Arts and Sciences

Arts and Sciences. . Randolph County's contributions to the arts and sciences are truly remarkable. Poet James Whitcomb Riley's (1849-1916) grandparents lived near Ridgeville and passed away in Randolph County his parents also lived in the county before moving to Greenfield, Indiana. As an adult, Riley worked as a sign painter in Union City before achieving fame as Indiana's and the nation's unofficial poet laureate. Chester Burleigh Watts (1889-1971) of Winchester became a nationally recognized astronomer with the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. and in 1955 he received the distinguished "James Craig Watson" Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. Ridgeville native Dr. Wendell Meredith Stanley (1904-1971) won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 for his groundbreaking research studying viruses. Dr. Lowell T. Coggeshall (1901-1986) of Saratoga was a world renowned authority on tropical diseases, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and vice president and trustee of the University of Chicago. Winchester native Robert Wise (1914-2005) was an academy award winning director and producer of blockbuster films such as Westside Story, The Sound of Music, The Sand Pebbles, and Star Trek, The Movie. Other outstanding scientists, artists, and writers include realist painter Roy Barnes (1914-2008); Davey Marlin-Jones (1932-2004), a playwright, performer, movie critic, theatrical director, and amateur magician; Dr. Robert Painter (born 1933), a surgeon who played an instrumental role in the world's first successful heart transplant; Pamela Hill (born 1938), a New York City director and producer for NBC News, executive producer for ABC News "Closeup" Documentary Series, senior vice president for Cable News Network (CNN), and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; award winning poet and essayist John Taggart (born 1942); Winchester born, Union City raised Randy Jo Hobbs (1948-1993) was a founding member of the rock band The McCoys; Hobbs continued on and had a successful career performing and recording with musical legends such as Jimi Hendrix, Edgar Winter, and Rick Derringer; Dr. David Stump (born 1950), who oversaw research that led to drug therapy that successfully treats Lupus and other autoimmune diseases; and, L. Marlene King (born 1962), a Hollywood, California, writer, producer and director, who produces television dramas and films such as the movie Now and Then, set in a fictional Midwest town based on her hometown of Winchester.