Shelby County Today

May 20, 2015 -  (More Photos) Walter "Buster" Bounds was honored by the Shelby County Historical Commission when the title of Town Historian was bestowed upon him on Thursday, May 14, 2015 in the courtroom of the Historic Courthouse. He is only the second Town Historian to be named; the first being Mattie Dellinger.

Prior to presenting Bounds with a plaque, Shelby County Historical Commission president, Colleen Doggett said, "Buster [Bounds] is being honored even though he is very humble and he says he doesn't know all that much about the history and doesn't know why he would be honored in this way. But he is a humble person. I've never gone to Buster and asked for information or help with something that the answer is always yes, it's never no."

Doggett addressed the large crowd in attendance at the Historic Courthouse, "We're here to honor someone who from high school days has been preserving history." Doggett referenced an interview she had with Bounds, "Buster told me a story about his high school days when he was the editor of the yearbook and he had access to all the class pictures and everything. So, he carried them home to work on and he didn't take them back up to school which turned out to be a good thing because the next year the school burned down. So, see he started preserving history when he was about 18."

Morris Bounds, Buster’s father, started at the insurance agency in 1965 dividing his time between insurance and managing Lunsford Buick Company. The Bounds family also raised chickens in the old days before Shelby County converted to modern broiler houses. His cousin H. B. “Bob” Bounds ran the Bounds Processing Plant located behind the old ice house from 1946 well into the 1950s and processed the first batch of chickens for Mr. Cordray that brought the modern growing methods to Shelby County. Buster is the third child of three children and the only boy. During his youth the family lived on Pecan Street which isn't far from the square allowing him to be able to walk all over the town and be observant of what was happening. He met his wife, Carolyn Bounds, after accepting a teaching job at Ottawa Township High School in Ottawa, Illinois. After marrying, the couple moved back to Center and began running the insurance agency.

"Now before I knew Buster very well, I would see him around town with his video camera doing a school play out at Shelbyville and this and that. It didn't matter. He's been to Garden Club, Reading Club, for different programs for filming." She continued to say, "What is really wonderful; people know that Buster has served as the chairman of the Historical Commission and they'll drop things by and he has a wonderful long filing closet that the first time I saw it it was stacked almost to the ceiling with old maps and this and that." Doggett referenced when she needed something for research he knew exactly where to find it.

"When you have family stories write them down; listen to the people. When you have family photographs and there in a frame or whatever put a little envelope on the back that tells who all the people were and what the occasion was for that picture to be made," explained Doggett was good advice Bounds gave many times at historic cemetery dedications.

His video archive includes interviews with people telling the history of the area, events, ribbon cuttings, reunions, celebrations, birthday parties, band and choir concerts, parades, piano recitals, awards ceremonies, ground breaking, open houses, plays, weddings, funerals, honorees, book reviews, weather events, changes in the business community, flower shows, demonstrations, dedications, and the list goes on and on.

Bounds wanted to express a word or two as he unfolded a speech bringing chuckles and smiles from the audience, "Surprises are greatly overrated and I would like to say a word or two but I'll talk fast." "I did want to thank the members of the Historical Commission. I am truly humbled to be designated town historian and I will not take the responsibility lightly, I promise.

"My contribution to the collective wisdom will be different from what the past Town Historian, Mattie Dellinger, collected and passed on to us. Mattie passed down a written legacy of her detailed insights into our community and the families that we call this place 'home.' There will never be anyone, Dixie [Dellinger], never anyone like Mattie. She and her brand of collective wisdom are greatly missed. You can find all her newspaper articles in the museum in one book.

"I shouldn’t tell this - I tried to out-Mattie Mattie once. I decided I was going to challenge her with a story about Rebie Childs who was convicted of murder in the 1930s and she spent her time while in Huntsville singing with a popular vocal group on the radio. Mattie listened to be sure I didn't know anything new about the Rebie Childs and she responded with kindness, “Yes, Rebie and I were in the same Sunday School class and I never trusted her.” And, to finish with a slam-dunk -- honest truth -- Town Historians don’t lie; she fished around in her purse and found a yellowed copy of the front page of the Light Champion filled with pictures and details about Rebie’s trial. Mattie and her memories are truly missed. There will never be another Mattie Dellinger.

"My contribution is though a new medium – a medium that is tricky to collect and very tricky to preserve and use. It is the medium of video. In the past few years I’ve collected over 14 TB of video and audio files which represents roughly 1,400 hours of filming.

"It is depressing to realize that I’ve stored more video than anyone will ever see -- or want to see. Few of my projects have a commercial value but my hope is that they will have a legacy value for 'our people.'

"Today we have an opportunity, everybody has a video camera or a cell phone, or whatever it is they are using and commercial value is not the only gauge for success. I’m still collecting at the rate of around 3 TB per year and as cameras upgrade – a certainty – that number could easily double. And before my lights and microphones get switched off, I hope to have tamed all this information into a searchable database that actually can be used. That may be the hardest part.

"Again, thanks for honoring me and my work with this designation. I can’t think of anything more satisfying than to be told that my work is important to the community I love and I love you all."

Following the plaque presentation and the speech, everyone was invited to enjoy refreshments in the transportation room downstairs.