Photos From Sammy Davis Book Signing

Here are a few photos from last Friday's (June 3, 2016) book signing with Sammy L. Davis, Mooresville High School graduate (class of 1966) and recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Click the images to enlarge.

  Dixie Davis & Sammy L. Davis

L to R:  Dixie Davis, Susan Haynes, David Reddick, Diane Huerkamp, and Sammy L. Davis

Dixie and Sammy Davis have each written books that are available to checkout from our Evergreen Indiana catalog.  Click here and here.

In the photo above, Susan Haynes is the communications director for Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation, which hosted Sammy Davis' speech last Friday evening at his alma mater, Mooresville High School.  David Reddick is Morgan County bicentennial celebration chairperson, and Diane Huerkamp is MPL executive director.

Meet Sammy Lee Davis at MPL

Meet Mooresville High School graduate (class of 1966) and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Sammy Lee Davis on Friday, June 3, 2016 from 2-4 p.m. in the MPL Community Room.

Sammy L. Davis in Vietnam (circa 1967)

Sammy L. Davis in Vietnam (circa 1967)

Sammy L. Davis (right) in Vietnam (circa 1967)

Sammy L. Davis receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor

from President Lyndon B. Johnson (1968)

Sammy Lee Davis (Famous Mooresvillian)

Sammy Lee Davis moved to Waverly, Indiana from California following his junior year to attend Mooresville High School (graduated MHS Class of 1966). After enlisting in the U.S. Army, he distinguished himself in combat service in Vietnam and, on November 19, 1968, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson (see the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Monday, November 25, 1968, pp. 1611-12, 1614). Davis has an autobiography available to checkout from our Evergreen Indiana catalog.

Click book cover (above) to go to our online catalog

Sergeant Sammy L. Davis, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient (1968)

President Lyndon Baines Johnson  (far right) awards the Congressional Medal of Honor to (L to R): Gary G. Wetzel, Dwight H. Johnson, Sammy L. Davis, James Allen Taylor, and Angelo J. Liteky (November 19, 1968)

Samuel Moore Parkway (Old State Road 67)

Recently I saw a street sign at Old State Road 67 and Indianapolis Road in Mooresville, Indiana, which announced that I was driving along Samuel Moore Parkway. Historically, this was State Road 67 (now, "old" because the "new" S.R. 67 bypass had been opened in 1959 and became dual lane south of Mooresville in 1964-65). "Old" 67 entered town, not surprisingly, as it still does, becoming Main Street and running up to the Indiana Street intersection, when the "old" state road turned left and moved south toward Brooklyn and Martinsville.

This was the main artery moving traffic through and into Mooresville. According to the local newspaper, last July (2010) the Mooresville Town Council voted not to rename Old S.R. 67 as Samuel Moore Parkway. The article says "Sammy Moore Parkway," which may be accurate as far as the council's discussion was concerned, but nobody familiar with the town founder would have called him Sammy. "There was nothing Sammy about Samuel Moore," concluded Wanda Potts, Mooresville historian and Indiana Room Librarian at Mooresville Public Library (1966-2002). Now, Sammy is a fine nickname (just ask my daughter), and I think it quite descriptive of some famous, courageous Mooresvillians (e.g., Sammy L. Davis, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient), but it is too informal to capture the austerity, formality, and reservation of Samuel Moore.

Renaming the old stretch of state highway after the town founder makes sense. Moore platted the village in 1824, and the town bearing his name still expresses the mark he made on its geography, business development, social structure, growth, and historical significance. The first frame construction business was Moore's general store, which stood where Hadley mini-park is located today. The heart of Mooresville was Samuel Moore; therefore, it seems logical to rename the original heart of the town's transportation network, Old S.R. 67 (before it joins Indianapolis Road), after him.

There is, of course, the perfectly valid argument that "Old 67" is so entrenched in the public consciousness that renaming it would be more symbolic than practicable. There, too, is considerable history behind the old state road designation, and this should not be lightly discarded.

Perhaps I missed mention in the Mooresville-Decatur Times of the renaming in the latter half of last year, but if it were done, it is certainly a welcome historical tribute to a man whose vision launched the town many of us call "home."



SOURCES:

Blevins, Aaron. "Old Ind. 67 stays Old Ind. 67 for now," Mooresville-Decatur Times, July 10, 2010, p. A1.

"Rd 67 dual lane set for 1964-65," The [Mooresville] Times, March 7, 1963.

"Rd. 67 bypass ribbon cutting at Rd. 144 cross scheduled today," The [Mooresville] Times, Dec. 10, 1959, p. 1.

FAMOUS MOORESVILLIANS

Click the names below to learn more about these famous Mooresvillians.  Also visit Mooresville Public Library's website.

• LEON ADLER
• RUTH ELLEN COMER
• SAMMY LEE DAVIS
• JOHN DILLINGER
• GEORGE H. FIELDS
• CLIFFORD C. FURNAS
• PAUL HADLEY
• BOBBY HELMS
• REV. DR. FRANK CLAUDE HUSTON
• ROBERT INDIANA
• FRANK INN
• SAMUEL MOORE, FOUNDER OF MOORESVILLE
• JULIA D. NELSON
• ARTHUR C. NEWBY
• JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
• AMOS RUSIE
• CLIFTON WHEELER