[0:00] [Music]
[0:09] good afternoon everyone and thank you
for being here today it's truly an honor
[0:15] for me to stand before you and recognize
and honor J V stone who devoted many
[0:21] years of his life to public service as a
member of the set interval City Council
[0:25] for more than 30 years and serving as
mayor from 1980 to 1984 during his time
[0:32] on city council J V also served for 16
years as Representative what was then
[0:38] referred to as the Miami Valley cable
council JB's last term on Centerville
[0:42] council and communication council ended
in December 1999 and sadly passed away
[0:50] in August of 2007 I was talking to to
Scott earlier and I said since they
[0:56] purchased this building in 1990 I've
probably been through those doors 200
[1:01] times and 200 times I said to myself why
does this building not have a flag and
[1:07] so when I became executive director
shortly after the first of the year I
[1:11] posed that question to the staff here
and they said well you know we've talked
[1:16] about it any number of times but nothing
ever happened when you walk through the
[1:22] doors there there's a hutch and there is
a a plaque on it and the plaque has
[1:27] jayvees name on it since he was the
chair of the building committee when the
[1:31] building was purchased in 1990 that
along with love for his country and the
[1:37] fact that he had a flagpole installed in
the front yard of his Centerville home
[1:41] many years ago in the hopes that others
in the community would follow suit got
[1:45] me to thinking that it would be very
appropriate for this building to have a
[1:50] flagpole in his memory to recognize the
many hours he devoted to MVCC business
[1:56] so today we are here to honor J V and
witnessed the presentation and raising
[2:02] of the flag of our country
here to give the invocation today is
[2:07] pastor Harvey Smith pastor Smith moved
to this area in 1965 and spent seven
[2:13] years at Normandy United Methodist
Church besides his pastoral duties
[2:17] pastor Smith has been very involved in
the community affairs having served one
[2:22] term on Centreville school board 23
years on the Centreville washington
[2:27] township park board was a founding
member of the Centerville Rotary Club
[2:31] and is currently on the board of
trustees of the United Theological
[2:36] Seminary here in Dayton
coincidentally when I called pastor
[2:41] Smith and asked him to speak he says oh
I knew JV very well he and I were very
[2:46] good friends so that would that warmed
meet to hear that he knew JV so with
[2:52] that as an introduction pastor Smith I
[2:58] appreciated jayvees sense of humor as I
said to the family a little bit ago
[3:04] he he wasn't to somebody who had a dour
face or anything like that at all he was
[3:11] always
ready for our joke or ready for a happy
[3:15] time and I appreciated that so much
about him we did work together in this
[3:21] community I as I said I moved to here
and 65 and met him shortly thereafter
[3:29] let us pray
eternal and everlasting God we thank you
[3:35] for this community for this day in which
we celebrate j:v stone for his life
[3:44] for his activities for his
concern for this community for his
[3:50] willingness to serve many many years
[3:55] we know that JV is with you now
but we are grateful for his life and for
[4:02] all that he has done for this community
and and for us as individuals bless us
[4:07] now as we honor him even though he is
not here we believe he knows that this
[4:15] is happening bless us now through this
service we pray it in Jesus name Amen
[4:24] we have a number of distinguished guests
with us today and let me start with the
[4:29] matriarch of the stone family jayvees
wife Elnora Lauren JV were married for
[4:36] 15 nine years and moved to Centerville
in 1964 when JV began his private law
[4:42] practice at a very spry ninety-five
years young Elnora still resides in that
[4:48] same home on New England Avenue javion
Eleanor's three children are here today
[4:54] Sharma stone
Jeff stone Scott stone and Scott is
[5:00] joined by his wife Mary Ann son Sean and
I'll say a few words about Sean a little
[5:06] later on
granddaughter Jodie Roscoe
[5:10] barks not here yet
great-grandchildren Maddie and Ryan
[5:16] granddaughter Ashley stone and
great-grandson Julianne a
[5:22] Cubs fan
[5:26] from the MVCC board our is our
chairperson Joanne Ralph who also
[5:32] happens to be Centerville City Council
member
[5:37] representing the cities we have Wayne
Davis city manager from from Centerville
[5:43] and noir plops my former boss city
manager VOC wood was kind enough to join
[5:50] us today as well the
reading today is to be done by Sharma
[5:57] stone and it's our flag by Margaret
Sangster Sharma
[6:03] hi everybody this is very appropriate if
you knew my father he loved the flag we
[6:10] do have a pole in our front yards it's
almost this big
[6:13] so this is the poem he would have loved
if he had known about it I don't he
[6:18] never showed it to us so I don't think
he maybe knew this one it's called our
[6:21] flag fling it from the mast and steeple
symbol or land and sea of the life of a
[6:28] happy people gallant and strong and free
proudly we view its colors flag of the
[6:35] brave and true with the clustered stars
