prime time november 2012

November 2012

active adult living

2 • NOVEMBER 2012 • PRIME TIME

PRIME TIME • NOVEMBER 2012 • 3

Prime Time

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Also insideJeanette Menter column, page 30

Computer woespage 10

On the cover

Bob and Sandy Arterburn Photo by Joe Harpring

Story on page 4

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Reverse mortgagespage 16

Learning new languagepage 14

Atterbury chaplain Rick Ebbpage 26

Nancy and Ken Keilypage 20


Sandy and Bob Arterburn are content, look-ing out over their small lake just south of Columbus. This past summer, after 39 years

in real estate for Sandy, and 16 years as a second ca-reer for Bob (following 34 years at Cummins, where he retired in 1996 as manager of the Engine Order Management Department), they wrote their last con-tracts, turned over the final set of keys and vacated their offices at Century 21/Breeden Realtors.

They spent several years mulling over retirement, but this year, it felt right. They’re finally ready to redirect their considerable energy to other things, es-

Arterburns have perfected living together, working together and giving together

c uplep wer

STORy By SHARON MANgAS n PHOTOS By JOE HARPRINg


pecially spending more time with family and finding new ways to help others.

Bob and Sandy were high school sweethearts at Columbus High School, where Bob was a star ath-lete and Sandy was a cheerleader. They’ll celebrate their 50th anniversary next year.

“I never dated anybody else. Sandy was the only

one,” says Bob, who married Sandy right after high school.

Sandy smiles at the memory. “I had two children by the time I was 20!”

Though the odds are stacked against most people who marry that young, it’s worked for them.

“We have our little disagreements, but we get over them,” says Sandy. “You have to forgive each other. You keep faithful to the commitment you’ve made. God has blessed us and helped us stay to-gether.”

Their home on 20 wooded acres is filled with family pictures and the lively company of two wire-haired fox terriers. They built their house almost 40 years ago on land that’s been in Sandy’s family for several generations. They’ve lived in Columbus all their lives, and both come from families with deep roots in Bartholomew County.

As real estate agents, they won awards for their sales prowess. But “we’ve never bought and sold a home of our own,” Sandy says, laughing. “We rented before we built this house.”

DROPPINg ANCHORAlthough tempted once or twice to move, the

home where they raised their children — Nick and Lissa — has kept them anchored, and it’s where they plan to stay.

“My grandmother raised nine children in the house just over the hill,” says Sandy. “I was raised there, too. Dad built the lake when I was 12, and I used to ride my horse bareback through the water. Mother and I rode our horses here in the moon-light, playing hide and seek through the trees.”

Now they’re building memories with the next generation. Their grandkids love to play on Bob’s putting green, shoot baskets in the driveway and ride four-wheelers.

Bob enjoys sharing his interest in sports with the kids, and especially loves coaching. He coached his own children, and now he’s coaching his young-est grandsons, Jack, 12, and Isaac, 4. Bob and the boys play baseball, golf and basketball together, and grandpa is getting the hang of soccer.

“I enjoy the teaching side of it,” says Bob. “I like to think I helped Nick and Lissa develop into good people through their sports. Now I get opportunities to help my grandsons.”


As the first husband-wife real estate team in Columbus, Bob and Sandy marketed themselves as “The Power of Two.” But those who know them will tell you, they’ve always been led by the power of one: their faith in God. They try to live their faith every day.

Son Nick, vice president of a commercial real estate firm, pays this tribute: “My dad is the biggest giver I have ever met in my life. He is very selfless and puts other people first. My mom introduced my sister and me to Christ at a young age, and that has been valuable to me as a husband and father. I could not have better parents.”

Daughter Lissa, busy wife and step-mom to Purdue students Lauren and John, considers her mother her best friend.

“My parents are both the most generous, com-passionate, devoted, big-hearted people I’ve ever known. Their dedication to one another and desire to lend helping hands to those in need speaks vol-umes. They have touched many lives and are true to their love of God.”

Bob often went above and beyond for real es-


tate clients: hauling trash, mowing grass, trimming hedges, taking out trees, sweeping floors and other chores. They both helped those, such as widows and the elderly, who were unable to do these things themselves. Neither asked anything in return.

“We just did anything for people that needed to be done. We didn’t do it for ourselves, for a reward. It was always with the idea of helping others,” says Bob.

When an opening to discuss faith presented itself, Sandy often prayed with clients, especially those in dire circumstances.

FLExIBILITy REquIREDSandy went into real estate when their children

were young and she needed job flexibility. She loved her career because it wasn’t a predictable 9 to 5. Although she and Bob sold their share of high-dollar properties, it wasn’t always like that.

