Episode 17: Beautifying Loretto with Diane Mattingly

In this episode of Mildly Amusing, James sits down with Diane Mattingly, founder of Beautify Loretto. A veteran who joined the reserves after high school, Diane never planned on a 40 year military career, but her path led her through years of service and various roles at Fort Knox. She also shares her background studying photojournalism and English writing at Western, and coming back home to Loretto to renovate her family home.

Diane talks about the work Beautify Loretto has taken on, from pressure washing buildings affected by whiskey fungus to planting trees and flowers, adding a mural, and building a clock tower that recently won the Beautify the Bluegrass contest. She also shares what’s ahead, including plans for a military and first responder memorial and an all season community space.

They also talk about how an unused space in the senior center was transformed into a satellite public library with help from Marion County Public Library staff, along with the addition of a free medical clinic in the same building. With plenty of events coming up this spring, summer, and fall, there’s a lot happening in Loretto.

It’s an inspiring conversation about service, community, and what can happen when people take pride in where they live, perfect to listen to while driving, working, or whenever you have a few minutes to tune in.

🎶 This episode’s song is Flamenco Sketches by Miles Davis.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome, thanks for joining us. This is James Spraggins, and this is mildly amusing. Um very excited about um I think I probably say that every single time. I need to come up with a better way of saying that I'm happy or something about this guest. But but I am excited and happy. Um our guest today is Diane Mattingley, uh, who is the founder and probably I guess the president of Beautify Loreto. We're gonna talk about her life, her bio, her military service, and her her advocacy for uh her hometown of Loreto, right here. And everybody knows where Loreto is. And if they listen to this podcast, you know, I'm obsessed with Loreto, apparently. This will be number five, I guess, um, podcast that um um about Loreto. So anyway, for whatever reason, I guess I'll never stop being interested in it. Anyway, and uh another thing that I am truly excited about is this is our first sponsored podcast. Um I am so grateful to Steve Brady and Donna Mattingley, who have seen fit to um underwrite today's podcast. I think they did not even know that I was interviewing Donna's first cousin, but I am. And so Steve and Donna, thank you so much. I really do appreciate your interest in uh underwriting this, but also you're both very kind to say nice things to me about it. So anyway, um thank you to them. And thank you all for listening. We'll be right back with Diane Mattingley. We're back. This is James Spraggins, and you're um joining us here for something that is hopefully gonna be slightly more than mildly amusing. Um our guest today, uh Diane Mattingley, thank you so much for for coming in and uh agreeing to take part in this. Um the reason that I've asked you, I've gotten to know you a little bit in the last few years. Um we are on the preservation uh committee, together, society board together, and we've really gotten to kind of know each other through that. And um I have been an admirer of things you've been doing in Loreto. Um you started a thing called Beautify Loretto, and it has um tangibly improved things in Loreto, and I admire it, and um uh I just wanted to hear kind of your story about that, and uh but also learn a little bit more about you. I know that you are a veteran and uh thank you for your service. Um Do you kind of hate it when people say that? I've heard that some people like roll their eyes, like, alright.

SPEAKER_04 2:57

Um it's just hard to know what to say in response to that. Thank you for your your support, I suppose. Yeah, it is appreciated though.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Okay, yes, okay. All right. Um, very good. Well, I mean it. So um thank you for coming on. And let's start with give me a little bit of your biography. I know that you are a Mattingley. And I'd I'd like you to name every one of your relatives and give me a little bit about what you think about them. No, um I know you're a cousin of a good friend of mine uh named uh Donna Mattingley. And um who is uh she and her husband are the sponsors of this of this podcast, our very first sponsors, and uh we're much appreciative for that. Uh so Diane, t tell us a little bit about yourself. Start at the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 3:41

Well, I grew up in Loretta. My mom was one of thirteen and my dad was one of twelve.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

That sounds so familiar.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

How many people in Loretta have a similar uh I'd say quite a few when we were growing up. Now not so much. Um but back then, back in you know the sixties and seventies, families were really big.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:59

So uh grew up in Loretta, graduated from Marion County High School. Um and not long after graduation, a friend of mine um talked me into joining the army. That was never anything that I foresaw in my future. Um so uh that was 1982.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Well why did why do you think they talked you into that?

SPEAKER_04 4:20

Um well she had been in discipline. Probably, probably. Uh she was uh in high school ROTC. Uh I was not. And so um so I did that, and um she never made it through basic training, and and here I am with that. It's a bait and switch. Yeah. Here I am decades later, um retiring. Um so uh it was a good thing for me. Uh absolutely a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Tell me a little bit about that. What was so you went through the ROTC. Tell me about your your service. Where did you go? What you know, tell me a little bit about what it was like.

