enjoys exploring the campus, woods and rural areas – some of his favorite places to see trees.

KELSEY ROADRUCK

KRISTA ZOZULIA

FRANCESCO FERRARA

Social Media Editor

Online Editor

Art school didn’t pan out for Kelsey, but her passion for painting was revived after visiting Dawn Adams’ studio.

Krista, a dancer and artist from Chicago, discovered how to express her own story while listening to storytellers.

Haley, a junior from Greenwood, searched for the best tenderloin and found a new favorite sandwich.

Francesco, a junior journalism major from sunny Florida, learned that everyone has a little orchardista inside.

After traveling from Africa to Japan, Mary found the most beautiful trees in the backyards of Indiana homes.

LEXIA BANKS Multimedia Editor

Lexia’s love of books led her on a tour of bookstores and a photo shoot with Gertrude Stein – the cat.

812-339-3647 www.invisiblefence.com scindiana@invisiblefence.com

5 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

GET OUT OF TOWN

Shelf life 812 goes on the road to find three thriving independent bookstores. Story and photos by Lexia Banks

hether you’re looking for a bestseller or a frayed anthology of Southern Indiana tall tales, visit one of the region's independent bookstores. Step inside and you’ll find comfy chairs to curl up in and maybe a cat or two to scratch behind the ears.

VIEWPOINT BOOKS

548 Washington St., Columbus

6 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Gertrude Stein the cat watches over the Village Lights Bookstore.

DESTINATIONS BOOKSELLERS VILLAGE LIGHTS BOOKSTORE 604 E. Spring St., New Albany

110 E. Main St., Madison

HOURS: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Viewpoint Books has been the go-to bookstore in Columbus since 1973. Owners Terry and Susan Whittaker go to great lengths to get books for customers, says clerk Joseph Dosterglick. “The owner loves books, and he wants people to read,” which means making sure “the right book goes to the right person.” The walls and bookshelves are splashed with bright red, yellow and muted blue paint warmed by the windows near the front door. A front room houses shelves of new books and a few racks of merchandise. A small alcove offers a diverse collection of children’s toys and games. The last room in the back has cases of used books and inviting red leather armchairs.

Randy Smith always wanted to own a bookstore. His wish came true in 2004 when he opened Destinations Booksellers, giving New Albany its first bookstore in decades. Destinations only sells new books, save for one rack of remainder books. These extra copies were printed but never sold, and Smith sells them by the pound. “Treat books as a raw commodity,” he advises. The front half of the store is a maze of shelves and cases with a comfortable blue couch that’s perfect for opening a book you just can’t wait to start reading. Toward the back of the store, stainless steel machinery and racks of pots and pans flank the polished counter of the store’s bakery.

HOURS: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday Be careful when roaming this Victorian bookstore, or you might step on Oscar Wilde’s tail. Oscar is just one of three cats darting about or napping in one of the wingback chairs in Village Lights Bookstore. The walls are lined with books, ranging from national bestsellers to regional tales. “We’re a carefully curated store because we’re so small,” says owner Nathan Montoya. “And we want everything on the shelf to have a reason to be there.” Artists can tour the Twain Room, the store’s small art gallery. Children can find their own little world in the tiny reading nook under the stairs.

OWNER’S PICK: Terry suggests the WWII story of two sisters The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.

OWNER’S PICK: Randy suggests the psychological thriller World Gone By by Dennis Lehane.

OWNER’S PICK: Nathan suggests the poignant WWII novel All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

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7 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

Glenn Brown hovers into one-arm slide crow in his Clarksville studio. /Photo by Krista Zozulia

Glenn Brown, yoga mentor This 10-time Indiana champion shares how to achieve a personal zen Story by Krista Zozulia

or Glenn Brown, bending into a boomerang is a daily ritual. But it’s not his tenth title as the Indiana yoga champion that inspires this 34-year-old yogi to keep on flowing — it’s his students. Inside his Lionflow Progressive Yoga & Arts studio in Clarksville, he blends his training in Bikram yoga and martial arts to help students push themselves past their limitations. He shares with 812 what he’s learned that goes beyond the poses.

FIND A COMMUNITY THAT SUITS YOUR PRACTICE.

8 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

I could go across the bridge into Louisville, open my practice there and do 10 times as well. At the same time, people in this area need it so bad. They are used to going to the gym and beating themselves up for a half hour and not doing anything to recuperate. There is such a gap in the yoga market here — you have Bikram and Vinyasa, but you lose the community feel in the studio where you can bounce ideas off each other in class. After having students come diligently for five years, I

found that there was a niche for Lionflow in the community.

HAVE A CONSISTENT DISCIPLINE. Try to practice something 100 days in a row. Even if it’s five minutes worth. Practicing writes it into your neurology. Implementing something tiny makes a huge difference. We allow our moment to take so much away from us; we lose our focus on whatever it is we are doing. If you just bite down and do something, you’ll find that there is an end result.

GET PAST STAGE FRIGHT SO YOU CAN TEACH. Every time I would walk down the hallway to start class, I had to deal with fear in that moment. It helped me learn to walk into another part of myself, just clear my mind and get to it. It’s an honor to be here and offer students encouragement. To see someone make it through these practices is really heartwarming.

LISTEN TO ENCOURAGEMENT, NOT THE JUDGMENT. I grew up in the church but became daoist — living with your intentions as opposed to religion. With a church you have a community, but if you break away from that, you get the cold shoulder from a lot of the community you grew up with. As far as the studio, it’s a neutral zone — it’s not about judgment, religion or even the dogma of yoga secrets. It’s a place where we encourage each other to grow.

LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE WAVES. It’s been a struggle to get across my ideas to the town. Clarksville is a conservative town. Critics will say that yoga is bad for your religion. Trying to get people to break away from that misinformation and come in regularly is tough financially. I have a family and want to pay for health insurance. It can be discouraging. But, if I want anyone to believe in me, I have to believe in me. It feels validating as a person to do what I love.

TASTE OF SOUTHERN INDIANA

Hoosier born & breaded What makes the tenderloin a Southern Indiana classic? Story and photos by Haley Ward

ost food historians agree Indiana is the birthplace of the breaded tenderloin. And this crispy, savory sandwich remains a Hoosier favorite in pubs and restaurants across the region. What makes the Hoosier tenderloin special? According to food blogger Rick Garrett, the self-proclaimed “Tenderloin Connoisseur,” Indiana and Iowa are the states best known for breaded tenderloins, but each

has its own personal take on it. In Iowa, breaded tenderloins are pounded out thin, while Indiana’s tenderloins are thicker, like a pork chop. That’s what Garrett prefers. “You get the texture of the crust of breading and then the firmness of the meat,” he says. “When the sandwiches are pounded out too thin, you kind of lose that differentiation in the middle.” Not only is Indiana’s tenderloin special,

it is rooted in Indiana’s history. Jane and Michael Stern, writing in Gourmet magazine, say the tenderloin originated at Nick Freienstein’s food cart in Huntington. In 1904, Freienstein drew on his German roots to construct the sandwich at Nick’s Kitchen, using meat that was plentiful in the area: pork. With Garrett’s help, 812 Magazine compiled some top tenderloins in Southern Indiana.

GNAW BONE BBQ & ORIGINAL GNAW BONE TENDERLOIN WHERE: Nashville (check Facebook for locations) COST: $6.50 (cash only) ON THE SANDWICH: Whatever you want on a hamburger bun Roger Sharp and Laura Kindle sold their gas station Gnaw Mart to focus more on the food. Now their catering cart sets up shop around Nashville and Martinsville. Gnaw Bone’s tenderloin was featured in Gourmet, as well as on the Today Show and the Food Network. The Gnaw Bone tenderloin is fried, served on a bun and cooked to order. They hand-bread each sandwich and also roast it, which creates a special crispy texture.

TROJAN HORSE WHERE: 100 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington COST: $6.75 ON THE SANDWICH: Whatever you want on a hamburger bun Located on the courthouse square in Bloomington, the Trojan Horse has IU memorabilia covering the wood-paneled walls. They're known for their Greek food, but Garrett says they have a great-tasting tenderloin. Instead of traditional breading, the Trojan Horse coats their tenderloin with a fish breading that gives it extra crispiness. For a healthier option, they offer a grilled tenderloin.

SHOOTERS WHERE: 101 E. Main St., Madison COST: $6.99 for sandwich and chips ON THE SANDWICH: Plain on a garlic-coated Kaiser roll Shooters is a quaint sports bar in a historic building in downtown Madison. This familyfriendly restaurant is the perfect place to watch a game on their flat-screen TVs and chow down on a tenderloin. It has light and crispy breading that’s not greasy. It’s served on a toasted Kaiser roll with garlic butter on top, chips and a pickle. You can get fries and cole slaw for $2.99 extra.

YOU BE THE JUDGE 2ND ANNUAL TENDERLOIN THROWDOWN WHERE: Downtown Greensburg on the courthouse lawn WHEN: July 25 In its second year, the Tenderloin Throwdown gives cooks a chance to compete in categories such as Best Breaded, Best Grilled, Most Creative and People’s Choice. Last year Greensburg's Lincoln Street Grill took home Best Breaded and Best Grilled tenderloin, and Greensburg’s Mayasari Indonesian Grill took home Most Creative and People’s Choice. Visit http://www.mainstreetgreensburg.com/ for more information.

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10 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Still Waters

After a personal tragedy changed her life, award-winning artist Dawn Adams finds peace through her paintings of marshes, lakes and the open sea. Story by Kelsey Roadruck and photos by Haley Ward

n her Bloomington studio, Dawn Adams layers more shadow along the bank of a creek bed on the four-foot-square canvas. Dawn’s silver, pixie-cut hair and her layered charcoal and cobalt sweaters blend into the autumn scene. To her right, stained paintbrushes fill glass jars like bouquets of wild bluets. Some bayside-blue paint splatters break up the otherwise all-white basement walls. Stacks of audiobooks — Dexter in the Dark and some Elmore Leonard stories — decorate the washing machine behind the 58-year-old artist. The more interesting the story, Dawn explains, the longer she’s likely to paint. An 8-foot-long painting of Lake Michigan spills from horizon to shore across two canvases in the center of her studio. It will sell for $7,500, she says. A few feet away, blue ribbons from the juried Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts hang among other prizes. Dawn has won six first-place ribbons since 2001. For the last two years, her collection of water scenes has taken the top painting prize. She’ll enter up to 14 pieces again this September. While she paints full-time now, Dawn used to work on large glass pieces with her husband, Dale Steffey, an artist who now collects rare books and unique artwork. The basement stairs divide her painting studio from their glasswork storage; card tables and wooden shelves house disassembled works. On a chair in the brightest corner of the basement sits a framed portrait of her son, Wade. He’s 15 and wearing a poppy-colored polo. Shaggy brown hair sweeps across his eyelashes. His dimpled chin softens his strong, square jaw. He’s smiling. It's a picture Dawn cherishes.