“I remember one of the first listings I got was a house with a dirt floor,” says Sandy. Once, she drove to Hope at 1 in the morning to rescue a cli-ent who was locked out of her house. Another time she took a call at 9:30 p.m. during a family cookout, when prospective buyers wanted to look at some farm acreage.

“I had to light up the property with my car head-lights, but the buyers wrote an offer that night. It was never boring.”

Good friend David Ketchum, director of Mission Resource International, has known Sandy’s family since childhood. He’s been a recipient many times of Bob and Sandy’s generosity.

“Bob did the neatest thing for me on my 10th birthday,” Ketchum says. “Bob was barely out of high school at the time, and he bought me a re-ally nice baseball glove … and back then, he didn’t have a lot of money to spare. He also coached me in sports when I was young and later helped me get a job at Cummins. They even helped financially when I was starting Mission Resource. They are stable, giving and grounded. They’re wonderful friends.”

Life hasn’t always been rosy. Sandy suffered de-pression after the loss of her beloved parents. Then, in 2004, not long after her mother died, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“My oncologist said, ‘You’ve been grieving so much that the cells that fight off cancer just laid

down and let the cancer cells grow,’” she says. She did a lot of praying at that time.

“God gave me three things to remember: I’m go-ing to give you a heart to live, a heart to love others more and a heart to love me more. It was all about love and how he was going to change me.”

Cancer-free for almost eight years, Sandy credits her faith with bringing her through.

‘WORK IN PROgRESS’So what lies ahead? Bob grins, “We’re a work in

progress. I like being active. Sitting around is not


PT

my style.”

Tops on their “to do” list will be more frequent trips to Fishers to spend time with their children and grandchildren. Bob’s been volunteering at Love Chapel, likes to golf with friends and enjoys working outdoors.

Sandy will continue as a discussion leader in Bible Study Fellowship. She enjoys reading, playing piano and just being at home enjoying the beauty of nature.

They also hope to take a big driving trip out

West one day. Both are big Colts fans who rarely miss a home game.

Today, Sandy remains focused on God’s gifts to her of a heart to live, a heart to love others and a heart to love God.

And Bob follows the advice of a football coach from many years ago: “Always be the best you can be. Always do the right thing. And treat others as you want to be treated.”

With these guidelines in mind, their new phase of life is bound to be fulfilling.


One of the most terrifying and frustrating sights to behold is a blank or frozen computer screen staring you in the face. And the unexpected

loss of important files or irreplaceable photos can be equally distressing.

But because computers are a great way to stay in touch with loved ones, to research genealogy and to make shopping and finding information so much easier, it’s important to know how to keep them go-

ing strong.

Ben Hatton, senior project manager at TLS.Net, said the best thing people can do to avoid the computer blahs is back up their files and photos. One option for backing up files is a small USB jump drive. The jump drive, also called a thumb drive, is small enough to fit in your pocket. You simply plug it into your computer and put copies of your impor-tant files and photos directly on it.

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Another alternative is buying a small external hard drive. The external hard drive works the same as the jump drive, but it’s a little bit bigger and has more storage capacity.

One of the more recently popular storage options is cloud storage. There are online storage sites such as SkyDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox. Users sim-ply create an account and copy files to one of these companies’ servers. The advantage is that these servers are at an off-site facility, so if, for instance, your house catches fire, those files and photos are safe, Hatton said.

KEEP IT CLEANAnother computer housekeeping practice to try

is a little spring cleaning. When computers run slow or seem bogged down, sometimes they just need to be spruced up a bit. Look to clear out old files you don’t use or need and uninstall any programs or games you don’t use.

Then Windows users can utilize the disk defrag-menter tool. It takes a few hours to complete, but this tool frees up any additional space on your hard drive.

Hatton said it’s also important to make sure your computer is up-to-date. Windows usually updates every Tuesday or Wednesday, and depending on your settings those updates will download automati-cally or you’ll get a notification that they are avail-able.

He also recommends having some sort of antivi-rus protection. Norton and MacAfee are two of the

more expensive but reputable options. They update themselves and monitor websites, and Norton has a family of products that cover antivirus, spam and other specific functions. But they do have an an-nual fee that is around $50 or $60 per year.

Malwarebytes is a free option that gives you the ability to scan for viruses and download updates manually. Malwarebytes also has a paid version that is around $25 for a one-time payment, and that ver-sion scans automatically like Norton and MacAfee.

If your computer is running slow, and there don’t seem to be any viruses or a ton of programs installed, it might be time for a RAM upgrade. This will just give your computer higher performance, and any local computer hardware store should be able to do this for you, Hatton said.

Sometimes a slow computer can be a sign that something is wrong. If you typically have an open program that is taking up too much memory or be-ing slow to respond, it can be frustrating to say the least.

