By STEVE MARTIN
Guest Columnist
I subscribe to an Indiana business journal, which recently announced a special program they are promoting which will honor several Central Indiana women in various leadership roles. These are women who are currently using their positions in the business and not-for-profit world to make a positive difference in Central Indiana and beyond. This made me think about the strong and influential Main Street women right here in Sheridan who deserve their own recognition.
We oftentimes forget that it is the women in our lives who make up the glue that has, in one way or another, seemed to hold our lives together. Business and community things on Sheridan’s Main Street should be seen in the same way. I am not a Sheridan resident and neither did I grow up there. I arrived in town as the new library director in 2006 and spent my next 13 years at the library before I retired. One of the great memories I will carry with me about Sheridan is the number of strong women I have had the good fortune to work with and who have had an impact on Sheridan’s Main Street during my tenure at the library and into my retirement years.
In drafting this article, I do not mean to detract from the strong men who have made their own mark on Main Street. That could be the subject of a follow-on article some future day. Neither am I going to go back in Sheridan history. Nope, I am only going to go back to about the turn of the millennium, and only look at women on Main Street whom I have personally known and personally worked with. So, I offer you my humble apology if you are left off my list; I mean no disrespect. I don’t know everyone on Main Street, and I only have 15 years of experience with Sheridan to rely on.
Let me begin this journalistic adventure with a shout out to my good friend Connie Pearson. My first day on the job at the library saw Connie make the trek to my library office and introduce herself. She was on the town council back then and had a long history of being the Clerk-Treasurer for many years before that and part of the local, county and state Republican Party to boot. I really got to know her when I collaborated with her on the Sesquicentennial Committee back in 2010. I was impressed with her then and I still am as she continues to be a strong pillar in the community with her civic involvement through Rotary and the Sheridan Historical Society, as well as many other organizations. As a lifelong resident, she is a strong, steadfast supporter of all things Sheridan.
Liz Walden, the current Clerk-Treasurer, is another example of the glue that holds our community together. Liz followed Connie into the Clerk-Treasurer’s office, and she and the ladies on her office staff continue Connie’s efforts to keep Sheridan together through her work activities and her civic involvement.
And while we are doing politicians, let us not forget Linda Williams and her daughter Michelle Junkins. Both have served this community for many years as the Adams Township Trustee from their office building on the north edge of Main Street. In addition, both Linda and Michelle have contributed much through their leadership on the Main Street Committee which has provided flags, banners, flowerpots, historic preservation, Memorial Day and Fourth of July flags, Halloween parades, Christmas activities and much more to our Main Street. These two ladies are a real asset to our community and to Main Street.
Since I am a librarian, I want to pay honor to two ladies who held sway from the old Carnegie library building on Main. Library Directors Martha Baker and her successor Ann Emery provided community members with good reads and programs for years. If memory serves me correctly, Ann participated in various Chamber of Commerce activities over the years. Martha and Ann have been good friends and I know their presence on Main Street via the Sheridan Public Library has been a positive experience for the community.
Helen Hamilton is another woman worthy of mention here. Helen and her husband Bob have an accountancy business on Main Street and have been actively involved in Sheridan’s success over the years. Helen and I would frequently encounter each other at town council meetings, and she was never shy about speaking out about one thing or another. She has been a staunch supporter of all things Sheridan for years.
A new woman on Main Street, and one which I think will have a long impact on Sheridan, is Dr. Erin Merrill-Macy, our local chiropractor. Erin is a life-long resident of Sheridan, graduated from high school here, went to Butler and then on to chiropractic school. She reversed the trend of so many young professionals by coming back home to set up her practice and now she is expanding to other business ventures here on Main Street. Erin has a future on Main Street and in Sheridan.
Another important Main Streeter is Brenda Bush. Brenda does not own any businesses on the street, but her home is on Main Street, so that qualifies. Her importance revolves around her civic involvement here in the community, especially through the Sheridan Historical Society. Brenda came home years ago to help take care of her aging parents and happened on to the struggling local historical society at just the right time. Using her experience and expertise from the not-for-profit sector, she has helped the Sheridan Historical Society take on the Boxley Cabin preservation project, helped the museum transition to a new home on Main Street, and just recently helped kick-start the Sheridan Monon Depot Project. Brenda needs to be included in this group of strong women on Main Street.
And speaking of Brendas, let’s talk about Brenda Garrod for a few words. Brenda at one time was the heart and soul of MAMA’s Cupboard, a local food pantry on Main Street. She retired from the Director’s position not too long ago. She worked for us at the library so I have known her for years and can tell you that she has helped numerous families in so many ways over so many years, and not with just food distribution. If you ever needed a friend, needed a warm smile and hug, needed a shoulder to cry on, Brenda Garrod was your go to gal. You don’t find as many sharing and caring women as Brenda Garrod, and MAMA’s Cupboard has been a beacon of hope on Sheridan Main Street for years thanks to her efforts.
Another young professional on our Main Street is Melinda Spear-Huff. She is an accomplished artist, known for her paintings and her great murals. Her studio on Main Street can be a busy hub at times what with her private work and her classes, and often she is far away at places doing commissioned pieces of a variety of clients. Her studio at the northeast corner of 4th and Main brings people together both in person and through her portraits and adds to the glue that holds Main Street and Sheridan together.
My list would not be complete without mentioning a genuinely nice and very capable young woman who, with her father, ran the local hardware store. I speak, of course, about Kristin Nalbone. When her father Matt Keever first came to Sheridan’s Main Street to open his hardware store, Kristin was in charge in Sheridan while Dad continued to run his store in Westfield. She was in place when I arrived, and she gave me the impression she knew what she was doing expertly managing a busy store. She then took her talents and put them to beneficial use with her involvement on the civic side of things through her activity in the Sheridan Chamber of Commerce. She eventually stepped back to raise her young family but her presence on Main Street helped to make Keever Hardware a success and Sheridan Main Street a stronger place.
Another supporter of Sheridan’s Main Street is Mary Ann Cooper. MAC, as she is known, and her husband owned a firearms store on Main Street. I became acquainted through her work on the civic side of things, and she continues to be involved in various activities that highlight Sheridan Main Street and make Sheridan a better place to live.
Let me end this brief list of the women who have impacted Sheridan’s Main Street by speaking about a couple of women associated with the Sheridan Chamber of Commerce, which has now transitioned into the Northern Hamilton County Chamber of Commerce. Patty Nicholas was the first Chamber director I interacted with, and then following her was Catherine Heller. Both ladies worked hard to promote Sheridan and its Main Street business enterprises. I always admired their work effort, and their office locations on Main Street were beacons to our commercial success.
This is my list. Far from complete to be sure, but it is my tribute to a few of our strong and influential ladies on Sheridan’s Main Street. They do not get recognized as much as they should for the demanding work they have put in to keep Main Street looking good and keeping businesses open during tough times. Smaller towns do not always have women like this who function as much behind the scenes as they do in the limelight to hold their communities together when others could or would not be able to do. Again, to those strong women of Sheridan’s Main Street who have been left off my list, I apologize.
I also realize we have non-Main Street ladies whom I have failed to mention here, and I apologize to them also, but that may be the subject of another article. Likewise, I realize we have a long and deep history of strong and successful men on Main Street in Sheridan and that tradition continues to this day, but we all know that behind every successful man stands a strong woman. It seems to me we have a sizable number of those women right here in Sheridan right now. They need our recognition and thanks just like those ladies being recognized in Indianapolis.
So, step forward Sheridan Main Street ladies and take a bow! You have earned it.