Dawn Adams adds another layer of shadow to “Downstream View.” Light refraction is the biggest challenge she faces when painting water scenes.

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y the time Dawn puts on her smock, it’s 4 p.m. — a late start. She was on time for her usual morning meditation and hike with her “schnoodle,” Zeus, a schnauzer covered in kinky black curls. Today, Zeus got to romp around a lake on the Indiana University campus that inspired Dawn’s “Color Modulations” painting. After hiking, Dawn tried to donate blood, something she does every eight weeks. For the first time, though, her iron was too low, so she headed home for lunch. Dale is home for lunch, too. “You’re like a yeti,” Dale salutes Zeus with a burrito in one hand and a box of dusty discoveries on his hip. Dale carries the box to the patio. He’ll sort through it later while Dawn paints. In the past few years, Dale’s artistic energy has morphed from creating to collecting. “It’s the treasure hunter in him,” Dawn says with a laugh. “He discovers it, he researches it, and ‘Oh my goodness, look at what I have found.’” Dale’s books and pottery, prints and posters are on display in every nook and cranny of the artists’ home, where the decor seems rather modern Mongolian. A framed tapestry hangs above a sleek leather couch embellished with silk pillows. Rugs trail through the living room to the basement door. A Buddha sits among six family photos.

Dawn hustles up and down the basement stairs to collect forgotten items — the phone, her glasses. It’s part of her painting preparation ritual that she repeats every afternoon. Then, she gives herself a pep talk. She examines each canvas and looks for a problem that needs fixing. Water is still a new subject matter for Dawn, and from realism to abstract, its possibilities can be overwhelming. But she finds water to fit a non-formulaic style that prompts experimentation. “My vocabulary is getting bigger, but I don’t tend to do the same thing over and over again, and so I don’t always know how to fix it,” Dawn says. “I have to give myself permission to try something if I’ve got an issue.” Dawn’s biggest challenge with her water paintings is light refraction — balancing contrast levels and deciding how to get her translucent paint to look like light on water. She gauges how closely her painting should follow the photograph she took at the scene, and she deals with the daunting question of whether she’ll be able to finish, though she always does. But she doesn’t have much time for self-motivation today. She adds some depth to a bend in the creek bed and then heads to her 6 o’clock committee meeting for the Fourth Street Festival, of which she’s vice president.

“It’s a lot of work,” Dawn says, but worth the effort. “I feel like it’s a way to be involved in the community and to sort of nudge it in a certain direction.”

awn has been nudging the Bloomington art community since the late ‘70s when she was an IU graduate student. She met Dale in a Brown County crafts gallery where they sold stained glass and laughed about the macramé owls. They married in 1980 and began to showcase their glass collection at art fairs. Their frit-and-fired portfolio grew to well over 50 large glass wall hangings. Their son, Wade Steffey, was born on June 10, 1987 — Dawn’s first and only child. Growing up with touring artists taught Wade how to make friends easily and quickly. He went to Bloomington South High School and was an Eagle Scout in a troop that was mostly Bloomington North kids. Dawn and Wade did taekwondo together almost every day. He ran cross-country, mostly because it — unlike schoolwork — was a challenge. Wade wasn’t a top runner, but he stuck with it. He had a knack for math and a slight interest in photography, but he wasn’t artistic like his parents. After a decade of art fairs and one particularly uncooperative trip to the Fourth Street Festival, Dawn gave in and called off Wade’s “art education.”

LEFT: Dawn shares one of her favorite photos of her son, Wade. Wade had enjoyed the challenge of cross-country running in high school. ABOVE LEFT: A painting by Dawn Adams, called "Dreamscape." /Photo courtesy of Dawn Adams ABOVE RIGHT: Dawn and Zeus start their day with a hike. Zeus was a gift from Dawn’s step-daughter Brooke Steffey after Wade died. Zeus is a therapy “schnoodle,” a schnauzer/poodle mix.

“I made him walk through it, and I said, ‘Tell me three things you liked,’” Dawn recalls with a laugh. “And it was like a big eye-roll the entire time. He was so huffy about the entire thing.” A couple of years later, Wade surprised Dawn by showing up at her festival booth voluntarily. It was the last festival he’d be able to attend before leaving for Purdue, and Dawn was delighted to see him. Today, if you ask her about Wade, it’s always the first story that comes to Dawn’s mind.

t the start of their second semester at Purdue, Wade’s roommate went home for the long MLK weekend, and Wade went to a party on campus. When his roommate returned on Tuesday, Wade wasn’t in their dorm room. The lights were on, Wade’s computer was on, and his shoes were there. Wade’s roommate alerted his own mother, who called Dawn and Dale to ask if they’d talked to Wade recently. Dale didn’t worry too much, knowing college freshmen, with their newfound freedom, aren’t inclined to update their parents on their whereabouts. He called Wade’s phone and sent him an email with a deadline to respond. That evening, the IU men’s basketball team was playing Iowa. Dawn and Dale had invited some friends over. They offered reassurance during the game.

In the center was a snapshot of an “Don’t worry about it.” 18-year-old Wade, with an Adam’s apple “He’s just off somewhere.” and a shorter haircut than he had in the But by the end of the game, Dale was portrait in Dawn’s studio. But he had the worried. He called the Purdue police. They same dimpled chin and smile. already knew Wade was missing and said After a week in West Lafayette, Dawn they’d call back. and Dale made the tough decision to come At 11 p.m. police asked Dawn and Dale back home to Bloomington. They worked to come to West Lafayette. Two hours with local and state police and even an FBI later, they picked up a missing person’s agent. Wade’s story made national headreport with their hotel key. The next couple of days were spent lines. Dawn and Dale were interviewed on convincing people that Wade hadn’t run Indiana, Florida and Maryland TV stations. away. He was “Without a Trace,” a straight-A with Nancy Grace student. He and “Good Morn“The question was wouldn’t have ing America” aired what did I want left without his their son’s story. my artwork to do, laptop or his “It was all puband I thought that I shoes. He always lic, and everybody wanted my artwork wore those got to be right to be healing.” shoes. He didn’t there with us,” have any issues Dawn says. “Being with his friends shy didn’t count. or roommate. We had to go out there and do the best we For a week, they hung around the could for our son. All those tendencies got Purdue police station and joined search trumped by the need.” parties. Wade’s classmates posted notices Between interviews, Dawn insisted that on social media. she and Dale resume their glasswork. It Missing was a way to keep their hands as occupied HAVE YOU SEEN WADE? as their worried minds. Last seen on the night of Fri., Jan. 12 As Dawn and Dale talk about those wearing a blue and white striped button up terrible weeks, Zeus, a therapy dog, cries shirt. in his sleep.

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On March 19, 2007, nine weeks after Wade disappeared, Dawn and Dale got the call. A body was found in an electrical supply unit close to the last place Wade had been seen. Dawn and Dale took Wade’s dental records to West Lafayette. The coroner had identified him by his clothing, student ID and phone. He had been electrocuted when he wandered into the high-voltage area. “I was very thankful that we found him,” Dawn says. “We have met people who hadn’t found their missing child.” For the next month, Dale describes the separation of his mind and body. He couldn’t concentrate, he forgot things, and he even ran into furniture and walls. He began to meditate and revisit Buddhism, which he had briefly explored in college. Dale and Dawn had left Wade’s belongings in his dorm room at his roommate’s request, and when they came back to campus in April, Dale found a miniature Buddha figurine among his things. They didn’t know the extent of Wade’s involvement with Buddhism, if any at all, but Dale felt this was a sign he was on the right track. Dale was, however, no longer on the path to making art. Eventually, he let his artistic interests shift to collecting. “I was never the artist at heart that she is,” Dale says of Dawn.

awn couldn’t slow down, though. Creating was coping. She returned to what she was trained to do — paint. In their glasswork, she had been drawn to swimmers. This water immersion was a healing idea — hence the titles “Calm Waters” and “Ease” — and it carried over to Dawn’s current collection. “The question was what did I want my

artwork to do, and I thought that I wanted my artwork to be healing,” Dawn says. “The water just immediately became the subject matter because I had worked with water before.” Since 2009, Dawn has filled canvases with scenes from Virginia Beach, Michigan and the lakes and streams around Bloomington. Because the smallest painting can take at least a month to finish, Dawn takes photographs rather than painting onscene. Then, in her studio, she alternates opaque and translucent colors in layers to create depth. Before she determines whether a painting is finished, she sometimes employs a method she learned as a 12-year-old: She looks at the reflection of the painting in a mirror. The flipped image shows mistakes or areas that need to be revisited. She also lays out her work upstairs in the living room under the same natural light in which jurors will evaluate her work. It’s a painstaking process, and Dawn has gone back into her Lake Michigan scene three times since signing it. Dawn says she finds emotion in each scene she photographs and, later, paints. She often feels a sense of calmness from a shade of silver that’s cast over the Pacific or the light refraction on a local lake. Beth Nash, an Ohio artist and former Fourth Street Festival juror, calls Dawn’s new work wonderful. “I believe the creation of art and painting is a healing journey,” Nash says. “Her work makes me feel calm and centered.” Dawn’s work has had a similar effect on others. A Navy veteran is reminded of his commanding officer in World War II. A cancer patient is brought to tears. “That really is riveting to have somebody

respond so strongly,” Dawn says of that experience.

hile art has been a driving force in working through her grief, Dawn has also found meaning and comfort in other realms. She saw the peace Dale found in Buddhism, and, after meeting local monks and adopting the idea of samsara — a cessation to suffering — Dawn began attending classes at a local monastery. “Some of the ideas about dealing with grief really hit home for me,” she says. Dale says those ideas weren’t always easy to hear at first. “But after a while, the more you thought about it, they began to make some sense,” he says, slipping Wade’s well-worn Buddha back into his pocket. He carries it every day. Dawn and Dale spent five years in couples’ therapy. They had been warned about support groups by someone who thought they were places where grieving parents stayed stuck. Their experience, though, was different. “Along the way we met some other parents, and we found that it was helpful to be around and to talk with other parents who had lost children,” Dale says. Last year, Cindy Moldthan at IU Health Hospice asked Dawn and Dale to help lead a monthly one-hour meeting open to anyone who has lost a child. Many who come are newly bereaved, while others are working through losses from years before. Lynn DiPietro also helps with the hospice group. After her daughter Rachel’s death in 2008, Lynn received a letter from Dawn. Inside was the original condolence letter Rachel had sent to Dawn and Dale when she heard of Wade’s death. Lynn and Dawn have been friends since. “The same kind of beauty and tranquility that’s reflected in her art is reflected in her manner in this group,” Lynn says. “She seems to have this dimension of peace that she can transmit in the group. Her manner is very gentle and understanding and convincing. She has a sense of calm.”

