Celebrated anniversaries of different kinds

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This year marks my 10th anniversary of writing for The Daily Advocate as a freelance columnist. Ten years? Wow that seems like a long time, but in reality it is just a speck of time in the span of life. I can recall throughout my lifetime enjoying reading and writing. My first experience at writing came in high school at Arcanum High taking a Creative Writing class from Mrs. Pallant. I remember submitting a short story to the Writer’s Workshop at Sinclair Community College that year that was annually hosted by Erma Bombeck, nothing came of that submission, but it was my first moment that I felt the validated by my writing. Before that I spent many years learning Parliamentary Procedure in 4-H and writing minutes in the secretary book and also submitting 4-H articles to the local paper using the 5-Ws (Who, What, Where, How, When, and Why). I love to write and have penned several columns in company, church and educational newsletters through the years, first as Tori Churchmouse, and later as The Baron. Today I also serve as Editor of my company newsletter, The Inside Track for my employer, The Dayton-Phoenix Group, Inc.

Some of you may recall my very first column in the Advocate where I introduced myself as the daughter of Lois and the late Keith Troutwine, a mother of three children and wife to Kevin Rhodehamel. In the past 10 years, many things have changed: all of my children are now married, the most recent was in November when my son Zach married the former Kelly Wills; my daughter, Tricia became Mrs. Jason Cassel in 2017 and my daughter, Traci and her husband Gabe Greve gave me two of the most wonderful grandchildren, Hamilton Keith in 2016 and Lorelai Sue-Lee Greve in 2018. The year of 2019 was a very rough one for me as I lost my husband, Kevin of 39 years, to a massive heart attack.

This next paragraph was in my very first column from 10 years ago and still holds true today: “I am ready to tell your stories, I’m eager to share your news and mine about the town we call home, Arcanum, Ohio. I look forward to telling the memories and share experiences as your neighborhood columnist. I invite all the local church pastors/secretaries, youth and booster organizations, and other groups in the Arcanum area to contact me with your news for publication. This column will appear every Saturday in your Daily Advocate. [My column now appears every Tuesday in 2021] I am dedicated to bringing you the news of our little town. Please contact me via email at [email protected] or leave me a message via phone at 937-692-6188.”[Landline has now gone by the wayside and I only use a cell number, 937-423-3763].

What will the New Year 2021 and the new decade bring? Will time continue to move along even quicker than the last decade? Will there be a new way of life to end the pandemic? Will the new vaccine change our way of life back to the way it was pre-pandemic? Will face masks finally go away or will they become even more part of our wardrobe soon matching our clothing and accessories? I for one, am open to changes for the better! The sooner and quicker we can move away from 2020 and on to better things suits me, how about you?

A 50th wedding anniversary is a milestone to be celebrated in a big way-unfortunately, there have been many in our community that were unable to celebrate with friends and family during this past year. One such anniversary party that was cancelled was the celebration for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Rick and Sue Studebaker. Rick and Sue were married on Jan. 2, 1971, at the old Ithaca United Methodist Church, now known as Grace UMC in Ithaca. Rick and Sue were both raised in Darke County — Sue just outside of Ithaca by the late Doyle and Edna Marie Rhodehamel, and Rick by the late Kitchel and Thelma Studebaker of rural Lewisburg. They have two children Michelle (Patrick) McKinney of Cameron, N. Carolina, and Christopher Studebaker of Arcanum; and four grandchildren, Tina McKinney, Daniel (Amanda) McKinney, Emily (Drake) Fichthorn, and Madison (Rob Paxton) Studebaker; they also have four great-grandchildren, Alex McKinney, Audrey McKinney, Danielle McKinney, and Oliver Paxton. Rick and Sue are both happily retired after long careers at GM/Delphi and NCR/Accenture respectively. If you know Sue and Rick and would like to send them a congratulatory card, please send it to 6 Northmoor Drive, Arcanum. May you both continue to be blessed with your family and many more years of wedded bliss — Congratulations!

“Love is like an earthquake — unpredictable, a little scary, but when the hard part is over you realize how lucky you truly are.” ~Anonymous

“A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance, and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.” ~Paul Sweeney

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By Vickie Rhodehamel

Arcanum News for the week of January 4, 2021

Vickie Rhodehamel is a volunteer citizen columnist, who serves The Daily Advocate readers weekly with her Arcanum community column. She can be reached by calling 937-692-6188, by e-mail at [email protected]. Viewpoints expressed in the article are the work of the author. The Daily Advocate does not endorse these viewpoints or the independent activities of the author.

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