Edward F. Amond  

Edward "Eddie" Francis Amond Birth: 21 Jun 1931 Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio Death: 14 Jan 2009 - Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana Burial - (Creamated) son of Francis "Frank" E. Amond and Emma Marie Kuhn

Amond, Edward F.
January 16, 2009

Edward F. Amond 77, of Indianapolis, passed away January 14, 2009. He was a realtor for many years. Edward was an active skier and dancer. Survivors include his children, Doug (Susie) Amond and Kim Amond- Wright; sister Joanne (Dan) Kennedy; former wife, Shirley Drews Amond; two grandchildren; and a great granddaughter. Friends may call from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday, January 17, at G. H. Herrmann Madison Avenue Funeral Home, 5141 Madison Avenue. Memorial contributions may be made to: Quest for Excellence. 2051 N. College Ave., Indianapolis, Indiana, 46202. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Culver , Indiana. Online condolences may be shared with the family at: www. ghherrmann. com - indystar.com


Life of fun-loving child of the Maxinkuckee will be celebrated this month
Thursday, 11 June 2009 By Jeff Kenney Citizen editor
When Eddie Amond passed away this past January 14 at the age of 78, one of the most direct links was lost to one of Culver and Lake Maxinkuckee’s most beloved and cherished icons, the Maxinkuckee tour boat, which -- as many Culverites will recall – ferried countless thousands of visitors and locals around the beauties of the lake for more than three decades (see article this issue).

Amond’s daughter, Kim Amond Wright of Culver , noting her father “died in the middle of a blizzard,” knew he wouldn’t have wanted his life celebrated in the depths of winter at the place he treasured the most, Lake Maxinkuckee. So Kim Amond Wright and her family are planning what they intend to be a gala celebration of his life Saturday, June 27, beginning from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bonine-Odom funeral home in Culver and continuing in a most fitting locale: Culver ’s town park, from 1 p.m. “until whenever,” she smiles. The hope, she adds, is to parade from the funeral home down Lake Shore Drive to the park with a band and jubilant crowd of her father’s friends, family, acquaintances, and any and all who care to come along.

“He wanted a party,” Amond Wright says of the planned “celebration of life.” As those who knew him can attest, Eddie Amond mixed hard work with an exuberant love of fun, especially during his Lake Maxinkuckee days.

Eddie was the son of Frank and Emma Amond who owned the 5 & 10 cent store on Main Street during their early years in Culver. Frank’s real love was the lake and he wanted to be on it. Frank became the longtime captain of the Maxinkuckee boat in 1941, which he’d purchased two months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Eddie was just ten years old.

Young Eddie attended school in Culver, peppering his teenage years with a boys’ dream of parties and fun lived atop the waves of the lake befriended by the young men summering around the lake and instructors at Culver Academies’ summer school, recalls Eddie’s former wife, Shirley. “They had a cabin cruiser called the Funster,” she says. “I think that’s where the parties started. And they had Chris Crafts (wooden speedboats).”

Amond earned a business degree at St. Joseph College before returning to Culver and meeting his future wife Shirley Drews, then a hostess at the Culver Inn; the two were married June 10, 1961. Along the way, says Kim Amond Wright, her father Eddie was disappointed when his childhood polio prevented him from serving in the Korean War. He swam frequently and lifted weights to prevent muscle deterioration and deformities, even swimming across the lake at least once.

Eddie and his father, along with a Florida-based partner, formed Gold Coast Industries, through which Frank Amond manufactured Awnings by Amond, which Eddie sold and installed, recalls Shirley. The business, which for a time included a downtown storefront on the east side of South Main Street, operated for about a decade ending around 1970, During this time Eddie, Shirley, and children Kim and Doug were living at 802 Lake Shore Drive overlooking the town park.

This was a convenient location. Recalls Shirley, “Eddie and I were in the park every Sunday to help. I sold tickets and Eddie drove one of the speedboats. By that time Eddie’s mom had had several strokes and was no longer able to work in the business.

Besides the Maxinkuckee boat, in earlier days the Amonds’ operation – which launched from a pier just west of the town park swimming pier – included a fleet of Chris Crafts, the “Shark Speed Boats.”

“Everybody would ask for Eddie’s mother (to drive the Chris Craft),” notes Shirley, alluding to the breakneck pace at which Emma Amond piloted the boats. “She was a real thriller! Of course Eddie was driving some, too.”

Eddie Amond was active, says Kim, in the Plymouth Country Club as well as the Maxinkuckee Yacht Club. He remained active in the summertime even after he and Shirley moved to Indianapolis in 1970 so she could pursue her rising career in special education (retired today, she is chairman of the board for Indianapolis’ School for the Blind). Eddie became involved in real estate there.

He was also instrumental, recalls Shirley, in bringing the Jaycees to Culver , an organization whose impact locally was massive despite its nonexistence here today. There, Eddie worked closely with well-known local names like Ron Tusing and Latham Lawson. Besides active involvement in the South Bend Toastmasters, Eddie was also “very much into politics, even at that stage in Culver ,” notes Shirley.

“We did a lot of campaigning with Doc Bowen and some of the fellows running for the federal level Senate and Legislature. He really enjoyed that aspect of his life, even after we moved to Indianapolis.”

