Attics source of past history
Thursday, June 2, 1988

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Pix #1 - Who are they? Many family attics contain photos of family ancestors that are never identified just like the above illustrations. Those photos may be of war heroes, important business people, office holders, teacher, preachers, etc. Check yours and identify for future reference.

Sometime ago, Dr. S.R. Markey, M.D. paid me a visit to present a photograph that was discovered in the attic where the Markeys live.

Dr. Markey believed it was a photo of Mr. and Mrs. James Ball. Ball has been mentioned in the Potluck column on more than one occasion as a photographer in Fostoria many years ago.

Markey's belief that the photo was of the Balls was because the name "Jimmy Ball" was written on the reverse side.

After a lapse of some time, I showed the photo to Sonny Sackett, quite a historian about Fostoria and Fostoria residents. Sackett and I discussed the photo and the Ball family. He divulged information that Ball was part of the Richards family, once residents of the house on N.W. corner of N. Main and Highs Sts.

Mrs. Jimmie Richards solved quandary So, Sackett sent a photocopy of the photo to Mrs. Jimmie Richards in California. The answer came back that the photo from Markey’s attic was not of Mr. and Mrs. James Ball. Mrs. Richards had compared it to old photos of the Balls in her possession.

Now, is it possible that some reader might recognize the old photo as part of their family or just who it is?

Probably James Ball, the photographer, wrote his name on the back of the photo to indicate that he had taken it. He had been one of Fostoria’s commercial photographers many years ago.

Excellent Memorial Day program, but where's the band? I attended the annual Memorial Day program Monday at Fountain Cemetery, as has been his custom since a youth, looking back on Memorial Day nearly seventy years ago.

I'm not sure when my boyhood friend, Wilbur Sheely, and I started going to Fountain Cemetery on that great day when there was always a parade, starting from a designated place, usually the high school.

The city band furnished music until Jack Wainwright came to town and from then on until recent years there was always a band as part of the parade and for the program.

Back then, older veterans of the early wars rode in open cars, properly decorated for the occasion. The era I am writing about was at a period before there was a City Park and swimming pool. That area was a dumping ground for trash and Gray Park was a pond.

This year's Memorial Day program was very good and not too long. The only missing element was the absence of the band. The speaker of the day, a veteran, presented his topic logically, forcefully and briefly. The larger contingent of veterans in the firing squad was impressive.

Finally, had the broadcasting system been louder, the band present and more seating capacity available, it would have been I believe the best ever.

May this nation never forget the price of freedom.

Reader feedback Potluck readers `on their toes' Some weeks ago, this column listed a few names of local doctors. At that time, I never intended to make a complete list of Fostoria doctors within a certain time-frame.

It wasn’t long before readers thought about their doctor of years ago and started to tell me who was missed. And soon, through readers' response, a sizable list was made available. Actually, it would have been possible to research old city directories and compile a list, but readers, through memory have done it for everyone's benefit.

Of course, heirs of doctors still living regretted the absence of those names, I am sorry, too.

So, in attempt to correct a regrettable error, here is the list as I now have it, hopefully correct:

Drs., Hale, Henry, Rosendale, Miller, Reycraft, Norris, Hatfield, Palmer, Leonard, Biggs, Blue, Pennell, Hoeg, Gerlinger, Yarris, Hess, Fruth, Spooner, Geohegan, Ulicny, Mariea, Burnett, Prudden, Hess, Bourne, Sheldon, Waltermeyer, Hartnett, Overholt, Murphy, Hartnett, Fahenestock.

Letter on doctor came from Ariz.

One letter on the subject of doctors came from Mrs. James L. Sluser, Sun City, Az., where a number of Fostorians now live and share The Review Times each time it arrives.

That group is made up of Helen Sluser Milligan, Kenneth and Helen Gregory, Russ and Audrey Fox, James and Helen Machie, Kenneth and Roxine Roberts, Mr. and Mrs. Karl W. Johnson. Mrs. Sluser, too, told me that I had omitted Dr. Burnett's name.

Heed God's word

Are we living in `End Times' Bible believers are convinced we are. The book of Revelation in the Bible deals with the "End Times."

Pastor Ted Robinson of the local church of the Nazarene has been conducting mid-week Bible studies on the book of Revelation, with question and answer periods.

The Bible Handbook by Haley, says of Reveluation: "The author is God Himself. god Himself dictated it through Christ, by an Angel to John, the apostle on the Isle of Patmos, who in turn wrote it down and sent the completed book to the Seven Churches of that period of history."

The mid-week service is every Wednesday evening at 7 at 339 Sandusky St. It is a friendly fellowship time. All welcome.