Old Webster General Store Getting New Purpose
October 18, 2020 at 10:32 p.m.
Old Webster General Store Getting New Purpose
By Amanda Bridgman-
Robin Jones bought the old general store at 142 EMS W30 Lane recently and has grand plans to reopen it as an art bereavement studio for parents who have lost a child.
Jones knows that grief herself after she lost her son Patrick at the age of 25 nine years ago. Patrick was a graduate of Wawasee High School and graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 2008. He lived in Chicago until his death in 2011 and his funeral was on what would have been his 26th birthday. He overdosed from a Fentanyl patch.
His death turned Jones’ life upside down and left her grieving in a way she never had before. One way she tried to cope was through an art bereavement program at the Center for Hospice Care in Mishawaka. It was a place where she could walk in, sit down and create, and it was free.
“For me, because I consider myself an artist, it was just a way to kind of visualize my pain, because I think when somebody’s hurt on the outside that you can see, people can tell, but when it’s on the inside, people don’t see it,” Jones said.
All of the artwork she created while in the program in Mishawaka remains there and can help others who attend the program.
“A visual picture of something helps because it’s like, ‘That’s it, that’s what I’m feeling today,’ and other people who come and see my picture can say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m in that hole’ or ‘I’ve seen that darkness,’” she said of her artwork. “The brokenness of the past ... I can’t fix those pictures.”
Jones is still creating to express how she feels, including a canvas of an upside down person (her) that shows roots growing from her feet and broken colors coming back to her life. Jones said she felt all color had left her world once Patrick died. Nine years later, it’s slowly coming back and she’s ready to try to help others who feel that pain.
“I grew up down the road and came here when I was a little girl to get candy and put 25 cents of gas in my mini bike and I was ready to go,” she said. “I always wanted to live in this candy store ... and now I do.”
Her planned art bereavement studio will be called Heart Prints Studio with a slogan of “The art of healing.” The main part of the old general store will have spaces created for pottery, canvas work and a children’s corner that she hopes will eventually be able to include siblings who have lost a loved one. All of the art supplies will be provided, and the cost will be free.
The other part of the store will be turned back into how it was – candy for sale, sodas in the old-fashioned fridge and goodies to be had for the neighborhood families.
One way Jones plans to offset the costs of the studio will be by renting out the upstairs of the store as a studio apartment for any artist who wants to come create on Webster Lake. Consider it a vacation rental type situation.
But right now, Jones needs help in the way of funding and manpower. Tim McCurdy’s family has been vacationing on Webster Lake right by the old general store since the 1950s. McCurdy now lives in South Carolina but has been traveling back here to help Jones with some demolition and electrical work.
Jones has a website in the works where there will be a place for people to donate like a registry, where people can see what supplies are needed by Jones and then buy for example, five pieces of lumber from Menard’s.
Until that website goes live, anyone who wants to help can reach Jones at 574-834-2540 or Linda Land at 574-453-8564 and leave a message.
Right now, Jones is looking at an $8,000 concrete bill to fix the foundation of the house, and that doesn’t even include redoing the floors inside.
“It’s overwhelming for me,” Jones said. “I’m not a therapist. I'm just a mom who lost her son. This saved my life.”
Robin Jones bought the old general store at 142 EMS W30 Lane recently and has grand plans to reopen it as an art bereavement studio for parents who have lost a child.
Jones knows that grief herself after she lost her son Patrick at the age of 25 nine years ago. Patrick was a graduate of Wawasee High School and graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 2008. He lived in Chicago until his death in 2011 and his funeral was on what would have been his 26th birthday. He overdosed from a Fentanyl patch.
His death turned Jones’ life upside down and left her grieving in a way she never had before. One way she tried to cope was through an art bereavement program at the Center for Hospice Care in Mishawaka. It was a place where she could walk in, sit down and create, and it was free.
“For me, because I consider myself an artist, it was just a way to kind of visualize my pain, because I think when somebody’s hurt on the outside that you can see, people can tell, but when it’s on the inside, people don’t see it,” Jones said.
All of the artwork she created while in the program in Mishawaka remains there and can help others who attend the program.
“A visual picture of something helps because it’s like, ‘That’s it, that’s what I’m feeling today,’ and other people who come and see my picture can say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m in that hole’ or ‘I’ve seen that darkness,’” she said of her artwork. “The brokenness of the past ... I can’t fix those pictures.”
Jones is still creating to express how she feels, including a canvas of an upside down person (her) that shows roots growing from her feet and broken colors coming back to her life. Jones said she felt all color had left her world once Patrick died. Nine years later, it’s slowly coming back and she’s ready to try to help others who feel that pain.
“I grew up down the road and came here when I was a little girl to get candy and put 25 cents of gas in my mini bike and I was ready to go,” she said. “I always wanted to live in this candy store ... and now I do.”
Her planned art bereavement studio will be called Heart Prints Studio with a slogan of “The art of healing.” The main part of the old general store will have spaces created for pottery, canvas work and a children’s corner that she hopes will eventually be able to include siblings who have lost a loved one. All of the art supplies will be provided, and the cost will be free.
The other part of the store will be turned back into how it was – candy for sale, sodas in the old-fashioned fridge and goodies to be had for the neighborhood families.
One way Jones plans to offset the costs of the studio will be by renting out the upstairs of the store as a studio apartment for any artist who wants to come create on Webster Lake. Consider it a vacation rental type situation.
But right now, Jones needs help in the way of funding and manpower. Tim McCurdy’s family has been vacationing on Webster Lake right by the old general store since the 1950s. McCurdy now lives in South Carolina but has been traveling back here to help Jones with some demolition and electrical work.
Jones has a website in the works where there will be a place for people to donate like a registry, where people can see what supplies are needed by Jones and then buy for example, five pieces of lumber from Menard’s.
Until that website goes live, anyone who wants to help can reach Jones at 574-834-2540 or Linda Land at 574-453-8564 and leave a message.
Right now, Jones is looking at an $8,000 concrete bill to fix the foundation of the house, and that doesn’t even include redoing the floors inside.
“It’s overwhelming for me,” Jones said. “I’m not a therapist. I'm just a mom who lost her son. This saved my life.”
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