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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 />

The Columbus <strong>Messenger</strong> Co. reserves the right to edit, reject or cancel<br />

any advertisement or editorial copy at any time. The company is not<br />

responsible for checking accuracy of items submitted for publication.<br />

Errors in advertising copy must be called to the attention of the company<br />

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 />

Look for <strong>Groveport</strong> <strong>Messenger</strong> on<br />

Become a fan!<br />

www.columbusmessenger.com<br />

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.

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