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NO ANSWERSome users get a message that the program is

not responding, and Hatton said there are two op-tions. The first is a wait-and-see approach. Some programs get hung up on certain processes or run slowly if there are too many other programs open at once. So just waiting for it to finish its process can often do the trick. The other option is to close that program and reopen it with a fresh start.

If the program is unresponsive, but you can still press buttons, try pressing the ctrl, alt and delete buttons all at one time. This will bring you to a menu where you can shut the program down manu-ally.

If the computer is frozen and unresponsive, try a hard reset by pressing and holding the power but-ton until the computer completely shuts off. Then turn the power back on, and if the program was just memory intensive it should be fine.

If there is a virus or hardware issue, it may be time to call in the professionals. A “blue screen of

death” or jumbled error messages indicate hardware issues, and it could be a fried graphics card, a fan that needs to be replaced or just some dust on the inside of the computer.

Hatton said caution will help protect your com-puter. Open emails only from people you know, and if you get an email from someone you know but that email looks strange, it’s best to leave it alone.

“The rule of thumb is if it doesn’t look trustwor-thy to you, don’t even attempt it,” Hatton said.

KNOW THE SENDERBlock emails that don’t have a person’s name or

email address so they will go to your spam folder, and if you do get attachments in emails that look fine it’s still a good idea to go ahead and scan them with your antivirus software.

When it comes to shopping online, there are things you can do to protect yourself as well. First make sure the business is legitimate. Stores like Amazon, eBay and Target are about as trustworthy as it gets, Hatton said. But smaller websites run out of a person’s home or local business may require

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computer continued from page 11


PT

research. Even just giving the business a call to establish legitimacy is a good practice before giving out information.

Also look to see if the website is SSL secured. The web address will start with https instead of http.

“The ‘s’ stands for secure,” Hatton said.

Secured sites are encrypted from your computer to their server, so your credit card information is better protected.

When shopping online, it’s usually necessary to give personal information, such as name, ad-dress and phone number. But sending out personal information via email is something you almost never want to do. Spam emails go out that look like they’re coming from legitimate businesses, but reputable businesses and banks will never ask for personal information, such as your account number or Social Security number, via email.

Facebook is another area many seniors are ven-turing into to stay in touch with friends and family members. But be careful about what information

you put on your profile. Facebook allows you to put your name, email, phone number and mailing address, but think about who will be seeing that information.

Hatton said think of it as if you bumped into someone at the grocery store. Would you want that person to know your phone number and where you live?

Computers are a great way to stay in touch with people and can be a fun and easy way to play games or even shop online. Knowing how to protect your-self and your files and photos can ensure your ex-perience is a good one. For more information check out some of the classes and resources right here in Columbus.

Bartholomew County Public Library offers com-puter classes, and the notes from the classes are posted on the library’s website. It also has Book a Librarian, which gives people a chance to sit down with a librarian one-on-one for help with comput-ers, genealogy research and more.

Mill Race Center has a computer lab and offers classes and computer help specifically for seniors.

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gail Saul studied Italian in preparation for a Mill Race

Center trip to Italy in October. She learned by listening to CDs

in her car.


Learning a new language as an adult differs from undertaking the experience in childhood or adolescence in a number of ways. There

is a wider variety of motivations for doing so, and adults generally have a more reflective attitude to-ward the process.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, acquiring new knowledge and skills in general probably benefits physical brain health. Research indicates that staying mentally active may even in-crease one’s reserve of brain cells.

There are several theories about how second language acquisition works. Broadly speaking, they fall under one of two approaches to the subject: psychological or linguistic. Various models have had their heyday over the 40 years since Larry Selinker’s article “Interlanguage” appeared in the January 1972 issue of the International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching.

The desire to be conversant when visiting a country where a given language is spoken is the most immediate motivation. Gail Saul began learning Italian to prepare for Mill Race Center’s Discover Tuscany trip which took place from Oct. 25 through Nov. 3. The excursion took participants to Rome, Florence and Assisi, among other locales.

Saul is using the Pimsleur approach, which is based on spaced repetition. The student repeats a word in intervals that increase in duration according to a regular pattern. “They say it, then you say it,” Saul explains.

“I started in March,” she says. “I listen in the car. Theoretically, you take in a lesson a day. The first eight lessons are ten dollars. The full first set is 32 lessons. It gets a little expensive. They want to send you the next 32 lessons soon after you start.”

The visual aspect was something she was going to have to incorporate while on the trip. She had pre-viously studied Spanish, and since both languages are Latin-based, she anticipated being able to pick up reading fairly quickly.

She has been using an iPhone app to begin the process. “Take the word for ‘wife,’ which is ‘moglie,’ for instance. You wouldn’t know how to spell that without seeing it.”

