Letters to the Editor 07-23-1997
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
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- Shepherds' Rods In Cemetery - Memories Of Dillinger
Shepherds' Rods In Cemetery
Editor, Times-Union:I agree with Dot Sponseller in her letter about the current supervision of Oakwood Cemetery. When Mario Sahagun was there, he was helpful to bereaved people.
I have noticed from the time we buried our daughter there, that the lawn mowing and weed-eater operators were not very careful about what they chopped off.
When new management took over, it was a slap in the face to come and see that all the shepherds' rods had been taken down. They did mark the names on them ] I'll give them credit for that. I recall something about no bushes or trees in the contract, but nothing about not allowing shepherds' rods. The current supervisor said that took up to much room when they mowed. It takes up no more room as a rod than the other rods from American Legion, etc. Nobody makes people remove bushes or trees that were never supposed to have been planted. It is basically a very pretty cemetery, but the decorated shepherds' rods and windchimes added to the beauty of the cemtery. If you agree, write or call Oakwood Cemetery.
If there were no bushes and trees, the cemetery would be a drab place indeed.
Mrs. John W. Holman Warsaw
Memories Of Dillinger
Editor, Times-Union:July 22 marks the 63rd anniversary of the death of notorious gang leader John Dillinger, a date that should jar memories from minds of the older generation.
I recall a morning three months prior to Dillinger's demise, a bright, sunny morning in April (April 13, 1934, to be exact), when our eighth-grade English and literature class met in the Leesburg High School assembly under the instruction of Miss Lois Summy. As soon as we pupils were congregated to begin class, Miss Summy marched to the front of the assembly and announced tersely: "John Dillinger was in Warsaw this morning!"
Now, upon hearing such thrilling and exciting news, all wide-eyed and tense, every kid in class commenced to ponder, and the first thought that entered the minds of most male students was: "Oh boy! I wonder if Dillinger will come to Leesburg?" We guys all hoped that Dillinger would come to Leesburg; however, we also decided that if Dillinger did fulfill our hopes, after he arrived, we didn't want him to actually kill anybody. We just wanted Dillinger to pay Leesburg a visit and shoot up the town a bit; therefore, afterwards, we could all boast of the fact that we had been involved with the infamous John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1.
Nevertheless, Dillinger never made it to Leesburg, but he did visit North Webster, where he knocked on the door of Dr. Laird, and, at gunpoint, forced the doctor to give medical aid to one of his gang.
Nearly everyone in Warsaw, or thereabouts, who has reached the 70-year mark or over, remembers when John Dillinger (with sidekick Homer Vanmeter) on April 13, 1934, forced officer Judd Pittinger to open the police station at 1 a.m., and from the police station the two outlaws seized machine guns and bullet-proof vests. Most surviving individuals of the Dillinger era can't recall exactly what route he followed after he left Kosciusko County; but some months later, on July 22, 1934, with the help of Anna Sage, Dillinger's girlfriend and betrayer, G-Man Melvin H. Purvis, with more than 20 other federal agents, waited for Dillinger outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago. At 10:35 p.m. when Dillinger left the theater, he was cut down by an onslaught of bullets fired by Purvis and his agents, the first bullet hitting Dillinger in the back of the neck, and on through his right cheek.
The story goes that the reason that Dillinger attended the Biograph Theatre on the night of July 22 was because he loved gangster movies, and the Biograph on the fatal night of Dillinger's death was showing "Manhattan Melodrama," a racketeer film, starring Clark Gable. If the Biograph Theatre hadn't featured "Manhattan Melodrama" on the night of July 22, 1934, who knows how much longer Dillinger might have survived, or how much more havoc or notoriety he could have created?
Only fate has the answer to that.
Don Kaiser Warsaw
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- Shepherds' Rods In Cemetery - Memories Of Dillinger
Shepherds' Rods In Cemetery
Editor, Times-Union:I agree with Dot Sponseller in her letter about the current supervision of Oakwood Cemetery. When Mario Sahagun was there, he was helpful to bereaved people.
I have noticed from the time we buried our daughter there, that the lawn mowing and weed-eater operators were not very careful about what they chopped off.
When new management took over, it was a slap in the face to come and see that all the shepherds' rods had been taken down. They did mark the names on them ] I'll give them credit for that. I recall something about no bushes or trees in the contract, but nothing about not allowing shepherds' rods. The current supervisor said that took up to much room when they mowed. It takes up no more room as a rod than the other rods from American Legion, etc. Nobody makes people remove bushes or trees that were never supposed to have been planted. It is basically a very pretty cemetery, but the decorated shepherds' rods and windchimes added to the beauty of the cemtery. If you agree, write or call Oakwood Cemetery.
If there were no bushes and trees, the cemetery would be a drab place indeed.
Mrs. John W. Holman Warsaw
Memories Of Dillinger
Editor, Times-Union:July 22 marks the 63rd anniversary of the death of notorious gang leader John Dillinger, a date that should jar memories from minds of the older generation.
I recall a morning three months prior to Dillinger's demise, a bright, sunny morning in April (April 13, 1934, to be exact), when our eighth-grade English and literature class met in the Leesburg High School assembly under the instruction of Miss Lois Summy. As soon as we pupils were congregated to begin class, Miss Summy marched to the front of the assembly and announced tersely: "John Dillinger was in Warsaw this morning!"
Now, upon hearing such thrilling and exciting news, all wide-eyed and tense, every kid in class commenced to ponder, and the first thought that entered the minds of most male students was: "Oh boy! I wonder if Dillinger will come to Leesburg?" We guys all hoped that Dillinger would come to Leesburg; however, we also decided that if Dillinger did fulfill our hopes, after he arrived, we didn't want him to actually kill anybody. We just wanted Dillinger to pay Leesburg a visit and shoot up the town a bit; therefore, afterwards, we could all boast of the fact that we had been involved with the infamous John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1.
Nevertheless, Dillinger never made it to Leesburg, but he did visit North Webster, where he knocked on the door of Dr. Laird, and, at gunpoint, forced the doctor to give medical aid to one of his gang.
Nearly everyone in Warsaw, or thereabouts, who has reached the 70-year mark or over, remembers when John Dillinger (with sidekick Homer Vanmeter) on April 13, 1934, forced officer Judd Pittinger to open the police station at 1 a.m., and from the police station the two outlaws seized machine guns and bullet-proof vests. Most surviving individuals of the Dillinger era can't recall exactly what route he followed after he left Kosciusko County; but some months later, on July 22, 1934, with the help of Anna Sage, Dillinger's girlfriend and betrayer, G-Man Melvin H. Purvis, with more than 20 other federal agents, waited for Dillinger outside the Biograph Theatre in Chicago. At 10:35 p.m. when Dillinger left the theater, he was cut down by an onslaught of bullets fired by Purvis and his agents, the first bullet hitting Dillinger in the back of the neck, and on through his right cheek.
The story goes that the reason that Dillinger attended the Biograph Theatre on the night of July 22 was because he loved gangster movies, and the Biograph on the fatal night of Dillinger's death was showing "Manhattan Melodrama," a racketeer film, starring Clark Gable. If the Biograph Theatre hadn't featured "Manhattan Melodrama" on the night of July 22, 1934, who knows how much longer Dillinger might have survived, or how much more havoc or notoriety he could have created?
Only fate has the answer to that.
Don Kaiser Warsaw
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