SPEAKER_04 4:59

Well, I I joined the reserve. Um so when I joined the reserve a reserve unit here in Lebanon, uh, no longer here, uh it um closed down during a reorganization back in I think the early early 90s. Um so when um when it closed down, uh we moved um we moved to Fort Knox. All of the uh members of this unit here uh went to different units mainly on Fort Knox. So I ended up in a reserve unit in Fort Knox. Uh at one point I went on um active duty, active guard reserve. Uh that was with uh U.S. Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox. And um when I was released from active duty, um I went to moved down to Bowling Green and went to Western. Um after I graduated there, I went back to Fort Knox as a civilian, back into the reserve, and um have retired from both uh the Army, Reserve, Army, and uh my civilian job at Fort Knox.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Okay, okay. What's your civilian job at Fort Knox?

SPEAKER_04 6:05

Um my last civilian job was working uh at um at the Human Resources Command at Fort Knox. I was working for the Foreign Foreign Area Officer Assignment Branch, and that's basically officers who are out in embassies worldwide. Uh I was working working there for about 12 years. Prior to that, I was in the public affairs office at Fort Knox uh as a community relations officer, and um before that I was the um associate editor of the Fort Knox newspaper. Oh wow. Yeah. So I've I've had some great jobs.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Now what got you into that? Did you work on the on the uh on the shield when you were here or I I actually I did not.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

Um I actually majored in photojournalism, uh double double majored in photojournalism and uh English writing down there at Western. So wow. Yeah. So um that's how I ended up working for the newspaper at Fort Knox. Um got promoted into the community relations officer position and um you know went from there.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

What kind of writing did you do?

SPEAKER_04 7:05

Like feature stuff or um Yeah, that was my favorite thing was features writing. Yeah, I bet yeah. I wasn't much into sports writing or uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

So you just r mentioned something. So you when you started you were the Lebanon Lebanon had its own uh reserve unit here.

SPEAKER_04 7:22

Yes, it was out there on Fairgrounds Road.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

On Fairgrounds Road. And you know what's funny? So where the extension office is now, that was our armory.

SPEAKER_02 7:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

Um which I had like totally forgotten that until a couple of years ago I drove by and I was like, wait, I just had a flash. I can remember when it was the armory. Um why did we uh lose that?

SPEAKER_04 7:43

I think does Springfield still have a well it wasn't actually an armory, it was it was an Army Reserve Center. Um uh Springfield, as far as I know, National Guard's still over there. Um but through one of the Army's reorganizations, um they closed they closed our battalion down.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:01

Uh, you know, it was happening all over the country, you know. So um so we lost it. Um and that's when, you know, like I said, we moved to Fort Knox.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

Where all did your service take you?

SPEAKER_04 8:16

Geographically. Geographically, like I said, well, you know, most of my reserve reserve time was um stateside.

SPEAKER_02 8:26

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 8:26

Um, so but my civilian job actually took me more places than my reserve job.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:33

Um I went to conferences, um, you know, that last job I had was the best job. Sent me to Monterey, California twice a year took conference. Oh my gosh. Um, so um we would explore the, you know, sometimes my husband would come with me, and sometimes my daughter. We would explore the uh um the coast. Um one of my favorite things to do was visit the missions there. There are missions um that were settled there by the Spanish, I think, like in the 17 and 1800s. Right. Um, those were really cool. Um, so that job also took me to uh conferences in Germany and Italy. Um my daughter, um, you know, I think she got the little travel bug with me.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

Uh traveling with me, so she she really loves to travel too.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

So um so was there a point? Did you I I have a cousin who she's married to a Marine, and it's he was in it straight out of college. And um there was like a time he said, well, okay, I'll do five years, or whatever a term is, what you know, 35 years later he's still there. Was that ever did you think I'm in this long term, or did you think, well, I'll go another step, Seattle's. I'll go another step, Seattle's, or what was it like for you?

SPEAKER_04 9:53

I never had a plan. I I never like I said, I never planned to join the army. Um it was just something that sort of happened.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Just the wind blew you there.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

It just it just did, but I never really had a plan, but I I definitely didn't have a plan, you know, to stay for, you know, th 40 years. Um between my um, you know, my reserve job and my civilian job, I was with the Army in one capacity or another, uh either reserve, active duty, or Department of the Army civilian for for 40 years.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

So throughout all this, you were, you know, not too far away. So were you all the time coming back to see family in Loreto?

SPEAKER_04 10:35

Well, when when you're in reserve, I mean you can basically live, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Live wherever.

SPEAKER_04 10:41

Yeah, I mean, my my job was at Fort Knox. I was carpooling with I don't know if you're But you lived in Etown for a long time, right? I d I lived in E Town um after I got off of active duty, yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Okay. Um do you all still live over there?

