Column: Return to Meltzerville

column-return-to-meltzerville

Dear readers,

Richard Wetnight and his wife, Nancy, along with their son, Mike, and his wife, Dawn, stopped by for a visit last week. Richard and his family have lived in Arizona for years and were back visiting relatives. 

Richard’s family is well known in the community for owning Wetnight’s Shelbyville Paint and Wallpaper, located on S. Harrison St. The business in later years moved to E. Broadway St. 

Richard’s parents, John and Mary, opened the store in the 1930s. The store continued in operation by Richard’s brothers along with their wives. Upon retirement, John and Martha Wetnight, and Ray and Cindy Wetnight, sold the store to Mauri and Autumn Kuhn and Patrick and Amber Kuhn.

As a boy, Rich Wetnight took little interest in his family’s paint store.  The Wetnight home was on S. Tompkins St. near the high school.  Morris Van Way had a machine shop within wandering distance of young Rich. Van Way’s shop was in the current location of Buck’s Plumbing Supply, a tri-cornered brick building on the corner of 1st and S. Harrison streets.

One day, while out playing cowboys and Indians, Rich spotted some empty .38 caliber shell casings on the floor of Van Way’s shop. Rich asked Mr. Van Way if he could have them to fill the empty bullet loops in his gun belt. Mr. Van Way told young Rich that he could have the empty casings in exchange for sweeping out the machine shop.

Van Way was already known as a genius inventor and was a living legend. A parade of interesting old-timers was always stopping by to visit Van Way. Rich found Van Way’s machine shop to be much more interesting than the paint store and soon he was working at the shop.  Sweeping the floor, mowing grass, and washing windows soon turned into machining and gun making.

Rich not only learned how to make guns, but he learned how to shoot them too. During his time in the service, he was a member of the All-Navy Rifle Team. In the spring of 1963, fresh out of the Navy, Rich won the State High Power Rifle Tournament shooting an M14.

It was Rich’s association with Van Way that led to him knowing my grandfather, Brady, who had a machine shop and a sawmill located east of town at the intersection of State Road 244 and 600E. The machine shop was in an old one room brick schoolhouse. 

I met Rich and his family at the old schoolhouse. It no longer houses a machine shop. The machines have been replaced by books. My niece, Vanessa, has turned the schoolhouse into a free library but the building itself hasn’t changed.

The building that housed the sawmill located behind the schoolhouse also remains much the same, but without the equipment inside.

After the usual introductions and pleasantries, the reminiscing began.  Years ago, Rich and his family enjoyed the muzzleloading and trap shoots held at Brady’s farm. Nancy and many of the wives who weren’t busy shooting, served food and drinks at the shoots. His son Mike’s job was to set the clay pigeons in the trap. Just listening to their stories, I could almost smell gun smoke in the air. 

It turned out that Nancy had the fondest memories from Brady’s farm.  Her maternal grandparents were Herman and Mary Ellen Creed. They lived in the farmhouse on Brady’s farm. The big white house still stands just to the south of the woods near the sawmill and schoolhouse. As a young girl, Nancy not only visited the farm, but also visited the sawmill when it was in operation. Her grandfather worked at the mill.

All too soon, it was time for us to return to the 21st century. Rich Wetnight and family had a plane to catch.

See you all next week, same Schwinn time, same Schwinn channel.

Photo: The Wetnight family visitors were, from left, Nancy, Rich, Mike and Dawn. 

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