Features

TELL CITY - Tears mingled with gently falling raindrops July 31 as family, friends and co-workers dedicated a courthouse memorial to two public servants.

Doris Davis and Kenny Blinzinger lost battles to cancer in 2009. Davis was serving as county clerk while Blinzinger worked for more than 30 years as a sheriff's deputy.

More than 250 descendants of a pioneering Perry County couple returned to their family's Oil Township roots Saturday and Sunday for the 100th Esarey Family Reunion. The event also marked the 200th anniversary of Jonathan Davis Esarey's migration from Kentucky to land in what would become Perry County. Weekend events were held at the Schergens Center in Tell City and Branchville Conservation Club, with family members proudly wearing Esarey hats and shirts. There were even Esarey buttons.

Lilly Burden's hands are worn, but her heart beats with the determination of a woman decades younger. Her heart is in remarkably good shape after open-heart surgery last year. Burden, who was 92 at the time, bounced back quickly and still works four days a week. That's right, Lilly holds down a job, contributes payroll taxes and wouldn't have it any other way.

"I enjoy working, whether it's at my job or in my garden," she says, seated, hands folded on the kitchen table in her Girl Scout Road home.

TELL CITY - Shasta Simpson had no intentions of driving three hours straight to Nashville late at night July 14. But to make it to Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville before 5 a.m., that's exactly what she would have to do. If she arrived after 5 a.m., she would not get a wristband and would not get a turn on stage in front of an American Idol producer.

The only problem was trying to decide whether she wanted to go or not. The 24-year-old Tell City resident, who said she has always loved singing and music, wasn't sure if she wanted to go audition.

TELL CITY - The Ohio River was critical in the development of Perry County and the United States as expansion headed westward.

In addition, the river impacted the French and Indian War, the American Revolution in the West, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War and the steamboat era.

Area residents will have a chance to learn more about our area's ties to the river Thursday during an informational program given by author Rick Rhodes at the Tell City-Perry County Public Library.