{"id":171663,"date":"2023-10-23T03:44:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T08:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=171663"},"modified":"2023-10-24T04:03:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T09:03:12","slug":"middle-point-exhibit-helps-bring-back-treasured-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/10\/23\/middle-point-exhibit-helps-bring-back-treasured-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhibit brings back treasured memories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MIDDLE POINT \u2013 It was a weekend filled with many good memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCelebrating the Past of Middle Point\u201d was held Saturday and Sunday at the Middle Point Community Building and it was a well attended event and for many, an emotional event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retrospective art exhibit featured painted and sketched works by native son Eugene White, including scenes from the Middle Point area and its culture from the 1930\u2019s to the 1960\u2019s. Along with White\u2019s works, village residents shared other forms of various memorabilia, including old photographs. It was organized by White\u2019s daughter, Annie White Bixler, and Toni Wisher, who lives in White\u2019s former home in the village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Toni Wisher (left) and Annie Bixler are pictured at one of Celebrating the Past of Middle Point. To the left of Bixler is a painting of her mother, Ann, and her brother Bruce. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The two struck up a friendship during a visit by Bixler, who wanted to see if any murals painted by her father were still in the home. At the time, it was believed the murals were gone but that changed about six months later. Wisher was removing the paneling from the bedroom walls when she discovered a large image of the Disney character Pluto, and sent Bixler an email titled \u201cI found Pluto!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery, the exchange of more information and the budding friendship eventually led to Sunday\u2019s exhibit and a flood of memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s meant the world to me because I was so young when lived here and it was only six months out of the year so I didn\u2019t get to know a lot about Middle Point,\u201d Bixler said. \u201cI\u2019ve never Googled so much in my life but I learned a lot and these people are helping a lot with the details.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Selfishly, it\u2019s brought my dad back to me and this wonderful town and I have gotten another best friend in life over the last year, since Toni sent that email that said \u201cI found Pluto,” she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think something I\u2019ve learned in the last couple of days spending time with the White family is that Gene had so many talents,\u201d Wisher said. \u201cHe built some buildings in the community, he built a bar out on Lincoln Highway, and all of the remodeling they did in my house (the former White house) in the early 1900s is really incredible. He had a real passion for art and he was always sketching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnnie at one time had over 800 of his paintings \u2013 he had to be sketching and drawing all the time,\u201d she added. \u201cHe was best known for his paintings of farms in Middle Point, the railroad, the homes, churches as that was really his focus. What we found in my home was a Disney scene of all things and it was painted for the first born grandchild. Eugene had a dream that someday he hoped to be an artist for Walt Disney.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have been other people in the community who he painted Disney paintings for, children\u2019s bedrooms and what not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bixler and Wisher both noted White and another man once built a nativity scene that many people enjoyed over the years. They also said another painting on display helped solve a mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis mom and daughter are looking at this picture and it looked so familiar, then it clicked \u2013 it was their family\u2019s farm,\u201d Wisher said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy cousins owned that painting and he just brought it over to share,\u201d Bixler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credit was also given to Lynn Stoffel for helping to organize the weekend event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor MIDDLE POINT \u2013 It was a weekend filled with many good memories. \u201cCelebrating the Past of Middle Point\u201d was held Saturday and Sunday at the Middle Point Community Building and it was a well attended event and for many, an emotional event. The retrospective art exhibit featured painted and sketched works by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-08 00:38:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171663"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171760,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171663\/revisions\/171760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}