SPEAKER_04 10:56

Um we have a house in E Town and a house in Loretta, yes. I knew you had the house in the house. My family home, yeah. My family home is the one I renovated in Loretta.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

Oh, very good, very good. Yeah, and you've done a really nice job. Not that I've been invited to the inside, but as any citizen can, I've driven by. You're welcome to be able to do that. That's the closest I've ever gotten to come. But um, so okay, so you never lost your interest in things going on in your hometown. Um you um what so you have started this thing that you called Beautify Loretto? Um, which is aptly named because that's what you aim to do. And uh what got you thinking about doing that? And um how did you how did you s how did you get get the ball rolling?

SPEAKER_04 11:43

Um well that was back at the end of if I'm remembering correctly, 2017. Um I was about to my my dad had passed away in 2014, and I was about to start renovation of my family home there in Loreto, and I just thought um looking around that that you know maybe we could start this little committee and make improvements around town. Um it's just something something that I I thought would might work.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

Yeah. Well, like one thing that started that galvanized the preservation society that you're you and I are both part of, um is worry about what was gonna happen with our court courthouse here in Lebanon. Right. And that we had already lost the Ray House on Main Street, a historic home. Um and we were like saying somebody's gotta do something, you know. So were you galvanized by some did something get torn down? Uh were you galvanized by any anything? Very often that's what happens.

SPEAKER_04 12:41

Not at the very beginning, um, but there were a couple of um buildings that were torn down that I would have loved to have seen be saved, um, but it all came down to uh with everybody else, it all came down to a um a financial issue. Uh you know, how much is it gonna cost to to renovate this property and and get it back to the way it was versus you know tearing it down. So you don't always win those.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

And that's before the state really expanded their historic tax credits, which are pretty substantial now. But right. I mean you kind of can't blame folks for throwing in the towel for these old.

SPEAKER_04 13:27

It's tough. It it's it's a tough job to to, you know, when you take on that, you know, total renovation of of a property, it's it's a big job.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

So uh did you go out and like uh find kindred spirits and say, hey, we need to start this thing, we're gonna we need to stand athwart this decline or something.

SPEAKER_04 13:48

Or what were you Well it was a little tough in the beginning. Um we had, you know, an unexpected um cash flow. Um I had gone to to Judge D'Arty asking for help. Um Mayor Tom Brom, who was there at the time, uh asking for help. And uh I still remember the day, you know, Judge D'Arty called me to tell me that uh there was one I think it was one point two one point one two five million, I think it was, um uh that was that had been donated. And I'm like, donated to who? Who are you talking about? He said to you, to your organization, and I like, are you serious? Um yeah, it just so he had worked with um, you know, uh Makers Mark um and Independent Stave and Busick Construction Company um to um secure those donations. And you know, those were donations that were, you know, 75,000 each over the period of five years, which uh, you know, it's been I think three or four years now since that ended uh that we did receive all of those donations. So um, you know, that's pretty remarkable.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

He undertook this without even you didn't even know it.

SPEAKER_04 15:05

No, I did not. Uh it was a complete shock to me when he called me. I was actually at work that day at Fort Knox when he called me uh to tell me that. I still remember sitting there, I'm like, okay, who are you talking about? Who's got you know a million dollars? Um so uh yeah, so it was quite a shock. And then, you know, um it was you'd think that'd be a total good thing, but everybody had, you know, at the at the time, everybody had an idea of how how that money should be spent. And we were, you know, we were bringing in Lincoln Trail, doing all of these surveys and community meetings, and just fry trying to find out, you know, what the overwhelming majority of people wanted to do with that money.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

You were trying to build consensus. Right, right. What do people actually want? Because it's hard to lead when you don't have people behind you following you.

SPEAKER_04 15:53

So so you know, there was there was some hard times there, and there was uh, you know, a lot of backlash for certain things, and um, but you know, we were trying to do the right thing and we were trying to get it on the right track, and um, you know, we did do um for the first, I think, four years uh pressure washing program where um you know Beautify Loretta would pay half of um you know pressure washing costs for for um homes and businesses in the in the Loretta City limits and uh you know.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

The ones that are affected by the whiskey. Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 16:27

Right. But you know, we're not able to do that anymore. We don't have the funds to to keep doing that anymore. But but um I assume that's why you were able to get this kind of donations suburban sector. That was only part of it. Um that's only part of the reason why Beautify Loretta was started. There were, you know, other reasons just you know looking around town and um you know it when you when you I think when you move away and you come back, you see you know, you when you live somewhere and you you you I think you stop seeing things. Yeah. Uh because you see them every day. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Because it's gradual, it's like the the frog in the pot of boiling water. Right, right. Yeah. Um right. So what so give me some an idea of what were some of your initial goals when you started this? You're like, okay, we have a problem of sort of like benign, not so benign neglect, but some neglect and decay. You were trying to stand up with that. Well, what were some of your tangible goals when you started the organization?

