It is easy to take water for granted. We turnon the tap and there it is. We drink it, cook with it, and bathe in it. We even play in it. Everyone likes water. The water in Mooresville is delivered through Indiana American Water and it is Mooresville resident, Troy Bryant, who leads the team that makes sure that not only is water there when you turn the faucet on, but that it is safe and healthy, too.

Bryant didn’t grow up in Mooresville thinking he would ever shoulder that responsibility. In fact, after graduating from Mooresville High School he enlisted in the Navy. Jamie was his high school sweetheart. She followed him, they married, and had one child, Jordan, while they were serving our country. Troy and Jamie returned to Mooresville after the Navy and had two more children, Coleman and Abigail. He needed a job and General Waterworks was hiring. It took him about a year, but he got the job and starting out reading meters.

For the next 26 years, Bryant worked his way up through the ranks being promoted to supervisor and then to Superintendent in 2005. He stayed with the local organization through a purchase by United Water in 1994 and then in 2000 the company was purchased by American Water and became a part of Indiana American Water.

It is Ben Franklin who is credited with saying, “… in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” While some support that position, others, including Ryan Goodwin, the president of the Morgan County Commissioners, also agree with Heraclitus’s words when he said, “The only constant is change.” Goodwin sees that Morgan County is experiencing “an unleashing of change.” He thinks with responsible guidance, the momentum that is building within the county can become a great revitalization.

The Morgan County native’s vision of the future of Morgan County is one of the primary reasons Goodwin became a member of the Mooresville Council in 2007, the Morgan County Council in 2011. Then, in 2016, he took office as a Morgan County Commissioner, where he is currently serving as president.

While he was interested in pursuing this progression of service, he says the timing was outside his control. When a commissioner decided not to run for a third term, the seat became available. “If he had not retired, I would not have run for a seat on the Commission. I would have stayed in the Council,” Goodwin said. “I loved being a Council member. But it is a reality that you have a greater opportunity to shape the future of the County as a commissioner.”

Every parent dreams of a life filled with potential and purpose for their children. That desire is no different for parents of children diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) and thanks to the Jackson Center in Mooresville, the potential for those with CP is brighter. Jackson Center is one of a handful of Conductive Education centers in the nation; started and operated as a 501c3 non-profit organization by the DePoy family in Mooresville.

 In January 2001, Lara and Spencer DePoy welcomed their first child, Jackson, into the world. Lara had just finished a Master’s degree at University of Indianapolis in occupational therapy and was set to begin a new job. The joy of new beginnings and life was quickly replaced with concern and fear as Jackson struggled to live. Within six months, Jackson became one of the 2.5 children in every thousand live births diagnosed with CP, which is a broad diagnosis for brain damage that occurs before, during, or after birth. The prognosis for people diagnosed with CP, according to Lara, is often very cloudy and uncertain. The DePoys, like other families in the same situation, were thrown into an uncertain world with lots of unknowns and little information, support, and most of all, hope.

Being self-employed was just part of the make-up of Phil Fred’s developing persona growing up on a dairy farm in Fulton County, Ind. It wasn’t a stretch to believe that he graduated from Purdue with a degree in agriculture. But after graduating he didn’t go back to the self-employed life on a farm. He took a job working for an agricultural fertilizer and chemical company and moved to Ohio. Initially he was assistant plant manager and later transitioned into sales. But he missed Indiana and watched for an opportunity to move back home.

That chance came in 1978. After building a home in the rural outskirts of Mooresville, he and his wife of one year, Barb, settled into life in Morgan County. He liked the area because, he said, “In five minutes you can be in deep country.” He also saw an opportunity and when he befriended a competitive sales representative, they created a partnership and started a lawncare business in Mooresville. “That was good,” Phil said. “I learned a lot about agronomics and business operations.” The partnership lasted about five years and then the pair went their separate ways. Phil went back to sales for another company until too much time on the road began to chafe. “I was travelling and had a one-year-old son at home,” Phil said, “I decided that if I didn’t try to start a business then, I probably would never have another chance.”

The February enrollment figures for Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation made a big impression on Superintendent Randy Taylor. That’s because enrollment increased over the number of students from the beginning of the school year. Taylor said, “We have more students moving into the community. The indication is that we are being noticed and people are moving into our community seeing the strengths in academics, athletics, and performing arts.”

At the conclusion of this school year, Taylor will be celebrating 45 years in education and he is excited and enthusiastic about what is happening in the schools today and the part he wants to play in it. After 13 years as an instructor and coach in Martinsville, Taylor made the decision to become an administrator. “I felt a need to get into the side of education where decisions were being made as to what was best for students and also for the community, because they run hand-in-hand. To have a good community, you have to have a strong school system.”

Why is it that so many businesses get their start in garages? William Shields saw a need in the world of plastics. He met that need in the garage of the home he shared with Jacki Shields and their children in Martinsville. He developed a one-piece fairing for a Yamaha motorcycle in 1975, and the rest, as they say, is history. That one product catapulted a new company into eventually creating windshields and windows for heavy equipment, race cars, and even face shields for helmets.

Brad Shields says he grew up in the plastic world. By the age of nine he was working the trade show circuit with his parents. Even though Brad had a career as a teacher and football coach he continued to help his father sell products until he made the move to join the business full-time in 1999. Brad’s wife, Karen and his two children, Beau and Alyxa, moved with him back to his hometown of Martinsville.

“The transition was more in working with my father than working with the plastics,” Brad said. “My ten years as a head coach had given me invaluable leadership experience.” Although William chided Brad for running things like a football program he began to let Brad take the reins of the company. “You have to go with what you know,” Brad said, “and what works. I became a delegator and trust my people to do their jobs.”

Brad’s mother, Jacki, worked in the business as well. “She did HR, finance, payroll, accounts receivable, account payable,” Karen said, “basically anything to do with money or personnel.” Karen has since stepped into Jacki’s role for the company.