14 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

awn plans to continue painting the vast water scenes that have helped her heal since Wade’s death, but she hopes to explore a more stylized approach — a method she initially avoided. “At one point, I thought if you stylized a landscape, it took the sense of place out of a landscape,” Dawn says. But that’s simply not true, she now believes. She hopes to marry her style with Dawn and Dale relax at home with their dog Zeus. The Adams-Steffey home is decorated with rare art and books that Dale has collected. /Photo by Haley Ward

She likes to think that Wade would that of Gustav Klimt, a late 19th cenappreciate his parents’ enhanced sense tury Austrian painter, whose landscapes of compassion and their ability to move look like violet smears and golden dots, through their grief. cartoon-black outlines and shapes of red. Although she can’t imagine what Wade Klimt’s “brushy and scruffy” look, as Dawn would be doing today, Dawn believes her describes it, is far different than her own. son would be fine. He was capable and And you can see some stylization in self-assured, she says. Before Wade went Dawn’s more recent work. In “High Wamissing, he had talked about studying ter,” mossy greens and maroon tree bark abroad. Japan, probably. And though tangle together like vines. In “Willows,” imagining what blue branches could have been ofsweep across a bank of springfers neither clarity green grass. And in nor comfort, Dawn “I know this may “Falling Water 1,” and Dale do small be odd, but the clean white strokes things to remind gift of Wade’s form a mountain themselves of their death is being stream that casts son and what once able to understand sea-foam confetti was. They oc(immortality) a little on stone. casionally wear his bit and maybe While her clothing, sometimes being able to be approach may keeping cool in helpful.” change, Dawn the yard with his intends to stay Aircraft Owners & with her subject Pilots Association matter, which she cap, other times calls soothing, challenging and forgiving. grocery shopping in a green-and-white It refreshes her understanding of immorpolo Wade wore in high school. Lounging in Bloomington South sweatshirts, they’ll tality, a sense Wade’s death awakened. snack on Doritos. Not because they neces“I know this may be odd, but the gift of Wade’s death is being able to understand sarily have a taste for them, but because this a little bit and maybe being able to be they were Wade’s favorite. helpful,” Dawn says. Dawn heard one of her favorite stories

about Wade in a condolence letter from a student in Wade’s speech class at Purdue. The student had given a speech about a scrapbook she made with her mother before she died. When she turned to a page with a small bag of her mother’s ashes, some classmates were disconcerted. Once she sat down, Wade leaned over and said it was OK. His mother had made a scrapbook for him, too. It was a good idea, he said. “As a parent you’re always surprised at the lives that your child touches,” Dawn says.

awn pulls herself out of bed this morning and moves to the living room. Correcting her posture, she sits next to Dale and they set a timer. These 12-and-a-half minutes before morning tea and a hike with Zeus are for meditation. Dawn holds her right hand in her left, palms up; she breathes. In through her nose. She smells the subtle incense burning nearby. Out through her mouth. With her eyes nearly closed, she lets her breathing overwhelm her thoughts, like waves that sweep toward the shore. Minutes later, Dawn is prepared for her day — now an empty canvas.

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16 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

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• 812-345-2689 • Tues. - Sat. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Nashville locals gathered at the fabled Liars' Bench to share tales that grew taller year by year. /Photo courtesy of the Lilly Library.

GATHER ’ROUND Come close and get comfy as we guide you through Southern Indiana’s storytelling tradition. Story by Lexia Banks and Krista Zozulia and photos by Tae-Gyun Kim

he lighting dims as the rows begin to fill in the Monroe County Library’s theater. People talk in hushed voices as they wait for the performance to begin. After brief introductions, Lisa Champelli takes the stage, and the room is still. She does not sing. She does not dance. She tells a story about a farmer who disobeyed God’s orders to stop working. After multiple visits from angels warning him to quit, the only thing that could finally get the farmer to drop his plow was the threat of a bad neighbor. The Wintertelling is a storytelling event sponsored by the Bloomington Storytellers Guild, which began as a group of librarians who met in their homes and today organizes storytelling events around Bloomington every year. Ginny Richey, coordinator of the guild, says there is a long tradition of people

entertaining people by talking. “For most of us, it is retelling a structure that has a beginning, middle and end, that has some form to it, whether it’s a personal story or whether it’s a legend,” Ginny says. Some consider storytelling to be the first form of entertainment. But times have changed. Today, books, television and music tell stories. Comedians tell stories. You tell stories. We are telling you a story right now. Storytelling lies deep in our Southern Indiana roots. Old-timers in Nashville once gathered at the fabled Liars’ Bench to tell tales that grew taller every year. With the simple story of sweethearts “Jack and Diane,” Bloomington’s John Mellencamp kick-started his career. Throughout the Ohio River Valley today, audiences can hear author Scott Russell Sanders telling stories from his Wilderness Plots collection.

We even have the world-renowned Indiana University Folklore Institute, where we study the art of storytelling. Hoosier-born author and storyteller Margaret Read MacDonald says we’ve developed the art through generations of listening and speaking. “Southern Indiana storytellers have refined a cadence and leisure of delivery which makes their tales easy to listen to,” she says. “Their pleasure in their tales is infectious. As we listen we relax into the story and are swept along with their humor.” We found three different kinds of Southern Indiana storytellers — a traditional raconteur, a comedian and a songwriter/author. Each of them takes us to places we haven’t been and introduces us to people we haven’t met. So, wrap your blanket of imagination around you. It’s story time.

17 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

The town clown

Robert Sherrell T

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he days after his grandmother died were hard for Robert Sherrell and his family. Everyone was in mourning and, even as a child, Rob felt the responsibility to lighten the mood. So he told a joke. And he’s never stopped. Every class has that kid who sits in the back making witty comments, cracking jokes and disturbing the general peace. That was Rob. As he grew older, he wanted to take his sense of humor to a public setting. At 16, he performed standup for the first time at a community talent show. Now 21 and a junior, he performs in comedy clubs and at university events. But what started as a hobby has become more. It struck Rob after his set for Random Acts of Comedy last year. “Man, this is something that I love,” he thought. “I want to do this professionally.” Quitting school was out of the question. Rob is the first person in his family to go to college, and a lot of people are counting on him. So Rob is combining his passion, his art and his education in an individualized course of study. In 2016, Rob will be the first IU student to graduate with a major in stand-up comedy. He draws stories from his own life. “Almost everything I do on stage is a story of something that happened — to me or to a friend,” Rob says. He draws laughs from stories about his gender studies courses to things he’s overheard on the bus. Most people think a story has just a beginning, middle and end. But that’s not enough. There has to be a point. In his field, the point is the punch line. People have to be surprised. “There has to be an ah-ha,” Rob says. To get to the ah-ha, Rob has to get the audience to picture themselves in the story. He describes the setting, the situation and the people involved. The more the audience is immersed in the atmosphere, the funnier the joke will be. Every audience is different, and he adjusts to those differences. Rob says he might have to alter the story chronologically or context-wise to better emphasize the punch line or reason why he’s telling it. He sees power in storytelling, and considers it the oldest form of entertainment. “The best people in the world are storytellers.”

,8 MXQLRU 5RE 6KHUUHOO ZLOO EH WKH ƓUVW SHUVRQ WR JUDGXDWH IURP ,8 ZLWK D PDMRU LQ VWDQG up comedy. He shares a moment with the sculpture of Eve on campus.

Hoosier Daddy I almost didn’t go to IU because of something that happened on a YLVLW ,W ZDV P\ ƓUVW WLPH DW ,QGLDQD University. My mom and I were there for a tour of the campus. It was raining, and the 50 other people there are all soaked and pretty angry. There was one tour

guide trying to pump up the crowd. He was running around yelling at people things like, “Welcome to the land of the Hoosiers!” “Welcome to Hoosier Nation!” and he runs up to me and yells, “Hoosier daddy!” and I say, “I don’t know...”

The hometown songwriter

His words tell stories as Tom commands the stage, a place he has shared with artists that include John Prine, Lyle Lovett and Gillian Welch.

Tom Roznowski

he belly of his Gibson dreadnought guitar vibrates as Tom Roznowski gently strums its strings. His pale blue eyes soften. You’re no longer in the seat of a concert hall or a local pub, but in the forest looking straight up to the sky. Spinning around, you find yourself lost between skyscraper trees and a log cabin home. That’s how Tom tells his stories. You gently float back to the banks of the Wabash River to the porch of your grandmother’s house. You fly through his songbook listening to the pages of history. Based in Bloomington, Tom, 63, is widely known for his original songs. His album “A Well Traveled Porch” ranked 24 on the Gavin Americana chart. But his stories go further. He’s also known for his digital storytelling, particularly his work with Memory Chain, a series of short films of early 20th century photographs. His Hometown series includes audio segments, a public television special and the book An American Hometown. He tells stories about urban development in the 1920s. And these stories’ roots are in Terre Haute. Tom says he tells stories in many different forms and approaches them differently

from most storytellers. “They want to explore human character and behavior and then reference the past. I have a specific intent. I am curious about how people lived in the early part of the 20th century and when technology was creating a counterbalance with nature.” Tom’s eyes glow as he paints Terre Haute in the 1920s: the lively neighborhoods integrated with shops and workplaces. It’s a city that most people don’t see the real beauty of. “It’s like adopting a mutt from the pound,” he says. But for him, Terre Haute in the ‘20s is a microcosm for the rest of the United States, a perfect hometown. Tom’s journey to Indiana began when he left upstate New York in his Volkswagen van and ended up in Bloomington. Some college buddies had asked him to come and play with their band and write some songs. He didn’t imagine then that 40 years later, he would be the only one of them still in Bloomington. “It was a small town, yet it had aspects of the city. It was very much rooted in Indiana but had an international flare from the university. You

didn’t feel like you were cloistered in a small town. There’s a certain energetic buzz like a urban environment, and it’s still quiet.” Tom lives with his wife, Trisha, in Bloomington and is currently working on finishing 12 more episodes of Memory Chain. You can find him at local pubs, festivals and concert halls scattered around Southern Indiana.

“Whenever I Look at Trees” from his album, This Place in Time I can see them rising, standing one by one, like some green horizon, blockin out the sun. I step back with my ax as I hack at this trunk and imagine just what might be. Whenever I look at trees I see cities.