ExPERIENCE HELPSHer comfort level stems from the fact that she’s

learned a few other languages over the years. She studied French and Latin in high school and college.

“I ultimately married a guy whose family was from Spain,” she says, which, along with a semester of college Spanish, facilitated that learning experience. Then she lived in Costa Rica, where “I had to speak Spanish with my maids and when I went shopping, as well as in my work for the forestry department of an inter-American agricultural school.” In her work for an airline, she learned some Dutch as well.

Previous language-learning efforts, particularly the Dutch, involved a fair amount of writing home-work. She finds the Pimsleur method more to her liking. “This business of sitting in my car and talking to the radio is much more effective for me.”

Yasir Bhatty, an international marketing man-ager at Cummins Inc., is coming at his study of Arabic from the perspective of a Pakistani whose first language is Urdu and whose second is English. He moved to the United States in 2000 and to Columbus in 2005.

He is in a two-year leadership program at Cummins that is composed of six-month segments emphasizing various aspects of the business, such as finance, supply chain and marketing. He spent the first half of 2012 in Dubai. He’s now taking an Arabic class at IUPUC from instructor Hanna Omar. The fall 2012 semester is the first time her course has been offered.

“In Dubai, I saw that I would have had greater leverage in my activities if I’d been fluent,” Bhatty says. “I’m doing this in case I’m ever reassigned to the Middle East.” He speaks of the challenge of ordering food in restaurants as an example of the

Adults must persevere when trying to learn another language

STORy By BARNEy quICK n PHOTO By ANDREW LAKER

see language on page 19


ReveRsinGGnisReveR

the pRocessssecoRp eht

Local lenders advise using caution when seeking home equity conversion mortgages

By KIMBERLy EASTON

the reverse mortgage is nationally advertised, but it is not an option commonly used by homeowners in Columbus. The reason why most seniors do not take advantage of the reverse mortgage option is simple. “The Columbus area mar-

ket has no local lenders advertising this loan option,” says Ryan Doughty, sales manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

Doughty says Wells Fargo Home Mortgage discontinued origination of home equity conversion mortgages, commonly known as reverse mortgages, in June 2011.

As explained by Doughty, the Ginnie Mae/FHA reverse mortgage program was designed for senior citizens in 1987.

“As of mid-2012, there are just over a dozen approved Ginnie Mae HECM issuers nationwide, only about four of which are actively

originating new reverse mortgages.”Peter Nagy, a nationally known reverse mortgage

specialist, describes a reverse mortgage as “a loan against the home that the borrower does not

have to pay back for as long as they re-main in the home.”

Nagy says a reverse mort-gage allows the borrower

to turn the ap-praised market

value of the


home into cash. This means instead of making a monthly mortgage payment, the homeowner would receive the money from the lender based on the loan terms selected.

In essence, the reverse mortgage allows the bor-rower to still own the home throughout the entire term of the loan. The reverse mortgage loan could be used for home remodeling, health care, educational expenses for grandchil-dren, estate and financial planning or long-term care insurance.

“In order to get a reverse mortgage, the homeowner must be 62 years old or older to access their equity in the home,” says Nagy. The benefits of a reverse mortgage include no income qualifications and the loan is not due until the last home-owner sells or permanently leaves the home.

Nagy adds, “Neither the homeowner nor the heirs will owe more than the home’s ap-praised market value at the maturity of the loan.”

That is the reason why banks in Columbus are no longer offering the reverse mort-gage.

“The primary reason so many lenders have ceased origination of new reverse mort-gages has to do with the long-term risk that the recent downward home value trends have created,” says Doughty. “All of the loan terms of the reverse mortgage are set upon origination based on current property values. If the collateral (mortgaged home) slips in value in years to come, Ginnie Mae/FHA/the lender assumes that loss. Neither the bor-rower nor their heirs are responsible.”

The qualifications for a reverse mortgage may vary from lender to lender. Generally, there are no income or health qualifications and only minimal credit score requirements are needed to qualify for a reverse mortgage.

The process of getting a reverse mortgage involves submitting an application with a mortgage company and an appraisal to determine the market value of the home.

Nagy explains, “The underwriter will then review the loan and appraisal with the ap-plicable FHA or lender loan policy.”

The maximum reverse mortgage loan amounts are based on the age of the youngest homeowner, the appraised value of the home and the current interest rate. Nagy says the homeowner also decides the receipt of payment. The proceeds could come in the form of

see reverse on page 18


PT

a lump-sum payment, line of credit or monthly pay-ments. Disbursement of payment from the reverse mortgage loan begins just days after closing.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development website, “The difference be-tween a reverse mortgage and a home equity loan is with a second mortgage or a home equity line of credit, borrowers must have adequate income to qualify for the loan, and they make monthly pay-ments on the principal and interest.

