Miller, Pence go extra mile to award Fogle with Sagamore

The care and quick action of a daughter, a state senator and Indiana's governor made for a sunny moment in the midst of an otherwise dreary week for a Greencastle family.

County commissioner and longtime local realtor Nancy Fogle passed away Wednesday at age 74. And while her last days were not easy for her children and grandchildren, a Monday evening visit from Sen. Pete Miller brought some happy news for the family.

Arriving at Mill Pond Health Campus around 9 p.m., Miller carried with him a Sagamore of the Wabash bearing Fogle's name.

The highest honor bestowed by the governor, Sagamore of the Wabash awards have been given by each Indiana governor since Gov. Ralph Gates in the late 1940s.

For Fogle, the process of receiving the honor started little more than two months ago, after her family learned of her cancer diagnosis on May 30.

Daughter Gayla Hutsell Guignard then contacted Sen. Miller about seeing what honor might be awarded to the longtime county servant.

"I heard Nancy was sick the same time as everyone else and her daughter asked me if there was any type of recognition (she could receive)," Miller said. "I don't think Nancy would have ever asked for anything like that. But when you look at her resume, she had done a ton of stuff and was important to the community. That's kind of the definition of a public servant."

That resume includes more than 40 years as a realtor, time in service of the county as a court bailiff and relief court reporter and memberships to First Baptist Church, National Association of Realtors, Putnam County Board of Realtors, West Central Economic Development Board, Greencastle Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Operation Life Board, Kiwanis Club and Order of Eastern Star.

She also served as a director of Opportunity Housing, Putnam County Hospital Guild, Meals on Wheels and with the Putnam County Emergency Food Pantry.

With family members unsure if Fogle would want to be honored, Miller did not submit the request to the governor until about two weeks ago.

Whether it was kind-heartedness in Pence's office or his recently announced commitment to cut red tape for Hoosiers, the governor's staff moved quickly after Miller's request.

"To their credit, they stepped right on it. Normally there's a couple of months lead time to this, but they reviewed the resume that I sent and got one right away," Miller said. "I got a call last Friday, and the governor just happened to be in the office the day before and signed it."

The hope was to present the award at a meeting or special ceremony. Miller had even hoped to involve Sen. Rod Bray and Rep. Jim Baird. However, Fogle's rapidly-deteriorating health in the last week changed things.

"Senator Miller was going to give it to her at some meeting. He didn't realize she had gotten bad so quick because she really did start to fail kind of quickly," Hutsell Guignard said. "We hoped she would live longer as well."

"Gayla texted me back on Monday night and said that Nancy was likely not going to live much longer, so they would just tell her it had been awarded to her and we would do something posthumously," Miller said. "I thought, 'That's not the right way to do it.' So I drove over to (Mill Pond) on Monday night."

Arriving in Greencastle at 9 p.m., Miller made the presentation to Fogle's five children.

"I didn't want to make a big to-do about it. I knew Nancy wasn't really in shape to greet visitors, so I gave it to her family and they gave it to her," Miller said. "In that way, she knew she had received it. That's the whole point of it -- so she would understand that there was some recognition of all that she'd done."

It was a touching show of public service to Fogle's children, one worthy of their mother's dedication.

"We were able to show her the award while she was in bed at Mill Pond," Hutsell Guignard said. "But (Sen. Miller) drove out and arrived at Mill Pond at 9 o'clock in the evening because he really wanted to bring that out to her. It was really kind.

"He had a lot of nice things to say about my mom as well."

Ironically, with the plans for a different kind of presentation, Fogle's certificate officially says it was presented on Aug. 15, 2013. She passed away on the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 14.

All the same, getting the honor to her before her passing was a no-brainer for Miller, an act he would repeat again in a second.

"I was pleased that she at least got to see the piece of paper before she died," Miller said. "That was just the right thing to do for Nancy."