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The traditional storyteller

Stephanie Holman uses her storytelling to connect with kids as part of her job as a childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s librarian. /Photo by Tae-Gyun Kim

Stephanie Holman

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he Wintertelling crowd quiets again as the woman on stage introduces the next storyteller. Stephanie Holman walks under the hot glow of the overhead stage lights and takes the mic. She tells the legend of Diana of the Dunes, a strange and freethinking woman who lived in a shack near Lake Michigan. The audience reflects the emotional shifts of the story, laughing when Diana prances naked around the lake and falling silent when Stephanie tells of Dianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lonely death. Stephanie studied to be a childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s librarian at Indiana University, and one of the classes she had to take was the art of storytelling. As part of the class, Stephanie went into the community to tell stories. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Telling to kids changed everything for me,â&#x20AC;? Stephanie says. Soon after, Stephanie found the Bloomington Storytellers Guild. She became a member in 1989 and hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stopped telling stories since. Stephanie says a good story has two criteria. First: â&#x20AC;&#x153;A good story is one that fits the audience,â&#x20AC;? Stephanie says. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s often commissioned to tell stories at events and venues for drastically different audiences. Whether sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at a museum or a Boy Scout outing, Stephanie must find a story that

suits the event and age of the audience. The second requirement? â&#x20AC;&#x153;What makes a good story is that the storyteller likes it.â&#x20AC;? Stephanie says when a storyteller likes a story, it will show. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You will be more confident. The audience will feel that.â&#x20AC;? Stephanie prefers tall tales, stories of American greats like Paul Bunyon and Davy Crockett. Stephanie works at the Ellettsville Library and helps students from visiting classes with research questions. One day, Stephanie was asked to come tell a story at their school. She chose a collection of stories that related to what they were studying. The next time she saw the kids at the library, they addressed her by name and hugged her. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just through one storytelling event, I had changed from just that librarian who helps them to their storyteller.â&#x20AC;? Stephanie says storytelling connects people through shared experiences. They're the bridge builders, she says. But you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be a professional to get the construction underway. Stephanie sees everyone as a storyteller, from teenagers to tiny old ladies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re human, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re a storyteller.â&#x20AC;?

Davy Crockett It was the early spring, and Davy Crockett had gone into the woods to hunt bears. Luckily for the bears, he hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had any luck. And it was just starting to spring a light sprinkle of rain, so he took shelter under a tree and he leaned his head back in what was the crook of the tree between two branches. And he fell asleep. And he slept for quite a little while. By the time he woke up, the sun was way up in the sky. He tried to stand up, but he found that he had gotten his head stuck in the crook of that tree. He was D ELJ ROG Ć&#x201C;JKWHU JX\ VR KH VWDUWV wrestling, trying to get himself out. He cannot get out. He was just about to give himself up for a goner, just going to be stuck there, when he hears a young womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voice just over his head say, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the matter, stranger?â&#x20AC;?

7KH +RRVLHU FDPSƓUH What stories are told in Southern Indiana? 812 found a myth, a legend and a folktale that have been intriguing Hoosiers for years. THE MYTH

THE LEGEND

THE FOLKTALE

A story featuring supernatural entities or events not part of an actual experience.

A story set in a historical period and told as if it were true.

A story that originates from a local group of people or folk.

Stepp Cemetery Morgan-Monroe State Forest

Prince Madoc Clark County

The Tunnel Mill Clark County

Stepp Cemetery is a small burial site in a wooded area off Old State Road 37. Troy Taylor describes the cemetery in his book Beyond the Grave as a lonely place with roughly two dozen grave markers and a tree stump where the ghostly figure of a woman sits. The story goes that the woman’s husband died in a tragic quarry accident and her daughter died in a car accident coming home from a date. Overwrought, the woman made nightly visits to the cemetery where the two were buried. When she died, she was buried there, too. But her spirit won’t rest, and today she can be seen under a full moon sitting on the tree stump, guarding her family.

After the death of his father, Prince Madoc of Wales took a small fleet of ships and sailed west. He returned to convince some of his countrymen to accompany him to the strange land he found. Madoc and his followers settled along the Ohio River Valley in what is now Clark County. In 1799, six skeletons enclosed in brass breast plates sporting the Welsh coat of arms were reportedly found near Jeffersonville. It’s said that Madoc and his crew married local Native American women, and their descendents moved near the Falls of the Ohio and became known as “White Indians.” In a battle with a nearby tribe, the “White Indians” were massacred. The evidence of their existence is a large burial site on the north side of the Ohio River.

John and Henry Work moved west from Pennsylvania with their families in 1803. Henry died the next year, and John cared for both families. He bought a long stretch a land in what is now Clark County and built his mill along 14 Mile Creek. John traded with the local Native American tribes. As the story goes, John became friends with one of the old chiefs, who told him of a hidden silver mine. If John could find it, the settlers could have all the silver they needed. John never found the mine. Another version says the Native Americans covered John’s head and led him to to mine where they gave him a pouch of freshly made silver bullets. They covered his head once more to lead him home. The next morning the tribe vanished.

5 reasons why we tell stories Your life is full of stories meant to be told. If you don’t think you have the skills to become a storyteller, start watching other storytellers. It’s all about listening closely to what you like and then practicing around the campfire or your dining room table. Here's why storytelling is good for you.

other guys.” And storytelling helps us connect with this particular group. When we identify with a story someone is telling, we find support for our own beliefs and values. This connection creates what Sturm calls a “lived community.” It’s a place where everyone tries to make sense of the story together.

TO MAKE US FEEL GOOD.

Even if you’re already healthy, storytelling can keep you that way. “We have a social need, that laughter, amusement. It creates good kinds of endorphins. Even sad stories can make us feel good because of the cathartic effect,” says Brian Sturm, who earned his Ph.D. in folklore at IU.

TO CREATE A COMMUNITY.

IU. folklore graduate student Chad Buterbaugh defines community as a sense that “we share a language, and we’re not those

TO GIVE US REAL, PHYSICAL CONNECTION.

Face-to-face interaction lights up your eyes and opens your ears. “We have a physiological need for connection,” Sturm says. A computer screen can’t smile at you or look into your eyes. When you watch storytellers, you share a real space. “Our bodies tell stories through winks, handshakes, embraces and dances,” Buterbaugh says.

TO ESTABLISH VALUES. A good storyteller taps into powerful themes and emotions that touch many people, Sturm

says. “We learn vicariously from story characters how to cope with life.” Buterbaugh says that fresh perspectives can engage an audience in new ways. “Listen closely to the words of authority figures, from parents to politicians. Then consider how likely you are to practice their values when they are badly stated." You're far more likely to pay attention, he says, when the values are embedded in a narrative of some kind.

TO HIGHLIGHT CHANGING TRADITIONS.

Today's stories often maintain classic themes and motifs but in a modern framework, Buterbaugh explains. “When people think of tradition, they erroneously think of the same story passed down verbatim, but things have to change." So telling an old story is not simply a way to preserve the past, Buterbaugh says. "It is a way of reformatting the past for contemporary understanding.”

21 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Picks of

Juicy blackberries ripen in the sun at Huber's Orchard and Winery in Starlight. /Photo courtesy of Huber's Orchard and Winery

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Orchards have become destinations that combine outdoor family fun and fresh-picked produce. Story by Devynn Barnes and Francesco Ferrara and graphics by Haley Ward

the Season T

here’s nothing quite like biting into a fresh, juicy apple. The succulent sweetness wrapped tight by thin, crisp skin is nature’s dessert, and you don’t have to feel guilty about it. The same is true of tart blackberries, luscious peaches or juicy table grapes. Yes, you can buy your fruits and berries in the grocery produce aisle, but you can also venture out on Southern Indiana’s back roads to find them in their natural habitat. And, while you’re there, you can take a hayride, shop for jams and jellies, listen to live music or sample a glass of

locally produced wine. These agricultural amusement parks are part of a growing agritourism trend. Ruth Ann Roney, president of the Indiana Farm Market Association, says the growth is connected to the rising interest in buying local. “It’s something that’s trending right now,” she says. “People are interested in buying fresh, buying local and seeing where their food comes from.” David King, program manager of local foods for the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, agrees, adding that Hoosiers want to see the dollars they spend on

produce stay in Southern Indiana. “U-picks and orchards offer consumers, both local and visitors, an opportunity to enjoy food products in their freshest condition, when they’re richest in nutrition.” 812 visited three different regional orchards, each of which offers customers more than just produce. We'll tell you what’s ripe when, share the owners’ favorite recipes and even tell you how you can become an “orchardista.” Join us to discover the best of Southern Indiana’s fruits and berries — and fun for the whole family.

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Huber’s Orchard and Winery Huber's has its own winery on site where the family produces wines from the grapes grown in the orchard. /Photo courtesy of Huber's.

19816 Huber Road, Starlight www.huberwinery.com (812) 923-9813 YOU’LL FIND: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, black raspberries, peaches, blackberries, apples and grapes

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Arrows point in the direction of Huber’s Starlight compound like signs on a Candyland board. Follow the twists and turns, and you’ll be led to a family agricultural empire, hilly and overflowing with fruit, vegetables, wine and more. Here, in summer and fall, the air is ripe with smells of berries, peaches and fresh apples and the sounds of children playing in the Family Farm Park. Down the road from the park is a cheese shop, an ice cream factory, a restaurant, a winery and a distillery — all under the name of Huber. What makes this orchard most special

are its family ties. In 1843, Simon Huber emigrated from Baden-Baden, Germany, and settled on 80 acres in Starlight. Today, the orchard is run by the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh generations of Hubers, and Simon’s modest farm has expanded to more than 600 acres. Marcella Hawk, 27, a seventh-generation Huber, works as the orchard’s administrative assistant with her mother. “We do anything and everything that needs to be done,” she says. “Not only do I get to come in and work with my family, but I also get to do something different every day.” A member of the Huber family is never far away on the farm. You’ll see them driving a Gator across the fields or overseeing the festivities. This particular afternoon, a group of old friends is enjoying pizza and wine on the winery patio. Nearby, the younger Hubers hustle to set up rows of white chairs facing the vineyard for an upcoming wedding. Hawk says the busiest season is the fall, when people flock to the U-pick pumpkin fields and apple orchards, but

Huber’s stays open year ‘round. People come for the strawberries, peaches and brambleberries, Marcella says. And the special events. “We’ve got tons of things for a family to do,” she says. “They can come visit the Family Farm Park, but then they can also go eat lunch, the parents can have a glass of wine or sangria, and then they can ride the wagon out and pick apples, strawberries or peaches.” Huber’s also makes more than 40 different kinds of wines, using grapes that they grow themselves. Reds and whites, dry and sweet, all are ready to be enjoyed with friends on the restaurant patio. In the summer, they have live music every Saturday and Sunday. The acts are scheduled a month in advance, and you can find them on their website calendar. Marcella says she’s seen more and more families taking advantage of Huber’s offerings in the past couple of years. “There’s been a huge growth in the whole agritourism business, not just ours. It’s become such a big source of entertainment,” she says.