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Um, well, we we came up with a list from, you know, all of the community meetings and surveys that we did. We came up with a list of what people wanted to see. Um so one of the first things we did was um we there were a lot of trees planted, there was a mural um done on the that wall beside um the parking lot at Cozy Corner where we we actually we own the property beside that. Um Cozy Corner actually owns the mural. Um and we did um pots of flowers flowers around town. Um we did that. Um we did the pressure washing program that I mentioned. Um and then at some point um we decided to do our first really major project, which was the clock tower.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Okay, yeah, and I want I definitely want to talk about that. That's I won't call it your crowning achievement because you're not finished, but it's a really impressive talk about it. And I know you've won an award for it, but tell us tell us about that.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

Well, we started we started the um planning process for that right before COVID hit. So COVID slowed us down a lot.

SPEAKER_00 18:53

Um the planning Is it built on excuse me, is it built on who owns That's city property. So the city already owned this. City property. What we're talking about is some city property uh kind of across from Loretta Foodland, is that kind of roughly?

SPEAKER_04 19:10

To to the yeah, to the right.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Yeah. Okay. Um and you've turned it into kind of a a park and you've erected this really nice clock tower. So go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 19:23

Um so um we had, you know, just a small team at the time. We had five members. So we're trying to get through this design process. Um, you know, a lot of things we don't understand. Uh, in we had and we hired a design consultant who assisted us. Um before that, we had actually hired uh an engineering and architecture firm to do a master plan for the city, uh, and that was Hare Hare Construction Company. Um they are out of, I think their headquarters are in West Virginia. Oh, they have offices in Lexington too, though. Um so we had hired them to do um to create a master plan, and from the master plan is actually what we um what we drew that clock tower project out of. Um so we took that out of the master plan and and that's what we started that major project with was that. Um and it took, like I said, took longer than expected because that right before COVID, which slowed us down. So it was about three years in in the making, I guess, um, before it finally got completed.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

So that's pretty remarkable. I know that Lebanon uh the Lebanon's uh tourism commission twenty-five years ago or something, commissioned something similar. And uh frankly it has sat in a file drawer ever since. But th that's pretty uh ambitious for a town the size of Loreto to have sought this out and had this wider vision. What were some of the other elements of it and what are some of the things you think you can you can achieve out of it?

SPEAKER_04 21:01

Um well that that that actually there's actually f supposed to be three phases to this project. Um the clock tower, what's out there now is actually phase one. Um and you know, for that phase, we were I mean we were doing things like picking out pavers, the color of pavers, and and you know, what kind of clock you want in there and what kind of dials you want. Every little detail um we were we were um you know reviewing and and selecting and um but that was actually supposed to which phase one of uh the project. Phase two would be the military memorial, which is what we're fundraising for now. Um and that became um you know a goal after um we uh participated in the Smithsonian traveling exhibit with the Loretta Motherhouse. Right. Uh and as part of that exhibit um I worked on a military um on a military display for that project, and the response was overwhelming.

unknown 21:59

I had

SPEAKER_04 22:00

No idea that you know small Lor Loretta and the western end of the county had so many veterans, had no clue. So that became um phase two of the project, which is what we're working on now, the fundraising. Um we haven't started the design, we're getting ready to start the design on that. And then phase three, uh, if we make it that far, you know, that's pie in the sky kind of thing, uh, is a an all-inclusive venue behind the clock tower, um, which you would be able to use during the summer and the winter. You could, you know, during the winter you could pull the doors down uh and it would be heated. Right. That type of venue. In the summer, you could use it as farmers market or what it yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

And like maybe entertainment stuff too? Sure, sure. Yeah. Huh. Okay. Did you have a model in mind? Did you have you visited other towns and who were doing some interesting things like this?

SPEAKER_04 22:55

And that's where our master plan came in. Um it it's actually part of the master plan. Um the renderings are in the master plan.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

Are you tapping out a distress signal as you hit the table, all these with all your gesticulations? I'm just curious because I'm gonna I'm gonna get somebody who knows Morse code and find out exactly what you were saying about me about all this tapping tapping. No, I'm just seeing we we give we always give our guests a little reminder, please don't nervously tap the tape.

SPEAKER_04 23:23

Typ I'm typing over here. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

I think you're saying help me, help me. Um, I'm guilty of it myself occasionally. Um Okay. So what what do you see as like the what do you see as what are you looking forward to now? What are you what are you all in what's in process, what's what's later, what you know, what's what's what's the kind of intermediate future hold for the organization?

