I didn’t do a newsletter last week mostly because I spent the weekend with Irma, and since our meeting on Wednesday was cancelled because of Irma (busy woman), I thought I would do something a little different. 

 

As most of you know I am from Indiana, and was a member of the Franklin Kiwanis Club for over 20 years.  So I am going to tell you a little bit about a famous Hoosier, whose name is James Whitcomb Riley.  I know you are probably asking yourself, what that has to do with Kiwanis.  So I am I am going to tell you.

 

One of the most popular poets in American history,  James Whitcomb Riley was born in Greenfield, Indiana, on October 7, 1849,  the second son and third of six children raised by Reuben A. – a Civil War veteran and lawyer – and Elizabeth (Marine) Riley. At an early age, Riley discovered that he disliked the “iron discipline” of school life but enjoyed books. As a child, Riley often accompanied his father (a noted political orator) on trips to the Hancock County courthouse, where he observed the manners and mores of country society, as well as the countrified dialect he later used in his poetry.

 

Leaving school at age 16, Riley first attempted to read law in his father's office. Possessed of a wanderlust, however, Riley turned to another pursuit – art. He and some other youths, which he dubbed “the Graphics,” traveled the Indiana countryside as sign, house and ornamental painters. He later joined a traveling wagon show as an advance agent. In 1873, Riley returned to Greenfield and worked for the town's newspaper. A year earlier, his poetry, under the name “Jay Whit,” had first appeared in the Indianapolis Saturday Mirror. 

 

Riley, whose books were regularly published by Indianapolis's Bobbs-Merrill Company, became one of the best-loved poets in America. A lifelong bachelor, Riley spent most of his days of fame as the paying guest in a Lockerbie Street home owned by the Nickum and Holstein families, residing there from 1893 until his death in 1916. The home became a regular visiting place for Indiana schoolchildren and famous figures like perennial Socialist presidential candidate and labor organizer Eugene Debs (who enjoyed raising a glass of spirits with Riley whenever possible). Riley's fame grew so great that his birthday was celebrated by students across the country. Upon his death on July 22, 1916, more than 35,000 people filed past his casket as it lay in state under the dome at the Indiana State Capitol.

 

Mr. Riley had no children, but he loved children, as you can tell by his stories and poems.  Indiana names a hospital after him because of his love for children, the Riley Hospital for Children.  In this hospital there is what I call a million dollar wall.  On this wall is equipment that Indiana Kiwanis’ Clubs donated, along with a fully equipped ambulance that can go anywhere in the State of Indiana to pick up a child and get that child to Riley Hospital.  Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health is one of the nation’s best children’s hospitals. Expert, family-centered pediatric care is available at Riley for every child who needs it. Now, more than 90 years later, Riley is home to the state’s largest pediatric research program, where physician-scientists move their discoveries as quickly as possible to the bedsides of children. 

Children visit Riley more than 300,000 times each year

 

Riley Hospital opened in 1924 as the state’s first hospital exclusively for children. 

Now you know what they have in common, the love for children.  Also, select "READ MORE" below to read one of my favorite poems by Mr. Riley: