If you do it right, you make a lot of friends in 88 years

By ADRIENNE ROGERS
For The Reporter

Editor’s note: Bill Mapp’s daughter, Adrienne Rogers, wrote the following biography of her father.

Born in 1937 in Jasper County, Miss. (just north of Laurel), Bill Mapp was number seven of eight children born to Olin & Fannie (Lampkin) Mapp. At that time, a new car cost $650, gasoline was 20 cents a gallon, a mule cost $100, and a funeral cost $250 if your family dug the grave.

Bill loved attending Sunday School and church and walked there every week. The family had a mule and wagon for transportation. The mule was also used to plow the farm. Bill would trade eggs for candy and things he wanted from the store. He loved to fish, and it often helped feed the family. In addition to crops, they raised hogs for food. They rendered and smoked the meat themselves. They did not have a refrigerator, so the meat was packed in salt. Cooking was done on a wood stove and there was no water or electricity in the house. He remembers having to keep the oil lamps off at night during World War II.

During his junior and senior years of high school, Bill drove the school bus, taking 15 to 20 other students to school. He was paid around $35 per month.

In 1958, Bill and his older brother and father went to Florida for work. Dad went to work at an orange juice factory; the boys went to a grocery store. Bill married and had three children. In 1966, a job offer at a grocery store brought the family to Kokomo, Ind. Another opportunity with Marsh Supermarket brought Bill and the kids to Noblesville in 1969.

Bill met Sue and they married in 1978, when their families blended to create a wonderful mix of northern, southern, young, and old. Bill and Sue enjoy a good life with church friends, neighbors, kids, and grandchildren. He retired from Marsh and LoBill Supermarkets in March of 2006. Bill always greeted people in his Produce Management position with a “hello friend” in his very thick Mississippi accent. He maintains strong family ties with his family in Mississippi and Florida even though travel is hard for everyone. They are working on getting everyone hooked up on a Zoom link very soon.

Faith and family have always been important to Bill and were tested in December of 2009 when he was hit by a car while crossing State Road 19 in Noblesville on his way home from a walk on a dark winter evening. He spent 30 days in Methodist Hospital in a coma and another two weeks in a rehab hospital after he woke up. He had a massive head injury and a broken collar bone. While life was hard for him and Sue and the family, Bill never lost his faith or questioned the Lord. He approached each day with a renewed desire to get stronger and regain his ability to drive. He never spoke of what he couldn’t do, but instead focused on his many blessings.

His family and friends were so happy to join him in celebrating his 88th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Bill Mapp!