“A reverse mortgage is different, because it pays you. There are no monthly principal and inter-est payments. With a reverse mortgage, you are required to live in the home, pay real estate taxes, utilities and hazard and flood insurance premiums.”

The best way for the homeowner to determine if a reverse mortgage is the right option for them is to contact a HUD-approved counselor or an AARP- approved counselor.

“The homeowner is encouraged to seek advice from family, legal and financial advisers before tak-ing out a reverse mortgage,” Nagy says.

reverse continued from page 17


obstacles he encountered during his stay.Another motivation was that, being a Muslim,

he always had to rely on reading the English trans-lation of the Quran. “I wanted to understand the Arabic,” he says.

Because he was already familiar with the Arabic alphabet, he asked Omar to accelerate the pace of the class a bit. “I wanted to focus more on vocabu-lary and conversation.”

He is pleased with the class, but he supplements it with his own resources. “Fifty percent of it is what you do on your own, such as videos.”

He confides that being on a fast-paced career track poses challenges to his Arabic studies. “To be honest, my MBA was not as difficult.” He also feels that learning English was easier.

LEARNINg TOgETHERPhilip Foiles and his wife, Rachel, have been

learning Chinese for a while. They had a loose agreement that someday they might want to expe-rience an extended stay in another country, and

China was the common point of possible visitation. “Her parents bought us the full package — all

three levels — of Rosetta Stone for Chinese. It sat on a shelf for quite a while, and then I started into it.”

Rachel had some classroom experience with it in graduate school when the couple lived in Phoenix. Once in a while they work together with a tutor.

Sometimes Phil writes flash cards in Chinese characters and posts them around the house. “It kind of overwhelmed Rachel, but it allowed us both to have a reference when a word came up in con-versation.”

Foiles says there is a market for formalized Chinese instruction in Columbus. “If there were classes available for adults, we’d take them, and so would a lot of people we know.”

A significant aspect of his basic motivation is the enhancement of his overall ability to articulate ideas.

“I really enjoy the ability to say something and restate it in different ways, to make my point clear in multiple languages.” PT

language continued from page 15

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Hammering away at History

he rev. Kenneth Keily still has the first hammer he ever owned.

It was a gift from his wife, nancy, during their first year of marriage. the Keilys have been married almost 47 years and have moved 11 times.

“What am I going to do with a hammer?” Ken remembers thinking when he opened the gift.

Years later, sitting in the dining room of the two-story, stately brick home that he and his wife rescued from a date with a bulldozer, Ken laughs at the memory.

“I wore that hammer out long ago along with about 10 others,” he said. “I still have it, hanging up in my wood shop.”


One wouldn’t know from wandering around the Keilys’ eight-acre farmstead near Norman in rural Jackson County, but Ken did not grow up on a farm. Every building on the place — the chicken house, barn, root cellar — offers testimony to his skill with a hammer and saw.

“I was a town kid,” he explained. “She (Nancy) grew up on a farm. She wanted a farm so we bought a farm.”

Actually, the Keilys have owned several; the first was in Wisconsin, their home state. Nancy credits her father with transforming her husband from a town kid into a farm boy.

“I’m going to make a farmer out of him if it kills me,” she remembers her father saying.

The Keilys have dabbled in many occupations. They raised beef cattle, then switched to dairy. Ken tried working in a paper mill, owned a logging busi-

ness and did carpentry with a friend.

Nancy, who studied data processing in college, worked in JC Penney’s catalog department and also had a gift, antique and handicraft shop, all during their years in Wisconsin.

But in 1980, the Keilys made a decision that al-tered the course of their lives. Ken decided to enter the seminary, so they sold their farm and all their equipment.

“There had been many different tragedies in the family circle over an 11-year period,” Nancy ex-plained, when asked about the change in direction. “He just felt the Lord calling him into the ministry.”

The decision set the couple on a path that even-tually led them to Jackson County and the tiny rural community of Wegan, where Ken was pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church.

It was during their years at Wegan that the Keilys

Nancy and Ken Keily gave new life — and many years — to decrepit mansion

STORy AND PHOTOS By MARCIA WALKER

The house was in such bad shape, some locals referred to it as a haunted house.


began searching for a place to fix up for their retire-ment years. “Fixer-upper” is a common term in the real estate market but is a serious understatement for the house the Keilys ended up buying.

POTENTIAL WELL-HIDDEN

When friends told them about the old mansion that was in the process of fall-ing down, they drove out to take a look. But they had to park on the road and walk in because the driveway was too over-grown for vehicles. And walking around the house involved wading through multiflora rosebushes that had taken over the yard.

