4A SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2022 LANCASTER EAGLE-GAZETTE MILLERSPORT Bar- nard Lee Ankrom, 60, of Millersport, OH passed away at Fairfield Medi- cal Center on February 02, 2022, after a coura- geous battle with Covid. He was born to Clarence William Ankrom and Carol Sue (Hochradel) Ankrom in Lancaster, Ohio on March 26, 1961. Barney was a 1979 graduate of Liberty Union HS, also attending Fairfield Union Schools for many years. hobbies included restoring and collecting antique tractors with his dad, collecting toy farm equipment and being at every game he could make when a grandchild was playing. Barney was a lung cancer survivor who enjoyed speaking annually for Lung Cancer Survivor Month, encouraging others in their journey to fight lung cancer.
Survived by his wife of 26 years, Tamera (Timms) Ankrom. They cherished many years of family memories raising their blended family; also sur- vived by his father William (Bill) Ankrom, who he had so much love and respect for; survived by his children, who he had an unconditional love for, Natasha (Tisha) Ankrom, Shelby Ankrom, Jeff Coleman (Brandy), and Jason Coleman; seven grandchildren, which were his everything as a Papaw, Delaney Clemons, Dylan Cooke, Trevor Coleman, Alizeah Canterbury, Desi Shill, Caidee Coleman and Mason Coleman; half-sister, Kay (Brian) Hoshor, Lea (Jack) Bailey; stepbrother John (Vickie) Chilcote, stepsister Laura (Tommy) Carr; numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and extended family. He was preceded in death by his mother Carol Sue (Hochradel) Steele, stepmother Marcia Ann Ankrom, stepsisters Mary Boyd and Carrie Chil- cote, and all grandparents. Family and friends may call Friday, Feb 11th from 2-4 PM or 6-8 PM at the JOHNSON-SMITH FUNERAL HOME, 207 S. Main Street, Baltimore, Ohio 43105.
Funeral Service will take place Satur- day, Feb 12th at 10 AM at the funeral home. Burial will immediately follow at Maple Grove Cemetery in Lancaster, OH. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Lung Cancer Association in the name of Barney Ankrom. https://www.lung.org/donate Online condolences can be made at www.fu- neralhome.com Barnard Ankrom LANCASTER Evelyn Marie Fetters, 94, of Lan- caster passed away on Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 at Bickford Assisted Living and Memory Care, with her son and caregiver, Ray at her side. She was born on October 3rd, 1927 in Lucasville, Ohio, to Samuel Forrest Lutz and Mildred Jane Stotler Lutz.
She was the wife of her loving and devoted hus- band, Bruce Fetters, for 67 years, who preceded her in death in 2011. They built a home and raised their family in Pickerington, Ohio. Evelyn is retired from the State of Ohio, where she was a statistician with the Bureau of Employment Services. Evelyn will be greatly missed by her daughter, Jayne (Jim) McGill and son, Raymond Forest Fet- ters, both of Lancaster; her seven grandchildren, Alicia (Andreas Kraebber), Brad (Kamara), Jared (Christina) and Derek (Devon) McGill, and Re- becca (John Hamilton), Sarah (Michael Root) and Aaron (Crystal) Fetters; thirteen great-grandchil- dren: Phineas, Bronwyn, Ulysses Kraebber, Annie, Sammy, Zoey, Dane, Thatcher, Breck, Lincoln, Archer, Trevor, and Kaleb McGill (great-grandchild is due to be born mid-March 2022). She was preceded in death by her parents, broth- er, Raymond Forrest Lutz, and her husband, Bruce.
Private Graveside services will be held at Violet Cemetery under the care of HALTEMAN-FETT DYER FUNERAL HOME. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be given to a charity of your choice in memory of Evelyn. Evelyn Marie Fetters Obituaries Barnard 60 Millersport 02-Feb Johnson-Smith Funeral Home Evelyn Marie 94 Lancaster 01-Feb Halteman-Fett Dyer Funeral Home Morris, Frances 88 Newark 03-Feb McPeek-Hoekstra Funeral Home Additional information in display obituaries Obituaries appear in print and online at www.lancastereaglegazette.com/obituariess OBITUARIES AND DEATH NOTICES Name Age Town, State Death Date Arrangements progress. Many see their private investment as a blueprint for rehabilitating southeast Ohio. But some people have reservations about the devel- dominance.
They fear their work overshadows the mission of local that also own buildings in town, like the Buckeye Trail Association (BTA) and Sunday Creek Associates. Both are organizations that have championed reinvention for decades, through to expand the Buckeye Trail into 100 miles of backpack- ing or by saving the jewel, the Tecumseh Thea- ter, a once-ornate early 20th century opera house, from the wrecking ball. love the Buckeye Trail and I love Black Diamond Shawnee Mayor Bev Travato said. always going to be arguments and of opinions, but I hope they can a happy medium and do best for With future projects on the horizon from all parties, all eyes are on Shawnee. There is a Tiny Home Village community, another collaboration between Black Dia- mond and Hocking College.
