Dale Edward Bastin and his wife, Patsy M. Bastin, are shown below in one of the few photos that exist of them. Dale was born in Connersville, Indiana on April 29, 1930, the youngest son of James E. 'Jimmy' Bastin and Myrtle May Gabbert. He was a grandson of James Monroe and Laura Jane (Young) Bastin of Kentucky, and was a 4G Grandson of Thomas and Hannah (Brockman) Bastin of Caswell County, North Carolina. He was one of the first generation of his family born in Indiana. (His father, 'Jimmy', had been born in Stanford, Kentucky.)
Dale's mom, Myrtle May Gabbert, died in Connersville, IN when Dale was but four months old, during the early days of the Depression. Dale was then raised by his aunts and uncles while his father worked. Upon his dad re-marrying, Dale was raised by his Dad and his new step-mother, Dora Mae Griffith.
Dale quit school at a very young age, when in about the fifth grade. At the age of eighteen, he married Patsy Maxine Bassett [1] at the Calvary Baptist Church in Shelbyville, IN. He worked odd jobs to support his family until 1950 when he was hired as stock-man at the local Cinch Manufacturing company in Shelbyville, IN. He switched to set-up shortly after being hired, and worked there until retiring in 1985 upon having five-way heart bypass surgery and being unable to return to work full-time.
He was a loving father to one son and five daughters, and was always fun-loving and out for a laugh. He loved to find someone to tease and upon whom to play a joke. Once, he gave his sister-in-law, Betty, a green persimmon, after pretending to eat one himself. He then sat back, laughing, because he knew that persimmons are not to be eaten before the first frost of the fall hits them and they turn sweet; Betty didn't (yet) know this fact! (But I am sure she learned, quickly! Eating a green persimmon makes your tongue feel like it has grown a coating of bitter velvet!)
Dale worked the concession trailers and the photography stand his father, 'Jimmy', had. Once because there were some kids in the neighborhood stealing small trinkets out of his concession trailer, he decided to 'hot- wire' a car horn to the door so, if anyone opened it, a noise would sound. He then sent his oldest daughter out to get something out of it, and sat back, and watched. He laughed for days at the expression on her face after seeing her respond to the blast of the horn. (She didn't laugh, though :-)
Dale died at the young age of 60, on August 28, 1990. He was a good father, and a good man. He always did his best, and raised good children. He is missed very much by all who knew and loved him. A photo of his and Patsy's grave is also on this website.
(Photo and biographical information are courtesy of Dale's and Patsy's daughter, Kathy (Bastin) Kelley; thanks, Cousin Kathy! God Bless! -- Gary Bastin)
Footnotes:
1Patsy Maxine Bassett is a descendant of John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley who came over to America on the Mayflower. This family married a William Bassett's son who came on the very next ship after the Mayflower, the Fortune, in 1621.
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