I remember oftentimes walking from our home on South Milton to the auction house. In those days kids went everywhere all over town any time of day and no one ever got molested. In fact Herrins never locked their doors. Not that we had anything to steal, but people on the whole could be trusted in those days! I say "on the whole" because since we were poor, store owners kept one eye open for us.
Mr. Pyle had the grocery by the railroad on the west, by Wayne Kivett's Plumbing Shop, at that time, and during my childhood he built the new store across the street by the Cities Service. Mr. Pyle always watched us all closely. Maybe we all were paranoid, but we're sure he watched. I don't blame him!
I have two occasions in my life that lived up to what people expected of me. My best friend lived down the street. He would always show me his savings box. I never had a savings because no one in my home had the money to pay me for anything! Consequently, I sneaked into their house because they trusted people as well, and stole money from my friend's box. I felt rotten when I did it and rightfully should. I disappointed even myself!
Well, his father and mother set up a sting. They caught me and were so graceful that I still love them dearly! Rather than being angry, this father told me how disappointed he was with me. My only punishment was that I had to pay back the $2 which I had taken. I was humiliated! These fine parents were Bill and Bonnie Jamison and I am so much ashamed that I it's still hard to write about it! I never stole from anyone again... or did I?
I learned my lesson, but sometimes we forget and need a reminder. I worked at Jim Bumgardner's DX in Stilesville and did work for which I accepted pay, but didn't give Jim his cut. That haunted me for years. When Jim was 86 years old I looked him up. Guess where I found him? At what was the old DX! First I apologized for my behavior years ago and Jim forgave me! I estimated that I had misappropriated less than $100 so nearly 30 years later I made restitution with interest. I should have paid him seven-fold, but paid him interest of five-fold. Finally, that ghost of evil past had been slain!
Now I hate thieves or should I said thievery. Thanks to my pardon, this good father made an honest boy out of me. I slipped once, but once was enough. Coatesville made me appreciate guilt. It's the first step to contrition. There were many churches in Coatesville and at sometime or the other I attended them all! Coatesville is where a sense of integrity was instilled within not only me, but my poor family.
I learned a valid lesson in Coatesville in those days. It was more than "thou shalt not steal"; it was "don't take what others worked hard for!" You know, I still see that same integrity in many of you Coatesvillains who live there right now! I believe that I could still leave my doors unlocked there and my possessions would still be safe! (Please tell me I'm right!)
Back to my walk now. Well, on my way to the auction house, hours after dark, I walked along Milton past Pud Lineberry's old brick home on the corner right across from the Shaw's. (See Figure #1A below) I had on a bibbed hat with built in mufflers because it was cold. Just the thought of Pud's dark house would frighten me because Pud was quite old then. Sometimes he would gaze us kids out the window and his age and seclusion could be really scary! (Pud was said to be a former pro baseball player when he was younger. His wife was Laura McCammack from Putnam County).
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| Figure #1A: Pud Lineberry Home (Courtesy Linda Schoolcraft) |
As I began to run again to get there faster, the footsteps started after me again! This Kentuckian finally did some brilliant thinking! It was my own footsteps which scared me! The mufflers merely amplified my own footsteps through my skeletal system. People learn best by realizing their own stupidity!
I eventually learned much more about the man who scared me; scaring me with his mere presence! Pud had a real name . It was Anthony. I found out years later that he was born in 1870 and died the exact month I left town for college; August 1967. He would no longer scare me! He was actually a nice old guy. Our school class took him can foods and met him. He was just old and not scary at all once I met him.
Let me digress to tell one on a student who I'll call "Moe"! At that time many of us without cars actually rode the bus from Coatesville to Amo. As we rode down on what we called the South Amo Road, us young guys couldn't wait to see Rhonda Phillips get on. She was older than us and a "10" to most of the younger guys. When she bounced on the bus in time with her pony-tail there was electricity in the air, but probably no more than thick lust! I hope whomever ended up as her husband appreciates that he is the one who won her, and not think harshly of those of us who were mere kids in her eyes.
There's a connection here to Moe; I promise! As Rhonda got on the bus, there was not a seat to be had. Moe, a true gentleman, allowed a certain blonde-haired girl I'll call "Micki" to sit on his lap so that Rhonda could sit in Micki's seat. After a few moments Micki said to Moe, "Am I sitting on your knife?" Really, she did! Well, by now you've heard of the movie "50 Shades of Gray"? Well, Moe was "50 Shades of Red". Of course it took me years to understand the situation and laughed out loud when I grew up at something which happened years ago near Coatesville.
I suppose she might forgive me for what she never knew, but let's leave Micki's identity for the ages. Coatesville has many secrets and this is one!