And grant money was awarded to the BTA to build out the local trail system from Shawnee to Burr Oak State Park, and to Sunday Creek to restore the opera house to its former glory. Should you all your marbles in one Historically, southeast Ohio has been burned by outsiders. especially true of the Little Cities of Black Diamonds, a collection of forgotten or no longer exist- ing mining towns, including Shawnee, that were once dominated by coal companies and manufacturers dur- ing the turn of the 19th century. company-owned town worked in this part of the world because if you put all your marbles in one basket, and the company fails, you go back to this boom-and-bust said John Winnenberg. Winnenberg, a long-time Shawnee resident and Sunday Creek Associates board member, has always been skeptical of outside investment, but ar- gue that Black development has helped the town believe in its potential.
we have to make sure we promote he said. that our and public sectors rise to the opportunity and makes as- sets such as the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Coun- cil, Buckeye Trail Association and Tecumseh Theater grow throughout this Cheryl Blosser, a founding member of the Little Cit- ies of Black Diamonds Council, an organization ded- icated to preserving regional history, tries to look at the positives. is always Blosser said. feel like someone has recognized that the town has val- ue, not just the developers, but the people them- Those people drive Andrew Bashaw, execu- tive director, in his daily pursuit to give back to the community. Still, he acknowledged that private investment is the one thing Shawnee has always been missing since he took over the BTA in 2008.
serendipity Black Diamond and Bret Adams came to us. All of us wanted the restaurant to be open and overnight accommodations (via Airbnb) something we all celebrate, care about and are thank- ful Bashaw said. all human beings have slightly The convergence between locals like Bashaw and Winnenberg and Adams, one of two partners at Black Diamond and a key investor, is a potential sticking point for future development in Shawnee. Adams, an entertainment and sports attorney from Columbus, has been the main point of contact be- tween the village, local politicians and Black Diamond. He declined to comment.
Winnenberg is concerned that Black rapid property acquisition across the village is de- signed to push out and government invest- ment. important for the local community to have a stake both culturally and in future, he said. the jury is still out on whether the developers are in concert with that point of Winnenberg added. Breanna Kitchen, the project manager in Shawnee for Black Diamond Development said in a statement that the organization is extremely proud of the pro- gress they have made over the past 18 months. were disappointed to learn from The Colum- bus Dispatch that our development vision may not be in alignment with entities operating in the Kitchen wrote.
we will strive to engage those entities in productive conversations moving Sean Bartley, a Shawnee resident, remembers when the ATV parts business he owns thanks to Black restoration and of the property, was a thriving laundromat. was prime real estate because it was on the cor- ner of he said. For a long time that laundromat sat in decay. The building remained shuttered until Black Diamond bought the property last year and it, eventu- ally selling to Bartley. Bartley, who has spent much of his life working in construction, is grateful for an opportunity to the when older.
He has always had a lot of pride in his hometown, but the recent development has changed everything. Ohio Senator Jay Hottinger, a Newark Republican who represents Perry County and the 31st District at the Statehouse, agree more. is the best thing to happen to Shawnee and this part of Perry County since the breakthrough and the advent of coal mining Hottinger said. As a representative of the region both in the Ohio Senate and House since 1998, Hottinger saw how little changed in Shawnee prior to Black private sector investment. these guys are successful, this can really be a roadmap for communities in Appalachia to have this he said.
For Mayor Travato, being invested in future means being invested in Black Diamond De- velopment. As the leader of a town that has been historically misrepresented as uneducated and poverty-strick- en, in a region where previous outside intervention has resulted in extractive industries of southeast Ohio and diverting it elsewhere, Travato understands community concerns. But Travato believes that money invested and made in Shawnee by Black Diamond will be to the entire a reality she experiences in real time when she heads down to her shop, Shawnee Mercantile, a vin- tage store in town, or to the Black Diamond Tavern, and she a parking spot. Street is just full in a way we seen the mayor said. next for Shawnee? The former coal-mining town is the midst of mul- tiple developmental milestones, Travato said.
On the edge of town, Black Diamond developers are laying down the infrastructure for the Black Dia- mond Tiny Village, which will eventually lease 60 lots that folks with tiny homes can rent. In partnership with Modern Tiny Living, a Colum- bus-based tiny home design and construction com- pany, and Hocking College, Black Diamond will also install tiny homes on the property which were built by students in Hocking School of Workforce Development. They hope to install the tiny homes later this spring and open up the commu- nity later this year. Sean Terrell, dean of Hocking Workforce Development, said the university often has its stu- dents doing smaller projects, I seen a project of this size since been the Terrell said the partnership with Black Diamond is a testament to the kind of public-private collaboration essential to developing rural communities. The milestones have continued since the Ohio De- partment of Natural Resources awarded the BTA and Sunday Creek Associates $2.4 million and $4 million grants, respectively.
The money, federal allocations from the Aban- doned Mines Land Pilot Program, will go toward building out the full 100 mile-long Buckeye Trail an- drestoring the Tecumseh Theater over the next two to three years, BTA executive director Andrew Ba- shaw said. Bashaw said he sees all of these of investments private, public and as an opportunity to emphasize that the people of Shawnee are the glue that holds the future together. this great, stone Bashaw said. welcome to be a part of future suc- cess, but the people that hold it are the ones that live Doyle is a Report for America corps member and covers rural issues in Ohio for The Dispatch. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writ- ing stories like this one.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation at https://bit.ly/3fNsGaZ. Developers Continued from Page 1A Buildings along Main Street are reflected in the front window of the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Council office. OSHUA A. BICKEL, JOSHUA A. Brent Turner refaces a brick building in Shawnee.
The village is being revitalized by private developers and RED DISPATCH.
