[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]

Miami Valley Communications Council: J.V. Stone Flag Pole Dedication Ceremony

Transcript