Through the years, in addition to involvement in Indianapolis in skiing and dancing clubs, Eddie Amond continued to visit Lake Maxinkuckee, even after the Maxinkuckee tour boat was dry docked one last time in 1976. Frank Amond was too ill to pilot it anymore and the demand for cruises on it diminished as American entertainment and travel altered. Frank Amond passed away July 31, 1983 at his daughter’s homein Florida where he lived for his last couple of years with Dan and Joanne Kennedy and family.

The stories live on, and are recalled with fondness by the Amond family. Stories like the time Eddie “borrowed” Culver ’s Lake Patrol boat as a young man and turned the siren on while approaching the Funster boat with his sister on it. Or cruising the lake with musicians playing onboard (as often was the case) and hearing a trumpet player on the shore who was immediately asked onboard to add to the fun. Shirley recalls a night when John Cleveland, piloting the Maxinkuckee, threw it in reverse to escape skinny dippers in front of them… or the time the east shore pier went down with a number of couples – having just exited the Maxinkuckee – on it. “Of course the women were screaming,” says Shirley, “and all these guys who probably should not have been jumping overboard were jumping in (to save them), and the water turned out to be only up to their knees! I am sure there are many more stories that Eddie’s friends could tell. Hopefully we will hear some more of them as we celebrate his life.”

“Eddie just loved Culver and loved the lake,” says Shirley. “Every chance he had he’d be there…he was an interesting guy, and he loved to have fun.”

Kim Amond Wright concurs. “Culver and Lake Maxinkuckee was (Eddie’s) whole life. He loved it here. He was big fish in a little pond here and like a lot of us, I think he felt comfortable here. A lot of people think this place is magical, and he was one of them.”

married June 10, 1961 Culver, Marshall County, Indiana Shirley Jonny Drews Birth 27 Mar 1935 La Porte, La Porte County, Indiana Death 14 Jul 2024 Culver, Marshall County, Indiana Burial Washington Township Cemetery Ober, Starke County, Indiana, divorced married 1st 1954 James Edmund Tucker daughter of Theodore Cecil "Ted" Drews and Edna Gertrude Hacker

Shirley Amond, 89, passed away unexpectedly in her home on July 14, 2024, in Culver.

Born on March 27, 1935, in LaPorte, Shirley was the daughter of Ted and Edna (Hacker) Drews.

Shirley graduated from Knox High School in 1953. She attended Ball State University Teacher College, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Valparaiso University and a Master of Arts Degree from Western
Michigan University.

Shirley turned down an offer to become a flight attendant and devoted her life to education, specifically the education of special needs children.

She started as an elementary teacher in Culver and Knox, where she challenged her students to become fearless. She then became Director of the newly formed Marshall-Starke Development Center. She was Director of the Jesse Special Education Co-op, Director of Johnson County Special Services and Director of West Central Joint Services. Shirley was appointed to the Board of the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired by then Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon.

Shirley was a fierce woman who fought for autism awareness, mainstreaming children with special needs, and fighting for their rights by lobbying the State and Federal Congress by telegram, phone calls or in person. She pushed past the glass ceiling and became a leader in her field.

She also made time to volunteer for CARA (Championship Auto Racing Auxiliary) and the Eiteljorg Museum. She was an avid art collector.

Shirley was married to James E Tucker from Knox and was widowed after four years.

She lost her fiancé, John Smith, to a train accident.

She then married Edward Amond, who preceded her in death.

Shirley was a fevered fan of The Indianapolis Colts, collegiate teams Notre Dame & IU and lndyCar Racing. She enjoyed having her own antique booth for 20 years and researching family genealogy.

All in all, she was one bad-ass woman and a true inspiration. She beat all odds and remained independent until she left us.

Shirley was generous and kind to a fault and will be deeply missed by those whose lives she touched.

She is survived by her daughter Kim Amond-Wright and son, Douglas Drew (Susie) Amond, her adored and beloved grandchildren, Nicole Hester and Christopher (Ashley Smith) Amond, beloved nieces and nephews to whom she was the fun aunt, Ginny & Jim Ingle, Brooks (Casey), Katie (John) Hendon and Erin (Travis) Young, Jim Drews II, Mary Kate, Bryce and Will, John & Robyn Drews- Patrick, Peyton and Missy & Jeff Wilcox, Andrew (Sarah), Clara and Joe Baby, the special joy in her life, her great-grandchildren: Al, Aspyn, & Alexander Hester and Preslee, Lilly, Amiyah, Adelina & Cordelia Amond who lovingly called her Grandma Dede.

She is also survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Jim & Colleen Drews and her Frenchie, Annie.

A visitation will be held at the Odom Funeral Home, Culver, on Sunday, July 21, 2024, from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. and funeral services will be held at the funeral home on Monday, July 22, 2024 at 11 a.m.

Burial will follow at Washington Township Cemetery.

Memorial Contributions can be made in her memory to Marshall-Starke Development Center, 1901 Pidco Drive, Plymouth IN 46563.

Condolences may be sent via the obituary page at www. odomfuneralhome. net.

The Odom Funeral Home, Culver, is honored to be caring for the family.

Edward F. Amond and Shirley Drew had:

Douglas Drew Amond married Susan Louise Luedeman

Kimberly "Kim" Kay Amond married Michael John Wright son of Colin John Hughson Wright & Thelma Grace Davis