Growing up in the North Lawn Avenue neighborhood in the 1950s-60s
For more information about "Bluffton Anthology" click here.
Alice DeVier played a significant role with the kids in our North Lawn Avenue-Jackson Street neighborhood in the 1950s and 1960s.
These included families with last names of DeVier, Steiner, Wilch, Augsburger, Westrick and Amstutz.
She was a psychiatrist, banker, warden, maker of popcorn and funeral director. We neighborhood kids buried more birds, rabbits, squirrels, dogs and cats in the DeVier and Steiner yards under her direction than I can begin to count.
Let me tell you about the DeVier backyard. It was a perfect croquet, baseball and football field. The boundary on one side was Alice’s clothes line.
The other boundary was the reason the kids in our neighborhood were never constipated. It was Alice and Francis’ green grape arbor. We could never tell when the grapes weren’t ripe. They were always green. So, we ate them all the time.
This is a sample of the content of "Bluffton Anthology - A creek runs through it." Copies are now available for $24.95 plus tax in Bluffton at:
• Roots by Strattons
• The Food Store
• The Black Lab
• Bluffton Senior Citizens Center
• The Dough Hook
• Polished
Stories Posted This Week
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
- Local students on ONU's Spring 2026 Dean's List
- Sardines swamp Ada Gators in opening swim meet
- NWS heat advisory for June 10
- Agenda for June 11 Orange Twp Trustees meeting
- Public meetings schedule for Village of Bluffton, June 10-29
- Local teen documents Ohio sightings of steam locomotive Big Boy
- Open House at remodeled Bluffton EMS station
- Unforgettable: Marvel Stratton Hilty
- Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis speaks at Bluffton Public Library
- Bus trips with Debbie announced by Senior Center
Monday, June 8, 2026
Sunday, June 7, 2026
Saturday, June 6, 2026
Friday, June 5, 2026
- Stay tuned for Pirate action at OHSSA state track and field coverage
- Ada Icon headlines, June 5
- Wheeler graduates from Ohio Bankers League Bank Leadership Institute
- Ellerbrock awarded Lima Memorial Nursing Alumnae Scholarship
- Pirate speedsters Wright and Miller each advance to 2 state finals
- Golfers, sponsors invited to support American Legion fundraiser
- Letter: Alternatives to Village mosquito fogging