SPEAKER_04 23:56

Well, we don't have other than you know the plans right now that we're working on for the military memorial, that's that's our that's our main focus right now.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

The military memorial you uh if I if you said this uh excuse me, but the military memorial will go where in conjunction with the clock tower.

SPEAKER_04 24:11

Like it it will go in the immediate vicinity. We're not exactly sure which part of it though. Or um we'd also like to include a first responder memorial with that.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Um these are things that I would assume you'd could with some ease find some funding partners for who would like to help with like the military are we're hopeful. Yes. We have a uh mutual friend with the um American Legion who is very good about funding local things and uh so looking at you, Tom Sparks.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

Um they do a great job out there um supporting the local community at the American Legion.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

I'm actually a member of the American Legion, so right.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Yeah, yeah, I knew you were. Okay. Um as your what do you see personally as you are you gonna remain involved in the uh beautify Loreto organization, or um are you thinking of well, what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Well, it it's been over eight years now. Um so I'm hoping that maybe um, you know, in the near future one of my other board members will step in and and take over.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Um you know, more how many people do you have on your board?

SPEAKER_04 25:33

Um there are eight of us right now.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Okay, that's a good number. Yeah, yeah. So what's it been like? Do you feel like it's been pulling teeth, or do you feel like you've had a surprisingly positive response to the things you wanted to get done? Not everybody I have learned in life just immediately share your vision, uh whatever it is. But did you feel like you know you put the call out and people just showed up, or what do you like, what's it been like?

SPEAKER_04 26:04

Are are you talking about as far as getting volunteers?

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Getting volunteers, getting people who share your vision, people who are currently on your board or have been on your board and might carry it forward, you know.

SPEAKER_04 26:16

Right. Well, um community sport has been, you know, great, especially since, you know, the beautify the bluegrass contest, um, which you know was a complete shock to us.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

Okay, tell us about that.

SPEAKER_04 26:29

Um so I had been wanting to enter that for a couple of years. Um so when they f finished the clock tower, I thought, well, you know, this is a good year to do that. And um we were selected as one of the five finalists. So I'm like, oh, this is really cool, you know. We we already won, you know, one of the five finalists. Um so we have to go to Louisville, and of course the the Capitol is closed for renovation, so the ceremony was held at the Chamber of Commerce in Frankfurt. So that's where we went for um the presentation, and you know, we're up against these large everybody's larger than us, larger communities. Um, one of them had like 750 volunteers on one of their projects. I'm like, there's no way we're gonna win. Um, absolutely no way. And when they called our name out as the winner, I'm I'm like, it didn't register to me. I'm just sitting there. And when it finally did register, I look over and my former vice president sitting beside me, bawling her eyes out. So I'm like, don't look at her anymore. And then Tammy, um, you know, our secretary beautiful is trying to pull me out of my chair, and then they shoved me in front of the microphone, and I'm like, oh my god, I had no nothing to say. Um I had no idea other than what you know was in the video. I had no idea what I said up there because it was complete shock. I think they recorded it. Yeah, I just I told everybody there's no way we're gonna win. You know, there's too many other volunteers on these other projects. Um so you know, it was such a blessing for us to be up there. Uh and it was validation, I think, for all of the hard work of our board members uh who poured their heart and souls in into this project for you know three years. So um it was pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Yeah. Validation is the exact word I was thinking. You're you your volunteers need it, but it it kind of um um confirms your vision and that you weren't it wasn't just some wild-eyed, wild-eyed scheme. And um, but go back a little bit. Were there I'm not exactly how to ask sure how to ask this, but were there some episodes on this journey that were particularly challenging? Like were did you piss off uh enough people or anybody that Oh sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

Sure, sure. Um, you know, you're gonna have you're gonna have always people who um there, you know, I think there was a group of people who fought us the whole way. Um this is stupid, you're spending too much money, um, you know, one thing after another. Um and we took a lot of um heat for that. Um but it you know we also had a lot of support along the way. So, and again, you know, we tried from the beginning to to do the right right, do it the right way, do what the community wanted, you know, with all of those community meetings and um surveys that we did, we were trying to do to go in the right direction, what the majority wanted, and we were trying to do a good thing. Um so um, you know, we just you know, um you get if you don't have tough skin, you you you're gonna you're gonna grow it.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

So yeah, that's right. That's right. Um I assume one of your hopes is that your efforts will uh spur individuals, private individuals. And you have also, as we mentioned, you've put your money where your mouth is. You have maintained your family home, which is right on the main drag, and you're maintaining it. It's a beautiful place, and you've done good work on it.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:17

And um I assume your hope is and maybe there are some other examples where some in where some private individuals have done that, have kind of followed suit. But I assume that's also just your general hope that that this is gonna get a ball rolling and then other people are gonna pick up the right, right.

