Touring Fairmount Indiana by Bus
Updated August 11, 2005 URL is /junefest/tour1.html
Touring Fairmount By Bus, a courtesy of DeanFest.
What a great idea, bringing groups of folks to all the important points associated with James Dean in Fairmount, Indiana. I caught a few of the stops, and here they are.
This is the barn on the farm where Jimmy grew up. He knocked out a front tooth in this barn.
If not on the bus, another way to tour is to ride your Hog. Jimmy would have loved this!
Here is the house on the farm where Jimmy grew up under the care of his Dad’s sister, Ortense Winslow, and her husband, Marcus Winslow.
The bus stopped along the road. Fans walked into Park Cemetery to visit James Dean’s grave.
The front to the tombstone on June 3, 2005. Fans leave tokens and flowers.
The back side of Jimmy’s headstone. We would appreciate it if people would not deface the stone. There are whitewashed rocks near this grave where you can leave your mark.
Over at the Fairmount Historical Museum, 203 East Washington Street, the bikers and the bus tourists saw a Porsche Spyder replica, bought the new James Dean biography from author, Professor of film Wes D. Gehring of Ball State University, and bought enameled Lions Club pins, all Dean-themed, from Jake Roth. They also toured the wonderful artifacts inside the museum.The book is commissioned by the Indiana Historical Society for their Biographies of Famous Hoosiers series. Gehring has writen 22 books, including the lives of Red Skelton, Carole Lombard, Charlie Chaplin, Irene Dunne, W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Robert Benchley and Leo McCary. He writes the column “Reel World” for the USA Today Magazine. I’d love to find a copy of his humor text.
See Jake Roth’s page about these pins and about the pre-festival Lions Club car show in Fairmount on September 22, 2005. Go to this link: www.tentativetimes.net/jake/deanpins.html
Not the best picture of Professor Gehring, sorry. I bought the book and read it. It is a most worthwhile addition to your collection!
Retired Chief of Police Dick Grindle was a classmate of Jimmy. He’s visiting with Teresita Gonzalez, a mainstay of the James Dean Remembered fan club, who lives in Illinois.
On display at the Fairmount Historical Museum.
LINKS OUT
Link to pictures of David Loehr’s James Dean Gallery and Museum:
www.tentativetimes.net/dean/gallery/Link to the Fan Club: James Dean Remembered fan club, www.tentativetimes.net/jdr/
will go on as usual, with the Lions Club car show on Thursday night, Sept. 22, 2005. The regular car show will also go on as usual all weekend.
For Thursday night’s car show information, contact Lion Jake Roth
Webmistress, writer, photographer and editor: Sandra Weinhardt, [email protected], creator of http://www.deaners.net/ and www.tentativetimes.net