UA Veterans Conversation Circle

by Melanie Circle Brown

John Kaufman and Walter Betley share memories of their World War II service.

Upper Arlington veterans gathered on Veterans Day to share memories of their military service.  Their memories were recorded as part of an oral history-gathering effort of the Upper Arlington Historical Society.  The Conversation Circle was hosted by the Historical Society, Circle of Life Histories, and the South of Lane Cafe in the Mallway at 1987 Guilford Road.  Sharing their memories at the Conversation Circle were:

Wendell W. Ellenwood - U.S. Third Army under General Patton
Robert Ellis - Served on the Mercy Hospital Ship in the Philippines during WWII
John Kaufman - A member of the Signal Corps in the Pacific Theatre Army
Walter Betley - Colonel Corps of Engineers in WWII, Korea and Viet Nam
Nelson French - A West Point graduate, he served in WWII on the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (Atomic Bomb)
Rupert D. Starr - A Lieutenant in the Army, he was in the Battle of the Bulge and a POW

Nelson French

Robert Ellis with a photo of the Mercy Ship Hospital

Rupert D. Starr

Wendell Ellenwood shares photos with Catherine Vonderahe, owner of  South of Lane Cafe

Kate Kallmes of the Upper Arlington Historical Society gives a presentation about the history of the Upper Arlington Mallway  to the Conversation Circle.

Nelson French, Wendell Ellenwood, John Kaufman and Walter Betley listen as Rupert Starr shares memories of his WWII service.

New Kid at Jones Junior High

by Bill Anthony, Class of 1961

I moved from the east side of Columbus to Upper Arlington when I started ninth grade in 1957. I went out for the football team. We had our organizational meeting at the field house on the track at the old high school (Jones Junior High). Of course I was very nervous going to a new school, but so were others since we were all entering the ninth grade. What really made an impression on me was how friendly everyone was. I especially remember both Bonnie Henry (Self) and Bev Mayhan (Clawson) making a point to come up and talk with me on that first day. That made an impression with me and now when I encounter a new person hired at work or a new neighbor, I always go out of my way to make them feel welcome. In fact, for years, I have organized our tailgate parties here at the College of Business at Florida State University and make it a point to personally invite all the new faculty joining us each year.  At least I learned one thing in 9th grade! 

 

Jones Junior High 
 (Image courtesy of the UA Archives, www.uaarchives.org)

www.williampanthony.com

My UA Memory

by Kaira Sturdivant Rouda

It’s hard to sum up a favorite UA memory, at least it is for me. UA is the place I spent my formative years – from fourth grade at Burbank Elementary through graduation from Upper Arlington High School.  It’s the place where all four of my children were born – and it’s the place where my husband was born and raised. It’s also, the place where my father-in-law started his business. There is so much here – so many layers of remembrance on every street, each shopping center, even in the smell of the air as the seasons change. UA is home. It’s family. It’s tradition and always will be in my heart, no matter where I am.

A place is its people.  My best memory is of the spirit of Upper Arlington as embodied by its people during the Fourth of July. Our community spirit. Our American pride. The celebration of the next generation as the little kids bike past and of generations before as the Veterans shuffle along. Soon after we had started our family we moved from downtown Columbus to – where else- Upper Arlington. We moved to Yorkshire Road and we stayed there, in two different homes, for almost 20 years.

One of my fondest memories are the years we spent as a street – the Yorkshire Road team - building the float for the Fourth of July. It brought us all together – kids and parents – as we labored away each afternoon and evening to create our rolling masterpiece. Finally, when the float was finished in the wee hours of the night, and the big morning arrived, we’d proudly don our Yorkshire Road shirts and march along the parade route, celebrating our accomplishment, celebrating being together as neighbors and as part of an amazing, spirited community.  I loved those years.

Yorkshire Road's Fourth of July float.

Really, I loved all my years in UA. Sure, sometimes it was tough but like Middle School, whether at Jones or Hastings, you just get through it. All in all, there is no place better to raise a family. To raise kids who have strong values and community pride. My kids cherish their connection to Upper Arlington. My kids saw their grandfather celebrated as Grand Marshall of the same Fourth of July parade one year. How could they feel anything but connected to this amazing community?   

