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The 1940s — 2024
Indiana's own highest civilian honor is the Sagamore of the Wabash, a gubernatorial award instituted under Governor Ralph Gates in the 1940s and given, governor by governor, ever since. No complete official roster of its recipients is published — each governor's awards are his own — so no honest count of Fort Wayne's Sagamores exists, and this entry is a sample of the documented ones, offered as a sample. The city's mayor of sixteen years, Tom Henry, received the award posthumously from Governor Eric Holcomb; it was presented to his family at his funeral on 12 April 2024. The dean of the IPFW library, Cheryl Truesdell, received it from Governor Mike Pence at her retirement in December 2016, and so did Sheila Hudson, who ran Allen County Community Corrections for twenty-eight years. Linda and Jerry Vandeveer, the couple behind the police-fire memorial, received theirs from Governor Pence in 2016, and the longtime councilman and commissioner Jack Dunifon held the award as well. Fort Wayne's governors'-honor roll is longer than any list this section can verify name by name; these are the ones the public record documents, and the entry says no more than that.
Sources:
- WPTA (ABC21), report of Mayor Tom Henry's funeral, 12 April 2024 — the posthumous Sagamore of the Wabash, presented by Governor Holcomb's office to the Henry family.
- IPFW Helmke Library, Helmke Highlights, November/December 2016 — Cheryl Truesdell's Sagamore of the Wabash, presented by Governor Pence, 2 December 2016.
- Allen County Community Corrections historical timeline — Sheila Hudson's Sagamore of the Wabash from Governor Pence.
- The Waynedale News and the Vandeveer obituary record — Linda and Jerry Vandeveer's Sagamore of the Wabash, 2016; Allen County Genealogical Society people pages — Jack Dunifon's award.