6400 North Saint Joseph Ave., Evansville (812) 963-3175 www.maysefarmmarket.com YOU’LL FIND: strawberries, blueberries and blackberries For owner Paul Mayse, farming runs in the family. “I grew up in it,” he says. “It’s kind of my lifestyle.” From the time he was young, farming was in Paul’s blood. He left his Evansville home to attend Western Kentucky University, then used his marketing degree to come back in 1974 and start the market division of his family orchard. Now, Evansville locals know that a trip to Mayse promises mouthwatering produce, from the early-summer strawberries through fall squash and pumpkins. Mayse Farm began more than 75 years ago and has grown to 90 acres overflowing with fresh produce. During the growing season, Paul checks each individual crop to ensure customers are getting fresh, delicious produce. “We pick our produce early in the morning to get everything picked by noon,” he says. Every year, as the May 1 opening date for the orchard and farmer’s market nears, Mayse says that excitement begins to build. “People wait all winter to get our produce,” he says. “When they get excited about it, we get excited about it.” Strawberries ripen first. “We allow people to pick strawberries because we have so many — we can’t pick them all,” Mayse says. Throughout the spring and summer season, Mayse Farm Market also buys and sells other local produce to customers. “You go to the grocery stores and everything is shipped in,” Mayse says. “You come to our place, and you have things that are grown right here.” Fresh produce isn’t the only thing you’ll find at Mayse’s. In fall, the farm offers kidfriendly activities like wagon rides, corn mazes and even a “kiddie zip line” called Granny’s Clothesline. “There’s no crying on the farm,” Paul says. “The only time you cry is when you leave.” Last year, Mayse Farm Market saw one of its most successful seasons. “Everybody wants to know where their produce comes from,” Paul says. “They want to know if it’s locally grown.” And he expects to see another good season this year. “When we’re open, there’s not much of a slow time.”

Mayse Farm Market

TOP: Paul Mayse owns Mayse Farm Market. /Photo by Haley Ward LEFT: Pumpkins sit in a bin at the market. /Photo courtesy of Paul Mayse

25 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Bloomington Community Orchard 2120 S. Highland Ave., Bloomington bloomingtoncommunityorchard.org

YOU’LL FIND: blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, elderberries, bayberries and gojiberries

Tucked in a southside Bloomington neighborhood is a tiny orchard that’s more of an outdoor classroom. Originally an undergraduate project for the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, the Bloomington Community Orchard now offers an array of organic berries and fruits. The one-acre orchard sits behind a rustic twig gate in Winslow Park. There, fruit trees and berries are planted in a circular design, with strawberries in the center. Paths encourage visitors to stroll through the orchard. Amy Roche, 47, has been working with the orchard since it opened. “I fell in love with the people and the community,” says Amy, now the orchard’s outreach and board chair. Today, the nonprofit orchard is run by 50 volunteers who care for the plants, all chosen to thrive in Southern Indiana’s climate. Visitors can pick their own fruit after learning how to avoid injuring the bushes and trees. “We recommend that people come to a work-and-learn day so

Bloomington Community Orchard is a learning lab for visitors who want to know more about growing fruits and berries. /Photo by Devynn Barnes

they can recognize when the fruit is ripe,” Amy says. The orchard gives visitors lots of options depending on the season. Last year, the orchard produced quarts of strawberries and blackberries, Amy says. The year before, peaches and plums did well. Unlike other Southern Indiana orchards, this is also a place for people to learn about growing their own fruits and berries. Classes are offered year-round for those who want to become true “orchardistas.” The classes are hands-on and focus on topics such as pruning, tree pollination and sustainability. And they’re free. “We don’t want any barrier between people and

the fruit,” Amy says. In early spring, the orchard is in full bloom, with buzzing honeybees and colorful butterflies. In June, strawberries ripen. With July come blackberries, blueberries, plums and peaches. At the Harvest Fest in July, visitors can enjoy a shortcake bar. In fall, the orchard will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a Cider Fest on October 10. Guests can make their own glass of warm, fresh cider with handcrank and electric cider presses. And visitors are always encouraged to immerse themselves in the natural beauty of the orchard. “It’s a beautiful place to paint, sit and eat,” Amy says.

What’s ripe when June Apples Blackberries Blueberries Cherries Grapes Peaches

26 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Raspberries Pears Pumpkins Strawberries

July

August

September

October

Indiana's tastiest apples The apple: It’s a healthy, sweet snack. It can be baked into pies, puréed into sauces or juiced into cider. It comes in all kinds of colors and flavors. Best of all, it grows in abundance across Southern Indiana. H. Michael Simmons, who handles education for the Bloomington Community Orchard, is an advocate for the apple, and alludes to its appearance in Indiana soil thanks to one

1 2 3

noble legend. “There is a lot of local lore associated with apples — of course Johnny Appleseed was active in the area.” Indiana’s moderate amount of rain and rich soil provided the perfect environment for Appleseed’s seedlings, and if you believe in the lore, it’s the descendants of those original seeds that we get to enjoy today. Simmons gave us the scoop on eight local varieties.

YELLOW TRANSPARENT

ENTERPRISE

Season: Mid-July Appearance: Light yellow-green, medium size Taste: Sharp and sweet Uses: Its juicy nature makes this apple great for applesauce, juice and cider.

Season: Early to late October Appearance: Deep red skin, small to medium in size Taste: Sharp, sweet, rich and full Uses: Chop this one up and add to salads for crunchy sweetness – it also works great for juice and cider.

GALA

IDARED

Season: Late August to early September Appearance: Reddish-pink, ranging in size Taste: Smooth and sweet, very fresh taste Uses: Simmons calls this “one of the most versatile apples.” It’s excellent for snacking, salad, pies and applesauce.

Season: Early to late October Appearance: Bright red blended with golden-green hues, medium size Taste: Smooth, sweet and mild Uses: Because this apple holds its texture well when cooked, it’s great for applesauce, pies and other desserts.

GRIMES GOLDEN

GOLD RUSH

Season: Early to late September Appearance: Golden-yellow, medium size Taste: Crisp and rich sweetness with a hint of spice Uses: Thought to have been planted by Johnny Appleseed, this apple is the stuff of legends. It’s great for baked desserts.

Season: Early to late October Appearance: Golden-yellow, small to medium size Taste: Tart and tangy Uses: 7KH VWURQJ ŴDYRU RI WKLV DSSOH lends itself to juices and ciders, but it also works great in baked desserts.

GRANNY SMITH

FUJI Season: Late September to early October Appearance: Pink and yellow speckled, ranging in size Taste: Sweet and refreshing, especially when chilled Uses: Simmons says Fujis keep well, so they’re great for apple butter or a workday snack.

Season: Late October to mid-November Appearance: Bright green, medium to large in size Taste: Very tart, but with a hint of sweetness Uses: Great for apple pies or apple crisp, its tartness balances the sweetness for a succulent taste.

Southern Indiana Orchards 1. BLOOMINGTON COMMUNITY ORCHARD 2120 S. Highland Ave., Bloomington

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SUMMER/ FALL 2015

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Family Trees As the state crowns new champion maples, elms and oaks, 812 explores how our forests have shaped our history and culture. Story by Christian Kemp and photos and graphics by Mary Shown

ackie Silver waited at the bus stop until her children boarded safely. It was a beautiful, summery morning, and she was hanging laundry on a clothesline near a towering hackberry tree. The lowest branch held a swing for her kids, and Jackie watched as the black rubber tire swayed gently in the breeze. Later that morning, a neighbor called to ask Jackie why her daughter had stayed home from school. She had seen her flying back and forth on the tire swing. “That wasn’t my daughter. That was me,” Jackie told her neighbor. “I just wanted to be a kid again, and that tree gave me such a sense of wonder.” The tree that left Jackie awestruck decades ago is now the champion Vigo County hackberry. It measures 99 feet tall and 18 feet wide and was nominated for this year’s Indiana Big Tree Register. The register lists the biggest native trees of Indiana. Today, 101 species are nominated based on height, width of trunk and span of crown. A champion tree isn’t necessarily a giant, though. Indiana’s biggest ironwood, located in Vanderburgh County, measures just 12 feet tall and only 3 inches around, a toothpick compared to the 136-foot-tall champion sycamore in Johnson County. Tree species differ in size and shape, and each native species has one of its own win a crown. What may be most intriguing, though, is that nearly three-fourths of the champions grow in the southern third of the state. Big trees are part of our history here. They’ve influenced our agriculture, our roads and our commerce — even how we spend our leisure time. These swaying giants shade our homes and yards and provide wood for everything from dining tables to dulcimers. They support whole ecosystems of wildlife. And, in our state parks and forests, they give us a glimpse of life in an earlier time. Join us as 812 explores our wooded heritage.

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All sorts of visitors The hackberry drops tiny pea-shaped seeds throughout the Silver’s lawn. They Jackie and Steve Silver rake them up and feed them to a fire. “They pop like popcorn,” Jackie says. Hackberry tree The trunk of the hackberry is still Terre Haute widening, even though they estimate the tree is more than a century in age. Steve built a garage close to the tree in 2001, ne day, almost four decades after and the trunk now pushes against it. Jackie’s neighbor called to ask why Squirrels love the tree, Steve says. He her daughter was in the tire swing pulls out a picture of himself feeding a on a school day, a bus pulled up in front of cookie straight from his mouth to Bob, the Silvers' house. a squirrel with a A group of mangled front paw. people got out and Bob and his fellow gazed at the old The Silvers rake up the squirrels let the Silver hackberry. They seeds and feed them family know when to were nominating WR D ƓUH 7KH\ SRS OLNH feed them. “We were trees for the state SRSFRUQ

in the kitchen one Big Tree Register. day, ready to leave,” “I thought it was Jackie says, “when I weird,” Jackie says. heard a knock at the But she let them door.” measure her tree. “I pulled back the curtains, and no one It took three people, hand-to-hand was there,” Steve says. with outstretched arms, to get around the As soon as Steve told his wife he trunk, she says. “I think it would take didn’t see anyone, Jackie knew it was the more than three people now,” she says, as squirrels. Steve hugs the tree.

Jackie and Steve Silver built their garage years ago. But today, the tree hugs the garage's side. /Photo by Mary Shown

“

Megan’s elm

Christian Kemp American elm Crawfordsville

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y grandfather sparked my boyhood interest in trees by taking me on long walks through my Central Indiana hometown. He would point out the different trees we encountered. His favorite seemed to be the ginkgoes that grew near the town library. Mine were the elm, walnut and apple trees behind my childhood home. The elm stands out because of its size. As a child I paced around the elm, using its emerged roots as stepping stones in whatever fantasy possessed me that day. Sometimes the act was just a childish form of meditation. Sometimes I pretended I was high in the air, and if my foot missed a root, I would fall to my death. One day, after our rottweiler Megan died, I watched my father walk out toward the old elm. He had a shovel, and he dug just beyond the roots. I was young and didn’t understand what he was doing.

