A Note of Thanks
Reflections of Ruth Burnett - Denise Deig
Annual Meeting a Success
ILPA Outreach
CILTI would like to thank the following people for their help in the Burnett Woods dedication April 19, 1998: the Light and Life Free Methodist Church and Rev. Michael Courtney for the generous use of their Sanctuary and Reception Hall; the musicians, David Dreyer and Mike Mattei, respectively, for their beautiful flute and guitar music before and after the ceremony; and the members of the Hendricks County Open Space Conservancy for providing refreshments following the ceremony.
A thank you goes out to CILTI board members and naturalists Tom Swinford and ]effrey Maddox for leading the guided tour through the woods. We also thank Mary Wollitz-Dooley for the keepsake of the woods, Kelly Spangler for the recognition-of-appreciation plaque, and Sandy Sharp for the corsage, each made for Ruth. Finally we thank all those who donated to the Burnett Woods project. The contributions of all of these people made the dedication a memorable success.While walking in Burnett Woods after the dedication on April 16, 1998, 1 began talking with Susan Brown a neighbor who lives close to the Preserve. She stated that she was surprised at the low turnout at the dedication. I was a little shocked by this assessment because I thought the nearly 100 people who had gathered to dedicate the new Nature Preserve was an excellent show of support. I asked Susan why she expected more people and she began to tell me that Ruth Burnett, the donor of the woods, was somewhat famous in the town of Avon. She began to tell me a little about Ruth's life, which sparked an interest in finding out more about this remarkable woman. I had the pleasure of spending a rainy June afternoon with Ruth and her son Jesse in an effort to find out about Ruth's life and interests. She turns out to be quite a storyteller, so here are some highlights of our visit.
Ruth was born on September 26, 1902 on a bluff of the Wabash River in the small town of Merom, Indiana. Her father was a medical doctor but chose to become a Methodist minister because, according to Ruth, "He thought there was more wrong with people's souls than their bodies." She was the second child with her sister being born in 1899. As a young child, Ruth and her family lived in many small towns in southern Indiana including French Lick, Poseyville, Shelburn, and Jasonville as her father moved from church to church with his ministry. She was one of the few survivors of smallpox as a child, which shows the strength she would carry into her adulthood. At age 12, the family moved to the west side of Indianapolis. She attended Shortridge High School and graduated in 1920. She then attended Union Christian College in Merom which relatives on her mother's side had founded. Ruth attended the college for one year, then it closed. She later went on to complete her Bachelor of Liberal Arts and Master of Science in Education at Butler University. Ruth also studied botany and learned the native flora and fauna in North Carolina where she has a second home. Ruth married Jesse Burnett on July 23, 1924. Jesse Sr. was a grocer of a family-owned store on McCarty Street in Indianapolis. In 1925, Ruth was the winner of a National Essay Contest sponsored by the movie industry when she wrote about "What the Movies Mean to Me." She and Jesse won a cruise trip around the world as a prize. For four months, from November 1925 until February 1926, they traveled together on the Loyal Belgenland Cruise Line. This excerpt from her diary of the trip written on Saturday, December 19, 1925, from Hilo, Hawaii reveals her attunement to nature and writing abilities which would come to shape her life.We were driven along an exquisite roadway, cut through russet rocks and hung with the swaying fronds of thousands of ferns. But the wonder of the ferns grew upon us when we walked through the fern forest. Acres of tree ferns, moist and with scarcely the flutter of a bird or the hum of an insect to break the warm silence.After this first success with the written word, Ruth became an author. She wrote 15 to 20 novels which she calls family romance with titles such as, The Necklace of Peril, Stranger in an Enchanted World, and The Secret of Thundermyer House. She also co-authored the Childhood of Famous Americans Series with Hortense Myers. These six volumes may soon be republished. Ruth taught at Edgewood Grade School in Indianapolis before she married and also taught English in Florida after her husband's death in 1950. When I asked Ruth when she became a writer she stated, "Oh I suppose a person is a writer from the cradle on, if they are so inclined." In 1927, when she and her husband were both 25 years old, they purchased the land which became the Burnett farm. The property was originally 180 forested acres which was a quarter section deeded in a Land Grant to a Veteran of the War of 1812. The original deed was signed by Andrew Jackson. The house, built in 1836, is of historical significance. Ruth says that Jesse Sr. wanted to farm but knew nothing about farming. They mostly sharecropped the land and raised livestock including cattle. When Ruth and Jesse Sr. moved into their place 71 years ago, their house was on a narrow gravel road with only a filling station down the way. Ruth still lives with her two cats in the old homestead, which is just off Highway 36, now a major thoroughfare. In 1939, the Burnett's purchased the property now known as Burnett Woods. For the past 30 years, the woods has been in the DNR's Classified Forest Program. 1 asked Ruth when she decided to preserve the woods and she said she always knew that she wanted to keep the land as it is. She was unclear as to how to preserve it until she learned about land trust options and CILTI. When I thanked Ruth for her generosity in preserving Burnett Woods she said, "1 am a firm believer that you hold nothing in your hands except that which you give away." Ruth gave birth to four sons. Her oldest son, Griffith, born in 1925, died at age 18 from pneumonia. Her second son, Franklin, was born in 1932. He has three children and currently lives in Greenwood. Her third son, Jeff, was born in 1939, but only lived one day due to a blood abnormality. Her fourth son, Jesse, was also born in 1939, and lives with his wife next door to Ruth. Jesse taught English at Ben Davis Jr. High School. He has five children and is every bit as lively and inspiring as his mother. When I asked about his mother's relationship with nature he began to quote William Cullen Bryant's Thanatopsis, "To him who in the love of Nature holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various language; for his gayer hours she has a voice of gladness, and a smile and eloquence of beauty..." Jesse said he had thought about using this quote during the Burnett Woods Nature Preserve dedication so with these words we find a place to close. The Burnetts are indeed remarkable people, offering us a unique link between the past and future. We acknowledge their contribution knowing Burnett Woods Nature Preserve will be a living testimony for generations to come.
Saturday, May 16th was a picture perfect spring day for our meeting at the Garden House on Butler University Campus. Carolyn McNagney, the Executive Director of ACRES Land Trust in Northeast Indiana, gave a most informative presentation on successes and failures in land trust operation. Her scope of knowledge should prove to be very helpful as CILTI continues to grow and face challenges similar to those ACRES has already addressed in its long history as a land trust. Tom Swinford's talk and slides on Indiana ecosystems were both informational and entertaining. Thank you Carolyn and Tom! Also, a big thank you goes out to Dr. Rebecca Dolan, Director of the Friesner Herbarium at Butler University, for making the local arrangements and her informational tour of the Butler Prairie.
The Indiana Land Protection Alliance, a consortium of land trusts in Indiana of which CILTI is a member, arranged for Stephen Small, a Boston tax attorney, to present at the Midwest Estate, Tax & Business Planning Institute in Indianapolis, June 18-19, 1998. Mr Small's background includes experience as an attorney-advisor in the Office of Chief Council of the Internal Revenue Service, and currently advises landowners on federal income and estate tax planning to help preserve valued family land. He is author of The Federal Tax Law of Conservation Easements and Preserving Family Lands. His talk "Preserving Family Lands - Succession Planning for the Landowner" was aimed at educating Indiana tax and estate lawyers as a support system for assisting landowners with strategies for land preservation for present and future generations. The goal of the ILPA was to make this legal community aware of the presence of the land trusts within the state and of their ability to assist in the process of land protection. CILTI participated in the information booth and evening reception, which is an extension of our outreach mission.