UA is where my family of origin’s home burned down, and it’s where I chose to build the family of my own.  UA is where my parents got divorced, and it’s where I got married to a UA native.  UA is where I have made my closest friends for life, and it’s where I have lost friends who died too young.  UA is a place where you can return to after you’ve left, and still feel at home.

UA is a special place because of its people. And if it’s your moment in time to live here – whether for a few years or for a lifetime – allow the spirit of the community to embrace you . Because like the fireworks in Northam Park on the Fourth of July, there is wonder and celebration in this place we call home.  

 

Cooling off after the parade.

Fun and games at the Yorkshire Road block party.

Harley Rouda, Sr. fishing with his grandchildren on the Fourth of July.

www.KairaRouda.com   


 

Golden Bear Football Champions

Dan Straka (#2 jersey) with his football teammates

by Mark and Sue Straka

The 2000 Upper Arlington Golden Bear football team started the season with high expectations and hopes.  As the season unfolded it began to yield a bountiful number of fond memories on and off the field.

Perhaps one of the more memorable times of forging camaraderie would be the post-game gathering of players and coaches to feast on food, watch local television's show, "Football Friday Night", and view a parent's sideline highlight film.  These gatherings often went past midnight. 

The hosting duties alternated between two team member's homes where family room furniture could be arranged for the eagerly awaited "highlights."  Food was also an integral part of the post-game bash. As the campaign stretched into November an early Thanksgiving theme emerged for the Friday night gathering.  Three 20-pound turkeys, 60 pounds of mashed potatoes, six boxes of Costco stuffing and 7 pumpkin pies all met their match with the huge appetites of the Golden Bear coaches and players.  

The UA team thrilled their fans as they finished 15-0 and became the first central Ohio team to win the large school state title since play-offs began, and the first team to go 15-0 in the state of Ohio Division I.  

The greatest memories for the players and parents, however, were these "Football Friday Night" post-game gatherings where food, film and fellowship produced an enduring legacy of brotherhood, UA spirit, and commitment to excellence. 

The Men, the Myths, the Legends

                                                George Haddad, left, with Woody Hayes

by Connie Haddad Frecker, Diane Haddad, and Carolyn Haddad Dougherty


Here is another side of our father and Woody Hayes that most people don't know.  Woody and Anne Hayes were good friends with our parents, George and Lilyan Haddad.  Everyone knows Woody as a colorful personality, but Anne would also light up the room.  She had a lot of energy and enthusiasm and loved to swim in our pool.  As our mother's health started to deteriorate as a result of multiple sclerosis, her eyesight became extremely compromised.  Woody would often come over to visit and he would kneel down by her wheelchair and read to her.

People might think that Woody, the football coach, and our father, the concert pianist, had nothing in common, but that couldn't be further from the truth.  They would talk for hours about the importance of relationships, whether it was the coach and his players or the professor and his students.  Not only did they talk, but they demonstrated this in the way that they chose to live their lives.  Woody and Dad enjoyed their children and grandchildren and shared their adoration for them.

James Thurber's UA Connection

James Thurber, left, with Ted Gardiner

By Fred Hadley

Throughout the decade of the 1930’s, my grandparents, Ted & Julia Gardiner, would often host their good friend James Thurber, the renowned humorist and cartoonist, at their home on Devon Road. It became customary that Ted and James (who had been Phi Psi fraternity brothers) and frequently other gentlemen joining them for the evening would adjourn to the Gardiners’ attic to share libations and trade stories of days gone by and other worldly tales long into the night. When the conversations turned to mundane chatter about social life in Columbus, Mr. Thurber would combat his boredom by drawing sketches on the attic wall of characters often depicted in many of his now legendary cartoons. One of the regular participants in this late night tradition was local real estate developer and UA neighbor, Don Casto, to whom Thurber referred as suffering from an “Edifice Complex”.

Many years later, the subsequent owners of the residence, the Robert Setterlin family, discovered the connection of the Gardiners to James Thurber and realized they had something of significance up in their attic. They had the attic wall preserved and donated it to The Ohio State University, which today maintains the world’s largest collection of original Thurber memorabilia and manuscripts (including the Gardiners’ attic wall). If only this wall could talk, many colorful stories of those nighttime gatherings in the attic could be told.

Roots Run Deep in Upper Arlington Home

      

              Libby's "Naked Ladies" bloom and brighten the Berwyn Road garden year after year.

