By Felix Hoover

For YourNewsColumbus.com

Posted 06-15-09

 

 

A community picnic and a home and garden tour were among the diverse ways in which Hilltoppers celebrated their West Side heritage this weekend.

 

Several of the events were presented by the Hilltop Reunion Committee, which held a banquet Friday, a picnic Saturday and a worship service Sunday. The banquet and the worship service were at the J. Ashburn Jr. Youth Center on Clarendon Avenue, and the picnic, at Westgate Park

 

Each gathering provided a chance for folks to reminisce and catch up on what's happening in the lives of people they grew up with.

 

The banquet included scholarship presentations to five recent high school grads and honors for five adults whose contributions to society have reflected favorably on the Hilltop.

 

The recipients of $500 scholarships were:

Shantr'e Deloach, Briggs High School, University of Toledo, Early Childhood Education.

Mark Payne Jr., West High School, Ohio State University, Business Management or Accounting.

Karisha Sutton, Briggs High School, University of Toledo, majoring in biology.

ShaJuan Grace, Central Crossing High School, Findlay University. Finance or Business Management.

Ivana Darice Payne, Gahanna Lincoln High School, Hampton University, Five-year MBA Program.

 

Reflections on good and challenging times on the West Side peppered remarks by and about this year's adult honorees. Plaques were presented to:

 

Patricia Ann Carr Stevens -- Mother of five children and master pianist, who "gives back to the community, and more importantly, to God."

 

Annette Jefferson -- Block Watch leader, actress who portrays Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman.

 

Rachel Ashburn Mallory -- Director of Therapy, Heinzerling Developmental Center; board member, J. Ashburn Jr. Youth Center.

 

Those honored posthumously were: Rosa Carter Foster -- Teacher. Regarded as first black woman from Hilltop to graduate in Education from Ohio State Unversity.

 

Daniel Herschel "Boone" Long -- Boy Scout leader, Deacon at Oakley and St. Thomas Baptist churches, worked with children at Ashburn Center.

 

Long's widow, June, accepted the honor on his behalf; Mary Glascor accepted for her sister Rosa Carter Foster.

 

HOME TOUR

 

About 400 people for the inaugural Hilltop Home & Garden Tour, which took place on Sunday along the streets of Westgate.

 

:We did very well for a first-year tour," said Liza A. Grazier of Friends of Westgate Park, one of the tour's three sponsorsing groups. The others are Friends of the Hilltop and the Westgate Neighbors Association. Organizers hope to take the tour to other West Side areas in the future, she said.

 

Maps with directions to the 12 houses on the tour were available on the grounds of the Westgate Masonic Lodge on W. Broad Street.

 

"I'm so glad this tour was so well attended, it was definitely worthwhile," said JoAnn James, one of the homeowners on the tour.

 

When she moved to the Hilltop in 1965 she started with roses that would be lost in the garden she has developed through the years.

 

Neighbors can expect to see her working on the yard four to five hours daily if it's not raining.

 

James has attended the established annual tour in German Village and says that Westgate "has nothing to be ashamed of."