Willard R. White gained some notoriety in Indiana, despite the rather mundane job that he had as a winder of the great towering clock in the top of the Marshall County Courthouse. It was, in part, because of the skill it took to wind that old clock as a one-armed man.
Mr. White's arm was amputated some time before he accepted the job as custodian of the Marshall County Courthouse in the 1930s. Willard spent some time out west before moving back to Marshall County, after marrying his wife, Bertha, in 1915 in Missouri. In 1920, he was employed as a book dealer. In 1930, he hired himself out for odd jobs, common during the Great Depression. The couple, who never had children, lived with her widowed mother on South Sixth Street. Bertha died in 1940 at 53, leaving Willard classified as a widower on 1940 census. His job was listed as "custodian-county courthouse".
A newspaper in Edinburgh, Indiana thought the story interesting enough to run an article about Willard in 1944. The article states that he climbed the 75' tower weekly to wind the huge four-faced clock that sets the time for Plymouth. This required 150 revolutions of a 2-foot long iron crank, then another 150 revolutions on the striking spring. Mr. White lived only a few years more, dying in 1948 at 67 years of age. The couple's final resting place is Oakhill Cemetery on the south side of Plymouth. Is anyone in Marshall County familiar with this story?
The next time I'm in the tower, you can bet I'll think of Willard White.
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