and the steadfast bars the red white and
[6:41] the blue flag of the fearless hearted
flag of the broken chain flag in a day
[6:47] dawn started never too pale or Wayne
dearly we prized its colors with the
[6:54] heaven light breaking through the
clustered stars and the steadfast bars
[6:58] the red the white and the blue
flag of the sturdy Father's flag of the
[7:05] loyal sons beneath its fold it gathers
Earth's best and noblest ones boldly we
[7:12] wave its colors our veins are thrilled
anew by the steadfast bars the clustered
[7:18] stars the red white and the blue now if
he were here he would already be on his
[7:24] feet and probably saluting
thank you
[7:32] thanks sharp it's remarkable in this
area the number of individuals who have
[7:38] devoted a significant portion of their
lives to the honorable work of public
[7:43] service JV did that and our guest
speaker today Centerville mayor Brooks
[7:49] Compton has charted a similar path JV
held Brooks in the highest regard having
[7:55] served with him on Centerville City
Council for 14 years I believe Brooks is
[8:01] completing his 30th year on Centerville
City Council and has served as mayor
[8:06] since 2016 as if he didn't already have
enough meetings to attend since becoming
[8:12] mayor Brooks also sits on the on the
Communications Council and it's nice
[8:18] having him on that board as well with
that Brooks
[8:23] well thank you I'm honored to be here
and talk just a couple minutes about JD
[8:28] stone find it interesting JV also served
as the chair of the building committee
[8:32] for what is now restoration Church of
Center Bell but was Centreville United
[8:35] Methodist Church and the addition he was
in charge of I I know he kind of bailed
[8:41] that operation out because one chairman
had to move and JV stepped in and
[8:45] completed that
well JV stone a council member mayor of
[8:49] Centreville and then a council member
again was always an excellent citizen
[8:54] Centreville celebrated its fiftieth
anniversary back in 2018 and for the
[8:59] many thousands had called Centerville
home during the first 50 years and those
[9:03] who call Centreville home today we owe a
great deal to those that got the city of
[9:07] Centreville off to a great start senator
voted not be the place today were not
[9:13] for those who did all of the early and
really hard work required of committed
[9:17] local council members and volunteers to
take a community from a village to a
[9:21] city and put in place the standards by
which that City would operate many
[9:26] volunteered to help set the tone for how
a small City could develop and prosper
[9:30] and become today the successful city
that Centreville is when one looks back
[9:35] one will without question see the JV
stone who we honor today was one of
[9:41] those individuals who got the city off
to a great start a
[9:45] 1968 JV stone became a member of
Centreville Council and served the
[9:49] Centreville council from 1968 through
2000 Centreville was lucky to have his
[9:55] leadership during those 32 years and he
was instrumental in taking Centreville
[9:59] from a village to a successful city
JV served as a council member starting
[10:05] in 1968 until 1978 when he was elected
mayor JV served four years as mayor and
[10:11] returned to Council where he served an
additional 16 or 17 years
[10:16] JV served in so many capacities as Jay
mentioned for the city of San Terrell he
[10:21] was president of the mayors and Managers
Association he was director of senior
[10:25] zinc he was a delegate to the Miami
Valley Regional Planning Commission
[10:29] delegate to the National League of
Cities and chairman of what we now call
[10:33] Miami Valley communications Council
which was then Miami Valley cable
[10:37] council JV as Jay mentioned was
instrumental in establishing for what
[10:42] has been a tremendously an effective
successful Council of Governments
[10:47] I do know that JV would be pleased to
see under Joanne's leadership and Jays
[10:51] leadership that if he was here in person
but I'm certain he's looking down upon
[10:56] us today sees what Miami Valley
Communications Council has accomplished
[11:01] over these many years and would be of a
strong supporter particularly pleased
[11:05] with what has become the fiber optic
network for Miami Valley Communications
[11:09] Council cooperated by all members of
this Council of Governments I
[11:14] think we all could go on for
significantly more time than JV stone
[11:18] would be comfortable having us do so
about a successful career as a tenure as
[11:23] a mayor and council but I'd like to tell
just three quick stories which I believe
[11:27] tell us a lot about who JV stone was as
the public person
[11:31] first I had a lot of contact with JV
when he was running for judge in 1983
[11:37] and I was this young kid running for
Centreville Council he was nothing but
[11:41] helpful and supportive and helped me be
successful and after I was elected I
[11:45] talked to him several times about what
it meant to be a council member and he
[11:49] assisted and that greatly but that's not
the real story JV ran for judge and was
[11:54] unsuccessful and he did not run from a
protected seat as mayor and thus he had
