The Old Townie: Bringing folksy back to Oxford
Longtime Oxford resident Steve Schnabl reminisces on the city's past and what brings the community together in his biweekly column, The Old Townie.
Welcome to the Oxford Free Press. I was an Oxford Press subscriber even before I moved to Oxford, and I have missed being able to know more about what’s happening and who’s happening Uptown and around town. Local business news, more about our governance in the city and the surrounding townships, and, yes, obituaries. I missed “folksy.”
As an old townie, I am not claiming to be a lifetime townie, but I have now been living here for more than half my 72 years. I moved to Butler County at the age of three when my dad became a music teacher in Middletown. My earliest memories of Oxford were of my mom and me waiting under the shade of the Old Water Tower as my dad’s band was part of Miami’s Band Day parade. But so many of my classmates were coming to Miami, I made a personal resolution to find a good, smaller school further away from home as a step toward adulthood and independence. Of course, 3.2 beer was also a real turn-off — read more about that in my next column.
I recall that my resolution was so intense that I vowed never to come to Miami or even to Oxford.
Little did I know.
First job after college was in northern Ohio, and then Kalamazoo for about a year-and-a-half before getting fired and returning to Middletown. New job there in an entirely new field brought me to Oxford early on to attend a three-Saturday training program to become a telephone counselor at Oxford’s 1970’s suicide, crisis and drug hotline, Together. The first session, a beautiful woman was our trainer, and I got hit by lightning.
I successfully passed the final test, a role-play where I was the phone counselor with a seasoned volunteer playing an LSD-taking caller on a bad trip. I passed and got invited to the Together year-end staff party. First kiss with the trainer that night led to our marriage within the year.
At that time, I also became the step-parent to a Stewart Junior High student, and two students attending McGuffey School on Miami’s campus. Eventually I became a die-hard Talawanda Brave fan following my three steps’ various activities. That was later reinforced when my two grandsons attended Talawanda and have now graduated.
My goal with this column is to reminisce about the past and its relationship to the present, to reconnect us to locals who have had, or are having, an impact on our lives locally, to have some fun, and finally to express some of my opinions to increase discussions of our evolving community.
I welcome your feedback and suggestions at fsschnabl@gmail.com. I’ll see you back here every other week with The Old Townie.
Steve Schnabl moved to Oxford in 1985. He retired in 2023 from Oxford Seniors, after a 40 year career directing nonprofits.