By Debra Dendahl Hadley

My grandparents, Libby and Jim Flanigan, grew up in Newark, Ohio and moved to Upper Arlington early in their marriage. They built one of the first homes on Berwyn Road where they raised my mother and my uncle. My mother moved to Santa Fe, NM early in her marriage, which is where I spent the majority of my childhood. As a result, we didn’t get to see my grandparents more than once or twice a year.

When I was 15, I had the opportunity to get to know my grandparents very well when two of my sisters and I came for a summer visit and ended up staying for the entire school year. I attended UAHS as a sophomore, and my two sisters attended St. Agatha. It was fun for us to “try on” different schools for a year, making new friends, trying new activities and getting to know the wonderful community we have here in UA.  I’ll never forget the day my biology lab partners found out I was from New Mexico - they all commented on how well I spoke English. (Yes, sometimes UA really is a “bubble”.)

That year with my grandparents was unforgettable, and I grew extremely close to my grandmother. Libby kept us busy with activities and it was a very enriching experience. One funny memory I have is when we drove through neighborhoods in UA, she would point out other houses she particularly liked. Nearly always, their exteriors were covered in brick. Her home had brick trim on the front of the house, but was primarily wood siding. She hated that siding because every 8 years or so she’d have to hire someone to repaint it. She had pushed to have the exterior of their home be all brick at the time it was built, but it would have cost my grandfather an extra $300, and he refused!. A big mistake on his part as she always reminded him of his short-sightedness when the painters submitted their invoices for payment.

Little did I know that when I finished college and graduate school, I would return to Columbus to start my career. My happiest and saddest day came about 5 years later when Libby was too ill from breast cancer to attend my wedding. She died less than a month later. My husband, Fred, and I lived in a new home in Gahanna after we were married. Several years later, following the death of my grandfather, my mother asked if we wouldn’t want to purchase my grandparents’ UA home, which we initially declined. Some months later, I had a change of heart, much to Fred’s chagrin (he was an “East-sider”). We hired an architect and got busy redesigning parts of the home to better suit our lifestyle. What a great decision. We have so enjoyed raising our two children in the home my grandparents built. While we’ve made many changes to the home and landscaping, much remains the same – including the phone number! And every August I smile when I see that despite all of the changes, the “Naked Ladies” (official name:Resurrection Lily) planted by Libby so many years ago grace us with their return.

Riding Bess in Miller Park

Esther Miller on her horse with from left, her father, Henry, and brothers Harry and Johnny.

By Esther A. Miller

My father gave me a new horse in 1924 when I was seven years old.

This was no little horse. It was a full size Pinto.  I was used to our family’s Shetland ponies, Jack and Jill, and would ride Jack using just a saddle pad.  We named the new, brown-and-white spotted horse Bess.  

My family and I lived on Cambridge Boulevard on the triangle just south of Miller Park.  The park was donated by and is named after my grandfather, James T. Miller.  My grandfather had a big red barn on what is now Roxbury Road, but that had recently burned down. So we kept Bess in the smaller barn at my grandfather’s farm. (This is where First Community Village is now, and the barn was near the ice house which still stands).

My father was a horse enthusiast and shared that loved with me.  He was eager for me to ride Bess but I was scared for two reasons: one, her size---she was so big!  Secondly, she had a Western saddle which was too heavy for me to lift and properly secure.

One spring morning my father and I got Bess out of the barn and he lifted me up into the saddle and we walked toward Miller Park.  Vic Thompson was in the park exercising his polo pony. 

My father called out to him, “Hey Vic!  Take Esther and Bess down to the circle.”  (“The circle” is how we referred to the junction of Tremont and Stanford Roads, and Arlington Avenue.  The Upper Arlington Company built an office there in 1920, and at the time of this story it housed the village headquarters for police, etc.  It later became Miller Park Library, which is still in the same location today.)

Vic thundered by us and headed toward the library at a full canter.  To my dismay Bess took off after him like a shot and I held on for dear life.

When Vic reached the building he pulled on the reins and his horse slowed.  Bess followed suit and stopped when they stopped.

Out of breath and with my heart thumping I turned around and yelled back at my father across the park, “Why did you do that?!”

“Now you can ride a horse!”  he exclaimed, very proud of himself, and me.