Mr. Bish was born near Carroll County, Maryland and hails from one of the old families of that state, founded in America by his great grand-father. Noah decided after his early school years to move to the Montgomery County area where he was employed on a farm for three seasons. He married Sarah C. Clemmer on November 11, 1869 and had three children: George William, Susan Adie and Ray Clemmer.
A year following his marriage, Mr. Bish purchased forty acres of land in Perry Township, there carrying on general farming from 1870 until 1884. He then went to Dayton and invested in a stock of groceries, opening a store. From the beginning he prospered in his commercial pursuits and developed a successful store with a large patronage. Admitting his son to a partnership, the business was continued under the name N.T. Bish & Son.
Noah T. Bish died on October 5, 1922 at the age of 79. He is located in Section 101 Lot 2533.
Woodland Cemetery, founded in 1841, is one of the nation’s five oldest rural garden cemeteries and a unique cultural, botanical and educational resource in the heart of Dayton, Ohio as you will see as you read through this new MostMetro.com series. Visit the cemetery and arboretum and take one of the many tours Woodland offers free of charge. Most of Dayton’s aviation heroes, inventors and business barons are buried at Woodland.
Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is located at 118 Woodland Avenue off of Brown Street near the UD Campus. The Woodland Office is open Monday through Friday 8 am to 5 pm and Saturday 8 am to 12 pm. The Cemetery and Arboretum are open daily from 8 am to 6 pm. The Mausoleum is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. For more information, call 937-228-3221 or visit the Woodland website.
The dog symbolizes loyalty, fidelity, watchfulness and vigilance.
Nothing is more cringe inducing when you are in the middle of conversation about projects and activities at the ideation stage either at work or in the community, when the voices of caution and timidity start chiming in; “that seems risky” or “I don’t know if the community will support this?” and my all-time favorite “that’s now how we do things here.” Internally the risk takers are screaming, but often we cannot get upset with the messenger, they usually deliver this cautiousness in an earnest knowing way; as if risky projects are initiated all the time in this mid-size city and they are unmitigated disasters. With no overwhelming evidence of high risk successes or consequentially spectacular epic failures I would say that these comments deserve to be banished, especially at the ideation phase.
In the new book “Thank you for Being Late” Thomas Friedman talks about us living in an age of rapid accelerations, a world in which societal progress, technological advancements are happening at speeds that exceed the grasp of imagination, much less our capacity to deal with them. As the rapid progress (Dayton’s version) is occurring in our city, we have to acknowledge and accept that we are still behind other cities of a comparative size. If every city in the world, and this is a global competition, is reaching for the same sort of civic projects and rebranding, then old tropes, lack of imagination and fear cannot be the starting point for any conversation or dialogue or path forward in developing our city. We all hear a lot of talk about our rich inventive history, our vibrant art scene, but scant talk about what this will look like in the future. Forecasting or visioning a stellar future requires huge imaginative leaps of faith and intellectual curiosity.
This conversation to me underscores the need for dreaming about big and extraordinary things. That we need to be redirecting our energies towards the future, or we will be in a perpetual state of catching up to rapidly accelerating societal forces. We need to envision what will Dayton be in 2050.
Which begs the question; what are the new global economic realities on the horizon and beyond? How do we make Dayton adaptable and edgy enough to be receptive to these possibilities? It can no longer be a conversation about retention of talent but also a parallel track of attracting talent, fresh blood and new ideas. New ideas that might be so radical that they scare us or whose impact cannot be readily ascertainable. Ideas that are not safe or cautious. We have to live on that edge or we are doomed to be just taking up space.
“We need to make this country welcoming to all enterprising, energetic, and ambitious people. This is the biggest no-brainer in the world.” – Richard Florida
One such example of the boldness of inclusion is Hamilton the musical. Going beyond the spectacle and privilege of attending live theatre, how the subject of the founding of our nation and one its chief architects was presented by a multi-cultural and ethnic cast and crew with the intention of changing the lens of viewership speaks to that audacity. Yes, it was clever in its use of rap as a vehicle to tell this dynamic story, the bigger story was the intentionality of the inclusion and diversity. When it comes to our urban core (which we call Dayton) that kind of intentionality has to come into effect. I applaud when it occurs, however the omnipresent flipside to this progress is tokenism.
Tokenism can very be debilitating to the civic engagement process as the flip side to the lack of inclusion. Tokenism hinders and binds us to an even greater extent than the lack of inclusion. It can create a false sense of progress. It becomes a tricky and complicated situation in these civic meetings and socially uncomfortable, when it becomes painfully and unappealingly obvious that it is occurring. I am willing to acknowledge that personal discomfort not out of a need to avoid this particular social landmine, but out of a need to detonate it, in order to move forward. When we detonate this particular landmine, the blast will leave a lasting impression, an acquired social knowingness, that stings, hurts, shreds and decimates personal barriers and biases in this massive polemic we call “Race.” There will blood, but I also believe there will be the freedom of release and healing.
next wave of progress must involve immigrants and other ethnicities being engaged in the decision making process and actually getting the job done. Going back to my Sci-Fi Nerd Star Trek reference lower your shields. Do not ask me how to begin this process, I am not in possession of a magic road map to the minefield of “Race.” You as leaders and activists have to chart your own paths and bravely take the first step. Trust yourself to screw it up and be honest and verbal about it, take the hits. Yes, it will feel inorganic and messy at first, but over time you will get the hang of it. If you stay still and take no action, progress will pass you by.
