Category: Columns

Local writers and stories

Military History in Paulding County 

By: Mark Holtsberry  Chester Earl “Smokey” Kite was born in Payne, Ohio May 23, 1894. The son of Andrew McClelland born May 5, 1862 in Champaign County, Ohio and Rose Ann (Bodey) Kite born June 26, 1872 in Shelby County, Ohio.  This couple was married December 19, 1889 in Paulding, Ohio. By 1900, this couple…

GET AWAY FROM MY CAR OR… …

Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker One thing I love to do is read stories, jokes, news and recipes on the internet. Sometimes I run into a story that is too good not to share. So here goes: An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon returning to her car, found four males in the act of…

Trinity Episcopal Church

The story of a church builder turned pirate. One of the most mysterious stories, where was I when we studied famous cathedrals in the fourth grade. William arrived in the US from Scotland in 1691. He lived in New York City and was the talk of the Town. He was a handsome young man, lived…

The Left Turn

By: Ron Burt For the second year in a row, heavy rains forced Attica Raceway Park to cancel their opening night, Friday, March 15th. The track was ready to go Wednesday but rains throughout Thursday with a forecast of more rain and temperatures dropping to the upper 30s for Friday. “We just would not have…

Military History in Paulding County

By: Mark Holtsberry Hubert M. Koenn Jr. was born in Cecil, Ohio May 16, 1890. The son of Hubert Sr., born July of 1855 in Hamburg, Germany and Veronica (Haep) Koenn born in Hamburg, Germany. This couple was married in Germany in 1880. They immigrated to America in 1884.  By 1890, the Koenn family consisted…

LEAPING LIZARDS

Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker  Well, we know that every 4 years we have what is known as a Leap Year and 2024 is the year. The last leap year was in 2020.  If you happened to be born on Feb 29, from what i have read you are called  Leaplings. This is because a birthday…

LOVE IS …

Giving your only son. My granddaughter gave me a book of stories, written by a guy in Alabama, and I find it quite intriguing. He talks about his folks getting a divorce when he was age 9, and he would live with his father one weekend, and his mother the other weekend. He said this…

MILITARY HISTORY IN PAULDING COUNTY

By: Mark Holtsberry Forrest Earl Lacy was born August 17, 1894 in Antwerp, Ohio. The son of Ammi Richard born March 20, 1862 in Ohio and Elizabeth “Lizzie” (Barker) Lacy born September 26, 1858 in Illinois. This couple was married April 24, 1886. March 12, 1890, a daughter, Fern C. was born in Carryall Township.…

The Time That You Gave Me

A couple of things have happened recently that have caused me to reflect on the past. You might say two projects, the first attempt failed, but I still feel like I can pull it off. But the second has a resolution, and it doesn’t seem to be a happy one. Thinking about the time we…

A Fish with a Sore Thumb

“Serving overseas as a small-town boy in America has been intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!” —Matt , Matt’s Mishaps Were you traumatized by swim lessons as a kid?  My parents for many summers sent me to the local public pool to try to learn…

The Left Turn

By: Ron Burt Friday, March 15th Attica Raceway Park is scheduled to open for the 2024 racing season. Attica is looking forward to another exciting year. The 3 main classes running weekly shows will be the 410-winged sprints, late models and the 305 sprints. I’ve put together some of their big dates for this coming…

MILITARY HISTORY IN PAULDING COUNTY

By: Mark Holtsberry Orval Cletus Lehman was born December 6, 1894 in Payne, Ohio. The son of William Elmer, born 1870 in Ohio and Elnora Ella (White) Lehman, born 1876 in Ohio. This couple was married April 20, 1893 in Paulding, Ohio. By 1900, this Lehman couple had three children. Orval C. born 1894, Clara…