Willow Leaves, May 3

Class of ’59 The class of 1959 of Willow Mills High School will hold its 40th year class reunion in June. Bessie Stackhouse, class secretary and captain of the cheerleading squad, mailed out announcements on Monday morning, most of which were received that evening. The festivities will be held on June 19 at the school grounds. There will be an outdoor barbecue at 2:00 in the afternoon with all the kids and grandkids invited. It will include games and Annabelle the Clown from Wabash will entertain the little ones. At 8:00, class members and their spouses will gather in the school gym for the class meeting and election of officers for the new millenium. There will be a class photo followed by a 50s style sockhop with Allan White acting as DJ. He’ll be playing cuts from his album collection and 45s from the old jukebox that he rescued some years ago from Josephine’s. Anyone knowing the whereabouts of Rachel and Jack Gibson or of Wayne Fisher, please let Bessie know. Their invitations came back “Address Unknown.” And this special message for Robert Biehl: “Please come to the party. We forgive you for burning the football field!”
Lost Cat Mrs. Harmon has reported her gray and white tabby, Cleo, missing again. This happens periodically as Cleo seems unable to find her way home from more than fifty feet away. Two months ago Cleo was found living beneath the porch at the Wilson’s two doors away. Before that, Cleo once took up residence in the library stacks giving rise to a rumor that the library was haunted. All the usual hideouts have been checked and found empty. When asked about the frequency of Cleo’s disappearances, Mrs. Harmon said, “I think she has that old timers disease. You know, the one that makes people forget things. What was that called again?” If you happen to see Cleo around, please escort her back to Mrs. Harmon over on 2nd across from the library.	Mothers Day There will be a Mothers Day Pancake Breakfast at the Grange on May 9th sponsored by the VFW. Breakfast will be served all morning. to accomodate the various church schedules, Baptists are encouraged to come at 8:30, Methodists at 9:00, and Unitarians at 9:30. Breakfast will be served till noon, so the unchurched may come whenever they want to. Josephine’s will also be serving a special Mothers Day luncheon menu starting at 11:30. The linen table cloths will be out and the menu will feature broasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans served family style. The cafe will be serving delicious strawberry-rhubbarb crisp for dessert. The annual mother-daughter tea will be held at the Unitarian Church (Old Lutheran) on Saturday afternoon at 3:00. Call Jackie Stoneburner at 4719 for reservations. Entertainment this year will feature The Choralaires from Manchester High School

Carnegie Public Library

Carnegie Public Library in Willow Mills is one of several hundred libraries in the midwest established by a grant from the Carnegie Foundation in the 1900s. It boasts over 15,000 volumes, including all the recognized classics of ancient and modern literature, as well as a reference collection that includes The World Book Encyclopedia and World Book Year Books from 1965 forward.

The library is located on Second Street, just a block off Main, between Catalpa and Sycamore Streets. It is open Monday through Friday from Noon until 7:00 p.m. and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m.

Now lest you think our library is too provincial, you should know about two unique aspects. The first is that our library is wired. While we don’t have a great deal of reference matterial on our shelves, we do have an internet connection and most folks in Willow Mills have e-mail. There’s no guarantee that e-mail will be checked more than once a month or so, depending on who you send it to.

The second is that we have one of the best contemporary fiction sections in the State of Indiana. In the long run, perhaps one of the most valuable. It's all because of Wayne Thompson. From the beginning, Wayne was an avid reader. He joined the Weekly Reader Book Club when he was in grade school. All the money that he earned delivering newspapers, mowing yards, and baling hay went into buying books.

By the time he was out of school in 1976, Wayne had one of the best collections of juvenile literature in existence. He was already well into the New York Times Best Seller list. He went to Manchester College to study journalism. There he discovered an incredible thing. Book reviewers get free books.

He started writing a book review column for the North Manchester Journal and using his own industriousness he got it syndicated. Books started rolling in from all major fiction publishers. First edition books in all genres. And he read them all. His house was full of books. In fact he was running out of room.

Then he had a brilliant idea. He would loan his books to the library. In 1996, Wayne was doing so well with his work, and two novels of his own, and a teaching job at Manchester College that he needed a tax write-off. And so he made the loan to the library a gift. Each year he donates that year’s books to the library where all the people of Willow Mills can benefit from them.