SPEAKER_04 30:35

That was the hope from the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Right.

SPEAKER_04 30:36

So um, and you know, we have seen, you know, a few other improvements through town and and hope to see, you know, keep seeing more. Um one of the um one of the things that I did, I guess it was a couple of years ago, um, was when uh the I was looking at the space in our senior center. Uh I just want to give a shout out to Jamie about this because she Jamie. Uh Jamie Collins, who is the library director. Um there was a space in the senior center uh in Loretto and that wasn't getting getting used, and there were books on the shelves, and there was books there were books and boxes and books everywhere, and I'm like, um, it was just a wasted space. Um so I called Jamie and I'm like, can you come down and look at this and see if there's something you can do with this? So Jamie came down to Loretta and looked at it, and she could have said, No way, this is a mess, you know, I don't want to have anything to do with this. But um she brought in uh, you know, a couple of her library employees and they they had to go through literally thousands of books.

SPEAKER_00 31:43

I don't know about Where did the books come from? Where were they originally from?

SPEAKER_04 31:45

I think they were originally donations because that was supposed to be a library in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

Um It was supposed to be uh its own library or an off or a satellite of this library, the Marion County Public.

SPEAKER_04 31:57

I was I have I don't know. The public administrator in at Lincoln Trail who worked on that grant. Um I had spoken to her multiple times and she was a little disappointed that it that it hadn't been.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

It kind of peered out.

SPEAKER_04 32:08

Yeah, yeah. So um so I mean that was a big job in itself just going through the books because you know there were they were full of mouse droppings, and I remember Sanding t Sandy telling me that she found a chicken bone in one of them. I'm like, was that a bookmark or what is that?

SPEAKER_00 32:25

A voodoo ritual, I'm thinking.

SPEAKER_04 32:27

But uh but in just a matter of months, um Jamie and her staff had completely um reimagined that space, and you know now it's it's a wonderful library. So um so thank you, Jamie, for all of that hard work, Sandy and and the other employees at the at the library.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Wow. And so I do they have who staffs it? Does this library, American Public Library staff?

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:53

Well that's not because there's been talk for years about doing that. I can remember it was the one of the planks of uh a guy that is no longer on fiscal court, but it was ran at one time said, I want to see a library branch in Loreto.

SPEAKER_04 33:06

And maybe that's what kind of got it started, and then it's well yeah, I think the the original grant um to renovate that building uh down there was was what um was when that came into being. Um and now they're um unicorps with Dr. Sims, there there's a medical clinic, free medical clinic.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Um Right, talk about that. I just met him recently. Tell me about this guy.

SPEAKER_04 33:28

So um Dr. Sims is a um military veteran. Uh he also had his own practice, which he retired from, I believe. And um he he came into the city council meeting one uh I guess it was a few years ago, um try I guess trying to find out if there was any space available for him to offer his services free of charge. Um so you know, he it's pretty awesome and you uh he's not you know you don't have to be from Loretta or even Marion County to use this free clinic. You can be from anywhere. Um but uh so to have that um you know service available for you know people who don't have insurance or don't have good insurance or uh it's pretty awesome. Of course, you know there's only so many things he can do there. He can't do like x-rays or any of that down there.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

Right, right. But uh So it's kind of like a free urgent care center or something, clinic.

SPEAKER_04 34:31

Sort of.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

How often is he there? How often is it open?

SPEAKER_04 34:34

Uh he is open on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, I think from eight to eleven thirty or noon, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Mm-hmm. So he uh he's his clinic runs in the same building as the library.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

Okay. Correct. All right. Wow. And who owns that building now?

SPEAKER_04 34:50

Uh the the city owns it. Um the city was able to get the grant for that. And the the basement uh part of the reason I think for that grant is the basement is a storm shelter.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Oh. Yeah. So okay, very good. Uh maybe he sounds like somebody we should bring on the podcast. I just made myself a note. Um, yeah, we'll work on that. Dr. Sims, if you're out there, we're coming to get you. Um so uh the other thing is uh there's some some banking activity has happened there as US Bank has flown the coupe. Uh People's Bank is moving in.

unknown 35:27

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

And then just the other day I saw that Farmers National Bank had put in a branch out there. Kind of a drive-thru.

SPEAKER_04 35:33

It it's like an uh I think it's an ITV though.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

IT right. Right, right. ITM or something in intelligent, whatever. Which it really tested my intelligence the first couple times I tried to use the one here in town, you know. But I'm starting to get the hang of it. Uh so yeah, that's that's that's pretty positive. What would you say what is the official roughly population of Loretto?