[12:00] to give up the mayor's position when he
decided to run to be a judge of the
[12:04] Kenner Municipal Court so at the start
of 1984 JV stone one of the premier
[12:10] public servants in our area was no
longer a mayor there was no longer a
[12:15] council member or a judge but more than
a little luck then hit the city of
[12:19] Centerville
fortunately in January in 1984 at my
[12:25] very first meeting as an elected council
member and newly elected Shirley Hines
[12:29] first meeting as mayor one of our
council members abruptly resigned their
[12:34] position as council member but then five
minutes it was moved and seconded that
[12:39] JV stone be asked to fill the open
position within 10 minutes she had been
[12:44] contacted by phone and thankfully for
all of us he accepted and was back on
[12:48] Council serving Centreville with about a
week or two absence as a member of
[12:52] Centreville City Council the tremendous
personal and legal skills that the
[12:58] judiciary missed out on without judge JB
stone Centreville were certainly
[13:03] received ten times over with JB stone is
a council member on Centreville City
[13:08] Council although I doubt that JV would
believe it to be the case or agree with
[13:13] me I do believe that there was a little
divine intervention with all exceptions
[13:17] of Pastor Smith who stepped in and
restored JV stone is a member of
[13:21] Centreville council for all that was
ahead for the city recognising the need
[13:25] and importance of his leadership
JV stone was absolutely a statesman in
[13:31] this environment and I've never seen a
better example of statesmanship than
[13:35] what I witnessed of the interaction
between JV and mayor Hinds Shirley being
[13:39] the brand new mayor serving with the old
mayor JV at no time did JV ever do
[13:45] anything but publicly support mayor
Hinds even though JV had been a net roll
[13:50] just the day before he led by example is
how to work as a team letting his own
[13:55] personal disappointment and not be an
elected judge not to stand in the way of
[14:00] the good work that was going on as the
Centreville council and staff as a team
[14:04] he earned the respect of all of us who
saw him on council and followed him on
[14:09] council he showed us that a team works a
lot better as a team than his seven
[14:14] individuals
secondly JV was a silent collaborative
[14:19] leader in the early 1990s as Scott will
well no and Sharma well-known and mr.
[14:25] stone also Yankee Trace was just a corn
field waiting to be developed or at
[14:30] least some of us on council thought that
was to be the case a solid plan was put
[14:34] together to purchase an X and develop
the land into a public asset many in the
[14:40] community doubted that it could be
accomplished or as some said it would
[14:44] take Centreville into bankruptcy and
some entities fought it for years in the
[14:48] courts but JV stone was adamant in a
support of the project
[14:52] we met many many Saturday mornings and I
remember him comment he many times to
[14:57] all of us and to me personally about the
naysayers of that project and telling us
[15:02] in meetings and privately that we were
all in it together and if we stuck
[15:06] together would be a successful project
we did and it is a successful project
[15:10] his leadership in support of the city
leadership crucial to the success of
[15:16] yankee trace and the outstanding
development that it is today and third
[15:20] as I know the stone family will
acknowledge JV loved dessert
[15:26] Mayer Heinz thought it'd be a good idea
one one year to take a retreat out of
[15:30] the city so we all went to Houston woods
where counsel would meet on Friday
[15:33] before dinner we would work through
dinner and we'd have dinner and spend
[15:38] the night and finish work on Saturday
morning knowing jayvees love of dessert
[15:43] we made arrangements to have a special
dessert for JV stone when dessert
[15:48] arrived all of the rest of us there that
day had a small scoop of ice cream with
[15:53] just a little bit of chocolate sauce on
it JV got nothing
[15:57] there was about four or five minutes
later that out came the chef from the
[16:04] Houston woods bringing a bowl of about
ten scoops of ice cream loaded with more
[16:08] chocolate than any of us had combined on
our ice cream set it in front of JV we
[16:15] all expect to JV dental a flirt he
didn't flinch and one bit got out of
[16:20] spoon started right into that massive
bowl of ice cream and chocolate not
[16:24] saying a word we were all confident when
JV saw lemons he knew he could turn him
[16:30] into lemonade and he would not ask why
he would just simply enjoy that it was
[16:34] lemonade we all enjoyed that story he
finally acknowledged it but he got
[16:38] through about five scoops of ice cream
before but I know he loved ice cream
[16:42] very much and finally when you walk into
the center of a municipal building
[16:45] there's a sign above the council
chambers which says the JV stone council
[16:50] chambers there's not much more you can
say than that to the respect that this
[16:53] community has for JV and all that has
have served with them I was personally
[16:58] fortunate to be on council to work with
such a quality gentleman and public
