June 13, 2001
Monument is fitting tribute
For every piece of a community’s history that is preserved, one has to wonder how many other valuable pieces have slipped away.
Sometimes it’s the initiative of one individual who grabs hold of information about a person or an event – information worth knowing – and keeps it from gradually drifting away.
Larry Goettel is an example of such an individual.
Goettel went before the Lawrence County Commissioners last week to tell them that the life and work of an 1880s circuit rider from Lawrenceport is worth remembering.
Goettel told the commissioners about Bishop Robert R. Roberts, a traveling preacher whose home was in Lawrenceport, but who spent more than 5,000 miles each year in the saddle.
His obligations took him east to New York, west to St. Louis, north to the Great Lakes area and south to areas on the Gulf of Mexico. He earned $193 a year. His wife, Elizabeth, stayed home and farmed, which supported the family.
Goettel, whose property adjoins property Roberts owned, plans to erect a monument in the circuit rider’s memory. He asked the commissioners for permission to place the monument east of the Methodist Church in Lawrenceport. The commissioners approved the request.
As a traveling preacher, Roberts represented a way of life that many have heard described by their ancestors. It’s only fitting that a monument be erected to help preserve that part of our country’s and our community’s heritage.
Indiana Monument and Cut Stone Inc. is crafting the stone, which will be finished during the second week of August, Goettel said. Because Roberts’ saddlebags were placed across a tree limb for safekeeping when he traveled, the monument will take the form of saddlebags draped over the branch of a tree.
Goettel described the monument as “a fitting tribute.”
Indeed it is.
It’s also fitting to express gratitude to Goettel for his
part in making it happen.
Reprinted with permission of the Bedford
Times-Mail, Bedford,IN