Madison Messenger - December 27th, 2020

PAGE 16 - MADISON MESSENGER - December 27, 2020
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T. J. T.J. Dwyer Dwyer
Aaron Aaron Dwyer Dwyer
Drew Drew Dwyer Dwyer
Traver
Traver
Litchfield
Litchfield
Wayman West
Wayman West
Janice Taylor
Janice Taylor
Cindi Long
Cindi
Richard
Long
Syx
Richard Ed Banion Syx
Ed Jim Banion Duncan
Jim Missy Duncan Deaver
Missy Jessica Deaver Tewell
Nanci
Jeff
Meyer
Chave
Clay Greer
John Cimino
Seth Best
Madison Ripley
Glenn Trueb
Jeff
Arington
Cave
Cordell
Justin Keith Burgess Smith
DWYER BROS. INC.
HARDWARE
Established 1888
150 S. Main St. - London
(740) 852-0725
www.madisonmessengernews.com
Neff was dedicated to helping
By Kristy Zurbrick
Madison Messenger
The Mount Sterling community has lost
a longtime public servant.
Gary Neff, 75, a Pleasant Township
trustee and Pleasant Township Cemetery
Puzzle solution
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board member, passed away on Dec.
15.
“He was a great guy. He knew
the community. He was always willing
to help somebody and always
willing to make sure the roads were
cleared,” said Kathy Endres, who
became Pleasant Township’s fiscal
officer in 2010, the same year Neff
became a township trustee. “I can’t
say enough about him. He was always
out there for the people.”
Neff’s dedication to the community
also included many years as a
volunteer fire fighter, member of the
Tri-County Joint Fire District Gary Neff
board, and member of the Sterling
Joint Ambulance District. He also was a veteran of the Ohio Army
National Guard.
The Pleasant Township trustees have until mid-January to appoint
someone to fill Neff’s seat on the board. The appointee will
serve out the remainder of the term which ends on Dec. 31, 2021.
Anyone interested in filling the position is asked to contact Sam
Junk, board chairman, at (740) 572-1893.
Charlotte Louise Topping Hickman was born October 12, 1935
in a little house that was formerly a schoolhouse off France Lane in Ross County,
Ohio. She passed away on Friday, December 18, 2020 at the Bluebird Retirement
Community in London, Ohio after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Charlotte, called “Char” and “Mom/ Grandma” by her family and friends, was preceded
in death by her parents Herman J. and Lucille A. Topping, her brother Ronald Topping
and her sister Helen Topping Conkel. She is survived by her best friend and one love,
her husband Melvin M. Hickman; her daughters Julia Brakenbury (Kenneth), Cheryl
Taylor (Phil) and Gretchen Nelson (Brian); her grandchildren Christopher Brakenbury
(Peggy Anderson), and Adam Brakenbury (Olivia); her step grandchildren Meghen
Sanders and Chris Taylor (Jill); her great grandchildren June and Benjamin Brakenbury; her step great grandchildren
Adeline and Bryson Sanders, and Lois and Jack Taylor. Charlotte is also survived by one sister, Patricia
Britton.
She attended Ross County Schools and graduated from Southeastern High School in Richmond Dale, Ohio
on May 19, 1953. Her family remembers Charlotte telling them she liked school and was a great student but
hated gym class. This led her to keeping score at basketball games to earn her gym credits so that she could
graduate. Her first travel outside of Ohio was for a graduation trip with her senior class to Washington, D.C.
which started a lifetime of traveling and exploring with her family and in later years with her husband.
Charlotte’s first job immediately out of high school was as an administrative secretary to the superintendent
of Southeastern Local School District. This ultimately led to a career of working in similar roles for Manpower
Training Center and later for Jackson City Schools. She finished her career at Jackson High School.
She met her husband Melvin at a church picnic at Old Man’s Cave at Hocking Hills State Park. Melvin delighted
in telling people that “Charlotte caught him in her web and he never got out.” After marrying, they happily
built their lives around each other and after retirement often returned annually to Old Man’s Cave for dinner
on their anniversary.
While always working full time, Charlotte was an accomplished seamstress and made many of the clothes for
her daughters through the years. She was an awesome cook who also loved to bake (her sugar cookies were
the best), enjoyed crafts and decorating her home for holidays, supported her daughters’ school activities by
being a homeroom mother, band mom, school trip and band trip chaperon, and much more. She was an avid
reader who developed a notorious habit of reading the beginning and the end of books before deciding if
the book was good enough to read all the way through. Her community activities included membership at
Christ United Methodist Church where she was involved in women’s circle and taught Sunday School for years
when her daughters were small; was a member of Jackson Lioness Club and later Jackson Lions Club, and
Jackson Mothers Guild. She had the gift of wit and a spirited sense of humor and could pull pranks with the
best (a trait not always admired by her family!), yet was often quiet and unassuming in more public situations
which amazed her family.
After retirement, Charlotte struggled with health issues which led to her and Melvin leaving their much-loved
home at 210 Dawson Street in Jackson to move into assisted living at the Bluebird in London, Ohio. As it does
with so many, the disease took its toll. Charlotte, Char, Grandma will be greatly missed, and the world will be
a less warm and bright place without her. She will be forever in our hearts.
Her family wishes to thank our many friends who have supported us, as well as the staff of the Bluebird and
Miami Valley Hospice for their care of Charlotte. Private burial will be at Little Mound Cemetery in Richmond
Dale, Ohio. The family would appreciate condolences to be sent to Melvin Hickman, 2260 State Route 56
SW, The Bluebird/ Room 215, London, OH 43140.
Funeral arrangements are by the Mayhew-Brown Funeral Home in Jackson.
Soil and
Water
Conservation
The Madison Soil
and Water Conservation
District’s
monthly board
meetings take place
at 8 a.m. on the second
Wednesday of
the month in the
Madison County
Engineer’s conference
room at 825
U.S. Highway 42
NE, London. The
public is welcome to
attend. (Any
changes will be published
in the Madison
Messenger.)
Mt. Sterling
Community
Center
164 E. Main St.,
(740) 869-2453.
Dec. 28-Jan. 2—
10 a.m.-3 p.m.
daily, walking in
the gym
Dec. 28—10-11
a.m., chair exercises
Dec. 29—4-7
p.m., food pantry
for income-eligible
households.
8-9 p.m.—Alcoholics
Anonymous
Dec. 30—10 a.m.-
3 p.m., sewing
Dec. 31-Jan. 1—
Closed