My niece's graduation was in Marion, IN. Just a few miles down the road was Fairmount, IN where actor James Dean grew up. We stopped at a gift shop called "Rebel, Rebel" and got a map of the town sites. First we drove by the old Fairmount High School where Dean graduated in 1949. It was boarded up. There is a foundation taking donations to restore the high school. The roof appears to be sealed to prevent water damage, but it needs a lot of work. Dean left Fairmount two weeks after graduation and headed to California and attended UCLA.
We then drove north of town to the cemetery. Dean's original headstone was stolen in 1983, recovered, and then stolen again a few months later. A replacement headstone was installed soon after. I saw the replacement tombstone when I was there previously in 1987. Then in 1988, the replacement tombstone was stolen. It was found on a state highway, only after a deputy sheriff ran over it in the dark. It has been remounted but is chipped in many places now, and the large granite base is missing. The cemetery has signs pointing you to his grave that didn't exist in 1987. Just up the road from the cemetery, is the church where his funeral was held and the Winslow farm where he grew up.
In June of this year, Warner Bros. Studios sponsored a James Dean festival in Marion, the county seat. It was a financial disaster for the sponsors. There has been an annual James Dean Festival held in Fairmount for several years now and that festival will be held Sept. 23-25. Sept. 30 is the 50th anniversary of his death.
I found a postcard years ago; a photo of James Dean and a large hog taken on the Winslow farm. He and I had one thing in common. We both grew up on an Indiana hog farm.
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