SPEAKER_04 35:58

I think in the in the 2020 census, I think it was like 723. Okay. Uh within the city limits. Uh that's not everybody with our zip code, but that's the city limits.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Right, right. But I'm assuming like these banks are seeing Loreto as the center of some kind of I guess you'd call it like a catchment area, like folks who are in Manton, folks who are in Holy Cross, or St. Francis, and maybe even Ray Wick will come there. Okay. All right. Is there anything else you want to say to me, Diane? Is there anything I've uh failed to ask about? Is there anything that you're currently ruminate ruminating on that you'd like to talk about or you haven't mentioned the Preservation Society of Marion County. I mentioned it two or three times already.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

You haven't mentioned that you are you are the president and you are doing a wonderful job in trying to I did fail to mention the wonderful job I'm doing.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

You're right. Thank you for reminding me. People, you wouldn't believe the wonderful job I'm doing with this thing. No, um I'm I look at your organization as kind of a model and an inspiration for what we're trying to do. You've been doing it longer, but we want to countywide um yeah, people have heard a little bit about this. I have talked about this uh a little bit, but um, you know, uh change the atmosphere and appreciation of our built historic environment. That makes sense. And um, you know, you all have done some really tangible things, and um if um if we could do a little bit of what you've done, I'd be fair be pretty pleased. But you know, I felt like as soon as we kind of got put the call out, we've had people that just have been showing up for the meetings ever since, and we're two and a half years or I don't know how long going. And I'm always kind of amazed when we have a meeting and people just show up.

SPEAKER_04 37:54

Yeah, there's quite a few members now.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

There are quite a few, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:57

Yeah, yeah, so it's doing very well.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:59

People people are very um very interested in historic preservation.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

I think so. I think so. And we've got some things going. We've applied for uh some funding from the state legislature, and I haven't heard no yet, so maybe I should check my email. So but uh uh so we're still hopeful about that. But uh this you know, we're hoping that we can uh get something positive done with the old courthouse. And um, so anyway. Well, thank you for mentioning that, and thank you for being um our faithful and dutiful treasurer of the Preservation Society. Um all right, was there anything else? Anything else I you think I'm doing a wonderful job at that you'd like to talk about?

SPEAKER_04 38:43

No, I'm sure there's more. I'm at least.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

There's got to be. I should bring my wife Wendy into this. She could probably just we might have to have a two-parter, you know.

SPEAKER_04 38:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

For all my wonderfulness.

SPEAKER_04 38:54

Yeah. It might take that long.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

It just might. It just might. Yeah. Well, listen, um thank you very much for coming. I really appreciate what you're doing, and I appreciate your being involved in our preservation group and what you're doing in Loreto. And um I'm gonna I hope this wasn't too painful.

SPEAKER_04 39:11

Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 39:13

Yes, yes. And if there's anything else you have going on that you'd like to come back on and talk about, like some specific project or some such, or uh you're always welcome.

SPEAKER_04 39:23

So Well, we do have a couple of events coming up. Well let's I'd like to mention those.

SPEAKER_00 39:28

Please.

SPEAKER_04 39:28

Um we are working with uh Mervin Smith at the uh Loretta Lumber and Hardware on another car show, this uh cruise in specifically. The big cruise in on May the 30th uh in Loretto. Um and we are uh working with him possibly maybe having another one in the fall.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

And what will that be like? Obviously everybody knows a cruise in. People bring their interesting and old and antique cars in.

SPEAKER_04 39:52

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Um we did we worked with uh Mervyn last year on the first one, um, which was a huge success. Um, you know, we thought, oh, you know, 40, 50 cars show up. You know, we had more than twice that many show up. Really? Yeah, it it was huge. It was it very successful.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

Now where did you hold it?

SPEAKER_04 40:10

Uh at the Loretta Park. Um so the car is parked inside the big ball field.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

Oh, okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

Gotcha. Yeah, yeah, that's neat. So we're doing that again on May the 30th. Uh then on September the twelfth, I believe it is. It's on a Saturday, we are um bringing our Patriot Day ceremony back. Beautiful Loretta's doing that, uh hosting that. Um we had one um in 2021 and 2022 or 22. We skipped the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Um but this weren't very you weren't feeling very patriotic?

SPEAKER_04 40:45

No, that's not it.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

This is the 25th anniversary of 9-11, so we wanted to bring it back this year.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Okay. Um and describe it, what is it?

