Contents
Contributors
Contents
12 HISTORY MYSTERY 13 SUBSCRIBE
16 Antique Alley ~ by Chrissy Alspaugh
24 Dave Sisson and local music ~ by Jeff Tryon
30 Musings: Brown Co. Booster ~ by Mark Blackwell
36 Brown County Bookshelf ~ by Julia Pearson
38-39 Photos by Jane Mitchell * 40-43 CALENDAR / HAPPENINGS
44 Brown Co. Historical Society ~ by Boris Ladwig
50 Playhouse Highlights ~ by Connie Shakalis
54 Theresa Caputo Live! ~ by Cindy Steele
56 Field Notes: A Fish Story ~ by Jim Eagleman
62 Artist Martha Sechler ~ by Bob Gustin
72-74 INFO PAGES
Cover: The Ferguson House in Antique Alley ~ by Cindy Steele
ourbrowncounty. com ourbrown @ bluemarble. net
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P. O. Box 157 Helmsburg, IN 47435( 812) 988-8807
copyright 2023
Jeff Tryon is a former news editor of The Brown County Democrat, and a former region reporter for The Republic. Born and raised in Brown County, he currently lives with his wife, Sue, in a log cabin on the edge of Brown County State Park. He is a
Baptist minister.
Joe Lee is an illustrator and writer. He is the author of Forgiveness: The Eva Kor Story, The History of Clowns for Beginners, and Dante for Beginners. He is an editorial cartoonist for the Bloomington Herald-Times, a graduate of Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and a veteran circus performer.
Jim Eagleman is a 40-year veteran naturalist with the IN DNR. In retirement, he is now a consultant. His program“ Nature Ramblings” can be heard on WFHB radio, the Brown County Hour. He serves on the Sycamore Land Trust board. He enjoys reading, hiking, music, and birding. Jim and his wife Kay have lived here for more than 40 years.
Contributors
Chrissy Alspaugh is a freelance writer and owner of Christina Alspaugh Photography. View her work at < ChristinaAlspaughPhotography. com >. She lives in Bartholomew County with her husband Matt and three boys.
Connie Shakalis is arts reporter for Bloomington’ s The Herald-Times, and also writes for Bloom Magazine. She has performed 18 leading roles in musicals and plays throughout the U. S. She performed a onewoman nightclub show in New
York City and led walking tours of Central Park.
Mark Blackwell no longer makes his home in Brown County where“ the roadway is rough and the slopes are seamed with ravines” He now resides within sight of the sixth green of an undisclosed golf course. He was born in the middle of the last century and still spends considerable time there.
Julia Pearson wrote for a Franciscan magazine for ten years and served as its human interest editor. She now resides in Lake Woebegone Country for life’ s continuing adventures. Julia enjoys traveling and visiting museums of all types and sizes, with her children and grandchildren.
Boris Ladwig is a Columbusbased journalist who has worked in print, online and TV media in Indiana and Kentucky and has won awards for features, news, business, non-deadline news, First Amendment / community affairs and investigative reporting.
Bob Gustin worked as a reporter, photographer, managing editor, and editor for daily newspapers in Colorado, Nebraska, and Indiana before retiring in 2011. He and his wife, Chris, operate Homestead Weaving Studio. She does the weaving while he gives studio tours, builds small looms, and expands his book and record collections.
Thanks, Mom, for making it happen!
Cindy Steele is the publisher and editor of this magazine. She sells and designs ads, sometimes writes, takes photos, and creates the layout. For fun, she likes to play the guitar or banjo and sing.
* Jane Mitchell first fell in love with photography during her elementary school days when she snapped blurry black and white shots with her Brownie camera. She has never stopped taking photos since then. She taught art in public schools for 33 years and showed her work of stained glass and weavings through the art and craft circuit. Her experience, along with a strong appreciation of nature, keep her interest in photography alive.
10 Our Brown County • Sept./ Oct. 2023