Kovener marks milestones

If you've lived in Seymour for any length of time, you're probably familiar with the Kovener name.

Generations of local residents have enjoyed the sweet, delicious, soft swirl of Kovener's Korner's famous chocolate malt.

Behind the popular ice cream is Lena Faye Kovener.

"They are still using my recipe," she said proudly. "I get a lot of compliments on it."

She and her late husband, William, opened the ice cream store in 1949 at 712 W. Second St., where it's still located today.

"We are celebrating 60 years in Seymour this year," Kovener said of the store.

That's not the only milestone Faye, as she is called by family and friends, will celebrate.

On July 5, she will turn 90.

"I can't believe it myself," she said of her upcoming birthday. "But it sure has been a happy 90 years."

Her family will serve as hosts for an open house in Faye's honor from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 5 in the Central Christian Church Fellowship Hall at 1434 W. Second St. in Seymour.

All friends and family are invited to attend. The family requests that guests bring no gifts, just memories to share.

Born in Reddington in 1919, Faye is the daughter of the late Benjamin and Grace Shannon. She had two brothers, Lawrence and Otis and two sisters, Helen and Louise.

"My family moved to Seymour when I was three years old," Faye said. "Before that we lived on a farm, but I was too young to remember any of that."

She does remember attending grade school at Emerson Elementary School.

"It was a nice school, and we had good teachers as I'm sure they do today," she said.

She then attended Shields High School and graduated in 1937.

During her high school years, Faye picked up a hobby that she still carries an interest in - the violin.

"I played the violin in the school orchestra for four years and played in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra," she said. "My dad wanted me to play so he bought me the violin."

To this day, Faye likes to drag out her music stand and sheet music and play for guests and her 15-year-old Yorkie, Micah.

"I like to practice everyday," she said. "Sometimes I will go to bed and realize I haven't practiced so I have to get up to play."

Besides playing the violin, Faye also enjoys attending church at Central Christian Church in Seymour, where she's been a member for the past 78 years.

"I go every Sunday," she said. "I was baptized and married there."

She has spent many years working and volunteering at the church and was named Elder Emeritus in 1999.

"I've always worked at the church," she said. "I've helped send church newsletters out since 1992 and I sang in the church choir. All during high school I was a Sunday school teacher for five and six year olds."

On March 15, 1941, she married William Kovener. They had two sons, Gary (Sharon) of Naperville, Ill. and Rick (Terra) of Zionsville. She also has two grandchildren, Nicholas and Meredith.

"We all enjoy Thanksgiving dinners at my house every year," Faye said. "The boys are good cooks and help out."

In 1942, Faye said her life changed when William was drafted into the U.S. Army.

"He served as an airplane mechanic and he had to travel everywhere," she said. "And I went with him. I gave up my job in Seymour as a toll biller and assistant cashier for the telephone company and just followed him around."

They spent time in New York, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Rhode Island, she said.

"I was lucky to find employment everywhere we went," she said. "And we made some of the most wonderful friends that came to see us in Seymour after World War II."

Faye and her family also got to travel later on to Hawaii, Germany and France.

William was discharged in 1945 as a staff sergeant.

Coming back to Seymour, the couple started Kovener's Korner in 1949 in the small building that had housed her father's Standard Oil filling station.

Her father had opened the neighborhood filling station in 1929.

"At that time Second Street was Highway 50 so it was much busier then," she said. "As soon as 50 went over the railroad tracks we didn't have as much traffic."

Faye said her brother wrote home and suggested they open an ice cream store.

"They were popular back then," she said.

Both of Faye and William's sons worked at the store during their summer vacations from college.

Theirs was a house divided as Gary graduated from Purdue University and Richard graduated from Indiana University.

Nowdays, Tom Rueger operates Kovener's Korner and continues to hire local high school kids to work there, Faye said.

"He's been doing it for 20 years and he does a good job," she said.

Never one to sit still, Faye also spent 23 years working in the office of the Farm Bureau Lumber Yard.

Another fond memory she has of living in Seymour is of being able to ride the train if she needed to go somewhere out of town.

"We had an Interurban station right here in Seymour and it would take me to Columbus," she said. "I would just go down to the station, take off my jacket and wave to get the conductor to stop."

Faye also served as president of Jackson County Extension Homemakers in 1987 and is currently a member of the Hilltop Homemakers.