SPEAKER_04 40:55

Um it's basically a 9-11 remembrance ceremony, um, you know, kind of like the ones you'll see on TV or um um our Loretta Fire Department is involved. We're actually having it um inside the Loretta Fire Department this year, which is worked out great the last time we had it. Um so the Loretta Fire Department is involved, um, the honor guard is involved. Hopefully, we can get JROTC out there again. Yeah, um, we honor um Adam Hughes, um who who um was lost in Iraq in 2005, and Anthony Rakes. And of course, we will honor Brian Hatt um add him you know to the unfortunate list of of honorees this year. But um we are very uh proud to have the ceremony and we hope that people will will join us for I reckon they will.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Any other events on your agenda right now?

SPEAKER_04 41:56

Let's see. Um Of course there'll be the fireworks show uh in August. Okay. Um and now why are they having that in August?

SPEAKER_00 42:04

They used to have it on the fourth, right?

SPEAKER_04 42:06

Um that's that's under the City of Loreto. Um I I wasn't I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

And you're the kind of person who minds her own business and doesn't sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 42:17

Uh yeah, I'm not exactly sure. The city of Loretta, um, of course, um Josh Ballard um is um the the main person who manages that. So I don't I don't recall the reason why they changed that.

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Um it's if anybody hasn't gone, it's remarkable. It is we did not go this past year, but we've gone, I don't know, I had five times probably. It's like you if you think you're gonna see some rinky dink fireworks show, you're you know, you're mistaken.

SPEAKER_04 42:48

It's yeah, it's it's um yeah, Josh actually got certified.

SPEAKER_00 42:52

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 42:53

Um so um that'll be in August, and of course the uh St. Francis picnic is in July. Um which it's my understanding has gone down from three days to one day. Um rides. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 43:10

And no rides.

SPEAKER_04 43:12

And no rides um that's weren't able to um get the rides this year, but hopefully that'll change next year.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:21

Um and so uh I think that's all the events I can think of right now. Um but oh the um Loretta Street Fair. Um Nicole Mattingley is actually managing that. Um this one will be the fifth or sixth, I think, time that we've had that. Uh and that is June twenty-seventh, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

Yeah, so I mean there are a lot of events coming up in Loretta. Okay. Of course we know we had Cozy Corner opened back up.

SPEAKER_00 43:51

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_04 43:52

And everybody's loving that.

SPEAKER_00 43:54

Mm-hmm. So I think they're doing very well. We went we made the mistake of going like the first weekend. And it was just I mean the place was slammed. Absolutely crap. I don't know why. I mean and I know better than that. You never go on the when it first opens, but but anyway, but no, it's great. And yeah, that's a big that's a big, big positive for Moretto.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

Yes, it is. Yes it is. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

And they're gonna do live music and stuff as well, right? Right. That's what I thought. Right.

SPEAKER_04 44:19

Right. So that's good.

SPEAKER_00 44:20

Yeah. Go get you a ribeye and bottle of beer and put on your dancing boots and yeah. And boot scoot.

SPEAKER_03 44:28

Dancing boots.

SPEAKER_00 44:29

Yeah, that's right. Hey, Diane Mattingley, thank you so much for being here. Uh, we'll get you back sometime. I really appreciate you being here.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

Thank you, James. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

We'll be right back. This is James Spraggins, and this has been mildly amusing.

SPEAKER_01 44:43

Not everyone needs a full-time or even part-time assistant. Sometimes you need help for a few hours, for a week, or once in a blue moon. That's where I come in. I'm your personal assistant for both creative and organizational support. Hi, I'm Amy Osborne of Main Assist. Local, reliable, and here when you need me.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

We're back. This is James Spraggins, and it's been mildly amusing. Um I want to say again thank you so much to our sponsors for this episode, Steve Brady and Donna Mattingley. They are great supporters of this endeavor, but also longtime personal friends of mine, and I'm uh grateful for that friendship, but also for for their interest in mildly amusing. Uh, but I also wanted to um just I'm just gonna lay this out there. There's a lot going on in um uh uh the the parishes of St. Francis Holy Cross. Um I just an hour ago learned that Holy Cross Church is closing. Is that possible? Um that's the first Catholic church west of the Alleghenies. Old granddad's buried in the cemetery, I think. Uh I mean that just can't be, but I understand it was announced uh in church. Um so we got, you know, just kind of a lot of things, temperatures maybe slightly uh rising um in the St. Francis Holy Cross community, and uh some of it, maybe a lot of it, having to do with um changes in this year's St. Francis picnic. But anyway, so I just wanted to put out there, if anybody, I I've been trying to find someone who might like to come on and talk about it. Maybe even multiple people. Um so if you would be one of those interested people or know someone, reach out to us on uh the mildly amusing Facebook page, send us a message, and um we'll talk. And maybe you'd like to come on and and give us your point of view on it and help to educate us on what all the heck is going on there. Um anyway, thank you all so much for listening. Thanks again, Steve and Donna, and uh we hope you'll come back next week for another episode of Mildly Amusing.