The house itself was covered with brambles and briers. The Keilys couldn’t even go inside because of the debris and because the floors were caving in. The old house was in such bad

repair that the owners were going to have it bull-dozed; some of the locals referred to it as a haunted house.

“It was just such a mess,” Nancy said.Lou Wolka, a longtime friend and ardent admirer of the Keilys,

claims that the couple “carved it out of the wilderness.”

During the initial visit, Nancy said, she kept quiet, uncertain of her husband’s reaction.

“I didn’t want to say anything just in case it

goes awry,” she said. She felt the house had potential.“I knew if he thought we

could do it, we could do it,” she said. “I knew it was going to be a

long haul. I knew at times he was going to get discouraged, or I would get discouraged. I didn’t want him to say I had talked him into it.”

Nancy’s concern turned out to be needless.

At top: This welcome sign is a reminder of the Keilys’ ties to Wisconsin. Above: Ken Keily built this garage from “a collection of stuff.”


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“You know, I think we could do something with this,” she heard her husband say. “I think it has po-tential.”

Ten years later, the Keilys have uncovered that potential, creating their own oasis, preserving a bit of history in the process. Their expertise as crafts-men is evident all over the farmstead.

Ken’s wood shop had been used as a granary on another farm whose owners were going to tear it down. He took it apart, marked the timbers, then reassembled it on his own place.

He built the garage from scratch, putting it to-gether from what he describes as “kind of a collec-tion of stuff.”

The huge barn was falling apart but now stands strong once again, thanks to the Keilys’ expertise.

The couple give new meaning to the word recy-cling.

But the crowning accomplishment is the house itself. Renovating the structure was a massive un-dertaking that included replacing all downstairs floors, using poplar and square-headed nails. They

began storing materials in the kitchen, until they discovered that floor was held together by seven layers of linoleum and a layer of carpet. Cabinets were repaired, replaced, refinished and painted.

They removed a dilapidated front porch, using a block and tackle to reposition the massive stone steps. A back porch was converted into a dining room, and two bathrooms were added — there had been no indoor plumbing.

JOINT EFFORTIt was a project that brought the two together.

Nancy said she and her husband have multiple, varied interests and often were headed in different directions. But the house became something they focused on together.

“Here we came together for a common cause, common goal, common purpose,” she said. “It was very revitalizing.”

Ken was working full time as a pastor when the Keilys began restoring a house that was suffering from years of neglect. They worked on it during his vacation and on Mondays, his day off. Ken remem-


bers a parishioner visiting them during the early stages of the game. The man shook his head and said, “Boy, pastor, there’s a lot of Mondays in this place.”

It took the couple about seven years to make the place livable — 10 years later they are still working on the house. They set a goal of having it done by the time Ken retired at age 65. He’s now 69, and although technically retired, he pastors part time at the Lutheran church in Salem.

“I’d like to be like Steve Jobs,” he said. “Just work until I die.”

Nancy’s touch is everywhere as well. She gar-dens, cans, bakes and, with help from Ken, taps ma-ple trees in their woods each spring. She is also an artist, working with both oil and watercolor, joining a group of friends for a weekly painting session. Her work often features ships and oceans and frequently churches.

When Ken started tuck-pointing the brick on the exterior of the building, Nancy didn’t like the way it looked, so took on the task herself, tuck-pointing the entire house. Ken rigged up scaffolding for that task from lumber salvaged from an old hog barn.

Above: Ken Keily found the chassis to a 1916 Dodge in the woods and enlisted the help of his wife to carry it out, cutting down trees to remove it. The street rod has a Ford front end and a Chevy engine. Opposite page at top: Keily with his sawmill. Before becoming a minister, he was a logger. His wife gave him his first hammer as a gift the first year they were married. Opposite page at bottom: The house had no indoor plumbing, but did boast two outhouses, including this one, now used for storage.


PT

Their friends describe the two as being unique. Lou Wolka describes them as homespun.

“This man is a hands-on person,” she said. “He can do anything, and they are not afraid to work, him and her both.”

Another friend, Sally Waldkoetter, said, “They are just very interesting people, very hardworking. They could have hired someone to do the work; the neat part is they did it all themselves.”

The Keilys have had almost as much fun re-searching the history of the house as they have restoring it. Adam Zollman acquired the land for fighting in the War of 1812. They believe construc-tion on the house began in 1817 and was finished in 1819. The early owners are buried in a little country cemetery a short drive up the road.

The couple play down their talents.“The good Lord’s been good to us,” Ken said.But Wolka can’t hide her admiration for the tal-

ented couple.“On a bingo card of talent, they cover every

space,” she said.


