They did it their way

By Becky Buher, Guest Columnist—Museum Corner article published in Times Mail newspaper May 8, 2019

Did you or your sister have a dollhouse when you were a child? Dollhouses are not just for children — many adults create dollhouses as a hobby. For several years, the museum has had the privilege of periodically displaying Esther Ginger’s beautiful dollhouse. So many people have enjoyed seeing it. And now, the museum has another dollhouse you can enjoy.

Beverly McFadden recently donated a dollhouse that her mother, Marjorie (Marge) Bailey, made. This dollhouse was fashioned to resemble the Bailey home in Bedford’s Hillcrest Circle where Marge and her husband Robert lived until 2001. The circa 1940 home had Neoclassical features, and the gable-end and facade columns created the illusion of a temple front typical of the Greek Revival style.

To create the dollhouse, Marge ordered a dollhouse kit that looked very much like her Hillcrest Circle house, and she meticulously completed the house herself. She was still working at the time and had to create the dollhouse at night. Over the years, she worked at Broadview Developers, was a bookkeeper at then Dunn Memorial Hospital, Goodyear and, at one time, Marge and Charlotte Mohr owned the Wells Shop downtown.

When the dollhouse construction was finished, Marge began furnishing it. Receipts for items have dates between 1979 and 1982. Beverly remembers taking road trips with her mother so Marge could search for just the right things. The tiniest silverware is set on the dining table. There are rugs, wallpaper, tiles, sconces and pictures. Beverly didn’t see the completed dollhouse until she arrived home from Ball State University during her college years. Her mother had found a home for the dollhouse in Beverly’s bedroom.

Beverly said her mother was a hobby artist and was so talented that she could make almost anything. She made 70 hand-crafted Santas dressed with real fur. One year, Marge decided to learn to play piano because she wanted the family to sing Christmas carols together.

Eighty-nine-year-old Marjorie A. (Marlott) Bailey died Oct. 20, 2018. The last song sung at her funeral was the Frank Sinatra tune, “I Did It My Way.”

Remembering Lugar

I turn now to a museum memory of Sen. Richard G. Lugar who died April 28. He was an honorable man who helped make our world a little safer. He served as a United States senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. In his lifetime, he received the Defense Department’s highest civilian award and was known as a true public servant.

In the summer of 2011, Indiana’s long-term senator and foreign policy leader visited Bedford at the invitation of the Lawrence County Historical & Genealogical Society, and he spoke at a museum fundraising event.

That evening Lugar, an Eagle Scout himself, met with Eagle Scouts Matthew Bayens and Darren Phillips. Bayens received the Eagle Scout designation Feb. 23, 2011. His Eagle Scout project provided the limestone table and benches located at the museum’s north entrance. Both Bayens and Phillips were residents of Springville in 2011. Lugar also met with Boy Scout troops 332 and 343.

There’s a new exhibit in the McReynolds Community Gallery — the Sandra Martindale American Revolutionary War collection. Patriots represented are George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere and Betsy Ross. Battles represented are Concord, Cowpens, Fort Ticonderoga, Kings Mountain, Lexington, Monmouth, Saratoga, Yorktown and representing Indiana are George Rogers Clark and Fort Sackville.

The museum needs your help — with minimal staff, the museum depends on volunteers to assist in daily operations. Several of our volunteers recently suffered health issues that make it impossible for them to volunteer at this time. The current critical need is for people to work at the front desk or assist in the library. If you can greet people with a smile and answer a phone, we need you. No computer skills are required