Around Iowa: Swaledale Gets Gift of Softballs – Again



By PEGGY SENZARINO, of The Mason City Globe Gazette
 

[This
is a touching story that ran yesterday involving John Drury, former
mayor of Swaledale and current Democratic candidate for Iowa Senate in
the 6th district.]



SWALEDALE
— Two years ago, a former Swaledale man sent softballs to the town’s
then-mayor, John Drury, asking that he distribute them to children in
town.



The
package, from James Westover of Pinellas Park, Fla., contained 76
softballs that he had collected from a softball complex near his home.



Westover
went over every few days to pick up balls that sailed over the fence
during night games and weren’t recovered. In a letter, he asked Drury
to “see that the younger boys get a good share.”



Westover died April 29 at St. Petersburg General Hospital in St. Petersburg, Fla.



On June
13, a shopping bag with about 30 softballs inside arrived at
Swaledale’s Methodist Church with a note from Westover’s wife, Helen,
asking that they be given to Drury.



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