FREEDOM TO BELIEVE

Atterbury chaplain ensures that all faiths are welcome at military base

STORy AND PHOTOS By AMy MAy

Eric “Rick” Ebb has spent most of his adult life serving this country in a military uniform. After enlisting in the Army in 1977, he served as

a paratrooper. After his active service was up, he joined the Army Reserves and served in an armored tank division. Now a lieutenant colonel, he serves Camp Atterbury and its community of soldiers and civilians in all matters of faith as the installation chaplain.

Ebb just missed the Vietnam War when he en-listed at age 18, but he was able to qualify for the GI Bill, meeting the deadline by just seven days. He earned a degree in music from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., after active service. He enlisted

in the Army Reserve, attended Officer Candidate School and then served 14 years as a reservist.

His civilian career while he was a reservist was a district executive with the Boy Scouts of America in southern Wisconsin, where he grew up.

But in 1993, the cloth called to him.His father was a Navy chaplain, he said, so he

was always aware of the profession. He had served as a chaplain’s assistant with the 82nd Airborne Division during active service, as well.

“I was a modern Jonah. I was always interested in what the chaplain did. I liked to work with the chaplain in our unit. The light just came on,” he said.


So he moved to Fort Wayne to attend Concordia Theological Seminary. He enjoyed the classes.

“I have a general understanding of a wide variety of religions. It’s fascinating,” he said.

He was ordained a pastor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and spent the next five years as a pastor in a rural parish in northwest Ohio.

TWICE IN AFgHANISTANIn 2004, he joined the Indiana National Guard

and deployed to Bosnia as a chaplain. He then completed two deployments to Afghanistan before taking his permanent position as Camp Atterbury’s chaplain in 2007 and most recently, as state chap-lain for the Indiana National Guard.

In Afghanistan, he ran the base chapel, con-ducted 12 services a week and was responsible for the maintenance of two mosques, which were on the U.S. military base for Muslim employees and soldiers. He was exposed to religions from all over the world.

“I loved my deployments. I like working with people, and you get to work with people from all over the world. I still have Facebook friends from Korea.”

He now presides over the World War II-era cha-pel at Camp Atterbury and oversees a small staff. He offers two Sunday services — a traditional and a contemporary — and is available for counseling when soldiers need a person of faith to talk to, even if the problem isn’t necessarily faith-related.

“Soldiers tend to see us first. They see us as a safe person to talk to,” he said.

Ebb said the counseling is often a case of assess-ing the soldiers’ needs.

“They come to us with every problem under the sun. It could be legal, financial, job-related. We tri-age the issue and send them to the right person.”

Another traditional duty of a military chaplain is calling on the families of soldiers who have died on

see chaplaIn on page 28


duty. He has made these difficult calls to families of both active duty and guard soldiers and tried to counsel and help the families through the initial shock and guide them toward the next step.

“It’s a very difficult part of my job, but it’s impor-tant. Any satisfaction I get from it is knowing that I’m helping the family,” he said.

In addition to those traditional ministerial duties, a military chaplain is also an overseer of religion at an installation, making sure it is practiced in ap-propriate forums, treated with respect and equality, and follows military regulations, which can be dif-ferent from how religion is practiced in the civilian world.

For example, the large wooden cross in the cha-pel was a concern for him. A base chapel, he said, is required to be nondenominational, so the cross hanging on the wall would be an endorsement of Christianity. Workers were planning to take it down, but Ebb compromised by installing a pull-down video screen. When a Christian service is being conducted, the screen can stay up and display the simple WWII-era cross. Other times, the screen can obscure it.

PROTECTINg RELIgIOuS FREEDOM“The Army chaplain is authorized by the

Constitution to guarantee the free exercise of reli-gion of all people in uniform. I am here to protect people’s religious freedom,” Ebb said.

“The biggest misconception is … I am not here to be all things to all people. I am ordained in the Lutheran Church. I can’t conduct Catholic, Jewish, etc., services,” he said.

But people have the right to worship in their chosen faith, so the military allows accommoda-tions, which are then implemented by the chaplain. The best way to put it, Ebb said, is that the chap-lain’s job is to “perform or provide.”

It is his duty to make sure members of all faith groups get a chance to worship when they are sta-tioned or training at Camp Atterbury.

So Catholic soldiers, for example, can take a bus to Edinburgh to worship at Holy Trinity Catholic Church. He has also arranged transportation for Jews, Seventh-day Adventists, Mormons and Muslims to attend services in Indianapolis.

“When I can’t (do something), I find someone who can. You must have a good relationship with the area churches, too,” he said.

Camp Atterbury is also undergoing a change in its mission, as the government winds down military involvement in Iraq. More civilian military contrac-tors are training at the camp, as well as civilian first responder groups. That brings more diversity in reli-gious beliefs, nationalities, ages and backgrounds.

