Groveport Messenger - June 13th, 2021
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PAGE 4 - SOUTHEAST MESSENGER - <strong>June</strong> 13, <strong>2021</strong><br />
<strong>Groveport</strong> history films<br />
Two documentary films on the history<br />
of <strong>Groveport</strong>, produced by the <strong>Groveport</strong><br />
Heritage Society and Midnet Media, are<br />
available for viewing online on YouTube.<br />
The films are: “<strong>Groveport</strong>: A Town and Its<br />
People” and “The Story of John S. Rarey<br />
and Cruiser.”<br />
Letters policy<br />
The Southeast <strong>Messenger</strong> welcomes letters<br />
to the editor. Letters cannot be libelous.<br />
Letters that do not have a signature, address,<br />
and telephone number, or are signed with a<br />
pseudonym, will be rejected. PLEASE BE<br />
BRIEF AND TO THE POINT. The<br />
<strong>Messenger</strong> reserves the right to edit or<br />
refuse publication of any letter for any reason.<br />
Opinions expressed in the letters are not necessarily<br />
the views of the <strong>Messenger</strong>. Mail letters<br />
to: Southeast <strong>Messenger</strong>, 3500 Sullivan<br />
Avenue, Columbus, OH 43204; or by email to<br />
southeast@columbusmessenger.com.<br />
southeast<br />
<strong>Messenger</strong><br />
(Distribution: 20,634)<br />
Rick Palsgrove ...................................<strong>Groveport</strong> Editor<br />
southeast@columbusmessenger.com<br />
Published every other Sunday by<br />
The Columbus <strong>Messenger</strong> Co.<br />
3500 Sullivant Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43204-1887<br />
(614) 272-5422<br />
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any advertisement or editorial copy at any time. The company is not<br />
responsible for checking accuracy of items submitted for publication.<br />
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after first insertion and prior to a second insertion of the same advertising<br />
copy.<br />
Keep tabs on the latest news in<br />
<strong>Groveport</strong> & Madison Township<br />
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Become a fan!<br />
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Reflections on Memorial Day in a small town<br />
The Memorial Day ceremony in<br />
<strong>Groveport</strong> was again scaled back this year<br />
due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,<br />
however, the event maintained its traditional<br />
dignity and spirit.<br />
Editor’s Notebook<br />
Rick<br />
Palsgrove<br />
The ceremony’s<br />
keynote speaker was<br />
Motts Military<br />
Museum Director<br />
Warren Motts, who<br />
brought the meaning<br />
of Memorial Day<br />
home by talking about<br />
its local connections.<br />
Wars are fought on<br />
a large scale involving<br />
nations and thousands,<br />
sometimes millions,<br />
of military personnel.<br />
But each one<br />
of those soldiers, sailors, and airmen have<br />
a family and a hometown. Each one, and<br />
the sacrifice they made, is important.<br />
As American flags softly fluttered above<br />
the many graves of local veterans in the<br />
<strong>Groveport</strong> Cemetery, Motts said, “We must<br />
always remember the fallen.”<br />
Motts mentioned Lima Company, a company<br />
of United States Marines operating<br />
out of the nearby Rickenbacker Air<br />
National Guard base. He said Lima<br />
Company lost 23 Marines and one U.S.<br />
Navy Corpsman in the Iraq War.<br />
“We must remember all the men and<br />
women who served our country and never<br />
forget the price they paid for our freedoms,”<br />
said Motts.<br />
Motts’ linking the larger<br />
scale of the meaning of<br />
Memorial Day to its local<br />
impact resonated with me.<br />
Memorial Day has a small<br />
town feel about it. Small towns<br />
are places where most people<br />
are familiar with one another.<br />
In small towns, people recognize<br />
family names or can recall<br />
a family’s history.<br />
I’ve been attending<br />
<strong>Groveport</strong>’s Memorial Day<br />
parade procession and the ceremony<br />
in the <strong>Groveport</strong><br />
Cemetery since I was a kid. I<br />
know the people who carry the<br />
flowers for the graves as they<br />
walk in the procession down<br />
Main and College streets to the<br />
cemetery. I remember watching<br />
and listening to my sister and<br />
my classmates in the <strong>Groveport</strong><br />
Madison High School band play<br />
patriotic music and march in<br />
processional.<br />
The speakers at the ceremony<br />
are familiar as well as the members of<br />
American Legion Robert Dutro Post 486,<br />
which has played a long time active role in<br />
the <strong>Groveport</strong> Memorial Day ceremony. The<br />
Post is named after <strong>Groveport</strong> resident,<br />
Private Robert Dutro, who in 1917 at the age<br />
of 15 joined the 6th Marine Regiment during<br />
World War I. He would later die in France on<br />
July 19, 1918 during the Aisne-Marne offensive.<br />
Memorial Day is personal. Few families<br />
are untouched by the ravages of war. In a<br />
small town if our neighbors hurt, we hurt.<br />
Following this year’s Memorial Day ceremony,<br />
I read the tombstones as I walked<br />
Our Pictorial Past by Rick Palsgrove<br />
<strong>Messenger</strong> photos by Rick Palsgrove<br />
Members of the American Legion Robert Dutro Post<br />
486 rifle squad pray at the beginning of the Memorial<br />
Day ceremony held in the <strong>Groveport</strong> Cemetery on<br />
May 31. See more photos at<br />
columbusmessenger.com.<br />
among the flag decorated graves of the military<br />
veterans in the <strong>Groveport</strong> Cemetery.<br />
There are so many graves. All those last<br />
names etched in stone are so familiar. They<br />
are the names of family members, friends,<br />
neighbors, and fellow townspeople. They<br />
are ancestors who helped build the town<br />
and farmed the nearby fields. They once<br />
lived like us and watched the sun rise.<br />
They gave their all for community and<br />
country. We know them. We will always<br />
remember them.<br />
Rick Palsgrove is editor of the <strong>Groveport</strong><br />
<strong>Messenger</strong>.<br />
Lockbourne Fish Fry<br />
Thurs. & Fri. <strong>June</strong> 17 &18, <strong>2021</strong><br />
11 a.m. - 6 p.m.<br />
<strong>Groveport</strong> Creamery<br />
Photo courtesy of the <strong>Groveport</strong> Heritage Museum<br />
A stack of butter tubs on the loading dock await delivery by horse and wagon in<br />
this 1907 photo of the <strong>Groveport</strong> Creamery. The creamery was located on Blacklick<br />
Street at Church Street. The building still stands.<br />
Pickerington Central High School senior<br />
Alexander Poth performed “Taps” at the<br />
end of the Memorial Day ceremony held<br />
in the <strong>Groveport</strong> Cemetery on May 31.