Sandell - Carl Edwin
ETCHED IN STONE: One by One – Carl Edwin Sandell
By Karen Zach, Around the County
Monday, August 12, 2019 4:00 AM
Carl Edwin Sandell, our subject this week, served in the Korean War. Born in Wingate at 4:30 in the morning (on September 25th, 1927) his father was William Belmont Sandell who had been born in Chicago, Illinois, was 21, lived in Hillsboro and was listed as a bell hop. His mother Alice Marie Wilson was but 18. The Doctor was old enough to be a doctor (W.V. Stanfield) and was from Attica. Carl was their only child and they were divorced by the time Carl was two years old. His mother remarried and lived happily ever after until death did them part to William G. Burnett who was a long-time car salesman in the Lafayette area and who was Carl’s father figure. The couple had no children and both mother and father doted on Carl, who was a son of whom they could be proud.
A Boy Scout, Carl was interested in meteorology when young and upon graduation from Lafayette Jefferson High School he began attending Purdue. His WWII Draft Registration confirmed he was a student and weighed 137 pounds at 5’10” so thin. Light complected with blue eyes, he had red hair as well and was quite a handsome man.
Carl went to the service (US Army) on June 16, 1953 and was sent to Ft. Knox, Kentucky for training. From there, he came home for leave then was sent to Korea where he served in the 24th Medical Battalion. A cousin of mine wrote many letters home (although he didn’t make it home safely like the letters) and in one made a comment similar to this: “If you make it through two battles, they make ya’ Corporal as no one is left to do the job!” Evidently, Carl made it through his two battles during his eight months in that country as he was indeed promoted to Cpl.
Upon his return, he went to work as a dental assistant. In June of 1960, he and Marilyn Louise Hardee tied the knot in a double ring ceremony. She was a Crawfordsville HS graduate. Her gown was of street length and was of white pima cotton with short sleeves and a square neckline. Her corsage was white and pink roses. Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wayne Smith stood up with the Sandells who married in Greencastle by Rev. F.S. Fisher. A rehearsal dinner at the Flame Restaurant in Lafayette was hosted by his parents.
The couple had two sons and were married 53 years before she passed away February 1st in 2013. Carl passed away exactly one month later on March 1st, both in Lafayette at their home. Both are buried in Oak Hill, she with no stone’ he with a flat government stone. Thanks to Kim Hancock and Suzy Petrey Carl is now Etched In Stone!
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Over the coming weeks and months I will write these columns highlighting each new stone. Karen Zach is the editor of Montgomery Memories, our monthly magazine all about Montgomery County. And she writes Around the County, which appears each Thursday in The Paper of Montgomery County. One by One: Etched in Stone is her latest offering and will appear periodically on Mondays in The Paper.