The American elm where Megan was buried. /Photo courtesy of Christian Kemp

I ran outside and asked him if he was looking for something. It was his hobby to search around the backyard with a metal detector. He’d find old things, lost things and pocket change. But this day, he said no and told me to go back inside. I watched him from a window. After a while I got bored and went to mourn Megan, who was now wrapped in a blanket. Then it clicked. My father carried Megan’s body to

the grave he had dug. Ten years later he buried Bear, our family’s second rottweiler, near Megan. He even dug graves for squirrels that fell from the high branches of our American elm. I asked my father why he chose to bury the animals there. He said it was the biggest tree we owned. He told me these animals would give something to life even in death. I never walked on those roots again.

Dueling oaks Bob Akin and Jeff and Maureen Ungethiem Southern red oaks Evansville

wo trees of the same species that grow within half a mile of each other now compete for the spot in the register. Neighboring families who grew up with these sentinels recall their favorite memories of them. Jeff Ungethiem’s grandfather purchased the plot where the current state champion southern red oak stands. “I always wanted to build my house by the big oak,” Ungethiem says. “I just like the tree.” Thomas Westfall, who nominated 21 of the 97 champion trees for the 2010 register, singled out the oak 10 years ago. “That tree has a pretty, small crown, and a really beautiful, wide trunk,” Westfall says. About a half mile from Ungethiem’s tree stands Bob Akin’s southern red oak. Akin, now 62, whirled on the tree’s tire swing as a kid. He grew up down the street from the Ungethiem family.

Now the Akin tree provides shade for him and his brothers and their families during picnic reunions. Sixty members of the Akin clan can gather under the oak, he says. Shawn Dickerson, Evansville city arborist, nominated Akin’s tree for the 2015 register. “Did you ever give him grief about it?” Dickerson asks Akin about competing with the Ungethiem tree up the road. Akin crosses his arms and shakes his head modestly. Vanderburgh County is home to almost one third of the state champion big trees. Dickerson says this honor could be due to the humidity, and it could be due to the variety of trees that can prosper in the region. The Akins and Ungethiems have a plethora of memories of the tree. On a summer night two years ago, Jeff Ungethiem and his family watched the top of their biggest tree. On the other side of the tree, one of Ungethiem’s four boys proposed to his girlfriend. A lantern rose into the sky, the signal she said yes. The family let their own lanterns follow into the August night.

Bob Akin's southern red oak grows just up the road from a competing tree. /Photo by Christian Kemp

Can you identify which leaf is which? Find the sassafras, maple, white oak, tulip, dogwood and sycamore.

6. 31 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Answers: 1. Tulip 2. Maple 3. Sassafras 4. Sycamore 5. White Oak 6. Dogwood

LEFT: Dave Shields, a former Verizon Communications employee, is a master of Vigo County history. RIGHT: Mary Beth Eberwein, an adjunct biology professor at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, was the leading nominater for Vigo County. /Photos by Mary Shown

Big tree hunters

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32 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

of the trunk, the height of the tree and the span of the crown. The crown is what grows outward from the trunk, all the way to the farthest leaves. Nominators look for the widest span of the branches. They measure straight through the center of the tree from one side to the other. Then they take a second measurement perpendicular to the first one. They add the two measurements together and divide the sum by two. The first tree the team measures is a sun-loving bitternut hickory. This one branches out 15 feet above the ground and is challenging the current county champion at a country club. The upward angle of the branches can be deceiving. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The tree doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t grow up,â&#x20AC;? Shields says as he walks around it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It only grows out.â&#x20AC;? Shields works with a pocket knife and a yardstick. He sticks the red-handled knife into the trunk of the tree 4 feet above the ground. Then he walks away. From a distance, the ground and knife appear one inch apart. So, for every inch, Shields estimates 4 feet of height. Eberwein judges the treeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s height with an altimeter, which calculates the slope of the tree. Van Etten rolls a bright yellow wheel with a handle to and from where Eberwein stands with the altimeter. She measures the distance from the tree to the altimeter. They plug these two measurements into an equation to find the height. Shields finishes his calculations. For today at least, the country-club tree keeps its crown.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

ary Beth Eberwein sticks a white Tree enthusiasts, both professionals and green button with a tree on and hobbyists, meet in groups like TREES it through her blue parka. The to better understand the trees around pin identifies her as a big tree nominathem â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and to earn bragging rights. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone thinks they have the biggest tor for TREES Inc. in Terre Haute. Dave tree,â&#x20AC;? says Janet Eger, a district forester for Shields and Lynn Van Etten, two other Lawrence and Orange counties who has volunteers from Vigo, join her. coordinated the register for 25 years. She The trio walk through Deming Park, likes hearing the stories people tell about verifying measurements for the Vigo their favorite trees. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pride thing for County champions. The biggest trees meamost folks,â&#x20AC;? she says. sured today will advance to the statewide competition for the Indiana Big Tree Register. Shields points to a park shelter,

7KH WUHH GRHVQĹ?W JURZ XS which he says was once part of the 6KLHOGV VD\V DV KH ZDONV DURXQG Union Railroad Station in IndianapoD ELWWHUQXW KLFNRU\ ,W RQO\ JURZV lis. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They took two sections at a time RXW

and made those shelters from them.â&#x20AC;? For Van Etten, hunting big trees merges childhood memories with her â&#x20AC;&#x153;Werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you shot at once?â&#x20AC;? Van Etten career in aviation. She helped her father asks Shields as they pull their equipment plant chestnuts and hickories. Now she from an old, blue Ford Fusion with an Inflies over the forests from Terre Haute to French Lick in the fall, when the woods diana State University Sycamore baseball â&#x20AC;&#x153;look like theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re bursting.â&#x20AC;? decal on the back window. Eberwein is an adjunct professor of biShields unloads the vehicle as if he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hear her, but she laughs. ology at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was hunting a pecan tree we had and delights in being outdoors. Sometimes near Bloomington. The guy shot up in she notices a tree that might be native to the air,â&#x20AC;? she says, and jerks her arms as Indiana but unmentioned in the registers. if pumping a rifle. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was just to let Dave Trees of Indiana, written by Charles know he was there.â&#x20AC;? C. Deam in 1911, was the guidebook for Each hunter carries equipment: an native species for the first edition of the altimeter, a yardstick and a bright, yellow register. Deam was Indianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first state forwheel used to measure distance. ester and is the namesake of a wilderness The Department of Natural Resources area in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hoosier National Forest. uses a point system to judge the size of the The register expands when new species trees. The system accounts for the width are found to be indigenous to Indiana.

Back to our roots L Trees and forests shaped our history and our lives.

ong before European settlers arrived Lieber pushed through the creation of a and drew political boundaries for state park system, beginning with McCorIndiana, Native Americans were mickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Creek in Owen County. Other state caretakers of the forests. For centuries parks and forests followed as the governthey lived here, hunting deer, birds and ment purchased failed farmland and let it other game. Occasionally they burned return to its natural state. clearings to better find food, says Teena With the arrival of the Great DepresLigman at the Hoosier National Forest. sion in the 1930s came the Civilian The first white settlers quickly saw Conservation Corps, sometimes called the potential of this abundant natural Franklin Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tree Army.â&#x20AC;? Forest resource. restoration became an opportunity for â&#x20AC;&#x153;These were massive trees, but it was jobs and regular meals for unemployed dense, dark thick woods,â&#x20AC;? says James H. men between the ages of 17 and 23. In Madison, author and professor emeritus of Tell City, members of one crew gained an history at Indiana University. These thick average of 12 pounds each, according to woods teemed with wild game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; wolves, Ligman. These crews of young men not black bear, panthers, deer and turkey. only planted trees but also built the rustic Nineteenth century naturalist Amos W. shelters, amphitheaters, overlooks and Butler praised trails that we enjoy Southern Indianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s today. early woodlands: As trees %\ ,QGLDQD ZDV WKH â&#x20AC;&#x153;Perhaps nowhere flourished in the QDWLRQĹ?V OHDGLQJ KDUGZRRG could America growing number of SURGXFHU show more magparks, state and nanificant forests of tional forests, land deciduous trees . . . than existed in the valtrusts and preserves, the animals began to return. Today, white-tailed deer are plentileys of the Wabash and the Whitewater.â&#x20AC;? Settlers first carved out clearings for ful â&#x20AC;&#x201D; too plentiful in some areas. Wild cabins, then small farms, then towns. turkeys strut through the woods again. Furniture companies began to cull the Eagles soar over our lakes and rivers. Even magnificant hardwoods Butler so admired. bobcats have crept back. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Evansville was once the furniture capital And we can still get a glimpse of what of the world,â&#x20AC;? says Evansville city arborist European settlers found two centuries Shawn Dickerson. ago in some remaining parcels of virgin The first ventures were tiny, often oneand old-growth forests. Pioneer Mothers room, operations. But they grew quickly. Memorial Forest, south of Paoli in the Trains carried carloads of hickory from Hoosier National Forest, comprises 88 Southern Indiana to New York to build the acres of land untouched by humans or Great Camps of the Adirondacks. Jasper natural disasters. became a center of furniture, cabinetry White oaks, black oaks, black walnuts and Kimball pianos. and American beeches make up the majorBy 1900, Indiana was the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ity of the forest, says Chris Thornton of the leading hardwood producer. But as the U.S. Forest Service. woodlands disappeared, so did the wildThe online outdoor guide Trails.com gives the Pioneer Mothers this eloquent life. Large predators were mostly gone by endorsement: â&#x20AC;&#x153;The ancient trees stand in the mid-1800s. White-tailed deer, eagles silent testimony to the centuries they have and turkeys followed. survived on this earth. Their stubby arms In 1901, Indianaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forests had dwinand towering canopies prove that old lives dled from nearly 20 million acres to less have a grace all their own.â&#x20AC;? than 2 million acres, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. It was a turning point. As the state prepared to celebrate its Pioneer Mothers Memorial Forest centennial in 1916, Indianapolis businesscomprises 88 acres of old-growth forest. man and German immigrant Richard /Photo by Mary Shown

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33 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Legends behind the bark 2XWVLGH WKH RIƓFHV RI +RRVLHU 1DWLRQDO Forest, two sweet gum trees honor the astronauts from the 1971 Apollo 14 mission. Before the seeds were planted, they were taken into space. These sweet gums, along with other trees scattered across the United States, are called “moon trees.”

Have you ever driven down a country road and noticed a big, leafy tree in the middle RI D FRUQ ƓHOG" $ white oak in the FHQWHU RI D ƓHOG may have been used to shade a farmer’s oxen. Two sugar maples that grow side-byside often were planted together to commemorate a marriage. Their growth through the years symbolizes a couple growing old together.

