Winchester column mourns Jerry Naylor, celebrates Underground Railroad recognition

Winchester's weekly community column opened with condolences for the family of Col. Gerald G. “Jerry” Naylor, who died Friday, April 17, at the Hospice of Hope Inpatient Center in Seaman at age 90.

The notice names Patty Naylor, Myra Rosselot, Randy Rosselot, Tim Naylor, Linda Naylor, Rosemary Young and Dan Naylor among his surviving family members, and it directs memorial contributions to Ohio Valley Hospice of Hope Inpatient Center in Seaman or Bethlehem Church of Christ in Winchester. Naylor was born Nov. 17, 1935, in Highland County, a detail that underscored how many of Winchester's familiar names still reach back through the region's older family lines.

From there, the column shifted to local history with Joyce Porter and Patsy Roberts, who attended a National Park Service Network to Freedom recognition program at the West Union Historical Society. There, a former church building in West Union was recognized for its role on the Underground Railroad. The Network to Freedom, created under the 1998 National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act, recognizes sites, facilities and programs with verifiable connections to that history, and Adams County now has two more official additions in the Wickerham Inn and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of West Union, both formally added April 18.

The column then turned to the kind of calendar items that shape daily life in a small town. The Winchester High School alumni gathering is set for Saturday, May 2, in the Winchester gym, with a social hour, dinner and annual meeting. A correction in the notice matters because it keeps former classmates from missing one of the few fixed dates each year that still brings generations back to the same building.

Public health also got a place in the column. National Drug Take Back Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at TSC in West Union, with the Adams County Sheriff's Office, the Youth Prevention Coalition and the Adams County Medical Foundation supporting the effort. Deterra bags will be available for medication disposal, and the reminder was explicit that old medications should not be flushed or thrown in the garbage.

Planning continues as well for the 2026 Winchester Homecoming Festival, with the next meeting set for April 23 at 6:30 p.m. in Village Hall. W3CU's food and clothing pantry remains on its regular schedule, open from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month, with the next date Thursday, May 21, and volunteers welcome to arrive around 3:30. In one column, Winchester recorded a loss, marked a heritage milestone and pointed residents toward the next meeting, the next service day and the next chance to show up for one another.