Happy Belated Birthday to a very special lady! Mrs. Helen North of Arcanum celebrated her 94th birthday on July 8. She enjoyed the day with family. She has four daughters, Imocaryl Livingston, Linda (Steve) Price, Melody Julian, and Rhonda (Carl) Fair. Helen also has one granddaughter and nine grandsons; and nine great- granddaughters and four great grandsons, between the ages of 3 months to 9 years old. Congratulations Helen!
Two charter members, Carolyn Davison and Nick Brown received a special recognition for many years of service to their congregation by Immanuel Baptist Church (IBC) last Sunday. IBC was formed in 1953 by a group of Arcanum-area residents, both Carolyn and Nick were members of that group. On Sunday, July 16 Carolyn and Nick were recognized for their many years of service to the church by serving in multiple capacities throughout the past 64 years. Both Carolyn and Nick developed a love of music early in their lives and shared that passion of music to honor Jesus Christ at IBC in some form or capacity during the past 64 years. Carolyn played the organ and sang in the choir until recently when her health restricted her from continuing in that capacity. Nick served as Worship Leader and sang in the choir until last summer following an injury from a motor vehicle accident. Their faithful service to the church in leading the music for the past 60-plus years is probably a record in the local area. The members of IBC honored both Nick and Carolyn and wanted to share this with the local community. They both stated that it was by the grace of God that they were blessed with the talent and ability to have served all these years. They also felt it was time to pass the torch on to two new volunteers at their local church.
Don’t forget the August Coffee and Conversation at Arcanum Wayne Trail Historical Society about growing up in Pitsburg will be held on Saturday, August 12 at 10 a.m. at 123 W. George Street in Arcanum. Guests will be Dr. Jess Heise, Ester Hoover, and Gregg and Patty Spencer to share about Pitsburg. All are welcome to come and also share about your memories. If you have photos to share of Pitsburg please bring as well as a copy for our AWTHS library. All time frame photos are encouraged.
On Sunday, September 10 from 2 to 4 p.m. the AWTHS will host “Center School” at the old school house located at 6891 Grubbs-Rex Road on the farm of Tom and Barb Jackson. In a very unique celebration the schoolhouse will be open for class at 2 p.m. that day with a history lesson on the area school. If you want to make a day of it, you can get the instructions from AWTHS to then drive the self-guided driving tour of other old school houses in Twin and Van Buren Township. Brochures can be downloaded from: http://arcanumhistoricalsociety.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/sites/34/2014/03/Final-School-House-Brochure.pdf. More info on school and event listed at: http://www.ohio.org/events/old-school-house-tour. What a neat excursion idea! Thank you AWTHS!
Congratulations to Mrs. and Mrs. Jason Cassel! Tricia (Rhodehamel) and Jason Cassel were married on June 10 at Polk Grove United Church of Christ in Vandalia, Ohio. Tricia is the daughter of Kevin and Vickie Rhodehamel of Arcanum, and Jason is the son of Dean and Wanda Cassel of Vandalia. Grandmother of the bride is Lois Troutwine also of Arcanum. Grandparents of the groom are Jim and Millie Handy of Englewood. The new Mrs. Cassel is a 2004 graduate of Arcanum High School, and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Education and her Master’s Degree in Special Education from Wright State University. She will begin a new teaching position in August with Greene County Educational Services as a Preschool Intervention Specialist. Mr. Cassel is a 1996 graduate of Vandalia-Butler High School and is employed by Crawford Hoying as a facilities manager. The couple honeymooned in Jamaica and will make their home in Huber Heights, Ohio.
Congratulations to the Sutton and Urlage Families on opening the new grocery store in Union City, Ohio. I did a little research on our Sutton’s grocery – did you know that the original Sutton’s store in Arcanum was opened by Roy Sutton and his son, Benjamin in 1936 on the south side of West George Street next to the existing parking lot. In 1950, Sutton’s moved across the street to the building west of the alley by Sink’s Jewelry Store. During the summer of 1975 plans were made to construct a new store on North Main Street where the existing store is now located. The new store opened on December 6, 1976 and was operated by Ben and his two sons, Scott and Kirby. The current location operated by Kirby and Lori Sutton and Josh and Shayla Urlage has been expanded and remodeled several times through the years since to accommodate the public in its present day operation.
Best of luck to the owners of The Old Arcana and Smith’s Merchants who closed up shop in the old Smith Store building this past week. Both businesses were a wonderful addition to the village a few years back when they opened. We will miss you!
