Fredericktown Vietnam veteran receives high school diploma:
https://www.knoxpages.com/thrive/fredericktown-vietnam-veteran-receives-high-school-diploma/article_edbdc45a-1dc0-52fb-b684-76534504293c.html
James C. Bradshaw Sr.:
https://www.richlandsource.com/obituaries/james-c-bradshaw-sr/article_b4ae0bda-804d-11ec-a88f-57821f838580.html
Local boutique owner, Dakota Warfield, shares how she became addicted to fashion and how she persevered to launch her new store… called “Addicted Boutique” in Mansfield.
Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Dakota Warfield is emerging from the pandemic as a new business owner. Launching the business this past September has also helped the single mother from Chicago, face and overcome some of her deepest fears about providing for her family and herself. Dakota has been on her own since she was 12.
Addicted Boutique, housed at suite 702, inside of the Richland Mall, also known as She Addicted Boutique on the Internet, is her new boutique. And with a welcoming demeanor and a warm smile, she explained to us how her enterprise started from very humble beginnings.
Dakota has two middle school children and decided to take responsibility for another child who was being removed from child services. She told us that her work schedule was so demanding. She didn’t know what it was like to have to get a babysitter so everything was really crazy. So she took another job in the hopes of securing a more convenient schedule that would allow her to care for the infant which had been placed in her care.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out and she was let go from her new job within a month. She thought her world was coming to an end. Warfield said she didn’t know what to do, but she knew she had to quickly make adjustments. So long story short, she invested in a lot of Christmas onesies. Then, when Christmas clothes sold out, she invested in New Year’s clothing. Dakota said all of those items then sold out too. So she took that money along with her income tax refund and invested it all into her business.
But then, closures from the pandemic began to hit. She needed to make sure her kids were taken care of so she went to Chicago and sold clothes out of her car. She was clearing at least $1,000 a day. Nonetheless, Dakota began to tire of the grind.
So she explored how to sell more online. She began analyzing her analytics and checking for the best days and times to maximize posting online. Digging into her analytics and she was able to determine which days of the week had the most sales and in which geographic region.
And the strategy worked. She went from struggling to make $700 in a month to making about $6,000 a month online. And she didn’t have to leave the house, she was with her kids. She did about $8,000 in May and $11,000 in June.
By August, she was doing about $20,000. And once she started doing $20,000, she outgrew the house. Dakota ended up choosing to open a store in the Mall in the space formerly occupied by Bath and Body Works.
Now, customers are greeted by walls lined with jackets and coats, shoes, and boots, and lots of other merchandise.
Ashland’s Robert Fulton was a key figure in railroad history
Next, some local history. Did you know that future newspaper publisher, Robert Fulton, was born in Ashland in 1847? He was a railroad land agent and newspaper publisher in Reno, Nevada.
He taught himself how to use a telegraph and then became a telegraph operator and conductor for railroads in Ohio and Minnesota. In 1874 he moved to California to be a train dispatcher.
Fulton became a land agent for the Central Pacific Railroad responsible for transactions from Colfax, California, to Ogden, Utah and then switched gears becoming owner, editor and publisher of the Reno Evening Gazette.
Bellville’s Vietnam veteran earns high school diploma
Next, from KnoxPages. Albert Beyer never imagined he’d get his high school diploma. The Vietnam veteran enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps before completing his senior year. While his classmates went to senior prom and graduation, Beyer was serving overseas.
He eventually got his G.E.D., but never experienced the milestone moment of a commencement ceremony.
More than 50 years after he was supposed to graduate, Beyer finally got his diploma earlier this month during a surprise ceremony. Beyer’s wife, Dayna, heard about veterans with similar stories being awarded their diplomas years later.
So she reached out to Fox Chapel Area High School in Pittsburgh, where her husband attended high school. Twenty four family members and friends traveled to Pennsylvania for Al’s graduation, but Dayna and the school kept the ruse going until the very last minute.
Beyer got a standing ovation from the crowd as he made his way up to the podium to say a few words. As he looked out into the audience, he started to see his friends and fellow personnel from the American Legion. Even his own kids had managed to sneak in and sit behind him.
Beyer served in the Marine Corps from 1968 to 1978. He spent two years in Vietnam and was later stationed in Hawaii, where he and Dayna met. Today, he and Dayna are active members of the American Legion.
Both serve as historians for the organization. Al was a member of the Honor Guard from 2012 to 2019 and came up with the Bellville flag program, a Lion’s Club fundraiser that places American flags at homes across Bellville during patriotic holidays.
Al also continues to mentor younger veterans through the American Legion, providing the support he didn’t get as a returning Vietnam veteran.
James Bradshaw Sr.
Finally, we’d like to take a moment to remember James Bradshaw Sr. of Mansfield.
James was born in Kentucky in 1945. James made his family his number one priority and loved taking care of them. He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather. You could often find James in his garage working on his cars or the cars of other people.
He was proud of his 1965 Ford truck that he restored and loved to be busy… in the winter he plowed snow and in the summer he enjoyed mowing his grass. He loved riding on his motorcycles and going to turkey shoots.
He is survived by his wife of 55 years, his children, his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, his brothers, his sisters, his sister-in-law, and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family wishes to thank all of their friends who have sent prayers, food, and helped during this difficult time. Thank you for taking a moment with us to remember and celebrate James’s life.
