Serendipity bring opportunity to meet overachievers in Greene County

I have had the wonderful opportunity in the past few years to interview and write about many talented and multi-faceted individuals who are and were overachievers accomplishing out of the ordinary endeavors and who are from - what appears to the outside viewer -- a most ordinary, tranquil southern Indiana county dotted with tracts of farmland.

As Norm, a chemistry instructor in which everything is seen in black or white as is with most scientists, was treating me to lunch before I moved here to Indiana, he looked at me very seriously, and said, "Well, Jo what are you going to do in Linton, Indiana?"

I must have stuttered while trying to organize my thoughts. Completely opposite from Norm, I usually let my heart overrule my head and hadn't thought too much in advance as to what I would be doing here other than the reason I was making the move.

Strange how things happen, but I call it serendipity that brought about the opportunity to write for the Greene County Daily World and meet such exciting and motivating people who taught me many things.

So Norm this is for you.

Among some of the people I have met is a person who has sued the government and appeared before the United States Supreme Court. I have interviewed several military veterans, even one who was a POW in Germany and two veterans who were at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941. They relayed first-hand experiences that I would never have known.

Among those many people, were three marvelous, special Greene County people who were some of those amazing overachievers who contributed so much, not only to the county but to society.

Sadly, during the past couple of weeks, we have lost all three of those unique human beings that I so admired.

I had never heard the name Ruby Moon Houldson until one day she e-mailed me regarding a book she had recently written. She actually gave me a signed copy of the book.

From then on, we e-mailed back and forth quite frequently, and she would tell me about her new experiences whether it was a new book, meeting celebrities in California, book signing events, or her Ph.D. degree.

One year shortly before Christmas, I found a package that Ruby left in my mailbox. It was a beautiful red evening purse. Each time I open my closet door and see that ruby-red purse on the shelf, I think of her -- of her quiet way, her smile, her generosity and her brilliance.

Ruby is gone, but her legacy remains with her books, paintings and deeds.

I know, Norm would have loved meeting this man. I must say I was quite intimidated when I first met this self-assured person who had accomplished more than what most people only dream of doing in more than one lifetime.

John Davis and his wife, Peggy, joined the Peace Corps shortly after leaving Harding University in Arkansas and after their marriage in 1962. Their overseas assignment was teaching high school in Gondar, Ethiopia. John taught history and agriculture and Peggy taught home economics.

While there, he and Peggy climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, toured the Nile on a riverboat, and traveled to several Asian countries.

After returning to Worthington for five years, John and Peggy moved to Alaska and taught Eskimos for 18 years.

Always following his dream, John volunteered to spend one year at the cold and lonely National Science Foundation at the South Pole.

Never slowing down, he tackled Mt. Kilimanjaro one more time with his daughter when she was a missionary in Uganda.

John and Peggy settled on a farm in Worthington where he was found dead and Peggy unconscious last week. Worthington was shocked as well as the whole county.

Even though I was raised around coal mining all of my young life, I learned a myriad of information from local resident, Fred Allen, when he shared with me his several books, photographs and articles on local coal mines.

Although a very quiet man, in his talks, he could take his audience from the early days of mining in the late 1800s to today's more modern conditions provided by technical improvements.

I'm sure he was right when he said coal was the black gold of Greene County. He knew every mine that operated in the area and could name the date and casualties of every mining catastrophe.

Sadly, Allen also passed on recently and his expertise on the mining industry will be missed. Hopefully, his documented history will be preserved teaching young generations the importance of the industry to the area, especially to the growth of Linton from the early 1900s.

Norm, no more have I been explaining gerunds or misplaced and dangling modifiers, but I have had a multitude of experiences. I wish I would have had a crystal ball and given you a better answer when you asked what I would be doing in Linton, Indiana during that last lunch in Michigan.

Jo is a staff writer for the Greene County Daily World. She can be reached by email at tojo631@sbcglobal.net.