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Back to Space Fifty years ago, Gus Grissom’s Gemini flight set him on course to be the first man on the moon. Story by Hannah Fleace

36 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

Summer 1930s. A boy stands outside a small white house with his model airplane. The wooden wings stretch across his palms, the propeller tilting in the breeze as he prepares for lift-off. Three. Two. One. The balsa-wood plane sails from his fingertips into the sky. He follows the shape against the clouds. This is it. He wants to fly. March 23, 1965. The silhouette of the Gemini GT-3 rocket stands against the bright, cobalt sky at Cape Kennedy. Gus Grissom and John Young are pinched in their seats before a palette of switches, gauges and joysticks. It’s an arcade of steel primed to launch men into Earth’s orbit. Today is the second time the Mitchell native has braced himself for the thrust of the rocket engines. Thousands line the nearby beaches to watch the launch. Gus, captain of a flight some thought he would never take, radios mission control. At 9:24 a.m., mission control answers like the voice of God. Ten. Nine. Eight. The control board is green. Seven. Six. Five. Television broadcasters are silent behind their cameras, waiting. Four. Three. Two. In Houston, Betty Grissom and her boys are huddled around the television. One. The umbilical cords holding the rocket to the launch pad snap and the rocket roars towards the heavens leaving a trail of smoke and fire.

John Young and Gus Grissom in the Gemini 3 capsule. Gus named the capsule “Molly Brown” after the musical "The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” /Photo courtesy of NASA

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Gus Grissom grew up on Baker Street in Mitchell. Today it is a museum dedicated to his life and family. /Photo by Hannah Fleace

bsolute determination earned Mitchell’s favorite son a seat on that Gemini flight 50 years ago — an often-overlooked mission that silenced critics of his ill-fated Liberty Bell 7 mission and restored Virgil “Gus” Grissom’s position as one of America’s elite astronauts. The small-town boy from the hills of Southern Indiana was once again to the nation what he had always been to his community: a hero. Soon, he was booked to fly yet again on Apollo I. And NASA officials began whispering once-unthinkable words in his ear, “the first man to walk on the moon.”

38 SUMMER/ FALL 2015

n the mid 1920s, the bustling town of Mitchell was sustained by railroads and limestone quarries. A movie theater, a popular restaurant owned by a Greek family and an opera house lined the picturesque main street. Churches dotted street corners, and families trekked along trails at Spring Mill State Park. At the Grissom home at 715 Baker Street, the aroma of apple pie often wafted from kitchen windows as Cecile baked and Dennis relaxed in his pine-green armchair. The Grissoms had five children. Their oldest daughter died shortly after the birth of their first son, Virgil Ivan, on April 3, 1926. Virgil, later nicknamed Gus, shared one of three bedrooms with his brothers Norman and Lowell. His little sister Wilma slept one room over. Times were hard for the town of just over 3,000 when the Great Depression swept the United States in the ‘30s. But

the Grissoms fared better than many. “His father had a job with the railroad and was able to keep his job,” says Ray Boomhower, author of the book, Gus Grissom: The Last Astronaut. “There was always food on the table.” Still, Gus tried to help the family by delivering newspapers and working part time at a meat factory. Neighbors and friends all knew Dennis and Cecile Grissom as generous and kind. Steve Grissom,

'He wasn’t satisfied with civilian life and never would be,' his mother said. 'He loved flying and that was going to be his life.'

a cousin to Gus, remembers coming to the Grissom house some afternoons and leaving well-fed. “Cecile always thought if you walked through her door, you must be hungry,” he says. Cecile was renowned for her pies and strung petunias along her front porch. Dennis took care of his family and did his best to instill Christian values in his kids. The Grissoms attended the First Christian Church just down the road from their home.

“The sons of railroad workers often followed in their fathers' footsteps,” Boomhower says. “But Dennis encouraged him to explore other opportunities.” Gus later said, “In truth, he encouraged us to think about some other careers in which he felt there were better chances of getting ahead.” Instead of sports, Gus, small at 5-foot7, threw himself into Troop 46 of the Boy Scouts and eventually became part of the Honor Guard. Like most boys his age, he loved flipping through the escapades of Flash Gordon and getting his knees dirty, but Gus knew he one day wanted to fly. In school Gus was an average student, excelling mostly in math and science. In his senior yearbook photo, Gus smiles faintly next to a caption reading, “Example of how a Senior can become attached to a Junior girl.” That girl was Betty Moore. “I met Betty Moore when she entered Mitchell High School as a freshman, and that was it, period, exclamation point,” Gus later wrote in a personal account. “It was a quiet romance, as far as anyone could see, but a special closeness started then and has developed into something light years beyond the power of mere words to describe.” After graduation, Gus joined the Air Force to fight in World War II, but the conflict ended in 1945, and he headed back to Mitchell. “He wasn’t satisfied with civilian life and never would be,” his mother said of Gus. “He loved flying and that was going to be his life.” In 1946 Gus enrolled in Purdue University’s mechanical engineering program. He graduated in three years and immediately decided to reenlist. “Gus liked the romance of aviation,” Boomhower says. “It was just something he really enjoyed doing — he loved working with mechanical things.” In 1950, North Korea, backed by the Soviet Union, crossed into South Korea, backed by the United States. Both superpowers responded with military forces and developing air technology. Gus flew more than 100 missions in the Korean War and received a Distinguished Flying Cross after taking on fire from an enemy plane. Gus was a cool customer in the face of danger, Boomhower says. “On one flight he was a passenger, and the pilot came close to a tree. Gus was waving out the window.” His skills and sanguine attitude landed him a job as a test pilot after the Korean War. Eventually he became a test-pilot teacher, arguably one of his most dangerous undertakings. The student pilots tested out new maneuvers and technologies. One mistake could be fatal. “Some of these kids were pretty green and careless

Gus Grissom's sons Scott and Mark relax with their parents after Gus' successful Gemini 3 mission. /Photo courtesy NASA

This new breed of celebrity reached a frenzy when the first flight by Alan Shepard splashed into the Atlantic in 1961. Shepard, now a bonafide American hero, visited the White House and rode down Broadway in a ticker-tape parade. Hungry for more triumphs, all eyes turned to the man who would fly the next Mercury mission — Gus Grissom.

sometimes,” Gus said later. “And you had to think fast and act cool, or they could kill both of you.” Gus also took on the roles of husband and then father when he married Betty and they had two sons, Scott and Mark. But the role that would define him for the nation was yet to come. One afternoon in 1958, Gus received a secretive letter from Washington D.C.: Report to the capital in civilian attire and don’t say a word to anyone.

he Cold War chess match between the Soviet Union and the United States continued, and fears over spy technology and nuclear fallout propelled the race to space. Whoever could establish supremacy in the cosmos would set the tone for the rest of the world. America would need more than soldiers to win this war. They would need conquerors. Americans feared the Soviets were winning the race to space. On October 3, 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first craft into space. A month later, they sent a dog up in Sputnik 2. The United States spent 1958 trying to catch up and get its footing in the galaxy. In January 1959, the Soviets sent Luna 1 to orbit the moon for the first time, and America panicked. “The fact that Russia beat us was a great shock,” Boomhower says. “We were led to believe that we were this giant and Russia was backwards. Their achievements really messed with the American psyche.” More than 100 men invited to Washington that year competed to become pioneers in outer space. A week of brutal testing in New Mexico trimmed the pool of candidates to seven. “Wally” Schirra, “Deke” Slayton, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard, Gordon Cooper and “Gus” Grissom became the Mercury 7. At a press conference to introduce them, the astronauts sat in suits and ties,

wedding rings on their fingers, some flicking cigarettes in black ashtrays and fielding questions from the press. One reporter asked the men if they had ever dreamed of going to space. Gus bent towards the microphone and in a deep voice simply said, “I’m just going to say yes and for a very long time.”

'In my entire career as a pilot, Liberty Bell was the first thing I had ever lost.' The Mercury program was the first manned-flight operation for NASA. They wanted to send a man into space and return both him and the craft safely. Even a few of the astronauts were surprised by the audacity of the missions. The public couldn’t get enough of the astronauts; their pictures showed up on television, in magazines and even on baseball cards. But the limelight could be harsh. Gus valued privacy and tried to shield his family from the media, even building a house with no windows facing the street. “You had people selling maps to astronaut's homes," says Scott Grissom, Gus' oldest son, who now lives in Texas. "He was probably a little on the gruff side for most people looking in, but I don't think you could find anybody that really knew him that would back him up as being gruff. He just kept things private." Gus met Betty Moore in high school. “It was a quiet romance . . . but has developed into something light years beyond the power of mere words to describe." /Photo by Hannah Fleace

fter several days of delay due to poor weather, Gus walked to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral on July 21, 1961. Finally, all indicators were good, and the small boy from Mitchell, now a seasoned pilot, blasted into space. Aptly named the Liberty Bell 7 for its bell-like shape, Gus’ craft had two new features: a bigger window and a lighter hatch, which required just five pounds of force to open from the inside, less than the previous hatch. While in space, Gus gazed through the new window at the galaxy as it dimmed from indigo to black. The planet was a blue-and-green orb beneath him. His flight lasted just 15 minutes, and while the landing was bumpy, the Liberty Bell 7 settled into the Atlantic Ocean nearly 100 miles north of the Grand Bahamas. While waiting for the recovery helicopter, Gus heard a dull thud and the hatch to the capsule hurled into the ocean. Seawater flooded in. Gus dove into the water to escape the sinking hunk of metal, but his foot caught in a network of wires. He began to sink with the capsule, barely keeping his head above water. When he did manage to get free, a portion of his spacesuit opened and began to take on water. Chopping waves pounded Grissom as he struggled to stay afloat. He waved to a helicopter, and they waved back, assuming everything was fine. Finally, another helicopter dropped a flotation collar for him. He was safe.

