In 2009, our daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl (which for publication, my daughter insists we refer to only as Ladybug). I got to be in the delivery room, so I was the first to hold her.
As a grandfather, Steve was in heaven. She was perfect and such a good baby. They have always lived in town, so we’ve seen her grow up every step of the way. She loved sitting on her Papaw’s lap and was the apple of his eye. My own father had our daughter as his only grandchild for 10 years, and she was his #1 and he adored her. Grandkids usually get spoiled by their grandparents and we were no exception.
In 2010, Steve turned 60 years old and we had a big party at the Historic Benton House in Irvington. One of my business partners Jeanne had goats, which Steve thought were the coolest thing, so she brought them to the party. I made a T-shirt for Steve (iron on letters) calling him the ‘Ole Goat’ and he loved it!
The following year we had another huge party at the Benton House — The “150 Year Party”. Our 40th Wedding Anniversary, plus my sister Gail’s 60th Birthday (Maid of Honor at our wedding) and his sister Robin’s 50th Birthday (flower girl at our wedding). 40+60+50=150.
We’ve had so many parties at the Benton House (which is only 3 blocks from our house, and Steve was the president of the board at one point) that I know the kitchen there as well as I do my own. Our family has had graduations, showers and birthdays there. We’ve had our Weekly View Christmas parties there and many Democratic Club Christmas parties.
In 2011, I got to go to England with good friend and business partner Ethel. Steve with all his mobility issues could never have made the trip. Europe is not nearly as handicap accessible as the U.S. Ethel and I had a great time and I wore out a pair of shoes. I’ll never forget after getting off the underground to go to Buckingham Palace and looking down that long tree lined road, Ethel saying it’s down there and I shuddered thinking can I walk that far! Steve always wanted to go to Europe, but health issues always kept us from it, as well as the cost. He would have loved to go to Germany and Switzerland, where his ancestors are from. My biggest regret is we didn’t go to Europe together, when Steve was in better health, but we always didn’t have the money or the time. I say if you want to travel, please do so when you are young, no matter what it costs, because when you can afford it, you might not be able to travel.
Nicewanger is an unusual name and Steve was always proud of it. On e-mails after his name, Steve had the tagline “sometimes a name says is all.” Someone on Steve’s Dad’s side of the family did the research, so he knew back to when his great, great, great, great, grandfather Christian Neuschwanger came over from Bern, Switzerland in the 1720s. Christian’s son, Christian, was in the Revolutionary War and his children changed the spelling of their surname at least 9 ways. Christian’s son, Stephen Nicewanger, born July, 1800 was a drummer boy in the War of 1812 (my Steve was born in July, 1950). Both had their sons when they were 33 years old (history repeats itself). Steve went online and found Stephen’s grave and in 2018 we went to Marion, Indiana with a photo and printed directions. The address was something like 600 North and 200 West, but as we got closer to Marion the numbers changed to street names, so we didn’t know where to go. We stopped at the City Hall in the town square and talked to a police officer, who said that address would be at the golf course and gave us directions. At the golf course we went into the community building, but couldn’t find anyone to tell us anything. As we stood in the parking lot looking over the greens, off on the horizon I saw gravestones along the edge of the course. We drove around and sure enough there was a small graveyard (maintained by the golf course). We found the obelisk toppled over and it had no inscription, but close by was his grandfather’s sister Lucinda’s stone with her name and dates still visible, so we knew it was the right stone. I still can’t believe we found it!
Our spelling of Nicewanger is rare and I looked it up several years ago and there are only 27 Nicewangers in the entire country and that includes those married to Nicewangers.
A little added note that I found on the Ancestry pages was that the original name Neuschwanger meant “young swan” which I figure is an ugly duckling.
Steve’s Dad, grandfather and great grandfather all lived to be 78 years old and Steve passed at 71. The great grandfather was born in 1833 and even his great, great grandfather Stephen lived to be 73. In this modern age of medicine, why was Steve the youngest to pass? I believe today’s processed foods, fast foods, soda pop and sedentary lifestyle have lead to health issues our ancestors didn’t have.
Over the years Steve got to write some interesting front page feature articles. One of Steve’s favorite articles was in 2014, about Howard Kellman, broadcaster for the Indianapolis Indians. At the time he had been the announcer for 39 years. He was born in Brooklyn and knew at an early age that he wanted to be a sports announcer. With hard work his dream came true and he loves the Indians and Indianapolis. Steve wrote “he brings insight, experience, and passion to his play-by-play descriptions. He paints a verbal picture of the scene.”
Another fascinating article was about his high school biology teacher, David Blase at Arlington High School in 1966. Steve started the two-part article with “How does a snake in a biology class, a beloved Hollywood movie, and a skinny kid from Speedway, Indiana with self image issues figure into a story that has become a Hoosier classic?” David’s life was the basis for the movie Breaking Away. David had been a skinny kid who didn’t think he could compete in sports when he went to IU. He didn’t realize that his small frame gave him the power to outride all the others. Steve and I went together to meet David and his wife Yolande at their home and they were so gracious. David actually got to be in the movie — he’s the sports announcer. A college friend wrote the screenplay and used David as his inspiration.
In 2015, Steve wrote a front page article about our son’s Karate instructor, Joe Hannon who was the nicest and kindest person you’d ever want to meet. As Steve wrote, “Teaching humility and self respect along with martial arts, Joe has been a role model and positive influence to many young men and women over the course of his career.”
Steve got to write some great articles in his own Sports column too. In 2013, he interviewed Hoosier Basketball immortal Bobby Plump at his restaurant in Broad Ripple (Plump’s Last Shot). As Steve wrote, “Bobby is everything you want a hero to be. Energetic, optimistic, positive, gracious, a marvelous storyteller, and he still looks like he could sink the winning shot at Hinkle for the state basketball title and win another Trester Award.” He was the player who made the famous winning shot for little Milan High School back in 1954 at Hinkle fieldhouse for the state basketball title, featured in the movie Hoosiers.
Soon after, Steve wrote an article about being an extra in the movie Hoosiers shot here in Indy at Hinkle Fieldhouse. It’s a very funny article about using his acting skills to yell, scream, clap and jump. Steve told me there were too few extras so they had to move from one end of the fieldhouse to the other to fill the space. He wore red and had a black beard, if you ever watch the film, he’s in row ZZZ (he could have been seated on the front row, but he wouldn’t shave the beard). If you’d like to read any of the articles I’ve mentioned, just e-mail me and I’ll e-mail it to you —paula.weeklyveiw@yahoo.com
In 2014, Steve and I were blessed with a grandson. He’s adorable, smart, and like his grandfather tall, thin, a picky eater and fascinated by history. He likes to write, make films, read and has quite a memory – sound familiar? He thinks school is a total waste of his childhood
Next Time: Steve becomes Santa! (will be published June 17th)
