It was 1985 and i was 4 years old, we were moving from columbus to a little town called Homer. This was before the 161 by-pass when it took what seemed like hours driving from columbus to the new house; it was alway a treat that became a tradition to stop at Eagles Pizza. We would wait in line for a seat to eat our favorite pizza it didnt matter if it was a friday or a saturday the place was always packed with families and high school kids just there to enjoy themselves and keep up on the events of the area.
In the time before cell phones and internet and even the renovation of the resturant when the old gas station was across the street and the tiny police station was there too. Back before New Albany had been Wexnerized, not that it is a bad thing but you very seldom saw a white fence. I remember when the big house was being built between 605 and Kitzmiller, now it doesnt seem so big when you drive through some of the neighborhoods. It is amazing how the little town has changed from the family owned feed mill, an ice cream shop and the pizza shop and dont forget the Christian radio station. I really can’t even remember seeing anything more than an old station wagon or Ford pick-up truck driving through town; where now you really never know what you will see but its almost a guarantee that its not going to be that old farmer parked in the parking lot with his dog in the back of the truck. More like a Lexus or BMW or the occasional Porsche with some one on a cell phone driving crazy because they have some where they have to be in a hurry. Now there are more businesses and churches and what seems like miles and miles of white board fence. How times have changed for an area that began as an old farm town and so many of the people that live in the area don’t have any idea or care to know what the past of the area they live. Please if you have a memory to share do, give others a chance to remember.
In the spring of 2007 my daughter and I went to a Wittenberg university softball game with some friends. The center fielder hit a home run! Her mother jumped up, cheering for her daughter. I leaned over to my friend and said, \” I know that lady. She coached me in softball when I was a kid,\”. I was certain it was her. Crisco is what we called her, as in go Chis go- it became Crisco! So I had to introduce myself. Between games I went up to her, it went something like this… I have to ask and don\’t mean to creep you out, but aren\’t youChris Richards from New Albany? (FYI- aka Kathy to some). She wore a stunned expression of confirmation. Wanting to give her reference, I told her I was Jeanne Maynard, Keith Harig\’s sister (they were classmates) and she had coached me on the Red Barron\’s softball team the summer after she graduated. She had placed me too! She remembered I had long, white-blonde hair. She even said she had recently looked at pictures from that summer (-she later emailed the to me and they are posted on Facebook). How cool is this little reunion?! We chatted and later introduced our daughters. In the fall of 2008, our daughters became friends and teammates on that Wittenberg Tiger softball team. Chris, her husband Don, my husband Jim and I enjoyed watching our girls play together for two years. Thanks to Facebook we stay connected and Chris is fondly in my cell as Crisco.
By: Jeanne Maynard Amicon