[17:02] service and learned so much from him
when people look back and ask who made
[17:07] Centreville such a successful City they
want us to surely see the name of JB
[17:12] stone among those few names
it's an honor to be here on behalf of
[17:17] those members of council he served with
the former and current staff of the city
[17:22] of Centreville in the past current and
future residents of Centreville to help
[17:27] dedicate this flagpole in the name of a
truly outstanding public servant JB
[17:31] Stone am honored to be here for this
well-deserved honor 4jv thank you very
[17:36] much
[17:39] Thank You Brooks
our next speaker is Scott stone Scott
[17:46] followed in his father's footsteps into
the practice of law and had an
[17:50] opportunity to practice with his dad for
10 years Scott still has an active law
[17:56] practice in the area and one of his two
sons Shaun who is with us today is
[18:02] currently enrolled in Capitol
University's School of Law so I'm sure
[18:07] javi is a very proud of that
in the interest of full disclosure as
[18:12] most of you know Scott is my cousin he's
my golfing buddy and I consider him and
[18:19] his brother Jeff to be the two brothers
I never had Scott
[18:25] good afternoon everyone if you notice
when I came up here despite the heat I
[18:30] put on my jacket I did this because dad
never went anywhere in a public forum
[18:36] without wearing a jacket so in respect
for him I put it on
[18:42] I am missing thank you point that out
Sharma
[18:46] I'm the baby of the family although I
received notification from my insurance
[18:51] company today that a neither's start
thinking about Medicare so I give you
[18:55] some idea the age group you're dealing
with but we wanted to take this
[18:59] opportunity on behalf of our family to
extend our deep appreciation
[19:05] it's the Miami Valley communications
counsel and J for making this dedication
[19:10] possible you know you've heard a little
bit about dad and and there's no
[19:14] question dad which is simply a flag guy
he loved flags I think he had a little
[19:20] bit of Neil Armstrong in him because
wherever he went he wanted to plant a
[19:23] flag
for example when we would take our trips
[19:29] down to South Carolina for family
vacations
[19:32] we're all getting out of the car we're
in getting unpacked we're getting used
[19:36] to the house now dad's out front
searching for a place to put the flag
[19:41] that he brought all the way from
Centreville and if there wasn't a place
[19:45] to put the flag there was no issue
because he always carried a spare flag
[19:50] holder screws and a screwdriver and in
short order there was a flag flying on
[19:56] the front of every cottage we ever
stayed at in South Carolina he did the
[20:00] same up at a lake house we had up at st.
Mary's all the neighbors would know when
[20:06] dad was and mom were both there because
there were flags flying all over the
[20:11] quarters the first thing he did he got
out he put up the American flag then he
[20:16] got out the Canadian flag then he got
out the German flag these are in honor
[20:21] of senator Mills sister cities then he
put out the Centreville city flag and
[20:26] finally the state of Ohio flag so he was
a little crazy about flags the the one
[20:35] thing that I remember thinking of
yesterday on the anniversary of
[20:39] September 11th and how dad felt about
flags
[20:44] there was there was a commercial it ran
right after that event took place and
[20:48] and some of you might remember this
commercial but what it was is it was a
[20:53] picture of a street
and he looked at this street it was a
[20:58] typical American Street rural houses no
flags
[21:03] the announcer said something the effect
on September 11th the terrorists wanted
[21:08] to change America's attitude forever
it faded out it stayed it back
[21:15] every house had a flag on an
announcer and simply said it worked and
[21:23] dad thought that that was such a
powerful message that the flag conveyed
[21:29] to people and that's how he felt about
it which is which is one of the reasons
[21:34] why he did what he did with flags so we
think this is a tremendous honor for him
[21:41] we appreciate it again extend our thanks
and we appreciate everybody coming out
[21:46] today thank you
[Applause]
[22:05] we are very pleased and honored to have
with us today members of the city of
[22:10] Centreville Police honor guard for the
presentation of the colors and
[22:14] flag-raising while the flag is being
raised please join us in the singing of
[22:19] the national anthem
[23:25] [Music]
[23:39] [Music]
[23:57] [Music]
[24:34] [Music]
[24:58] while everyone is standing please join
me in the Pledge of Allegiance
[25:17] and
[Music]
[25:35] eternal and everlasting God
you have given us many joys many
[25:42] privileges many opportunities of service
we thank you for JV stone whom you sent
[25:49] to us who served us many many years with
great distinction we are grateful for
[25:56] his life and
we pray father that we may emulate the
[26:02] kind of service that he offered to us as
a community
[26:05] bless us each one we pray now in your
Holy Name Amen
[26:14] thank you all for attending that
concludes today's ceremony
[26:19] [Music]
[26:39] [Music]
[26:58] [Music]