Jim Curtis lived across from the auction in the new development by the cemetery on IN-75. His was one of the first new homes built in my time. Arthur Biehl built one earlier behind Clyde Poff on Hwy. 75. Jim was the son of Glen Curtis and together they owned Curtis Trucking. It was semi-tractor trailer rigs which Jim drove and Glen had fertilizer trucks as well. Jim had the prettiest wife ever in the eyes of us kids! She may have been prettier than Rhonda Phillips. Of course each and every pretty woman which early teenage boys see, is the prettiest ever! Alice Curtis was a model to say the least. Unfortunately death caught up with her early because of a catastrophe out west while she and Jim were trucking. They were stranded in the cold and she suffered a horrible death.
Alice is gone. She had children, but others have never forgotten Alice. She was Coatesville's finest!
Glen was the "Roscoe P. Coltrane", so to speak, to the Herrin boys Duke brothers. There were just more of us to keep him busy! We weren't juveniles delinquents by any means, but everyone of us were "good ole boys"! At that age I was too young to drive, but "Charlie" my brother was a playful handful to say the least. Charlie, now called "Chuck" loved to antagonize Sheriff Curtis. Chuck actually cut holes in his mufflers if rust didn't beat him to it! On top of that, tires were cheap. Each and every start/stop burned rubber. We could do that in those days because tires were cheap and gas was as low as 18.9 cents at the DX anyhow.
It was a half mile from downtown,,, or was it uptown Coatesville. (I figured out downtown and uptown when I went to New York City). Chuck could go from zero to sixty before he hit our driveway. Many times, one in particular, Glen, giving chase, was right behind him. Chuck turned off his engine and lights on his '53 Chevy, painted green with brown primer all over it, and coasted into the driveway. He immediately lifted his hood and he and I started working on some non-existent problem with his engine.
Glen got out of his car and asked "Was that you Charlie, speeding through town?" Of course Chuck fibbed and denied it was him. Glen, just like Roscoe P. Coltrane, walked around the car, kicked the tires and felt the engine. He burnt his hand! Then he asked Charlie "Are you sure it wasn't you?" Charlie again denied it and explained that the engine was only hot because he had been tuning it up. Glen walked slowly away and waited for another day. It came soon!
Chuck and I were again in his old Chevy, as if we ever had a new Chevy, as we sped down Main Street, around the curve by the Schillings and past Wilbur Jones'. We went down IN-75 and turned onto the North Amo Road. I'm sure we were out of Glen's jurisdiction, but he didn't care. He chased us down. Chuck pulled over and put on his dumb Kentuckian act. "Whatz wrong Glen? Did I do sumthun' wrong?" Glen gave Charlie a ticket for loud mufflers. That was easy because Chuck's mufflers were always loud!
Glen put his ticket book away and got back into his car. With belligerence Charlie gunned it, throwing gravel at Glen's windshield as he sped away. Glen turned on his red light immediately and with his best Roscoe P. Coltrane swagger, gave Chuck another ticket for reckless driving! You see, I learned things in Coatesville! I saw nothing peculiar about Roscoe P. Coltrane years later when the television show premiered! I saw nothing wrong with Boss Hog. They were both very Coatesvillain!
What I didn't learn in Coatesville is how to control my speeding. Blame Chuck or maybe it was Glen for giving chase, but I quit counting with 43 speeding tickets. I did learn one thing from Glen, though! He never showed his emotions. I never saw him angry! I never saw Chuck angry. It was a game to them both! Perhaps the chase I was giving to all those cops after Glen was keeping my sheriff alive! Glen still lives in the memories of many people. Jim and Alice do as well. I'm sure that someplace they all still reside forever in Coatesville!
Why did we come there? Each family has their own story and we have ours!
The Herrin's were brought to Coatesville from Cartersburg for a more permanent home. There was much dissension about our move because of basketball. Nowadays it's more football that draws a crowd, but in 1957 it was basketball! Kids from our town played on the Amo High School team. That year Clayton was picked to win the regionals. (It may have been 1958). My brother, Rich, was one of the top players for the Clayton team. Because of low rent in Coatesville, we moved into town, but officials from Clayton filed an IHSAA complaint because of our move.
My parents, Hoot Gibson, Rich, and officials from each school actually went to IHSAA Court. The issue was that someone paid our rent to Hoot Gibson so that Rich could play on Amo's team. When the evidence was presented, the case was ruled in favor of Amo and Rich was allowed to play for what had been his opponents. That same year it was Amo who won the regionals.
(By the way, Rich, still owns the high jump record for Amo at 6'-1". That was pretty high n those days! )
Rich went on to a career in the Air Force attending the University of Arizona mostly and retired as a Chief Master Sergeant. After retirement he worked as a nurse in Hendricks County Hospital. He died in 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Why? Why does Coatesville even exist. It's strange it came into being because of something which is no longer there!
Community leaders had been around for a long time, some when the town was founded. Their stories are in The History of Hendricks County, Indiana. Many of the rest of us were transplants. Many moved from the south to find work. Several families from Coatesville worked at General Motors Chevrolet Division in Indianapolis or Bridgeport Brass near Indianapolis. Other than farms and a few small businesses opportunities were scarce in our small town.
