FREETOWN
As Pershing Township trustee for 16 years, Bruce McKinney has provided financial help to residents in times of need.
On Saturday, many of those people were lined along the Freetown July Festival parade route as McKinney rode by in a red 1957 Ford convertible as the grand marshal.
The 89-year-old said he was asked to be the grand marshal a couple of times before he finally agreed to do it on the third try.
“It’s something nice that you get asked to do something like that, especially in the community where you live,” McKinney said.
McKinney, who grew up in nearby Ewing, said he had a good time riding in the convertible and waving at many people he knew.
“I was going to ride up on the back of the convertible, and they talked me out of that,” he said, laughing.
His wife of 64 years, Vivian, thought about riding in the car, but she chose to watch along with everyone else.
“I could have rode, but I’d rather see the stuff that goes by,” Vivian McKinney, 82, said. “You can’t see the parade when you’re riding.”
The Freetown July Festival started in 1936 and was conducted on the Fourth of July for many years. The festival stopped at one point until being revived 10 years ago by the Pershing Township Volunteer Fire Department.
The festival is special for the McKinneys because it’s where they first met in 1949. That year, they each went with a friend and sat down to eat near each other.
“We were eating a sandwich, and I think she winked at me, but she said she didn’t,” Bruce McKinney said with a smile.
The couple dated until getting married in April 1951. Three years later, they moved into a four-bedroom home along a county road north of Freetown, and they still live there today.
When they met, both of them worked in Columbus — Bruce at Cummins Inc. and Vivian at Arvin Industries. Bruce McKinney retired June 1, 1981, after 31 years at Cummins.
“I did a little bit of everything, all the way from a machine operator to supervision. I was a supervisor for a while,” he said.
Vivian McKinney said she worked at Arvin until she had the couple’s first of six children. After retirement, Bruce McKinney worked at a supply store in Walesboro for about three years.
The Pershing Township trustee position came open, and Bruce McKinney was encouraged to put his name on the election ballot.
“People wanted me to do it,” he said of why he chose to run for trustee, which is up for election every four years.
He said he has liked filling that role.
“Poor relief is the biggest thing, helping people out,” he said.
That involves providing financial help for such things as groceries, gasoline and light and water bills. He said he receives about $5,000 per year, which comes from taxpayers within the township.
“You have to set up a budget every year,” he said. “When you set that budget up, then they send you so much money from the auditor’s office.”
The number of people he is able to help varies each year because it depends on how much they need. But for every person he helps, he said, it makes him feel good.
“If you like people, it does you good to be able to help people,” he said.
Plus, he said, it gives him something to do since he is retired. And he doesn’t have to go far to get to his office because it’s in his house.
Bruce McKinney maintains office hours, but he said he will help people outside of that time frame. His wife serves as the township secretary, so she helps in the office when needed.
“If they call at midnight, I take them in just the same. It doesn’t make any difference,” Bruce McKinney said.
“They work, and it’s hard for a lot of them,” Vivian McKinney said of people needing assistance after hours.
The McKinneys also spend time with their family, including gathering at Christmastime every year at the Freetown Community Center. Along with their four boys and two girls, the couple have 20 grandchildren, 32 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren — most of whom live in the area.
Bruce and Vivian McKinney both said they make sure to attend the Freetown July Festival every year, too.
“It’s good to have it,” Bruce McKinney said. “It helps people out around Freetown, gives them a place to go.”
Freetown is Vivian’s hometown and where Bruce has called home for many years.
“It’s a good place to live,” Bruce McKinney said. “It’s beautiful country out in here, and you’ve got the Hoosier National Forest all around you. It’s really a beautiful place in the summertime and winter.”
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Name: Bruce McKinney
Age: 89 (turns 90 on Aug. 27)
Hometown: Ewing
Residence: Freetown
Recent honor: Selected as the Freetown July Festival parade grand marshal
Employment background: Worked at Cummins Inc. in Columbus for 31 years; then worked in a supply store in Walesboro for about three years; elected as Pershing Township trustee 16 years ago and has retained that position
Family: Wife of 64 years, Vivian McKinney; six children; 20 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren
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