INSIDE THIS ISSUE Classifieds..........................................................B12 Community Calendar .................................B13-15 Dining & Entertainment ............................A12-13 Youth....................................................................A11 Mothers Day...........................A8 Healthy Times..................................................B2-3 Discover Roanoke...........................................B8-9
A Serving Southwest Allen County & Roanoke
www.AboiteTimes.com
May 4, 2012
Memoir tells story of area’s past
Research-anddevelopment capabilities will expand By Doug LeDuc pr@timespubs.com
Franklin Electric Co.’s new headquarters complex at Coverdale Road and the Airport Expressway will allow the company to expand its research, development, design and testing capabilities. The Bluffton-based manufacturer of fuel and water handling systems was scheduled to break ground on the new facility, which is expected to cost $32 million to $36 million, on April 20. It expects to move into its new 120,000-square-foot Allen County home in the summer of 2013. Remarks at the groundbreaking ceremony were expected to include an explanation of the impact See FRANKLIN, page A2
The ‘Countdown’ is on Fort Wayne Trails launches campaign to further connect southwest Allen County Fort Wayne Trails, Inc. has announced it will expand the trail network in every direction from the city’s core with the help of “Countdown to Connectivity,” a campaign to leverage $5 million of available funding by raising $1 million in new funding by 2013. If it’s successful, the campaign will expand the trail system by 6.5 total miles. “This unprecedented matching opportunity will allow us to serve thousands more residents and visitors with safe and convenient trails,” said Chad Towner, chair of the FWT Board of Directors. “We know that a thriving trail network is essential for a healthy, economically viable city and we’re See TRAIL, page <None>
Courtesy photo
The Covington Trail is targeted to extend in 2013 over the I-69 bridge to Hadley Road, opening up future opportunities to link trail users to Covington Plaza and Time Corners.
Times Community Publications
Franklin breaks ground on new complex
miles to Homestead School by horse and buggy. Using the Sears Roebuck catalog for toilet paper in the outhouse. Her father yelling, “Whoa!” at his Model T Ford truck as it rolled into the Levi’s clothing store window. “Can’t you see him standing there yelling “WHOA” at a car! No more truck driving for my grandpa,” Berneice wrote, “my dad took over most of the driving.” She couldn’t help but find the humor in life and it comes out on almost every page. Not unlike his mother, Ray laughed often as he told some of his favorite stories from the book. But not all of them were funny. After his father died in 1969, Ray’s mother was left with a farm in Roanoke and six children. Being the hardworking woman she was, Berneice kept the house and tried to farm. “That was quite a sight. Dad was buried and two weeks later, all the farmers around there brought in the biggest equipment you’ve ever seen and put in 200 acres of crops in one day. They came in about 6 a.m. and went home about 8 that night. The farming was all done.” Ray had to pause midsentence to clear his throat, choking back the memory. The Roanoke community came out in strides for Berneice and her children, something Ray won’t soon forget. Berneice died on Feb. 26, 2005. She is buried beside her husband, Fred, at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Waynedale. With her memories now put to paper, Ray has not only passed along their family history to their descendants, he has created a time capsule of moments that are relived each time someone reads the inti-
3306 Independence Drive, Fort Wayne, IN 460808
Inside: Find out what’s new at the zoo on page B11.
Before the beaten path was covered with asphalt and when the only “homestead” was a one-room schoolhouse, southwest Allen County was a tight community of farming families, each planting their own roots. Ray Anderson fondly recalled stories of those days from his desk chair, surrounded by piles of files and notes, books and boxes, all containing his family’s memories. He must take after his mother. Berneice Beulah Anderson recorded her life story by making notes on scratch paper. For years, Berneice collected her memories on those little pieces of paper, documenting her life in Allen County since before the Great Depression. Ray spent hours organizing them into a story and knew he couldn’t rely on his handwriting to turn them into a book. “I had just bought a computer. Never run one, never typed, never seen one before,” Ray said. “But, I learned how to run the computer, learned how to type with one finger. Going through them little notes, trying to put them in order. There must have been over 100, at least that. When I got the first draft done, Mom didn’t want to read it or let me read it to her. She said, ‘I lived it. To heck with it,’” he said with a chuckle. When Berneice passed away in 2005, her son still felt her story should be told and he did so by publishing her memoirs, “Berneice Beulah Anderson: Some of My Memories of 96 Years.” Every sentence in the book reads like a personal diary, each chapter a portrait of how this area had changed since 1914: Riding two
Photo by Valerie Caviglia
Ray Anderson holds a poster he will use at book signings to promote his book, “Bernice Beulah Anderson: Some of My Memories of 96 Years.” The book depicts the life of Anderson’s mother, Berneice, in Roanoke, Aboite Township and Fort Wayne from the Great Depression to 2005. mate words on the page. Of Berneice’s six children, there are now four siblings left. On Thursday mornings, Ray can be found sharing a table with them at Spyro’s Pancake House on West Jefferson See MEMOIR, page A13