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But it was too late to save the Liberty Bell 7. The capsule sank to the bottom of the ocean. When Gus arrived back on land, NASA officials wanted to know what had just cost the agency millions of dollars. Reporters pressed him on what had gone wrong. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was especially hard for me, as a professional pilot,â&#x20AC;? Gus later said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In all of my years of flying â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including combat in Korea â&#x20AC;&#x201D; this was the first time that my aircraft and I had not come back together. In my entire career as a pilot, Liberty Bell was the first thing I had ever lost.â&#x20AC;? That flight haunted him, Boomhower says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He knew he hadnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t done anything wrong.â&#x20AC;? Years later, author Tom Wolfe wrote The Right Stuff about the Mercury astronauts. The book was later turned into a movie, and many feel it portrayed Gus unfairly and hinted that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d panicked and blew the hatch himself. "I think you had to understand what a professional my father was," Scott says. "Things are going to happen and that's what test pilots do. They go out there and make things work or make things break." But back home in Mitchell, the town never wavered. They were proud of him for reaching the sky and making it safely back to earth. In fact, the town threw an impromptu parade that drew 5,000 people along Main Street. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was open and honest about what happened,â&#x20AC;? Boomhower says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone who knew him, believed in him.â&#x20AC;? A review board ultimately determined Gus was not at fault. But he knew he would have to take matters into his own hands if he was going to fly again.

ourteen months after Grissomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s illfated Mercury flight, President John F. Kennedy gave the nation a new calling: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.â&#x20AC;? The Mercury missions proved men could reach the heavens. Now the Gemini missions had to prove they could survive there. The project would test the effects of gravity on two people, practice rendezvousing with other spacecrafts and improve landing accuracy. $IWHU WKH 0HUFXU\ Ă&#x20AC;LJKW *XV was reasonably certain he wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a second space flight. â&#x20AC;&#x153;By then," he later said, "Gemini was in the works, and I realized that if I were going to fly in space again, this was my opportunity, so I sort of drifted unobtrusively into taking more and more part in Gemini.â&#x20AC;? Gus got involved at all levels. He used his mechanical engineering degree to help design the new Gemini crafts so theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d need input from the pilots. Astronaut Deke Slayton later wrote about Gusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; influence. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Gemini would not fly without a guy at the controls,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was laid out the way a pilot likes to have the thing laid out . . . . Gus was the guy who did all that.â&#x20AC;? Despite the hundreds of hours he spent working on Gemini, Gus made time for his family. "We had as good a father as we could have," Scott says. "When he did come home, he made sure he did something with us." Scott remembers going to the Indy 500, hunting, fishing and snow and water skiing with his parents. They would have conversations about the high-speed areo-

dynamics in space, and Gus would draw models of his crafts. "When he was home, it was quality time," Scott says. Once Scott told his father that he wanted to grow up and become a pilot, too. "He told me, 'You can't do both,' " Scott says of the memory. After months of preparation, Alan Shepard was selected to be the first Gemini pilot. But after he had periods of nausea and dizziness, he was diagnosed with an inner-ear disorder. Gus, the skilled test pilot and engineer who had worked so hard on the craft, became the new commander, with John Young as his co-pilot. The Molly Brown, sardonically named after the Broadway show â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Unsinkable Molly Brown,â&#x20AC;? about a real-life survivor of the Titanic, would carry the pilots in three orbits around the world. From the moment the rocket left the launch pad that spring morning, it was a textbook flight, with no major errors and few kinks. The Molly Brown splashed down 4 hours, 52 minutes and 31 seconds after the launch. The flight made front-page headlines around the United States. The New York Times said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Gemini 3 opened a new era in manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use of space, as Major Grissom flew it with its nose forward and backward and upside down and changed its flight path in three different ways on a three-orbit journey.â&#x20AC;? The Chicago Tribune ran photos of the astronauts and their Titan rocket. Gus was back on top. Despite his new success, Gus never forgot his roots. He reached an agreement with the mayor of Mitchell that anytime he was flying in the area, he could sweep once across the town. Charlotte Speer, a family friend of the Grissoms, clearly remembers those low flights. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everything would shake,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even you would shake. You could feel it everywhere.â&#x20AC;?

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ine other manned missions followed Gusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Molly Brown flight, and Gus was set to fly again, this time on the first of the Apollo missions that would realize Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream to put a man on the moon. Unlike the Gemini missions, the Apollo crafts were built with the astronauts in mind, but without their help. Pressure mounted as engineers and pilots rushed to reach their end-of-the-decade deadline. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There were a lot of problems with the Apollo 1 mission,â&#x20AC;? Boomhower says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Go The Gemini 3 capsule that carried Gus rests at the Virgil I. Grissom Memorial at Spring MIll State Park. /Photo by Hannah Fleace

fever.’ There were technical difficulties, complicated, complex machinery, miles of wiring in the command module and a new contractor.” The three Apollo I astronauts — Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee — were onboard the command module for a launchpad test on January 27, 1967, when a spark ignited a fire in the oxygenfilled craft, killing the astronauts in a matter of seconds. The nation was stunned by its first space casualties. President Lyndon Johnson spoke to grieving Americans, saying, “Three valiant young men have given their lives in the nation’s service. We mourn this great loss, and our hearts go out to their families.” But the accident wasn’t really surprising, Boomhower says. “Ask any of the test pilots. They knew things sometimes just break. They’re made by humans. Human error is involved. Many of them were used to losing friends. One day they’d be laughing and joking, the next day that person would be dead.” Grissom especially knew the danger. His death made an earlier comment to reporters seem prophetic. “If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the pro-

gram. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.” While Gus received a hero’s burial in Arlington Cemetery, Mitchell fell silent. Memorial services were held at the high school and elementary school, flags flew half-staff and many businesses were closed. Mitchell later memorialized Gus in a museum at nearby Spring Mill State Park. Relics of his life and work can also be found in his childhood home-turnedmuseum and in the history museum in Lawrence County. His two sons still work to commemorate their father’s life. "I think Indiana should be extremely proud of Gus Grissom," Scott says. "I really think Indiana needs to pick a day and call it Gus Grissom day. If you look at Indiana history, two people come to mind: Eli Lilly and Gus Grissom. Nobody else comes close."

n a recent spring afternoon, two slabs of plywood stretch across puddles from Grissom Avenue to the sidewalk of Gus’ childhood home. As the last group of fourth-graders from Burris Elementary troop off the bus, the Grissom home fills with voices once again. Gus’ cousin Steve, now a teacher at Mitchell Junior High School, leans against the white kitchen cabinets Gus’ father

made. The kids gather around. “It was in this house, these walls, that one of America’s truest, greatest heroes was born,” Steve begins. “Who was it?” “Gus Grissom!” a chorus of young voices replies. Steve asks questions about Gus and calls on raised hands. He was the first astronaut from Purdue. He served in a war. He was the first person to fly in space twice. Finally, there was only one hand up. “Well he, well he died in a spaceship fire,” the boys says. The children nod in silence. Steve tells the class that he talked to Betty, Gus’ wife, and she has a message for them. “She goes, ‘His legacy to me shows you what hard work can do. If you work hard, don’t ever give up on your dreams, it doesn’t matter who you are, what your last name is, how much money you have or where you come from, even from little Mitchell, Indiana. You can still go on and do big things in the world. And that’s Gus’ legacy. That’s how I want him remembered.’” Gus may never have gotten the chance to walk on the moon. But his memory lives on in this small Indiana town where he first dreamed he might fly.

A celebration of Southern Indiana. For inquiries about advertising in future editions of 812 magazine, contact IU Student Media at 812-855-0763 or email advertise@idsnews.com.

41 Catch the next issue in stands January, 2016.

SUMMER/ FALL 2015

THE 812 LIST

Seasonal stars Hoosiers can catch these astronomical events before a five-year slowdown begins. By Kelsey Roadruck

ou don’t have to discover galaxies beyond the Milky Way, as New Albany’s Edwin Hubble did, or be an astronaut, like Mitchell’s Gus Grissom, to be a starry-eyed Hoosier. And you don’t need expensive equipment or a season pass to an observatory. Keep stargazing simple with 812’s guide to eight astronomical events in 2015 and a copy of Indiana StarWatch by Mike Lynch, who encourages his students to take a lawn-chair-andlemonade approach to stargazing.

DARK SIDE OF THE MOON JUNE 16 Each month, after the moon waxes to its fullest, it wanes to its darkest, creating a new moon. The shadowed sphere means less light to distract from other objects in the solar-scape. A new moon is an ideal time to visit an observatory, like Martinsville’s Goethe Link Observatory.

JUPITER MEETS VENUS JULY 1 That’s not a glare in your camera; it’s a planet conjunction between Jupiter and Venus. Look to the west at dusk as two small spheres appear after the summer sunset. What keeps these planets from colliding? Well, like Lynch says, planets in conjunction aren’t physically close, but they occasionally appear together when they align from different planes of the sun’s orbit. “They just happen to be in the same line of light,” he says. “There’s no way they can be close together.”

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NASA EXPLORES NEW HORIZONS JULY 14 Pluto is ready for its close-up. After nine and a half years of travel, NASA’s New Horizons probe is about to make a first encounter with the dwarf planet. Since it’s three billion miles away, you’ll need to shift your astronomical attention to nasa. gov for a ScienceCast video report of the mission, scheduled for its closest approach to Pluto at 7:50 a.m.

PERSEID’S PEAK AUGUST 13 Whatever you’re doing early Thursday morning, let your eyes wander the north-

eastern skies. The second most visible meteor shower of the year will peak just before dawn. Despite its clarity, Perseid tends to play a waiting game with the naked eye, so be patient and enjoy the meteor shower with breakfast and a blanket.

LIKE A BIG PIZZA PIE SEPTEMBER 28 Direct your sleepy gaze to the horizon at 10:45 p.m. to catch the moon at its biggest and brightest. When the moon cozies itself 221,753 miles away, its appearance is magnified in its closest position to Earth it’ll be in all year – hence the name, supermoon. Although the second of three, this supermoon will be the only one to cause a total lunar eclipse in its near-perfect alignment with the Earth and sun. Swallowed by shadow and colored crimson, the moon is allowed limited sunlight – mostly red light – by the Earth’s atmosphere.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE NOVEMBER 12 The Taurid fireball meteor shower is expected every seven years. If you invest in an affordable reflector telescope – Lynch suggests Orion, Celestron and Meade brands – you’ll increase your chances of sighting one of these slow-moving, fiery traces anywhere in a clear midnight sky.

THE GRAND FINALE DECEMBER 14 The peak of a 10-day span of showers can be seen anywhere across the sky around 2 a.m. Take a road trip. Find a nature preserve or park with a low light index, open the sunroof and enjoy the shower from the warmth of your vehicle with a thermos of hot chocolate and a serene soundtrack. Your eyes will adjust to the darkness after about 20 minutes, and you could begin tallying up to 50 meteors in an hour.

A CLOSE CALL OCTOBER 1 Recently discovered comet Catalina may reach naked-eye visibility in the southern skies on this autumn evening — extra emphasis on the “may.” Lynch cautions stargazers to approach "glamour" comets with a grain of salt and a reflector telescope. These space travelers are hard to find without knowing where and what to look for. If you do see Catalina, it’ll look like “a little, fuzzy star,” Lynch says. “Nothing fabulous about it. Comets are tricky things.” Instead of simply stargazing tonight, you might follow this shooting star-like comet from the Explore Brown County Night Flight Astronomy Zip Line Tour.

The Dark Side of the Moon occurs on June 16, and can be seen at an observatory. /Photo courtesy of Andrew Hayslip

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