Old Home Week - Memories old and new

Ronald L. Swope is a former resident of Greencastle and graduated from Greencastle High School with the Class of 1954. He has many memories of growing up in and around Greencastle most of his early life. He attended Brown's Mill Elementary School and then attended Greencastle High School. Ron and his wife, former JoAnn Chaney from Hagerstown, have been married for 52 years and have lived in Westerville, Ohio for the past 38 years.

Ron talks about his childhood memories of growing up in Greencastle and especially of playing baseball at the Jerome R. King playground. In fact, he has a picture by Mark Twain Noe of the playground. Ron loves baseball and that love of baseball is shared by his grandson, Stephen Stauch, now age 16.

About a month before coming back to Old Home Week, Stephen asked his PapPap when was the last time he threw a baseball and told him he wanted to play baseball with him at the Jerome R. King Playground on "Whitey" Barkdoll Field when he traveled with us back to Old Home Week.

On Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007, Ron and Stephen went to Barkdoll Field and played pitch and catch - in 95 degree temperature. What a thrill it was to watch the both of them.

And just by chance, Tod Barkdoll, Whitey Barkdoll's son, was mowing the field and was able to talk to Ron and Stephen about the old memories. Ron had worked at Whitey's Grocery Store while he was in high school and talked about on Wednesday afternoons when the store closed they would go play baseball. Ron greatly admired Whitey and visited with him when he got back to Greencastle.

So, new memories have been made and old memories remembered. I know two people who really enjoyed that day - PapPap and grandson, Stephen