What is this town Coatesville all about? Is it just a village which prepares people for death or is there a reason behind it all? What did this town of four churches and no liquor stores have to offer that people would want to live there? Perhaps it was peace. Perhaps it was an extension of the family with both normal people and a few crazies. All families have them; Coatesville did too! Now let me present Coatesville!
I remember my first day! Coatesville, Indiana. It was a new life for me because I'd just moved from faraway Cartersburg, exactly 13 miles, but a lifetime away! I left behind three friends, one who I was never to see again. However, years later when schools consolidated I was reunited with many others from whom I had moved, at that time shedding tears for those I was soon to miss.
Before my remembrances of turmoil, pain, anecdotes and strain, let me first paint a picture of where memories were made and where peculiar people abode. These memories are of a child. As such what is written may be childish some places, but in others, this child had profound impressions! Much of what I am was molded by this remote little town on the junction of a railroad and one highway. Bear with me now for a short while as my Coatesville becomes yours!
Coatesville! What a name. What a town! According the latest census Coatesville had a population of 528 people. Far from a boom town, what once was no longer is. As other places grew Coatesville's growth was stunted. It may be that it had pituitary problems since on a macro-level, a pituitary is about all Coatesville had going for it! This town is dwarf in size of 0.66 square miles (422 acres) (2010 U.S. Census of Hendricks County, Indiana). Texas ranchers have vegetable gardens larger than my home town!
According to the History of Hendricks County, Indiana, in 1885 Coatesville had about 600 inhabitants. My home there was from late 1956 through August of 1967. At that time Coatesville had about 450 souls! Look at the growth! In 1940 there were only 67 families in the town of Coatesville (1940 U.S. Census Hendricks County, Indiana), accounting for 545 people ! That's 8 people per family, an astounding number, but not uncommon for that time!
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| Figure #1: Population of Coatesville |
Something happened between 1930 and 1940! The great depression. People moved to the city (Indianapolis) for jobs. In spite of the terrible event of 1948, Coatesville still grew a tiny bit, even after being blown away! According to my neighbor and old friend, (Joe H. Davidson, Brief History of Coatesville, Indiana, 1966) “The second calamity hit on Good Friday 1948. This tornado that wrecked the greater part of the town left 14 dead in its wake and crippled or injured in some way twice as many more.”
The remnants of this tornado were still there during my childhood! Splinters, blown by high winds, were still embedded in the brick mortar, and of course there was Jim Walter's wooden leg where the silo had blown over onto him! The first calamity was way before my time. A passenger train had wrecked there in 1895, killing several people and injuring others.
(That comes to mind because the railroad will be part of further adventures, surely the reason for Coatesville's continued existence).
The Terre Haute and Richmond Railroad, later “The Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad” was chartered in 1847 and Coatesville's portion was completed in 1851. Although the town was founded in the 1860's it was the railraod in 1851 which made Coatesville a settlement. According to Joe Davidson (ibid) the town was named after Henry Coats. This railroad at the time of my childhood was known as the “Vandalia Railroad” (Anthony Korzeniewsk, Abandoned Rails: The Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad).
Coatesville, for me would be nothing without the train! Much of my time was spent deep in thought on local girls and where I could earn some money! Kids have to think about something while waiting on the endless trains as they passed through. There was no other route to pass! The train was the looming roadblock which always seemed to be there when I was in the most hurry, which was always. I could hear the train coming from home. My goal was to cross the tracks before it blocked my path, but the screaming demon seemed to always win the race! I got there just in time to wait... and wait... and wait!
Freight trains averaged a mile and a quarter in length. Some trains were triple that length in those days! It wasn't unusual to count as many as 300 cars on a train! Trains slowed for this little town! I believe the speed of some to be around ten miles per hour. With that, and if the train kept moving, the wait was sure to be as long as 20 to 30 minutes! Patience is a learned trait. Impatience is natural! My response to slow-moving trains was ,and still is, agitation. I still cringe when I see that flashing signal, dong dong dong and the coming whistle, pleasing to Mr. Doppler's ears! ("The Doppler Effect").
Amo is another small town, a near twin to Coatesville three miles down the tracks. When Coatesville and Amo elementary school classes combined we learned that pretty girls lived in Amo. We had become acclimated to the few girls who lived in our neighborhood and ventured out into the world! There were three ways to get to Amo from home. The south road, four and a quarter miles, and the north road, about four miles. Either way, it was a long trip for short legs. These kids went by rail! Three miles beats four any day!
Freight trains didn't stop in Coatesville! At least for any reason other than to let another train pass. Sometimes the engine parked for hours at the crossing waiting where the dual tracks lie for another train coming from the opposite horizon to get by. That's what trains do! They wait their turn and Coatesville was the waiting place! However, when they began to move, it was easy for ten year old boys to hop aboard. Oftentimes even slow trains could be chased and boarded by those with fleet feet.
Trains are a great part of Coatesville and the town will never hear the sound of a locomotive again. As history is passed by the future, trains succumbed to semi's and passenger cars. The past was superseded by the future and the future is yet to be.
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