Ebb said during Ramadan, for example, a group of civilian contractors was training for its mission as interpreters for American soldiers in Afghanistan. The contractors, all of Middle Eastern heritage, couldn’t leave the camp during their training, so Ebb and his staff set up a tent so they could observe the Muslim holy month there.

“The ones I spoke to were thrilled. They didn’t anticipate that we would reach out to them or be interested or focused on their needs,” he said.

Ebb must also manage any volunteers who want

chaplaIn continued from page 27


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to visit the camp to help with the religious mission to make sure they understand the military require-ments.

“You can’t get up here and start putting down other faith groups, for example,” he said.

As state chaplain, Ebb must also vet those who want to serve as Army National Guard chaplains. They are schooled at Fort Jackson, S.C., and checked out extensively.

All chaplains must be endorsed by a recognized faith group with a recognized quality education, he said. A government recognized faith group, he added, is one that qualifies for IRS nonprofit status.

Ebb said he loves the job.

“I’ve been happy with it ever since I started, but I’d still like to drive a tank again or jump out of an airplane,” he said.

Ebb is divorced and has two daughters and three grandchildren, all in the area. His daughters did not go into military service, but did take Junior ROTC in school. Ebb said he enjoyed discussing work with them because they know the military lingo.

He lives in Greenwood and is a member of Concordia Lutheran Church.

Music, which Ebb studied in college, is still a big part of his life. He directs a volunteer singing group at Camp Atterbury, which has sung the national anthem at numerous local events, including the NCAA Final Four at Lucas Oil Stadium and at the Indy 500. He’s an avid guitar player and has taught guitar lessons to soldiers on all of his deployments. He spends his vacations traveling and checking out RV areas, which, he said, might be his retirement hobby. At age 53, he has seven years until manda-tory retirement.

He also enjoys visiting the Veterans of Foreign Wars Greenwood post, which is where he realized he was a member of a “between generation.”

“I am almost as old as the Vietnam vets, but I relate to the younger vets. We late baby boomers sometimes fall in-between the generations. I was a kid during the ’60s. I remember it, but it’s not part of my culture. I relate to the younger generation, but I am old enough to be their dad.”

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HOW CAN WE MISS yOu IF yOu WON’T gO AWAy?

You may recall I wrote my farewell column on the Opinion Page back on Sept. 16. However, I’ve found that some people who read this don’t read that. Combined with the fact that I can’t turn down an op-portunity to write if given one, I’d like to say goodbye one more time. I hope you’ll indulge me. Hence my silly title.

My husband and I have sold our home and are embarking on what we are calling the move into the “third act” of life. This is where we hope to focus on relaxing a bit, having raised our family and done all we can to take care of an aging parent.

I feel guilty just putting that into words. Since both of us have lots of German genes, the concept of relax-ing feels shamefully self-indulgent. My Irish side, of course, says, “Oh, for Pete’s sake. Have some fun!” As you can imagine, I am constantly conflicted.

We’re moving to Las Vegas, but not because we can’t wait to shrivel up in the constant (but dry!) heat and gamble our retirement away. It’s so we can finally be within driving distance of our two grown daughters and one terrific son-in-law, without getting sucked up into the problems of beautiful but financially dysfunc-tional California.

Living here has allowed me to make new, wonder-ful friends and enjoy new opportunities. Being asked to write for this paper was one. That gave me the confi-dence to branch out and eventually write a book. I will always be grateful. Special thanks to Doug Showalter, my editor, for his keen eye and more importantly, for never changing my titles!

Many of my columns in Prime Time have been

about my mother. She will remain here, peacefully and safely spending the days lost in her small, dementia-induced world. Some ask me how I could ever leave her. I struggled with that and always will.

I once wrote that I felt like a piece of meat in the sandwich of life. Never has that analogy been more vivid than now. Children there. Mother here. Future. Past. Rarely is there a true black or white answer. Like most people, I live in the middle and hope I have done the right thing.

Mom is in very good hands at the facility where she lives. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t dream of leav-ing her. Other family members are close by who will still see her regularly. Of course, I will be visiting.

I won’t lie though: Leaving her is heartbreaking — to me. To her, it’s a moment that will dissolve almost instantly. I’ll kiss her cheek and say, “See you soon,” and she’ll be all right with that. It is the blessing and curse of her condition.

Not to sound too clichéd, but tomorrow really isn’t promised to anyone. In the 10 years I’ve lived here, I’ve been to nine funerals. One thing I know for certain: Life is precious, and we have a responsibility to make the most of it — even if we feel conflicted about our choices.

Thank you for allowing me into your day over the years and for your encouraging words. Even though I’m excited about the future, I’m sad about saying goodbye. It’s hard, but it’s time. See you soon.

The end.

Jeanette Menter can be reached at [email protected].

JEANETTE MENTER


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